In The Moment

I am making good progress on one of my retirement pledges to walk.  Not doing so well yet on some of the others such as cleaning out closets and cupboards, but I have plenty of time for that (she says optimistically)! 

To say I as out of shape while I was working would be an major understatement. The hospital where I worked is huge and sometimes it could be 1/4 mile from where I would end up parking to my office. I could do short spurts, but I had no endurance.

Since January, I have worked up to being able to walk 3 miles without a single ache, pain, or issue. I am able to enjoy my surroundings, observe the flora and fauna-as much as there is in an urban environment, and really have a peaceful meditation time in the outdoors. It is one of the most enjoyable parts of this new non-work lifestyle.

Today's walk led me up and down the streets of my neighborhood, through the beautiful forest park near my house, and down my favorite street where I imagine the interiors of various wonderful old homes. I heard various birds, including a noisy woodpecker and some somber sounding mourning doves, saw a flock of hens pecking around in the grass while busily clucking at each other, a couple of squirrels chasing each other up and down a massive cedar tree, smelled the wonderful scent of wood smoke and rich mulchy earth, observed more and more early spring bulbs starting to peek out from their winter underground, and even some new buds on a cherry tree.

Being in the moment while I am on my little treks is extremely beneficial for erasing any cares I may have (such as current politics) and resets my mind and body in the most healthy way.  I have included a picture of a poem by the late Ursula K. LeGuin that someone had framed and posted at the edge of their yard. Lovely, and I am happy to say I made it home before the skies opened up and rained up a storm.

Picture This

We have a new camera and do I have a lot to learn.  This is something I have wanted for ages, a Nikon DSLR. I have had a small Fuji FinePix point and shoot type of camera and if I do say so myself, I have taken some good shots with it over the years. In fact, this blog was created because of buying that camera and needing a reason to take pictures.

Now though I have an honest-to-goodness professional camera and it's a bit overwhelming. I have been watching many YouTube videos on this particular model and its' settings and capabilities. I have started to experiment a bit just inside the house and as soon as the weather improves some, I can't wait to take it out and about.

I will say it isn't as convenient as my little Fuji camera or my cell phone for just sticking it in my purse and having a camera at the ready, but when I am ready to really try my hand at still life photos or portraits, I can't wait to use this new one. 

It has a multitude of settings for particular scenes already pre- programmed, but I have been learning about using the manual mode and setting things myself as I did with the picture above.  This picture was taken in rather low lighting with the aperture set low so as to blur the background objects with a clear focal point.  I absolutely love the detail this camera can capture.  If you look very closely you can see the dust bits on the rocks.  Perhaps I need to put the camera down and get out the dust cloth!

Slowing Down

The first thing on my retirement list is "Slow Down." It's been 1 month and 2 days since I retired and I am beginning to acclimatize myself to this new lifestyle, with slowing down being my number one priority.  I was so used to having daily stress in my life; either self-imposed or mandated by the nature of my work that it was second nature.  I now find myself with no deadlines or time constraints and it's revolutionary. Not only has my body become more relaxed, but my thoughts have slowed down and I am experiencing a wonderful peace of mind.


The second thing on my list is "Walk." Opening up my senses by getting outside in the elements is something I have always enjoyed, but rarely made time for while working. Though we have a treadmill (aka clothes rack) in our basement, when I have used it in the past, it has been like torture. Nothing more boring in the world, even if listening to music or watching TV.


Walking through my neighborhood looking at others houses and yards, gardens, trees, and parks is far more interesting. Venturing outside my neighborhood and walking with my BFF is another great luxury we are able to do. What fun it is to have her company as we discover new places.  As we work on our endurance and are able to go greater distances, we will start exploring parks and gardens throughout our region and discover all the glories the Willamette Valley has to offer.


I have included a few pictures from some of my recent walks for your viewing pleasure and hope to create additional blogs of my future adventures.

Yum Yum Bowl

Food bowls are a thing.  They appear on menus of many restaurants these days. I have recently experienced two very good ones; one called a Philosophy bowl and the other was called a Harvest Pasta bowl.  I decided to try to make my own version and created a hybrid of these two bowls.

My bowl creation has a base of brown rice and the toppings include roasted vegetables of Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, and butternut squash then sprinkled with roasted pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, and crumbled goat cheese.  A dollop of hummus and a drizzle of lemon-tahini dressing completes the dish. I have included the recipe I use for the lemon-tahini dressing.

This may not be the prettiest of all lunches, but it is packed with a depth of flavors and a variety of textures. It is also a nutritious meal that is quite fulfilling. 


Lemon Tahini Dressing
In bowl, whisk together 8 Tbsp sesame tahini, 1/4 cup each of lemon juice and extra-virgin olive oil, 2 Tbsp each of water and finely chopped flat leaf parsley, 2 tsp minced garlic, 1/2 tsp kosher salt, and 1/8 tsp cayenne.

Grilled or Toasted

There has been an ongoing debate in my home for years.  I call a cooked cheese sandwich a toasted cheese and The Husband always states "It's grilled cheese." I must have grown up in a household where the former title was used and I have always called it that.  What say the rest of you?



No matter.  Today I made lunch for the bestie and the menu consisted of rather unsophisticated childhood favorites of toasted cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, homemade dill pickles (thanks Jodi), and butterscotch pudding.  What raised the sandwich to adult heights was the use of three types of cheese.

Recently while on vacation, we made a stop at the Tillamook Cheese Factory where I couldn't resist stocking up on some delicious varieties of cheeses including Monterey Jack and a  three year aged cheddar, one of their special reserve cheeses. Today's three cheeses included those as well as real, honest-to-goodness Parmesan-Reggianno.  When done, the combination of these cheeses really raised the sandwich to a new level.
 
You can't go wrong with a bowl of hot, creamy tomato soup along with the sandwich for a classic duo. An occasional dip of the sandwich into the soup is a must.  A creamy butterscotch pudding with just a squirt of whipped cream was the perfect sweet ending.  My bestie had announced earlier in the day that when she gets old and loses all her teeth, all she wants to eat is butterscotch pudding!

Obviously, no recipe for this lunch menu. I'm starting off slowly getting back into my blog. I'm still getting used to having time off and cooking has not been at the top of my agenda.

New Beginnings

My slate is empty. A new year, a new start, a new lifestyle in front of me.

I retired on Friday after working non-stop for the past forty years. I was fortunate to get a full time job mere weeks after graduating from college and haven't stopped since.  Seven places of employment during this time period, countless coworkers-many who are long forgotten, a few indelibly etched in my heart forever, lots of hard work, stress, rewards, frustrations, and laughter all behind me now. Now is the time to discover what it is like to not be an employee but to be free and independent of time clocks, rules, regulations, and others expectations.

This will be a totally new experience that both excites and causes me some trepidation. Always a planner, months ago I began writing lists of things I would like to do. The very first thing on my list is "Slow Down."  My best friend recently told me that I always appear to be rushing to the next thing.  Now is the time to stop, be in the moment, and truly experience what I am doing.

I retired this blog in April 2013, finding that keeping it up was too demanding of what little free time I had. Now is a good time to dust it off and bring it out of retirement as I enter mine. Hopefully I will share how I start filling up my cleared slate with my experiences as I begin this new chapter in my life.

Happy New Year one and all!

Bye Bye Pie O My

I'm retiring. No more spending my weekends planning and cooking and plating and styling. No more fretting and fuming over pots and pans and whisks and spoons. No more shopping and buying and searching for ingredients. No more pictures and writing and editing and posting.

This blog has been so interesting to create. I started nearly five years ago in May 2008 on a whim and it morphed into at times, an all consuming project.  I've posted 348 entries; an average of seven posts a month. Some recipes turned out great. Others were a complete fiasco. But I learned something with every dish cooked, every photo taken, and every post written.

Over the years I've been doing this I've made a little (and I mean a little!) money which I most often used to buy cookbooks for my ever growing collection.  I have received an amazing array of sample food products and gadgets from companies all over the country. It was always fun to come home to boxes on the front porch and open them up to see what kind of goodies were sent my way.  My blog also generated some press with two mentions on Bon Appetit's website; once for Christmas cookies and another time for shrimp and grits. Locally, a weekly newspaper reporter interviewed me for my take as a hometown food blogger. That was certainly fun to see in print.

But the best part of doing this blog was hearing from readers and enjoying their comments, especially from my dear friends. Such generous words were always motivating. Yum! Of course my in-home fan club, The Husband, was another great motivator. I love cooking for him and he is always most grateful.  He also contributed to my recipes by year after year producing fantastic vegetables in the garden for me to put to good use.

I am going to retire my blog now and move on to some other hobbies.  Who knows, maybe someday I'll work up the energy to compile all of these posts into a cookbook. It's been fun, and through this experience I hope I have become a better cook, a better photographer, and a better writer. GOOD BYE and thanks to all of you who have followed Pie O My!

Meyer Lemon Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce

Happy Easter. No bunny cakes or cupcakes with nests of chocolate atop them for this year's Easter dinner.  Instead, I've opted for a sophisticated and rather decedent cheesecake flavored with lots of juice and zest from  slightly sweet Meyer lemons and topped with a lovely raspberry sauce. It just screamed Spring to me.

This cheesecake differs from ones I have made in the past in that the crust is a shortbread rather than the normal graham cracker crumb concoction.  It too contains some lemon zest, making it a perfect compliment for the creamy filling.  This recipe is a keeper!

Meyer Lemon Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce

Crust:
1 cup flour
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
½ cup butter
1 slightly beaten egg yolk
¼ teaspoon vanilla

Filling:
3 packages cream cheese
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 lemons, juiced
1 1/2 cups sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
4 egg yolks
¼ cup sour cream

Raspberry Sauce :
1 cup of raspberry jam (I used seedless jelly)
1 cup of fresh raspberries  (I used frozen berries)
1 tablespoon of lemon zest

Preheat oven to 400.

Make Crust:
Combine first 3 ingredients. Cut in butter till crumbly. Add egg yolk and vanilla; mix well. Pat 1/3 of dough on bottom of 9-inch spring-form pan (sides removed). Bake about 8 minutes or till golden; cool. Butter sides of pan; attach to bottom. Pat remaining dough on sides of pan to height of 1 3/4 inches.

Preheat oven to 450.

Make Filling:
Add softened cream cheese into the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat until creamy; add sugar, lemon juice and zest. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating after each just to blend. Add sour cream and stir to combine.

Turn into crust-lined pan. bake at 450 for 12 minutes; reduce heat to 300 degrees; bake 55 minutes or till knife inserted off-center comes out clean. Remove from oven; cool 1/2 hour; loosen sides of cheesecake from pan with knife. Cool 1/2 hour more; remove sides of pan. Cool 2 hours longer.

Raspberry Sauce:
Put jam into a microwave safe bowl and heat for 1 minute until melted. Add raspberries and stir to coat. Pour over cooled cheesecake

Happy Birthday To Me

I threw a birthday party for myself yesterday.  No particular reason this year. I just wanted to celebrate me.  So I invited my best friends over and with The Husband, we ate, drank and were merry.  We had a simple but yummy dinner starting with shrimp cocktails, followed by Caeser Salad and Fettucini Alfredo.  There was crusty French bread that was dipped in the most amazing fruity olive oil pressed from arbequinia olives. Find some and try it.  You'll be glad you did. We drank Lemon Drops and giggled.

For dessert I opted to purchase a cake from a renowned local bakery called Konditerei's.  The proprietor, Gerry Frank,  is a fixture in our town. He comes from a family who owned a famous department store in our state and he was the right hand man for Mark Hatfield, one of the state's long time senators. 

What Gerry Frank is probably best known for though, is his bakery and his cakes, particularly chocolate cakes.  Every year at the state fair there is a chocolate cake contest judged by Mr. Frank.  The annual winner receives not only a blue ribbon, but lots of publicity and accolades.  I purchased the Gerry's Chocolate Cake to celebrate my birthday and it was the perfect ending to a wonderful day.

It's All Greek To Me

This post will be short but flavorful. I have had a craving for Greek food and unfortunately my town is lacking in such fare, except for one restaurant which isn't always open when we want it to be.  Since I had a trip to Portland planned yesterday, I stopped by Barbur World Market which I have blogged about in the past and picked up some fresh baked pita bread along with some hummus for our delicious Greek dinner I served today. I made my own tzatziki which I have posted before also.

Included on the menu to go with our steak gyros was Greek potatoes.  I made up this recipe and the combination of ingredients worked out great.  They made a wonderful accompaniment to our meal. Now my Greek craving is satisfied for awhile anyway.

Greek Potatoes
(Serves 4)

One pound of new potatoes into one inch cubes and microwaved them until just slightly done  
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp. fresh oregano (optional)
Dash of cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine all of the ingredients together and toss the microwaved potatoes with the marinade.  Put in a baking dish in a single layer and roast in the oven for 30-45 minutes until golden brown.  Sprinkle with salt.  These can be served hot or at room temperature.