Author Archives: kzmclain

I’m Swiss But the Steak Ain’t

Posted in Whimsies by

As I’ve mentioned in the past, Pinterest frequently decides what it thinks I’m interested in, and sends suggestions to me. The suggestions are often inexplicable and confusing. For a while, for example, I was getting pin after pin about how to build a chicken coop. I don’t want to build a chicken coop. I also don’t want to style my hair in an angled bob, mostly because I’d have to grow my hair for two to three years in order to cut it in such a style. I’d sooner shave my head.

Lately, however, I have been getting numerous suggested pins for Swiss steak. And for once, Pinterest got it right.

I frankly had forgotten all about Swiss steak. It was on Mom’s regular meal rotation. I recall liking it very much, especially if I could dip the meat into mashed potatoes. The tomatoes provided a tangy gravy that I loved. But she must not have had a recipe, because it certainly wasn’t in her recipe box upon which I rely to make her dishes, and peruse frequently.

Though I hadn’t given it a single thought as a child, I began wondering why it was called Swiss steak. My paternal grandparents immigrated to the U.S. from Switzerland, and I don’t recall Grammie making Swiss steak. I’ve visited many German restaurants in my life, and nope, no Swiss steak at any of them.

So I googled it. It appears no one really knows how it got its name, though most agree it didn’t originate in Switzerland. The best suggestion I read was that it came from the word swissing, which means pounding fabric to make it flat. Since Swiss steak involves tenderized (or pounded) meat, it makes a certain degree of sense. Well, a teeny-tiny bit of sense.

The weather has turned cold in Colorado, making it finally feel like fall. If I sound sentimental, just wait. Some weather forecasters are predicting snow, and then I will go back to just being grumpy.

But cold weather makes me in the mood for comfort food. You know, like Swiss steak. When the house is chilly and it’s even colder outside, running the oven for a few hours in order to braise a tough piece of meat into submission is a great idea.

So is making bread, which I did on Saturday. Breadmaking is a challenge to me. I have never been quite satisfied with my result. Until Saturday, that is. My white bread turned out perfectly. The outside was crusty and the inside was soft, with a perfect crumb. It had a nice yeasty, slightly sweet flavor, thanks to the addition of honey. (And don’t worry, I didn’t waste a drop of Dee’s Bees Honey on my bread; instead, I bought inexpensive store brand honey. I will put Dee’s Bees Honey ON the bread instead of IN the bread.)…..

And, by the way, despite the fall weather, I didn’t make a single pumpkin spice anything. But I did bake some raspberry cream cheese danish, thanks to store-bought puff pastry…..

By the way, at the end of the day, out of all of the numerous Swiss steak recipes fed to me by Pinterest, I chose to use a recipe by Alton Brown, as it seemed as close to my mother’s recipe as I could recall…..

 Swiss Steak

Ingredients
4 cube steaks
2 t. salt
1 t. black pepper
3/4 c. flour
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 T. tomato paste
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 t. smoked paprika
1 t. dried oregano
1 T. worcestershire sauce

Process
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Season the steaks on both sides with the salt and pepper. Place the flour into a pie pan. Dredge the pieces of meat on both sides in the flour mixture.

Add enough  vegetable oil to just cover the bottom of a Dutch oven set over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the steaks to the pan. Cook until golden brown on both sides, approximately 2 minutes per side. Remove the steaks to a plate and repeat until all of the steaks have been browned.

Remove the last steaks from the pot and add the onions, garlic, and celery. Saute for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste and stir to combine. Next add the tomatoes, paprika, oregano, Worcestershire sauce and beef broth and stir to combine. Return the meat to the pot, submerging it in the liquid. Cover the pot and place it in the oven on the middle rack. Cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until the meat is tender and falling apart.

Nana’s Notes: This is basically Alton Brown’s version of Swiss steak. I used cube steaks that have already been tenderized, whereas he used bottom round and tenderized it himself, mostly because he is Alton Brown. I only used 2 cube steaks, but left everything else the same. It took 2 hours. We ate it over mashed potatoes. Yum. Welcome to cold-weather cooking!

Friday Book Whimsy: Bone on Bone

Posted in Book Reviews, Whimsies by

I don’t normally review books that are part of a series because oftentimes, if you haven’t read the series, you won’t understand what’s going on in this particular book.

I’m afraid this is true of Bone on Bone, by Julia Keller, but it doesn’t matter. Here’s why: If I can get just a couple of people to pick up the first book in this series –A Killing in the Hills – you will be hooked.

The series takes place in a small town in West Virginia, not too far from Washington, D.C. Bell Elkins grew up in Acker’s Gap, and wanted nothing more than to get away from her small hometown. She was the daughter of an abusive father, and her mother was dead. Her sister Shirley went to prison for killing her father as it was looking like he would begin sexually abusing her like he was already doing to Shirley.

Bell grows up in foster care, and eventually goes to college, and then law school. She marries and has a daughter. She has a good life as an attorney in a major D.C. law firm until she realizes she is called to go back home to Acker’s Gap. She does so, and then becomes district attorney, where she faces all of the problems in small towns everywhere, mostly drug abuse.

Bone on Bone is the seventh book in the series. I don’t want to give you a lot of background because so much happens in books 1-6. Suffice it to say that Bone on Bone finds Bell facing a new beginning in Acker’s Gap.

The town is still facing a drug abuse crises – primarily opioid abuse. It is up to Bell and the former deputy sheriff who was seriously injured in Book 6 to come face to face with this crisis that is threatening to ruin the town she loves so much.

The Bell Elkins series by Julia Keller is meaty and gritty. The stories ring true and the characters are flawed but interesting and full of heart.

I can’t recommend the series enough. It isn’t light-hearted reading, but it is story-telling with a heart.

Here is a link to the book.

Here is a link to the book.

Thursday Thoughts

Posted in Whimsies by

Fancy Dancy
Bill and I were eating lunch the other day at a burger joint. As we awaited the arrival of our food, I noticed the ketchup bottle sitting on the table in front of me. Fancy Tomato Ketchup, the label proudly boasted. It occurred to me that I had noticed the word fancy on other ketchup bottles. What, I wondered, had to happen to ketchup to earn the word fancy on its label. I’ve never seen fancy mustard or fancy dill pickles. So when I got home, I looked it up. It turns out that the word fancy is given to ketchups with “higher tomato solid concentration.” I don’t know exactly what that means, but it seems the ketchup lobby had a lot of pull at some point in its existence…..

Pumpkinless
My faithful readers know that I annually, around this time of year, have my pumpkin spice rant. You might wonder why I haven’t expressed my frustration about All Things Pumpkin, and here it is October already. It might be that I am mellowing in my old age. However, I swear the pumpkin spice craze has peaked and is on its way down. I didn’t see one single bottle of pumpkin spice Pepto Bismol this year.

Now That’s Big
In Wednesday’s blog post, I mentioned that Maggie Faith had been to our house and had enjoyed rice krispie treats and an orange soda as her after school snack. Her mother commented that it didn’t take a lot of imagination to understand why she likes to come to Nana and Papa’s house after school, given the treats offered. She added that Maggie had told her that the rice krispie treats were “as big as her head.” I want to go on record as saying that the rice krispie treats were absolutely not as big as Magnolia’s head. They were considerably smaller. Papa’s fist, perhaps…..

Freshen Up
Starting this morning — perhaps even as you read this blog post — our painter will begin doing what he does best — painting. A large portion of our house will look shiny and new in a few days. When we bought the house, I told Bill, “I like the house, but I can’t live with this paint color.” Well, I did, for 26 years.

Batter Up
Sorry to all of my loved ones who are Cubs fans, but GO ROCKIES.

Time Flies

Posted in Whimsies by

I believe that days go slow and years go fast
And every breath’s a gift, the first one to the last. – David Frasier, Ed Hill, Josh Kear

I love those particular lyrics from country artist Luke Bryan’s song Most People Are Good. I’m not certain I agree with his notion that most people are good, though I hope he’s right. But I certainly believe that days go slow and years go fast.

Yesterday I was making my almost-daily run to the grocery store. As I was leaving, I overheard my favorite cashier — a man who has worked there for probably 15 or 20 years and whose line I will choose any time it’s practical because he’s so darn nice — express surprise at the time of day.

“Can you believe that it’s already 10:30?” he asked a fellow employee. “I hope the rest of the day goes as quickly as this morning has gone.”

I remember very well having that type of joyful reaction when a workday seemed to fly by. It was one of the reasons I always preferred being terribly busy rather than terribly bored. I had instances of both when I was an employee. Time seems to go faster when you’re busy.

Anyone who has grown children understands that the years fly by. We can remember when our kids entered kindergarten, made their first communions (Court looked so cute in his little blue sport coat and probably hasn’t touched a rosary since that day)…..

…..received special awards, graduated from college, got married, all like it was yesterday. Which is interesting, of course, can I can barely remember what actually happened yesterday.

The point is that the years just fly by and before you know it, your kids are grown. You look in the mirror and you can hardly recognize the person looking back at you. It’s the one thing I tell mothers and fathers of newborns: even though they tire you out and can make you crazy, enjoy every single minute with your children.

Grandchildren duties have kept me busy the past few days. There is truly nothing that makes me happier than spending time with our grandkids. Time with them is precious, because I know that before the blink of an eye, babies…..

turn into this…..

Addie was the bell of the ball at her high school homecoming.

So I am happy to take Cole to school and pick him up. I get to be the first one to listen to his stories about school. I sat with my friend Connor during Circle Time! And taking care of Maggie Faith after school for a while makes my heart soar. She’s my Death in Paradise-watching buddy, and a fan of my rice krispie treats…..

Not much better than a rice krispie treat and an orange pop at Nana’s after school.

Enjoy every single day! Your babies will be having babies before you know it.

Tingly

Posted in Whimsies by

Just when I think that I have heard about every odd phenomenon or fad known to mankind — slinkies, poodle skirts, Spongebob Squarepants — another one comes and reminds me that the world is getting away from me. Given my narrow universe, I’m fearful that when I tell you about this trend, you will say something like well of COURSE I’ve heard about that. What? Do you live in a cave? Did you also know that you can talk to another person face-to-face using something called FaceTime?

Still, when Kaiya told me about the biggest trend on YouTube these days, it stopped me in my tracks. Because let’s face it: I don’t even quite understand the obsession with YouTube anyway, so YouTube trends really throw me for a loop.

Okay, here goes. I’m talking about ASMR videos.

Autonomous sensory meridian response, or ASMR,  is a physical reaction to something that causes a tingling sensation on your skin that starts on your scalp and works its way down your spine. It’s supposed to be pleasant.

And because human beings are very creative creatures, people have begun making videos (and posting them on YouTube) that purportedly create a ASMR response in the viewers. And they are getting lots of hits that then result in advertisers paying cash money to resourceful teenagers and young adults noisily eating potato chips, creepily whispering, or brushing hair to the point of causing static electricity.

Here is an example. Please note, while you can watch as much of it as you wish, I haven’t been able to watch more than a minute or so, because frankly, it gives me the creeps…..

The weird world of YouTube has even made it possible to combine the slime craze with the inexplicable ASMR video craze…..

Seriously, I can’t help but think that anyone who watches an entire video MUST say well, that’s 20 minutes of my life that I can’t get back.

I’m able to keep up with current trends thanks to my grandkids. I will even admit to becoming somewhat enamored with slime, especially if I don’t have to make it myself. But the fascination with ASMR videos is beyond me. The whispering makes me cringe. The crackling of the bags makes me want to cover my ears and the chewing frankly makes me nauseated.

But count on Nana’s Whimsies to keep you up to date on trends, thanks mostly to my grandkids. You’re welcome.

I leave you with this: Bec, Jen, Bill and I are getting ready to make a ASMR video entitled Slurping Wine and a Martini. Is your skin tingling?

Team Work

Posted in Whimsies by

Back in the days when I got paid cash money to write, a lot of my job consisted of drafting letters or op-ed pieces or award nominations for others. It didn’t matter that someone else got the credit. Writing for others was a large part of my job description. The man who hired me taught me early on that when I wrote something for others and it got positive recognition, I should feel proud even if I don’t get the credit. And I always did feel a sense of pride. We were all a team.

The Bible tells us that Moses led a team of literally hundreds of thousands of Jews. He was old, he stuttered, and his team consisted of a lot of ungrateful grumblers. They complained that they were hungry, they griped about being thirsty, they always felt put-upon. And Moses had to settle all of the disputes for this enormous group of whiners and attempt to keep them upbeat and focus their eyes on the prize. So it is no wonder that when Joshua tattled to him in Numbers: 11 that two of his flock — Eldad and Medad — were prophesying on their own, Moses’ response was that he was happy that someone else was helping him out, even if they did have very weird names. Well, he didn’t actually comment on their names.

Anyway, hundreds of years later, Jesus taught us the same lesson. One day John took Jesus aside and told him that he witnessed someone casting out demons in Jesus’ name.  How did Jesus respond? Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us.

In a recent blog post, I talked about the little family who sits in front of us in church each Sunday. Specifically, I pointed out that Dad is clearly helping out Mom as she adjusts to the newest member — a little newborn girl who joins a 2-year-old sister. During the homily, our priest pointed out that there were times in all of our lives that we feel as though another person isn’t carrying his or her weight. That particular mom and dad looked at each other and literally laughed out loud. I’m guessing they have had many discussions around that very notion since the baby’s birth. Parents are perfect examples of teamwork that requires no one getting the credit. The most important thing is keeping your kids alive and trying to steer them away from being serial killers.

In other words, as long as we’re all working for the same just end, we’re all a team. It doesn’t matter who gets the credit. Humility comes from the grace of God and God is our just end.

Saturday Smile: It’s What’s For Dinner

Posted in Whimsies by

The other day when I watched Kaiya, Mylee, and Cole for the afternoon, I brought them to their home following dinner. This was the same night that he requested that I draw a horse for him. It was nearing bed time when he sat down next to me on the sofa.

“Nana,” he said. “I’m hungry.”

I wasn’t surprised to hear he was hungry because he hadn’t eaten a lot for dinner.

“What are you hungry for?” I asked him. I might be able to scrape together a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or heat him up some mac and cheese in the microwave.

He was quiet for a few moments. Finally he spoke.

“Crab,” he said.

He was hungry for crab. Oh, wait just a moment while I run to the store and buy you some Dungeness Crab Legs.

I laughed out loud. And then he ran off to the kitchen. In a moment or two he returned. In one hand he had a package of cooked imitation crab sticks. With his other hand, he was munching on a crab stick.

How does this child come up with these notions? And he will always make me smile…..

Hmmmm. What could I ask for that will really flummox Nana?

Have a great weekend.

Friday Book Whimsy: Be Frank With Me

Posted in Book Reviews by

I approached Be Frank With Me, by Julia Claiborne Johnson, with some trepidation. After all, it was a debut novel in which the title character is 9 years old. Still, it was being compared to Where’d You Go, Bernadette – a book by Maria Semple – that I also approached with trepidation, and that book turned out to be one of my favorite books ever.  So I dug in. I’m still patting myself on my back for my great decision.

Alice Whitley is given an unusual assignment by the publisher for whom she works. She is to become the personal assistant to writer M.M. Banning (called Mimi), who is world-famous for a classic book she wrote when she was a young adult, but she hasn’t written a book since. She lives as a recluse of sorts with her 9-year-old son, Frank.

But the unconventional writer lost her fortune in a Ponzi scheme, and now she is forced to write another novel to pay her bills. Alice will handle her affairs and keep her on target while she writes. One of her main assignments is to take care of Frank.

Frank is not your ordinary 9-year-old. He has a photographic memory, he dresses like he is a movie star straight out of the 30s and 40s, and he has no filter. He says what he thinks and he thinks what he says. He is clearly a genius. While the author never even suggests that he is autistic, it’s what obviously comes to the reader’s mind.

But eccentric though he might be, that same reader will be unable to not fall in love with this child. He is innocent and wise beyond his years. He loves his mother and Mimi loves him right back. It is a sweet – if odd – relationship.

Alice’s fondness for Frank grows throughout the book, and she sets out to learn the secrets in Mimi’s (and therefore, Frank’s) past. Who is Frank’s father? Is it Xander, the odd fellow who shows up on occasion and gives Frank piano lessons? And what has made Mimi not write for so many years?

Like Alice, everyone who reads this book will fall in love with Frank. He is a character I will never forget. I hope Julia Claiborne Johnson doesn’t wait decades to write her next book as did Mimi because I am eagerly awaiting her next book.

Here is a link to the book.

 

Thursday Thoughts

Posted in Whimsies by

If a Tree Falls in the Forest…..
As the summer months have gone by, Bill and I have been pointing out to one another that the aspen tree near our back fence — the fence we just went halfies with our neighbor to replace — appeared to be getting sicker and sicker. Last fall, Bill and I were sitting in the family room watching television one night when we heard a very loud crash. We investigated, and discovered that one of our aspen trees — this one on the side of the house — had fallen. Thankfully, that one fell onto our patio rather than onto the neighbor’s yard. We were worried that we wouldn’t be that lucky a second time, and if the tree fell towards our neighbor’s yard, the fence would be destroyed. So this past Sunday, Bill called upon our grandson Alastair to help him cut down the aspen tree. After much ado, they were able to get the tree to fall down into our yard. Here are the two Paul Bunyans…..

The Rest of the Story
After Alastair collected all of his attaboys and his twenty bucks for his hard work, Bill proceeded to begin cutting up the tree, using a hacksaw. I watched him work his  butt off for a while, and then I couldn’t stop myself from going out to, well, suggest to him that it might make more sense to rent a chainsaw. Bill has always been one to eschew the idea of renting, choosing instead to buy. I finally convinced him, however, that he could complete the job in a half hour instead of literally days of work. Furthermore, we have no need to own a chainsaw, especially since we are in the process of trying to pair down what we own. So yesterday, we went to a rental place and came home with a chainsaw that was ours for four hours for a mere $37. He accomplished a lot in a much shorter period of time….

Roughing It
Kaiya — along with her fellow fifth graders — was packed up and ready to go bright and early yesterday morning. She and her classmates will spend the next couple of days at a camp in Estes Park, where they will hike and sleep in bunk beds and eat camp food. I can’t wait to hear what this little fussy eater lived on for three days. She was very excited…..

Practically Perfect in Every Way
After all of my fretting, Bill and I have developed a system for getting him hooked up each morning, and frankly, we are DARNED GOOD. What originally took 20 or 25 minutes now takes no more than 10. Every morning when Bill comes downstairs, I have us set up to go…..

As for how he’s doing, if attitude counts for anything, he’s doing great. And truly, so far, so good.

Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch

Posted in Desserts, Recipes, Whimsies by

While Google News feeds Bill news stories about the economy or the international trade market, Google News feeds me stories about Keith Urban, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge or breaking news about Dunkin’ Donuts dropping “donuts” from their name. The last one really shook me up. I can handle the news about Princess Charlotte’s misbehavior at royal functions, but no “donuts” in Dunkin’ Donuts? When did donuts become the red-headed stepchild?

All that aside, it was via a Google news feed that I came across an article which provided the quintessential dessert from each state in the Union. I quickly perused the article, noticing that the iconic dessert for Arizona is sopaipillas, which surprised me since I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a sopaipilla in Arizona. Colorado’s, by the way, was Palisade peach pie. Maybe. Lord knows I’ve baked enough of those. And we should thank our lucky stars that it isn’t marijuana brownies.

As I was looking at each state, I noticed that the dessert for Indiana was something called Hoosier Pie. I knew what Hoosier Pie was because Bill’s mom used to make it for her family, and I had the recipe. She didn’t call it Hoosier Pie, despite the fact that she was born and lived in Hobert, Indiana, until adulthood, at which time (following a year or so at Purdue University) she moved to Chicago, where she spent the remainder of her life.

Instead, on the hand-written recipe card, she titled it My Mother’s Cream Pie. I mentioned it one time to Bill as I came across it in my messy pile of recipe cards. He immediately (and happily) said, “Sugar pie!”

This particular pie apparently has a number of names, and Sugar Pie is one of them. It’s also referred to as Hoosier Pie, Sugar Cream Pie, Finger Pie, and Quebec Sugar Cream Pie. While the names are different, the recipe is always basically the same: a cup of sugar, a tablespoon or so of flour and a cup of heavy whipping cream. Mix, put it into an unbaked pastry shell, and bake until it’s bubbling like a pecan pie.

Yesterday afternoon, I decided to make Wilma’s Mother’s Cream Pie. Except I changed it up. Now, I will tell you that my brother Dave has strict guidelines about changing a family recipe. For example, if I’m making Mom’s chili and I decide to add cumin to the soup (something Mom’s chili never contained), he maintains that I can no longer refer to it as Mom’s chili.

So I made certain to explain to Bill that while I was making Sugar Pie, I was going to use brown sugar instead of the white sugar called for in Wilma’s Mother’s Cream Pie recipe. Bill allowed as that was fine, not being as strict as my brother.

By the way, the reason it is sometimes referred to as Finger Pie is because traditionally, the Hoosier bakers would line the pie pan with the pastry, and then put in a cup of sugar and a little bit of flour, and mix it with their fingers. They would then add the cream, and oh-so-carefully mix that together with their fingers so as to not add any air to the whipping cream and to prevent damaging the pie crust.

In a million years, I couldn’t envision my always-proper mother-in-law mixing pie ingredients with her fingers. I did, however. And I used brown sugar, because that’s what sounded good……

As I served up the pie, I asked Bill if his mother served it with whipped cream. This man who at this stage in his life would prefer living on sweets instead of bothering with meat and (God forbid) vegetables, looked at me like I was crazy and said, “No to whipped cream. Isn’t it made from sugar and cream?”

Well, yes it is. But given Bill’s family of origin’s penchant for sweets, it wouldn’t have shocked me.

Here is Wilma’s original recipe. Mine was identical except I used brown sugar, and used my fingers to mix the ingredients while in the pie shell….

Wilma’s Mother’s Cream Pie

Ingredients
1 c. sugar
4 T. flour
1 c. cream
1 T. butter

Process
Mix sugar and flour together; stir in cream. Pour into unbaked pie shell and dot with butter. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes until you can insert a knife and it comes out clean.