RECIPE: Barefoot Contessa's Roasted Shrimp Cocktail

As you're planning summer get-togethers, a delicious alternative to traditional shrimp cocktail, and a big hit with my friends, is roasted shrimp cocktail. As a quicker fix, you may buy the cocktail sauce in your market's fish department instead of making it.

FOR THE SHRIMP:
2 lbs (12-15 count) shrimp
1 TBS olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

FOR THE SAUCE:
1/2 c. Heinz chili sauce
1/2 c. Heinz ketchup
3 TBS prepared horseradish
2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp Tabasco sauce

Preheat over to 400˚.

Peel & devein shrimp, leaving tails on. Place them on a sheet pan with olive oil, salt & peper, spread in one layer. Roast 8-10 minutes, just until pink and firm and cooked through.

For the sauce, combine all ingredients. Serve as a dip with the shrimp.

Recipe taken from:
Garten, Ina. Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics. New York: Clarkson Potter/Publishers, 2008.

(photo: Great Diamond Island)

Weddings

Weddings bring out the best in people, the best in families. My niece got married last weekend, the first of the next generation in my husband's family to do so. She graciously and lovingly included all of us - uncles, aunts, cousins - in all the planning and celebration, and each time we spoke to her, over approximately eighteen months since her engagement, she gave us the exact count of days left until the big day. Her enthusiasm was catching...and quite beautiful.

She is marrying a wonderful man, a man who has been deeply loved by his own family. It's obvious through his smile; his confidence in himself; his calm, kind spirit. It's interesting to me that sometimes you can look at a person today and know their history just from their demeanor, their actions, their path they've chosen, their way of being in the world and with others.

By inviting guests to weddings, the couple is offering us the opportunity, time and space to take a glimpse back into our own pasts. It makes us remember our own weddings, our childrens' weddings, our own journeys over the last five years or ten or fifty as we sit quietly in pews or in folding chairs on a beach at a resort destination and remember. It gives us guests the opportunity and the nudge to remember.

Weddings offer guests feelings of joy, hope, enthusiasm, love, community, and tradition. At formal weddings, we revel in dressing up and dancing in a room that sparkles with lights and candles. We mingle. We smile and laugh and cry. We reacquaint with friends or relatives we've not seen in years, and we remember and talk about good times past. We catch up with one another.

Weddings remind us that life is good, that we are blessed to have such family and friends. We are hopeful the new couple has a lifetime filled with happiness and togetherness. As older folks, we know there will be trials, as there are in all lives, all marriages, so we wish them the strength to hang in, forge forever forward together with grace and civility, and be ever-compassionate and caring toward each other. Lengthy journeys are made one step, one day, at a time. To start the journey under the auspices of all that is good is a solid base from which to build a beautiful future together.

"Drink & Dry" CD hits iTunes

My son, Matt's, second CD, Drink & Dry, was released on iTunes April 20, 2010. He says it's a "commentary on freshman year of college -- about drinking and drugs, fame, religion and the addictions people have." (Frank, Jr. has opinions!)

Some of the songs are aggressive and darker than his first CD. It's definitely exploratory as he's tried all sorts of musical styles and a wide variety of instruments. In fact on København, his goal was to use every instrument he owns (3 guitars, mandolin, drums, keyboard, synthesizer, cowbell, didgeridoo, etc.) and see if the result was music or a cacophony....it turned into one of my favorite songs. Just like his first CD, In My Rage, Matt has written all lyrics and music, played all instruments, and sung all vocals with a few guest artists whom he names on the songs.

Matt doesn't drink....really. Knowing Kaliquor is about date rape will have you listening in a much deeper way; it's clever and it's sad.

D351GN4T3D D13R translates to Designated Die-er, a song about drinking and driving. He's taking a stand by being vocal about the partying every day that he's seen.

I don't recommend some of the songs for kids earlier than 8th grade. He has a few of the songs available for listening on http://www.myspace.com/mattkalicky or he'd appreciate your support if you wish to purchase any of the songs or the CD on iTunes or letting people you know about it.

Putting one's art out to the world isn't easy; it takes guts. I'm always one to showcase others' art because of this. During a year with a lot on his plate, Matt has done this creative project, on the side, while getting through freshman year in Burlington. I share this here in my blog to recognize and honor him for the fine creative work he has done and because his leadership in taking a stand in this way seems unusual and worthy of us, adults, to ponder.

As Matt tends to do, he makes you think. Enjoy!

Musings from College Mom

April 30 marks the last day of my older son's freshman year of college. On that day, we'll pack up our cars with his clothes, Mac, guitars and amps, dirty laundry, linens, girlfriend's photo from his desk, fridge, and him. A different him from the one we dropped off last August, but still him. He'll take the four hour drive back to Maine for the last time of his freshman year with accomplishment tucked into his backpack. Hopefully, in subsequent years, that drive back and forth will only get easier.

For him, it's been a year of introspection, observation, and change. For Mom, it's been a year of introspection, observation....and change.

I thought I was "prepared Mom," all set organizationally-wise, emotionally-wise, and with a young man who was "ready," academically and maturity-wise. I didn't fear Matt couldn't take care or lead himself; as a first child, he's been doing that since about the second grade. I didn't fear he lacked self-confidence because never in his life have I seen "fear" in his face.

I didn't fear he couldn't make friends. His group of friends from the neighborhood are about the nicest, most grounded, fun, thoughtful kids I've met. Mind you, there were times as he grew up that we questioned his friends (not the current ones) and tried to influence his choices. What he chose himself was so far better than we ever could have for him. It's a testimony to him. We've learned over his young life that what he chooses for himself has been better in every instance than we ever could have chosen for him.

So what happened with all this preparation and apparent readiness? Tough. Freshman year has been an emotional roller coaster. I've missed him more deeply than I anticipated I would. Our house is so obviously missing the sounds of him: his guitar playing, his singing, his music, his feet running down the stairs, his "hey," the slamming of doors just from force not from anger, his laugh.

I've prayed almost every night, something I hadn't done faithfully for years. I wander the halls slowly and look at photo montages of when the boys were young and linger on the little-boy smiles that show him at five. I re-look at graduation photos. I tear up at the oddest of times, especially when driving and hit with a particularly pertinent song. I wonder what he's doing at any odd time - is he warm enough, is he in danger, is he lonely?

There's nothing I would have liked more than a child who said, "Bye, Mom" eagerly and happily and that he "LOVED" college. As hard as it is to let go, that scenario is actually easier than when you know it's not the be-all and end-all, all fun and games. This year has been a test of my parenting skills in a new way as we run headlong into this new phase. I've had to learn this next phase of parenting and what is most important for me to give and say at this time. It's all new, as each phase is. It takes a little trial and error to figure it out. As much as I'd love to jump in and help, I purposely make myself hold back and wait to be asked. And even then, teach and encourage instead of do.

My best friend's nephew leaves for Afghanistan for two years just before Matt will return home from college. That gives me perspective. And now for him and Matt, I will continue to pray every night....

"These are a few of my favorite things...."

I hope these simple things give you as much pleasure as they give me.

· James Taylor songs

· blue hydrangeas and purple irises

· skinny cappuccino from Arabica, in my own Dansk porcelain mug (I'm trying to save the planet one coffee cup at a time.)

· buying bread at Standard Baking Company early on a sunny, Saturday morning

· reading and looking at the beautiful photos in the Barefoot Contessa cookbooks

· strawberries and blueberries, freshly picked

· weekend cooking -- planning our evening meals is a weekend highlight

· Two Lights State Park, in winter

· sunset from the dock on Mooselookmeguntic Lake, Rangeley

· the tip top of a ski mountain, in the dead of winter, crystalline tree branches, North Pole-like

· John Denver's Greatest Hits (Rocky Mountain High is my favorite all time song)

· O, The Oprah Magazine -- I read it cover to cover, last page written by Oprah first

· the Cliff Walk at Prouts Neck, Scarborough

· big orange pumpkins, the shape of Cinderella's coach

· Cooking Light magazine (before their "makeover" in 2009) -- inspires me to exercise, eat healthy and cook

· reading in my bed before going to sleep, candles burning, shades open to a full moon over the field or listening to rain gently hitting our sky lights

· Starbucks Javachip ice cream

· the sparkling ocean on a summer day, talcum powder sand under my toes

· The Food Network -- Barefoot Contessa and Giada deLaurentis

· a blazing fire at a beamed ski lodge or at a rustic camp on the lake

· Maine Home + Design magazine; aesthetically beautiful and lets me dream

· memories of Paris with my Danish college roommate - Baguettes, ham, French cheese, and green apples in a basket have never tasted as good as they did in the gardens of Versailles.

· sunshine

· Evergreen Cemetery early on a Sunday morning in January, no one there but me

· puddle boots

· apple picking at "The Brothers" orchard in Alfred (a.k.a. Giles Family Farm)

· the first snowfall of the season

(photo: Turks & Caicos)

Robert Redford

In Out of Africa and Horse Whisperer, one of my all time favorite movies, Robert Redford played the same character. Before realizing this, I wasn’t particularly a Robert Redford officianado. I hadn’t seen all his movies. I knew I liked the man, that he was decent and giving and was about more than just acting. I loved what he’s done at Sundance promoting would-be film makers by giving them an outlet to come together, create movies, and awarding the outstanding which may help them get their start. I love his Sundance catalogue – the items sold, the jewelry, the photos, the karma which emanates from his short paragraph he writes on the first page of the catalogue that is so telling of who the man is.

We sometimes confuse actors with their characters, and I’m not sure if my admiration of him comes from him, what little I truly know, or from these two characters he’s played. In both Out of Africa and Horse Whisperer, he was a loner. He had his fingertip on the pulse of the natural world and the wild. He walked the plains of Africa and had an innate sense, from patience and practice, of when a lion would spring, and when she wouldn’t. In Horse Whisperer, he rode the ranches in Montana and could connect and read horses in a way many humans can not. Due to his calm, intuitive nature, he could read people and animals, and to this I am drawn.

He was matter-of-fact with uptight Karen in Out of Africa whom he enlightened by showing her one could not possess things or people; they were fleeting and weren’t for the possessing. We are all just visitors, passing through. He was matter-of-fact with extremely uptight journalist, Annie, in Horse Whisperer. He said few words but in those few, he taught these women so much in a gentle, unpretentious way. He helped them see and learn for themselves.

He so understood these women before many words were spoken. He had a knowing and ability to read people all the way to their core. His type can be unnerving, but I’m drawn to them. They can see through pretense and false fronts. In a quiet way, he elicited in these women a change in their lifelong ways of being. They were drawn to him – his honesty, his gentleness, his civility and respectful nature. He didn’t try to change or get things his way. He would never try to control or take over, and yet, there was never a question who the strong leader was. He led himself and his life in both movies precisely the way he wanted. He was completely true to himself and his nature and he, in so doing, found fulfillment in his days.

I am drawn to his characters because I understand them, and I strive to be more like them or find them in real life.

(photo: Shelburne Farms, Vermont)

Fireflies, song written by Lori McKenna

Makes me remember.

How about you?

Written by Lori McKenna / Pieces of Me 2001 Gyrox Records http://www.myspace.com/lorimckenna
Recorded by Faith Hill / Fireflies 2005 Warner Bros. Records, Inc.

"Before you met me I was a fairy princess

I caught frogs and called them prince

And made myself a queen

Before you knew me I'd traveled 'round the world

And I slept in castles

And fell in love

Because I was taught to dream

I found mayonnaise bottles and poked holes on top

To capture Tinker Bell

And they were just fireflies to the untrained eye

But I could always tell

Cause I believe in fairy tales

And dreamer's dreams

Like bedsheet sails

And I believe in Peter Pan

And miracles, anything I can to get by

And fireflies

Before I grew up, I saw you on a cloud

I could bless myself in your name

And pat you on your wings

Before I grew up I heard you whisper so loud

Well life is hard and so is love

Child, believe in all these things

I found mayonnaise bottles and poked holes on top

To capture Tinker Bell

They were just fireflies to the untrained eye

But I could always tell

Cause I believe in fairy tales

And dreamer's dreams

Like bedsheet sails

And I believe in Peter Pan

And miracles, anything I can to get by . . .

And fireflies

And fireflies . . .

Before you met me I was a fairy princess

I caught frogs and called them prince

And made myself a queen

And before you knew me I'd traveled 'round the world

And I slept in castles

And fell in love

Because I was taught to dream"

(CD photo: courtesy of iTunes)