The No Good Day

Yesterday afternoon kind of sucked. I would like to go ahead and just get my spleen vented here.

My air conditioning does not work. It is going to cost me more money than I would like to spend to get it fixed. And we are in the middle of a major heat wave. This has left me hating life.

After finding out that we were going to be hot and miserable for at least another day. Audrey decided to projectile vomit all over the back seat of the car. Leaving me to wonder why one can't outsource certain aspects of motherhood to distant lands, like vomit clean up or sick care. So I spent my hot and miserable afternoon hosing down the car seat and steam cleaning the upholstery while simultaneously praying she wasn't ralphing on my couch when I wasn't looking.

The vomit incident has also caused me to throw away a really great lunch box. (I gave it to her to throw up into, which she did and then threw it on to the floor board and puked again. YAY!) I also will have to miss my first kitchen day in my new class, which sucks. Normally I would just go ahead and make the same thing at home, but I am not roasting pork loin on a day when it is going to be 105. Thanks anyway.

I am trying to look on the positive side here and there are a few things.

1. My car really needed a steaming anyway.

2. The car seat SUPER needed to be cleaned even before the vomit incident.

3. ........ok, that's all I got.

Winning Wines

Wine class is drawing to an end. And I am sad. This class has really grown on me. In fact, I might even be tempted to say it has been the best class so far. While it isn't a cooking class, I feel like I have learned more than I have in my cooking classes to date. (The first cooking class actually had no cooking, and the second was mostly cooking many of the same things I cook at home already.) Plus, how can you dislike a class that requires you to taste wine for an hour? If you like wine, of course. And I like wine, a lot.

Not only has wine class become a lot of fun, the teacher has really relaxed and started to have a good time with our class. I think that there is still a smidge of wine snobiness in him, but I think that it is hard to find a wine guy who would appreciate, say, a boxed wine. He is only interested in discussing the established "fine" wines that have "culinary importance". Things that aren't established or widely regarded as "fine" wine are glossed over or ignored. (This gives Maria fits because she REALLY wants to discuss the newly discovered Carmenere grape and he refuses to engage in that discussion.) He has gone out of his way to bring in different wines for the class when a preference or aversion is mentioned. He is patient beyond what I can imagine with the loud mouthed girl in the back row to constantly refers to the wine as "pukey" and insists that it all smells like chemicals and cat food. (He is gracious when I want to pop her and tell her to shut up. If you don't have anything nice/constructive to say than SHUT yer yap for crying out loud.)

In fact, the one problem that I have had with my wine class is that I feel compelled to do some home research. And that is expensive my friends. I have gone from drinking a bottle or MAYBE two a week as a before bed glass to going through a bottle of wine with my dinner companions every night. Because the real goal of the class is food pairing, dinner is the time to do this. Due to this focus on pairing, my wine "cellar" mix has definitely changed quite a bit. When I am drinking after dinner, often with chocolate (don't judge me!), I tend toward cabs. So that is what I have on hand. Lots of Cabernet. My cellar is usually a case of Liberty School and a case of Montes Alpha with a handful of better cabs strewn in there for "special" occasions or dinners with friends. Now I am sporting a handful of Alsace whites, some Sauvignon Blancs, Zins, a few Pinot Noirs, Chiantis, Barberas, and a Carmenere. (What can I say, Maria talked me into it at the wine shop.)

Some of the wine pairings have been very good. There is a reason that Barbera wines go super well with tomato-ey Italian food. Last night we had a WONDERFUL (J Vineyards) Pinot Noir with Salmon. Some have been a little odd to me be received by others much better, Spatlese Reisling with Thai food for example. I don't think that we have had a particularly bad mix yet. The Alsace whites are not particularly good for sipping alone, but paired really well with a snapper dish. So I would call that a success.

The only thing I have not learned in this class is how to really appreciate a Chardonnay. I still don't relish the idea of taking that particular grape on to my palate. I have learned that good to great Chardonnays SMELL like heaven, even if the taste doesn't seem to match up for me.

I had fully intended to come in here and write about culinary school. Everyone likes to read about it they tell me. And why shouldn't you, food is fun. But then I read that someone I really like and admire has found out that their brother in law was diagnosed with Cancer and is waiting for information and more tests to determine a course of action. And that sucks. It particularly sucks because this week three different people I know are stepping up to say that Cancer is coming into their lives or may be making a reappearance.

I never know what to do or say to someone who is dealing cancer. I am always sure that my mere existence is a constant reminder to them that their loved one may not make it. And who really wants to subject themselves to that when your brain is already shouting, "DANGER Will Robinson, DANGER." On the other hand I am probably someone who KNOWS what you are going through. I have been there and done that and come out the other side. So I offer up some things I found to be truths in my dealings with the big C. (Although your mileage may vary.)

1. You are never more together as a couple as you are when you are fighting cancer. Coming together to work toward a common goal will focus you on your family and what is important to you in a way that nothing else will.
2. You are never further apart than you are when you disagree about what must be done in a life and death situation. It is hard to watch someone you love struggle and feel that they are not brave enough to take the next step.
3. Cancer can stop the world. Like I said in #1, Cancer can push things to the back. This can be a good thing but it can be a double edged sword. It is easy to not worry about anything but this moment and then find that a year or more has gone by and you haven't spent more than a trivial amount of time thinking about anything but Cancer. This is particularly true because there are people who live with Cancer for years. I can only imagine that it begins to feel like you are stuck in a never-ending session of mental torture. Think about something else for a bit. Seriously, try thinking about yourself and what you enjoy.
4. The patient will spend most of their time worrying about his/her family, everyone else will spend their time worrying about him/her. Don't dismiss either concern. You may think that no one needs to worry about you, but that doesn't mean that they are going to stop or that the worry isn't valid.
5. Stop talking about cancer all the time. Try it just for a day. Declare one day a week CANCER FREE day and just take a day that you don't discuss the same thing over and over again.
6. Take a moment to realize that people are flawed and you are stressed. They will annoy you. Possibly even infuriate you. Try to look for the meaning behind the actions/words that are driving you up a wall. You may find that they mean well but don't know how to show it. Or you may find that they deserve to have the air let out of their tires in the middle of the night. If the later is the case, call me and we will plot.
7. For those who know someone who is struggling with the cancer of a loved one, realize that people handle stress and grief differently. Some people are calm and make light, that doesn't mean they don't care. Some people are filled with rage and fury and rail at the world, that doesn't mean you should avoid them. Compassion is key.

I think that is all I got right now.

If you are what you eat....

Today I attended a parent's meeting at Audrey's school in which they spelled out a lot of new policies for this school year. To say that I am not happy about some of them is an understatement. I have spent the afternoon trying to obtain some perspective on the one that has me frothing at the mouth, and it has eluded me so far.

Her school is banning any homemade items from being shared with the class. All class parties or celebrations must be done with food that is prepackaged with a complete ingredient list attached. As a chef-in -training this is truly abhorrent to my way of thinking. No Noah's bagels dropped off for the class, no homemade cookies or cupcakes for the birthday celebrations. Only Sara Lee bagels from a bag and Hostess Cupcakes. Please do not bring in fresh cut fruit, instead grab some canned peaches in heavy syrup. And they are going to schedule a classroom celebration once a month full of this type of food.

On one hand I get it. Kids have allergies, it is hard to keep track of them and monitor that the class treats don't have something that the kid is allergic to. A complete ingredient list helps that.

On the other hand, I am saddened and angry for several reasons. I am sad for myself because I enjoy making things for Audrey's class and the school teachers. I think that feeding other people is one of the clearest ways of showing you appreciate them, care for them, or are interested in knowing them and I will be no longer able to convey that message in that manner. I don't cook for people I don't like, and I like the people who make me and my kid happy. I am sad for Audrey because SHE likes that I cook for the class sometimes and asks me to. I am angry because in a time when we should ALL be teaching our children that processed food is not the best choice, it is being mandated by the school as a CYA method to deal with the extremely small percentage of allergies that would make this necessary. I am frustrated that they are not dealing with this on an individual basis, perhaps working with the parents in each class that have allergies to educate them on what can and can not work for the class as a whole. (For what it is worth, I have brought in egg free and gluten free treats to Audrey's class when the roster makes it necessary and have never harbored even a second thought about it.) I am angry that this puts me in a position where I have to be either a really mean mom and ban my kid from participating in the class parties, or have have to suck it up and allow her to eat things that I don't want in her diet more often than I would like. I am frankly just kind of pissed that someone would think that the solution to any food issue is to feed our kids more chemical-laden, preservative-riddled crap. I find it exceptionally infuriating that they are making an exception for things brought in for the teachers to eat. Because THEY want food that tastes good delivered for their teacher appreciation week. And guess what? The food that tastes the best isn't the stuff that comes pre-wrapped.

I keep telling myself that really it is minor in the long run. This is about class parties, Audrey will probably just learn to stop asking if we can make things for the class. The dose of massive sugar, pesticides and red dye #40 that she gets once a month at school probably won't cause major damage to anything but her mother's psyche and frankly I do feed her some of that on my own at home so she is not entirely a stranger to it anyway. But I still just seethe about it. I would love for my daughter to be able to learn about her classmates cultures by eating curry on her Indian friend's birthday or try a Cantonese dish made by one of her classmate's parent's but she won't get that option and the list of ways to share a culture and learn about each other is diminished. And that makes me saddest of all.

More School Stuff

I thought I should put it out on the internets that wine class is definitely getting better. As we have moved into tasting I have been finding that I have grown to like my instructor a lot and my first impressions were either flawed, or are overcome by his passion and excitement about a mutually interesting subject. It also helps that when he found out that I am particularly fond of Rhone wines he brought in some really spectacular bottles for the class. It is hard to be ambivalent about someone who goes out of their way to be nice to you.

I like wine. I like to drink it a lot, but I don't usually stray too far from my preferred choices of Syrah or Cabernet Sauvignon. I have found that I enjoy several other kinds as well through the class. But, I have also found that my dislike of Chardonnay also rings true. Whether it is done in a light breezy Chablis style or a deep complex Cote D'or, I simply don't like it. There is something about the grape that just doesn't work for me. I may have to experiment and see if I can find a food I like it with, but you won't catch me savoring a second glass after my meal is done.