But first the back story. There are those who are not fans of facebook. And there are those who are fans of facebook. As for me, I am one of the facebook fans.
Thanks to facebook, I have been lucky enough to reconnect with many of my favorite schoolmates. I still remember how thrilled I was the day the day my high school friend Beth VanStory, who for years had been living in San Francisco, reconnected with me on facebook after moving back to Richmond. We met for lunch that same day.
Midlothian High School, Home of the Trojans!!
(and yes, we have heard all the condom jokes already)
The things I liked about Beth back when we were in high school are the things I still like about her today. She is intelligent, fun-loving and caring. And for the record, she is just as attractive now as she was 30 years ago.
Beth VanStory 2011
Not long after Beth and I reconnected, we got together at my house to make Christmas Cookies with her adorable daughter Ella. I don't normally enjoy sharing my kitchen when I bake but, with an experienced cook like Beth, it was effortless. We really clicked in the kitchen.
A few months later, Beth and I attended our 30th high school reunion. The night before the event, a mutual friend of ours invited us along with some other classmates and their spouses to her home for a cook out. It was at this Barbecue that I first tasted this dish. Let me tell you, it is so good, that I knew I had to share it with you .
I asked Beth if I could share her recipe and the back story. Here what she had to say:
I lived in San Francisco for 12 years and one of my favorite things to do was go sailing in the Bay with my friends.
Sailing the San Francisco Bay
We'd often stop at Andronico's, an upscale food market, and pick up deli sandwiches and some side salads. I love the orzo feta salad they make. So one day I decided that it was high time I learned to make it myself (not to mention it was VERY expensive at Andronico's).
So I did what every curious chef would do: I googled "orzo feta salad." I came up with a great number of search results but quickly clicked on one from epicurious.com, a site that has never failed me.
I read through their recipe and thought of some changes (like using way less oil). Then it was off to the store to find the ingredients. The first time I made it my au pair and I ate if for five days and never got sick of it. It's great fresh and just as good left over. And it's always a hit when I take it over a friend's house or to a barbeque.
Orzo with Tomatoes, Feta, and Green Onions
From Epicurious (with Beth’s edits)
¼ Cup of Red Wine Vinegar
2 Teaspoons of fresh Lemon juice
1Teaspoon of Honey
¼ Cup of Olive Oil
4 Cups Chicken Broth
1 1/3 Pound of Orzo
1 Cup (I use less) Sun Dried Tomatoes packed in oil (or use dried and allow them to soak in 1Cup of Boiling Water to soften)
1 7-Ounce Package Feta Cheese crumbled
1 Cup chopped Green Onions
½ Cup of Fresh Basil
½ Cup Pine Nuts, toasted
Make the Dressing
You can make the dressing ahead of time and then store it at room temperature.
Whisk together the Red Wine Vinegar, Lemon Juice, and Honey in small bowl. Gradually whisk in the Oil. Season with Salt and Pepper.
Prepare the Salad
Bring Chicken Broth to a boil in large heavy saucepan. Stir in Orzo, reduce heat to medium, cover partially, and allow it to boil until the Orzo is tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain. Transfer the Orzo to large wide bowl, tossing it frequently until it cools.
Chop the Sun dried Tomotes and the Basil. Mix in the Sun Dried Tomatoes, Fresh Basil, the Feta and the Green Onions into Orzo and toss Add vinaigrette over the salad and then toss again to be sure everything has been coated.
Season with Salt and Pepper. It is best to make this dish in advance to allow the dressing to marry with the salad. Before serving add Pine Nuts; toss once more. Serve at room temperature.
And now, as radio personality Paul Harvey used to say, you know the rest of the story.
Years ago when Jim and I decided to get married, we could not do so legally in the USA, so we opted to fly to Paris and exchange vows there. Paris is such a beautiful, romantic place we knew that it would be the right location.
We still had to decide exactly where to hold our ceremony. We knew it was going to be a small ceremony, just the two of us and our two witnesses.
Ernie, Jim, John and Bert in France 2004
After much discussion, we decided to marry at Versailles.
When we got to Versailles, we walked the grounds and we were captivated by beauty of the Grand Canal. When we got closer, we noticed that visitors could rent rowboats and row on the canal.
An antique postcard showing sailboats on the Grand Canal
It was then and there we decided to rent a rowboat and exchange our vows on the water. So Jim and I along with our two witnesses boarded our own version of the Love boat .
Jim rows on the Grand Canal. Like the song goes, I liked him so much I had to put a ring on it.
With Ernie and Bert at our side, Jim and I rowed off to be joined in wedded bliss.
Jim and I celebrated our union later that night with an intimate dinner for two. We were seated on the balcony of Café Marley, which is located at the Louvre. We chose to host our wedding reception for family and friends later the next month when we returned to the states.
Hmm? What’s that? Why did we choose Ernie and Bert as our witnesses you may ask? Allow me explain.
When I was a young boy, my parents gave my brothers and me puppets fashioned after the then new PBS show called Sesame Street. You may have heard of it.
I was given a Bert Puppet, my brother Steve was given Ernie, and my youngest brother Brian, was given Cookie Monster. Each puppet seemed to mirror aspects of our personalities.
Bert, Cookie Monster and Ernie (or John, Brian and Steve)
Knowing Bert's character the way you do, do you think if he were given a puppet as a young boy he would still have it almost 40 years later? Well of course I would (I mean Bert would). You get my drift don’t you?
Years before I met Jim, his mother had given him a Bedtime Ernie. He still has it. Jim is the personification of Ernie. He has a boyish sense of humor and a sweet and tender side that make him irresistible. Just like Ernie.
When Jim and I moved in with each other, his Ernie and my Bert were united. You might even call it love at first sight.
Ernie and Bert in the Big Boy bed
They have been inseparable ever since. I know the PR folks from Sesame Street may say otherwise, but I have always felt that Ernie and Bert were more than just "best friends". Kinda like Jim and I.
Just listen to the Ernie sing “When Bert’s Not Here” to understand just how he really feels about me, I mean Bert.
The fact that Jim is 5’9 and dark haired like Ernie and I am 6’ tall like Bert seals the deal. In our relationship, Jim is Ernie and I am Bert. One of our guests at our wedding reception even gave us a bottle of Chateau Bert and Ernie as a gift.
It’s been said (and I agree) that I am one of the lucky ones. And it is true. I am so fortunate to come from a great family and to have such wonderful friends. There are those in my family that I consider to be more than just relatives, they are my friends. Likewise, I am so close to some of my friends, they have become part of my family.
Case in point: Ellyn Sukonick.
Ellyn and I met over 17 years ago when I first started working at a local printing company. Ellyn had already been working there a year when I joined the company. She welcomed me to the fold with open arms. I was immediately drawn to her positive attitude and her loving manner. Ellyn has such a wonderful charismatic personality that people naturally drawn to her.
I grew up in a household that was very family centric. We love and care for each other very much. I have often thought that our family life and structure was influenced by our Roman Catholic religion.
Ellyn is Jewish and was therefore also brought up in a family centric household.
The Sukonicks: Steve, Adam, Ellyn and Jodi
I have often felt that Jewish and Catholic families share many of the same core values in regard to family structure.
For whatever the reason, Jews and Catholics often form great friendships. It was one of of Ellyn’s friends who told me that when a Jew and a Catholic marry, the couple are called Cathjews, which is pronounced like the nut “Cashews”.
A close knit Cashew Family
Due to the closeness of our friendship, Ellyn and I consider us honorary “Cathjews”. So you see, I really am a nut.
Ellyn and I share a love of cooking. Ellyn is a great cook and she is always finding and sharing the best recipes. She is also a talented party planner and caterer.
It was only natural that I would turn to Ellyn to help us plan the wedding reception.
Ellyn, her husband Steve, and their daughter Jodi graciously offered to help serve the food the night of the party. And let me tell you, we could not have done it without them. But they did even more than just serve the food, the made some of it too.
Ellyn thankfully insisted on making a Hummingbird Cake for the wedding cake. It was out of this world delicious. Tradition be damned, there wasn’t any cake left over to be eaten on our first anniversary. It was that incredible.
Steve’s contribution was making the Spicy Sausage Balls. He hand-rolled over 5 pounds of them. And we ate every last one of them. Well, that is not entirely true. Ellyn put 3 sausage balls in a plastic bag and hid them way, way in the back of our refrigerator early in the evening so that her son could enjoy some later that evening.
We served a lot of food that night. I am talking “a lot of food” in terms of a Jewish or an Italian event. But of all the food that was served that night, it was Ellyn’s Hummingbird Wedding Cake and Steve’s Spicy Sausage Balls that our guests still talk about. Yeah, they are that good.
Our family stepped outside to discuss the Spicy Sausage Balls and take a photo.
I don’t have the recipe for Ellyn’s Hummingbird Cake (though she assures me that hummingbirds are not part of the ingredients). Hopefully one day I will be able to share that with you.
Today I am lucky enough to be able to share Ellyn’s recipe for Spicy Sausage Balls. It is the one recipe I always make when I am hosting a party because it is the one that my family and friends will most often request. It is also one of the recipes that consistently generates the most compliments.
It doesn’t matter what time of year or day you serve Spicy Sausage Balls, they always seem to fit in at any party. I have served them at brunches and late night parties with equal success. But enough about past history, it is time for you to give them a try.
Ellyn and Steve’s Spicy Sausage Balls
Ingredients:
1 Pound of Spicy Sausage Meat
1 Slightly Beaten Egg
1/3-Cup Seasoned Bread Crumbs
½ Teaspoon o f Fresh Sage
Combine the above ingredients in a bowl and then and shape the mixture into small balls. Brown the sausage balls well on each side in a large skillet. Pour off the grease.
In a separate bowl, make the sauce.
Combine:
¼ Cup of Catsup
¼ Cup of Chili Sauce
2 Tablespoons of Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon of Vinegar
1 Tablespoon of Soy Sauce
Mix sauce together and then pour it all into the skillet over the sausage balls. Cover the skillet and then simmer for 30 minutes over low heat. These are best when they are made a day ahead and refrigerated until ready to reheat and serve. Reheat and then serve from a warmed chafing dish with cocktail picks.
Okay now. You know why I consider myself a nut. When you combine that with the similarities that I share with Bert, you can throw in nerd to the mix. But it really doesn’t matter.
What really matters most is that now you now have the recipe to make Ellyn and Steve’s Spicy Sausage Balls.
Give them a try sometime. I feel pretty certain you and your guests will go nuts over them.
Until next time: Chow!
I wanted to play tour guide and show my friend Teri all the wonderful things I love about this town. But due to the heat, I knew we would enjoy a driving tour in my air-conditioned car much more than a walking tour in the blistering heat. But where could we go?
Richmond is a wonderful place for art and history lovers. And one stop all tourists really should consider making is a place that combines both history and art.
No, I am not talking about our world-renowned Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. While the VMFA is a wonderful place, the place I am referring to is Hollywood Cemetery.
Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond VA
Now, visiting a cemetery might not be the first thing on your list when planning a vacation. But if you are lucky enough to have a chance come to Richmond, Hollywood Cemetery is certainly a stop you will want to consider making.
Towering 50 feet tall, this Monument serves
as a collective tombstone for over 18,000 Confederate dead
I refer to Hollywood Cemetery as a sculpture garden where all the finest people in Richmond reside. Well-known residents of Hollywood include presidents James Monroe, John Tyler and Jefferson Davis.
The tomb of James Monroe
It is a neighborhood filled with the Who’s Who of Richmond from the past 200 years.
And, sure enough, people are still dying to get in. (Surely you did not think for a minute I was going to let that joke go unsaid.) Truthfully, Hollywood Cemetery is a place where burials still occur.
Hollywood Cemetery is so much more than just a place filled with the bones of our ancestors. It serves as a tribute to all who have made it their final resting place and it is filled with gestures of love and devotion.
This dog, once a store advertisement, guards the grave of the girl who loved it.
Touring the grounds, you will see some truly beautiful statues and monuments. I feel that enjoying the beauty of the cemetery landscape and gazing upon the wonderful sculptures pays homage to those who died and the love of those they left behind. These monuments were created so that others would not forget those who have died. For this reason, I feel compelled to share some of the images from our visit with you.
The Loyd family tree?
Notice all the Loyd markers are tree trunks
So how do I tie a visit to a cemetery into a post about food? Stay with me and I will tell you.
Tonight is the last night I will be visiting with my friend Teri before she goes off to Washington be an Advocate for Pancreatic Cancer awareness and funding. Before she leaves I wanted to cook her a special “southern meal” (she is, like me, a Yankee). This is to be my parting gift to her. I tried to think of what I could make and then it hit me. I will make barbecued pork ribs! They are not only tasty; they are something that I have really come to enjoy as a summer meal.
Some people like dry ribs, but I prefer wet ribs. So, today I offer you my take on how to make wet pork ribs. I hope you and Teri enjoy them.
Southern Pork Ribs
Ingredients:
4 to 5 Pounds of Pork Ribs
1 19-ounce bottles of Jack Daniel’s Honey Smoke House Barbecue Sauce
1 6-ounce can of Orange Juice Concentrate
½ White Onion (cut and separated into ringlets)
Salt and Pepper
Directions:
Line a large baking pan with two sheets of foil. Allow foil to extend beyond all sides of the pan.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Wash Pork Ribs with cool water and then pat dry with a paper towel.
Salt and Pepper both sides of the Ribs.
Make Sauce
Pour the bottle of the Barbecue sauce and the 6-ounce can of frozen Orange juice concentrate in a bowl and whisk together.
Coat the bottom sides of the Pork Ribs with the sauce mixture and then lay them, sauce side down in the foil lined baking pan.
Next coat the topside of the Pork Ribs with sauce. Cover the Ribs with the Onion ringlets.
Cover the Ribs and Onions with two sheets of foil. Join the foil from the top of the ribs with the foil overhanging from the bottom of the ribs and then crimp the foil closed on all sides.
Bake the Ribs in an oven set at 300 degrees for 1 to 1 ½ hours. Unwrap the ribs, flip them over in the pan, coat with them with additional sauce and bake for 1 more hour or until the meat is tender and pulls away from the bone.
Remove the ribs from the baking pan and place on a cutting board. Allow them to rest and cool.
Remove and discard any bits of the onions, meat or bone that might have been left in the baking pan liquid. I place a sieve over a large bowl and strain it that way. But you can also use a slotted spoon to do the job. Pour the strained liquid into a saucepan. Place the saucepan in the refrigerator to cool in order to make removing the fat easier. The fat will congeal and rise to the top of the saucepan. Use a spoon to skim it off the fat and discard it.
The remaining liquid will be a combination of barbeque sauce and water. Reduce and thicken this sauce by allowing it to boil for about 10 minutes. Be certain to stir it while it is reducing down to prevent it from burning.
Once the ribs have rested and cooled, cut them into 2 to 3 ribs sections.
To brown them up and to caramelize the barbecue sauce, coat theRibs once again with the reduced and thickened barbeque sauce mixture and then either broil them in the oven or grill them.
These Ribs are great served either hot or cold.
Tonight, once our meal has been eaten, I hope that Teri looks down at her plate filled with picked over pork rib bones and sees more than just a collection of bones. I hope that she sees that pile of bones for what they really represent: the remains of a gesture of love.
And, if you are every fortunate enough to look upon the monuments of Hollywood cemetery as we did, I hope you see what we saw: gestures of love.
In 1957, Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote a television musical based on the fairy tale of Cinderella. It starred a very young Julie Andrews.
It was produced again for television in 1965 starring Lesley Ann Warren and most recently again in 1997 starring Brandy.
Leslie Ann Warren as Cinderella, 1965
It was the 1965 version with Lesley Ann Warren that I grew up watching. I loved the idea that with a little magic a pumpkin, some rats and mice could transform into a golden carriage, horses and coachmen.
But what I liked most about Cinderella was how she was able to use just her imagination to take her anywhere she wanted to go. Her imagination was all she needed to live the adventures she dreamed about. And she did this all while sitting in her own little corner in her own little chair.
This is me, July 1967, Chatham, New Jersey
As a small boy, I also lived a life of adventure through my imagination. I remember playing that I was a secret agent (ala Maxwell Smart), or a scientist who studied lions and went on Safari (ala Daktari), or a spaceman getting ready to rocket to the moon.
I spent many wonderful hours just playing alone. I really was (and in many ways still am) my own best friend.
My mother has a saying that goes: “ I may be living in my own little world, but that’s okay, they all like me here.”
The reason I am writing today about all of this is that I recently got a submission for this blog that inspired me.
The submission comes from a friend of mine who has been ill, on and off, for many months. What I find inspiring is that even while she is stationed in her home, often too ill to travel or even run errands, she is still able to find joy in her surroundings. And has learned to enjoy the care that she can provide herself.
My friend wrote:
I've been ill for a long, long time, and every time a friend shows up with food, I feel doubly nourished.
But I have also felt increasingly helpless and, yes, pathetic.
This evening, as dinnertime approached, I thought: What would I do right now if I were not ill "all the time?"
I had only to look to the balcony of my condo for the answer.
The land of inspiration
And tonight I remembered that it's one of the best ways we can show ourselves that we are, indeed, lovable.
In sickness and in health.
Lemon Butter Penne (makes two small/medium servings):
Ingredients:
1 Cup Penne Pasta, cooked al dente
1 half-inch pat of Butter
2 ounces of Lemon infused Olive Oil (available at most food stores)
4 crushed Garlic cloves
Shaved Parmesan
About six large torn-up Basil leaves
Directions:
Put the Butter, Oil & Garlic in nuke-safe container and microwave it about 30 seconds on high.
Pour over cooked pasta.
Sprinkle with torn up Basil leaves.
Dust with the shaved Parmesan.
MANGIA!
If you feel inspired to sing from your own little chair, here are the original lyrics to Rodgers and Hamerstein’s song:
In My Own Little Corner
Julie, 1957
So, where will your imagination take you today?
Have a great day. And please, remember if you ever find that you are talking to yourself, be polite and listen.
The Blueberry Story
(by Jamie Robert Vollmer)
I stood before an auditorium filled with outraged teachers who were becoming angrier by the minute. My speech had entirely consumed their precious 90 minutes of in-service training. Their initial icy glares had turned to restless agitation. You could cut the hostility with a knife.
I represented a group of business people dedicated to improving public schools. I was an executive at an ice cream company that became famous in the middle-1980s when People Magazine chose its blueberry flavor as the "Best Ice Cream in America."
I was convinced of two things. First, public schools needed to change; they were archaic selecting and sorting mechanisms designed for the Industrial Age and out of step with the needs of our emerging "knowledge society." Second, educators were a major part of the problem: They resisted change, hunkered down in their feathered nests, protected by tenure and shielded by a bureaucratic monopoly. They needed to look to business. We knew how to produce quality. Zero defects! Total Quality Management! Continuous improvement! In retrospect, the speech was perfectly balanced-equal parts ignorance and arrogance.
As soon as I finished, a woman's hand shot up. She appeared polite, pleasant. She was, in fact, a razor-edged, veteran high school English teacher who had been waiting to unload.
She began quietly, "We are told, sir, that you manage a company that makes good ice cream."
I smugly replied, "Best ice cream in America, ma'am."
"How nice," she said. "Is it rich and smooth?"
"Sixteen percent butterfat," I crowed.
"Premium ingredients?" she inquired. "Super-premium! Nothing but triple-A” I was on a roll. I never saw the next line coming.
"Mr. Vollmer," she said, leaning forward with a wicked eyebrow raised to the sky, "when you are standing on your receiving dock and you see an inferior shipment of blueberries arrives, what do you do?"
In the silence of that room, I could hear the trap snap. I was dead meat, but I wasn't going to lie. "I send them back."
"That's right!" she barked, "and we can never send back our blueberries.”
We take them big, small, rich, poor, gifted, exceptional, abused, frightened, confident, homeless, rude, and brilliant. We take them with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, junior rheumatoid arthritis, and English as their second language. We take them all. Everyone.
And that, Mr. Vollmer, is why it's not a business. It's school."
In an explosion, all 290 teachers, principals, bus drivers, aides, custodians, and secretaries jumped to their feet and yelled, "Yeah! Blueberries! Blueberries!"
And so began my long transformation.
Since then, I have visited hundreds of schools. I have learned that a school is not a business. Schools are unable to control the quality of their raw material, they are dependent upon the vagaries of politics for a reliable revenue stream, and they are constantly mauled by a howling horde of disparate, competing customer groups that would send the best CEO screaming into the night.
None of this negates the need for change. We must change what, when, and how we teach to give all children maximum opportunity to thrive in a post industrial society. But educators cannot do this alone; these changes can occur only with the understanding, trust, permission, and active support of the surrounding community. For the most important thing I have learned is that schools reflect the attitudes, beliefs, and health of the communities they serve, and therefore, to improve public education means more than changing our schools, it means changing America.
Jamie Robert Vollmer, a former business executive and attorney, is now a keynote presenter and consultant who works to increase community support for public schools.
My uncle Ron says this recipe is for those “splurge” meals we all need now and then. Enjoy!
Blueberry Pie Filling Ingredients:
5 cups of fresh Blueberries
Zest of One Lemon
Juice of One Lemon
2 Teaspoons of Flour
A pinch of Salt
14 Ounces of Blueberry Jam
1 Cup of Sugar
½ Stick of Butter, cubed
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and then put it aside while making Ron’s Pie Crust
Ron’s Pie Crust Ingredients:
5 cups of Flour
2 teaspoon of Sugar
2 teaspoon of Kosher Salt
1 stick cold Butter, cubed
1 cup of cold Crisco, cut up
½ cup of ice Water
Directions:
Pulse flour, 2 teaspoon Sugar and Salt in food processor till blended. Add Butter and Crisco and blend till the consistency of wet sand. Pour the ½ of ice Water into processor through top until dough forms to one side of the processor. Remove dough and form into a compact mound. Cut dough in half, and form each into a ball. Roll each ball out to ½ inch thickness. Place one on pie plate and the other on wax paper and place both in the refrigerator for one hour.
Once the dough has set in the refrigerator, fill bottom piecrust with the blueberry filling. Place the top piecrust in over the pie filling. Cut steam slits in center of pie. Leave 1 ½ inches of overhang crust. Roll overhang up and pinch crust all around rim of pie. Bake the pie in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes, then at reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 30 minutes. Remove the pie from the oven and pour the hot Orange Sugar Pie Glaze over top crust. Return pie to oven for 10 more minutes.
Orange Pie Glaze Ingredients:
½ cup Sugar
¼ cup of Water
The juice of one Orange.
I'll be when Carol Channing makes this recipe, she will use a different fruit. I'll just bet when she makes this pie, she uses...
Raaaaahhhsperries!!
