Innermost Thought
First, thank you to all of my pals that let me know this page is screwy. I tried doing Movable Type by myself and well, this is what happened. Thank God for B-i-Ls with some technical knowhow. Second...My blog has changed. Since I gave the Tex in the City moniker to my Entrepreneurial Business Endeavor with my partners I needed a new name to for the blog. For the time being I have come up with "My Innermost Thought". The URL is Http://www.mermu.net/ithought. Yes, I know I have more than one but I am trying to learn focus for the following year. So please change your bookmarks ladies and gents...I know it's not "designed" yet, but the content will be there..and hopefully it will be easy to navigate. At one point my fabulous Webmaster will transfer all old Blogger entries and comments to the new page and I will just keep a link on this one referring to the new place. Hope you like it!
11:02 PM | link | 2 comments
NYC 2003
Rhett and I had great New Year in the city. We happened upon a bar on 9th avenue called Rachel's and the night's festivities sort of took it from there. We didn't have to worry about a thing. I will go into more detail later...Some of the highlights were: midnight in Central Park watching the fireworks through the trees with Rhett and Nancy and Paul from Ohio, meeting Marilyn who I am sure is some kind of soul sister to me. (We are both having Epiphany parties. Hers is called the WiseGuys party.)
11:15 AM | link | 363 comments
NYC New Year
Happy New Year to all of my faithful readers. I hope you have a blast and make it home (at least somebody's) in one piece. As for me, I am raising a glass to 2002.
6:22 PM | link | 0 comments
Back in NYC; Another Christmas Miracle
The trip to the airport at 5:30 in the morning was harrowing. We were in a time crunch. It didn't help that mom brought up the last time I took her to the airport and we were also in a crunch. She almost missed her flight but not quite. I ended up missing mine. The skycap outside said I was too late and had to go inside to check my luggage and get a new flight. Holy Hell! This could be really bad. Rhett would be waiting at the airport and it's his birthday. Lord, I was just kidding about wanting to make the Friday night funfest with Chad and Matt. Get me on that Plane!!! I wasn't actually late, the guy was an ass. I was close, it's true, but I knew when I was waiting in line that this guy was a jerk and was going to give me shit. I should have gone to the other one, but no...I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Did you do this on purpose mom??? I was determined not to completely panic. I got in the now huge line for the inside check-in. It seems that every boy scout troup and band go on a trip on the 26th. I was mentally planning out my potential options and frantically dialing my aunt Margaret who works at Continental. There wasn't much she could do, but if the worst happened perhaps I could score a pass for the President's club. The inside line, though three times as long, seemed to go much faster than the skycap's. The woman at the counter took great care of me and put me on a flight that would land less than an hour later than my original. The plane I took was huge. I got an aisle seat with its own video screen and remote console. I spent the trip playing video games and watching the movie Mr. Deeds. I called Rhett and left a message about the flight change before we took off. I even had a chance to pick up a last minute birthday present for my Primary Boyfriend that I thought was perfect for him.This is one of the little ways that I know God takes good care of this daughter. I may never win the lottery, but I am definitely looked after. Who and I mean WHO? gets a flight for an hour later after missing your flight the day after Christmas? I guess I know the answer to that one. I do.
How many spankings, Mr. Butler?
So I landed at noon and Mr. Butler was waiting. I gave him his present and we waited for my luggage. When we got to the car he gave me one of my presents, a DVD version of "White Christmas". It's my favorite Christmas movie and I had yet to see it this year. The 26th was also Rhett's birthday. I'll let him tell you how old he is if he chooses. I will say he is younger than I and therefore, has to listen to me and do what I say. So he got Christmas and Birthday all at once but I did have presents specifically assigned to each event. His birthday wasn't as wild as I had hoped it would be. It is hard to have a Birthday so close to the holidays. I see that. Even if you're game to go, it can be hard to find the energy. Rhett wasn't too keen on getting his spankings either. Such a tough guy, but I am older and he has to do what I say and if you don't get your spankings the next year could be really tricky. Next year I may have to hire a big strong guy to do it for me though.All in all, this has been a Christmas to remember for many reasons. Next is New Year's and then, finally, the Epiphany party and it's all done for another year. I will put away my new Christmas stuff (Still can't find my box of stuff in Texas.), remove my beautiful tree and get set for the tasks and adventures that await me in 2003. I wonder what my resolutions will be.
2:28 PM | link | 2 comments
Myrtle
When I first saw my Grandmother this Christmas she had this weird brown flake on her cheek. It looked like it was a piece of plastic or some flaky food that was stuck there. I started to wipe it off as I asked Grandma what it was. It turned out to be some kind of growth. She slapped my hand and said, "Don't touch it! It's fine. It's been there for awhile. It doesn't bother me and I don't bother it and I am not going to a doctor!!!"To which I promptly replied, "Well, I can see you have gotten this question before and you seem pretty steadfast in your position so okay."
Apparently the thing had been around for awhile and all of her 8 children had harassed her about having it looked at. After asking her with whom she was sleeping (there was a premium for sleeping space this night) she replied, "Just me and God." So I asked her if I could bunk with her. She nodded the affirmative and I said, "Good. Then it will be just you, me, God and your friend there on your cheek." She laughed at my irreverence as she so often does and the offending mark was all but forgotten.
It's amazing the thoughts you can process in the course of a brief conversation. Grandma has not been to a doctor in probably 40 some odd years. She says she doesn't like going to them because their diplomas never say if they were A, B or C students. She has a point. I also think she is of an age where she could make peace with the direst of consequences when an unusual mark makes a home on her person. While I might not be quite ready to see her go, perhaps she is ready to take the next step where macular degeneration and worn out ears don't matter...if that step comes to her. So in that briefest of moments I tried to steel myself for whatever may come, say a prayer for a good end, whatever that may be, give Grandma some peace about the situation and make the best of it.
Later that night, at Kathleen's Christmas Eve feast, I informed Grandma that I had named her mysterious guest "Myrtle". It seemed like a Myrtle for some reason and if it was going to be around for awhile it should have a name other than "that thing on your cheek". She replied, "Bullshit" and laughed. Score!! I had gotten the famous curseword from Grandma. My mother who makes a pasttime out of squeezing such mostly forgotten profanity from my grandmother would be jealous. I wasn't even really trying either. I scored another bullshit later on, again without trying, but I forgot why. The name Myrtle took and soon all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins now referred to the pox with said moniker throughout the night's festivities.
A Christmas Miracle (Myrtle's Goodbye)
The next day at Mass and true to her inherently mysterious nature, Myrtle left Grandma's face without so much as a by-your-leave. She had been keeping house there for at least a year so her rapid departure was somewhat of a surprise. Perhaps Myrtle just wanted a little love and attention, or identity to say the least. Once given, she felt her duty was done and left for age-ier pastures. Perhaps God heard my brief prayers and whispered to Myrtle to leave a good woman so loved by her progeny alone. A snotty woman from our family's past in a fit of ire and trying to offend once gave us the title "God's Family". I was barely born at the time. She was meaning to insult but it backfired. We took to that title as truth. It's hard to refute. We have had our misfortunes to be sure but in over thirty years we have, as far as I can recall, only lost one of us. And the important things like health, family and love have all been stored in abundance in our family coffers. So Goodbye Myrtle, whatever you actually were. Perhaps we will see you again, but for now I am glad you are gone. Nothing personal.
12:57 PM | link | 3 comments
Back on the Range
My trip to Texas has come and gone and again, I am amazed at how quickly everything went. I did something a little unusual this year. Since Rhett's birthday was the 26th of December, I opted to fly back in time to celebrate. I flew to Dallas on the 19th and flew out of Houston on the 26th to arrive by noon on the 26th. I think I will do that for mom's Christmas' in the future. I used to stay until after mom's birthday but that does seem like it's a long trip. I end up not doing much of anything but waiting until the 28th after Christmas. It was also nice to not have to drive back to Dallas to get on a plane.Christmas and Eve
Christmas Eve was a blast in Houston. My aunt hosted over 30 family and friends of family for the event. We had ham, green beans and potatoes and the traditional Cherries Flambee for dessert. I was really pleased to get to hang out with Uncle John's extended family again too. His son Chad is very amiable and great to chat with and his nephew Matt is really cute. Twenty something and a pilot. He's not as naturally chatty as Chad but very cute. Jenny, my newly married sister, even extoled his virtues at Xmas Dinner. Back off Jenny! You have a hubby and a cake plate that doubles as a punch bowl. I am the one in frivolous fall dating and even though Rhett has now been raised to "primary" boyfriend status there is room in the corral for secondaries. Seriously, both Matt and Chad seem like they would be great fun at a party and I am glad to have them in my extended-extended family. Matt's parents and sister are also quite fun. I would really love to see more of them in the Big City that I love so much. Chad even invited me (unbeknownst to Matt) to party with them on Friday night. Alas I should be back in NY by then to celebrate the Primary's b-day. I also think Chad probably regretted that invite the moment it was out. It sounded like it was more of a boy's night and I would probably have screwed up their collective chi. Although you never know. I am fun at a party. It was nice to know that I had a contingency in case the White New York Christmas I missed put a kink in my plans for my return trip. Aunty Felicia cooked Christmas Day dinner and it too was scrumptious. There were perhaps 20 or so people for dinner this day. A smaller party but still lots of fun.My Texas Christmas was a great time. Not to sound too mercenary but, I came away with some wonderful presents. Thanks to everyone who put me on their Christmas list. Another great treat was having my cousins Kris and David there for Christmas. I haven't seen them for over 10 years. Time and tide and weird events stood between us. I am so proud of them. While they still have alot of challenges they face they are at the core really good kids and I think they are smarter than even they realize. I hope that we can all now keep in touch with each other. And to cap it off, I now am the rightful inheritor of the equivalent of Jenny's smoking dog. Grandma is bequeathing to me the wooden, monogrammed pen and pencil set her brother Thomas gave her one Christmas. I'll tell you the story about it later.
12:31 PM | link | 2 comments
My Holiday Season
Christmas seems to have come and gone in a rush. Here is an update on my comings and goings during the season so far.....Parties
I went to a few parties this Christmas. A favorite was the Pangolin party. I left that company in October and hadn't really seen anybody since. Everyone was in good spirits both literally and figuratively. After the official party we went down the block to a really festive pub on Avenue B. I have a feeling that during the year this place was nothing special at all. This Christmas season however, they transformed this average pub space into a Yuletide Fantasy. It was beautiful. Can't remember the name though. I do remember, Ian, a lawyer of some sort who had this uncanny knack for creating poetry off the cuff. He created a lovely verse around a word I had given him..."silk". He was taking his friends, who were in the process of getting out of bad relationships out for some Christmas cheer and hope.Tex in the City Christmas
Our TITC party was Wednesday the 18th. We had a blast. We decided to put together some VIP gift bags for some of our more consistent supporters. They turned out really well. We had great gifts from Tequila Herradura, Origins, and Izod among others. I also made Texas Chocolate Pecan cookies for each bag. That was an undertaking I can tell you. It wouldn't have been so bad except in the second batch I had cracked a bad egg into the butter mixture. SHIT! Have you ever smelled a rotten egg? Disgusting. It looked like a black heart wrapped in gooey brown stuff that belongs more on a pyrotechnic creature then a cookie mix. I had to chuck that stuff out the front door and in the garbage, open a window in the kitchen and start over. Fortunately I had enough ingredients for another. It was well worth the efforts as I think they made a really nice addition to the gift. Everybody had fun and we even met some new people who had heard about us 3rd or 4th party from our article in the FW Star Telegram. Rhett and Fred were there. Rhett was looking particularly dashing in a suit. Damn his handsome hide. I can see why Scarlett ended up with Ashley. There are pitfalls to dating a handsome man even if it is frivolous Fall. Fortunately for us, Frivolous Fall Dating has given way to Wild Winter Wantonness and I am not in the mood to draw lines in the sand which neither one of us could cross at the moment. Rhett showed up in his dashing suit and handed me my first Christmas present. It is a book of Texas cooking which features recipes from some of the hottest restaurants in Texas. At first I was a little nonplussed. Why give a Texas girl a book about cooking she should already kind of know? Then I opened it up and fell in love with it. It's the perfect gift for me. A link to my heritage. Now whenever I get lonesome for a big, texas sky or a wildflower or a tipped hat and a "howdy" I can whip out my cookbook and make some true Texas comfort food for myself and the people I have grown to love in my Northeastern home. It seems all of the gifts Rhett got me for Christmas were perfect for me...if not a little surprising. Merry Christmas Rhett. I hope you like mine just as well.
12:03 PM | link | 8 comments
Changes in the "Recipe"
So the tamales are made and true to the tradition they are like gold in my family. They still don't taste exactly like my grandmother's but they are a brilliant start on the path. I would put my first time tamales against anybody else's first time tamales any day...even my grandmother's or a certain cocky Polish Dutch person who thinks he can compete. The news of our tamale adventure didn't take long to get around my father's clan. That night, while partying at Billy Bob's with Tex in the City, I got a call from my Uncle Richard congratulating us on our accomplishment. He lives in California. My Aunt Helen was so proud of us. She was worried that the tamale tradition would end with her as none of the other cousins had really showed an interest in learning the whole process. No need to worry now, Tia. I now feel like I could make them with anybody.I did make some alterations and changes in the process. Every cook has her own way. We watched Moulin Rouge on my brother's 57 inch television while rolling. My grandmother would have never done that. Also, instead of ugly and embarassing hairnets which was a must in my Grandmother's tamale-making kitchen, I opted for a much cooler and still effective bandana look. Red and Blue. We looked like real vatos. The word on the street is that tamales are really good. I am so glad. Next year, they will be even better.
11:40 AM | link | 3 comments
What Did I Do 2
So it's time to mix the masa and I am not 100% confident that I can get the texture just right. Helen says that it should be shiny and not stick to your hand when you pat it. Jennifer and Mom did an excellent job of mixing and mashing and none of us even blinked when we added 2lbs of melted Crisco to both batches of masa. After my Mom and Sister's hands got good and gooey and their respective mixtures looked as shiny as I thought they could possibly be, we decided to start rolling the tamals. My Dad had to go to work. My Brother had a mission on some computer game...(I know. I don't know where we went wrong when we raised him...could have been the fact that he had three moms when he grew up...(me, my sister, and our mother) and he is now in a constant state of rebellion.) My Dad's wife said, "I hate the rolling part" and exited post haste. So that left me and Jenny as primary rollers along with my mom to do as much as she could. UGH....UGH!!! This is why you have entire neighborhoods of women making them. Jenny, Mom and I rolled somewhere along the lines of 390 tamales...Something like 32 dozen. It was a job I can tell you. We put the first batch of tamals on the stove to steam at about 7:30pm. They would be ready at 1:30am. The second and last batch start steaming at 10:30pm and would be ready at about 4:30am. It took about 3 hours to roll 190 tamales...that's six hours for both batches. Get the hoja, masa and stew and roll. With a few secret family recipe steps for good measure.After the rolling, everything was steaming and I ended up playing the waiting game alone. Jenny went along with Mom to her house to go to bed. Not trusting myself to get up out of a comfortable bed in a different room, I slept for the second night on the futon next to the kitchen. My brother was instructed to wake me up at 1:30am. He was still kicking bad guy ass on the computer. I would worry about the 4:30am tamals when the time came.
Frankly Rhett, you May have saved my Tamale Christmas
I woke up out of my exhausted slumber to the familiar tunes of SaintSeans, my signature ring for Rhett at 1:30 am on the dot. He and Fred were at another wild party and he called to either a)say hello because even though he was having a good time I am still more fun b) give me the scoop on all my competition at the party (what can I say? It's the hassle of dating a handsome guy) or c) rub it in that he was partying it up big time while I was suspended in Tamale Purgatory (Will they turn out or not?) or some combination of the three. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that he called, without realizing it, at exactly the time I needed to be up to take care of my precious endeavor. We chatted for a bit and then I painstakenly took out each hot and steamed tamale and put them in pans so they could cool. I am a little concerned that the masa isn't completely cooked enough but I know that Aunt Helen said 6 hours, they would cook more both in the cooling process and when reheating and I was too tired to stay up and worry about it. About an hour later I was back on the futon asleep. 4:33am rolls around and my brother comes out and asks if I am awake. I say yes and reach for my phone to check the time. I realize that I have 2 missed calls that most likely had something to do with my brother coming to wake me. They were from Rhett and at just the right time, again without him realizing it, for me to take out the second batch of tamales. So I call Rhett back (He had only called about 3 minutes before.) and chatted with him some more. He and Fred were on the way home. It was 5:30 his time and they had a blast. I got up to take care of the rest of my tamals and then fell asleep with wishes of beautiful and tasty tamales just like grandmother's and a big unsightly wart that would mysteriously grow on Rhett's chin so he wouldn't be quite so desireable to the other ladies.
10:43 AM | link | 3 comments
What Did I Do?
Once there was a general consensus the tamale meat was spiced correctly, we began mixing the masa. The stew meat is one of the crucial points where it gets tricky having more than one cook in the kitchen. This was obvious when I talked to my two aunts about the tamale process. Both had different ingredients. One: "I have never put a jalepeno in tamales in my life!!!" The other: "You can cut up a little jalepeno to give it a little kick." For my tamales, I was very gung ho for adding lots more chili. Dad and his wife where not so much. In the end we settled for a compromise; the color looked good and I could always sneak some more in here and there. As we were stewing the meat, my Dad also began cleaning the hojas. This is a very important. My Grandmother insisted on soaking and cleaning the hojas three times before rolling the tamals. We bought hojas from the Sak n Save and they were beautiful. Nice big husks that were pretty clean to begin with. Still, we soaked and cleaned them three times.The masa was tricky for me. I had only a vague recollection of what the texture should be.
9:34 AM | link | 1039 comments