Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Absurdity Rules
Labels:
Entertainmnent,
Ideas,
Videos
Welcome! I am an American writer and high school teacher. Please comment and share, as you wish. Taint: A Novel available at your local bookstore and on Amazon.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Peppers, Mother-in-law Style
Dice 1 medium onion. (Don't leave any big pieces, which I did due to large amount of tears.)
Soften the onion in canola oil (enough to cover bottom of pan plus some).
Add a heaping-ish table spoon* of sweet paprika.
Add about 3/4 cup white rice (a small coffee cup to be precise).
Cook for a while. Let cool for a while.
In a bowl mix 1 kilo ground pork, two eggs, 1 1/2 table spoon salt, 1 table spoon black pepper. Add cooled onion mixture. (We didn't add the entire mixture, leaving out a few heaping table spoons. It is important that there is not too much rice as it makes the meat mixture hard.) Mix well with hands. Then mix some more when your mother-in-law scoffs at your effort.
Then, gird your loins, and take out a little spoon and taste the mixture. Add salt if needed. She added more salt, about a half table spoon.
Stuff peppers. (I am guessing we had twenty small peppers.) It is best to find the small peppers with thin skin, often a yellow color. Cut off the tops and remove core and seeds. As you stuff the peppers, push the meat inside. Be sure to leave the outside of the pepper clean of meat mixture as it will muddy your sauce.
Place stuffed peppers in pot, preferably standing up with meat showing (but this will depend on the size of pot and the size/shape/number of peppers).
Cover with water. Add more salt to water. I've lost track---maybe a half table spoon again.
Bring to a boil and then simmer, covered. Cook at a good simmer for about an hour or until the rice is soft. (Taste it to find out.) The meat cooks first, so be sure to taste the rice. (I think that is what she said.)
Then add tomato paste. Gently stir in or pick up pan and swirl to mix. She bought four little cans (140 grams each). We put two in the big pot and one and a half in the little pot. (We don't have a large enough pot in this kitchen to hold all of the peppers.)
Then the tasting begins. Add 2 table spoons sugar to large pot. Taste. Some more salt (half table spoon-ish). Taste. More sugar or salt as needed.
After it is finished, around 2:30, leave it on the cool stove until you eat dinner around 6:30.
This is served in deep plates, always with sour cream offered on the table. You place one stuffed pepper on a plate and surround it with a ladle of the sauce. Usually there are thick slices of fresh white bread as well.
This dish is always better the second day. You can freeze it as well.
*table spoon = a table spoon not a tablespoon--more like a table soup spoon to be precise
Labels:
Food,
Transylvania/Hungary
Welcome! I am an American writer and high school teacher. Please comment and share, as you wish. Taint: A Novel available at your local bookstore and on Amazon.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Fall Numbers
Izabella:
3 years, 7 months
wt 37
ht 40.25
Lenard:
2 years, 2 months
wt 28.5
ht 35.25
3 years, 7 months
wt 37
ht 40.25
Lenard:
2 years, 2 months
wt 28.5
ht 35.25
Welcome! I am an American writer and high school teacher. Please comment and share, as you wish. Taint: A Novel available at your local bookstore and on Amazon.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Today
Today I have a babysitter to watch the kids between nine and twelve.
I am at our local favorite cafe, empty macchiato on the table.
The sun is hot through the front window.
There are students with actual textbooks and extra-fine mechanical pencils.
The muffin was satisfactory, banana nut.
I am reading the third book of The Hunger Games series.
Before I go home I will stop at Whole Foods.
Leo started to chorus "why?" the day of Hurricane Irene.
We are headed to Kansas next week. It's state fair time.
Back to Indiana in October.
Izabella will need orthodontics.
We didn't sell the house.
I still think that staying home and producing two human beings is as astounding as staying home and producing a manuscript. For the record.
Still a nonpracticing vegetarian.
When my kids play restaurant they serve cappuccino with a little bit of sugar.
I am at our local favorite cafe, empty macchiato on the table.
The sun is hot through the front window.
There are students with actual textbooks and extra-fine mechanical pencils.
The muffin was satisfactory, banana nut.
I am reading the third book of The Hunger Games series.
Before I go home I will stop at Whole Foods.
Leo started to chorus "why?" the day of Hurricane Irene.
We are headed to Kansas next week. It's state fair time.
Back to Indiana in October.
Izabella will need orthodontics.
We didn't sell the house.
I still think that staying home and producing two human beings is as astounding as staying home and producing a manuscript. For the record.
Still a nonpracticing vegetarian.
When my kids play restaurant they serve cappuccino with a little bit of sugar.
Labels:
Personal Narrative
Welcome! I am an American writer and high school teacher. Please comment and share, as you wish. Taint: A Novel available at your local bookstore and on Amazon.
Saturday, July 09, 2011
Leo at Two
The good news is that he made it to two. And me too.
Just after turning two while in Transylvania, the family picked up the Rotavirus. It hit Leo the day before we flew from Budapest to Boston.
The night before his well-visit at two-years-old with his pediatrician we were in the Emergency Room for dehydration concerns. They treated him with anti-nausea medicine and he seemed to respond and perk up.
The next morning at his check-up he measured thus:
Ht. 34.5 inches, 52%
Wt. 24.5 pounds, 11%
HC. 48 centimeters, 32%
Later that morning we got the call from the hospital that he tested positive for Rotavirus.
That evening I carried my waif to the car and returned to the ER for an IV line to rehydrate him.
That makes four trips to the ER this summer. Iza, 1. Leo, 3.
Our local ER at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, where Leo and Iza were born, is wonderful. Can't say as much for Budapest!
Rotavirus is terrible. Yes, there is a vaccine. No, he wasn't vaccinated. His sister was. (That requires a longer post to explain.) In short, if there is a third child, that child will be vaccinated. Rotavirus compounded by international travel and jet lag creates a surreal 3 - 8 days. We are on day 4.
Just after turning two while in Transylvania, the family picked up the Rotavirus. It hit Leo the day before we flew from Budapest to Boston.
The night before his well-visit at two-years-old with his pediatrician we were in the Emergency Room for dehydration concerns. They treated him with anti-nausea medicine and he seemed to respond and perk up.
The next morning at his check-up he measured thus:
Ht. 34.5 inches, 52%
Wt. 24.5 pounds, 11%
HC. 48 centimeters, 32%
Later that morning we got the call from the hospital that he tested positive for Rotavirus.
That evening I carried my waif to the car and returned to the ER for an IV line to rehydrate him.
That makes four trips to the ER this summer. Iza, 1. Leo, 3.
Our local ER at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, where Leo and Iza were born, is wonderful. Can't say as much for Budapest!
Rotavirus is terrible. Yes, there is a vaccine. No, he wasn't vaccinated. His sister was. (That requires a longer post to explain.) In short, if there is a third child, that child will be vaccinated. Rotavirus compounded by international travel and jet lag creates a surreal 3 - 8 days. We are on day 4.
Labels:
Lenard,
Personal Narrative
Welcome! I am an American writer and high school teacher. Please comment and share, as you wish. Taint: A Novel available at your local bookstore and on Amazon.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Observed in the Park
There is a large wooden gate designed for a kid to open and close and open and close to pacify a manic-obsessive heart's content. A toddler of the boy variety is doing just that. His father warns him to stop because he will pinch his fingers. The warnings turn to shouts. The father stomps over, yanks the offending fingers away from the door, and again reprimands the crying boy. He pulls the kid away from the door and leaves him standing there in tears. And then. The father reaches over and pinches the already sobbing little boy on the chest. Hard. See, if the door won't pinch you. I will. And the father walks back to his bench.
By the way, as far as I can determine, the door is designed in such a way that it is nearly impossible to pinch little fingers.
By the way, as far as I can determine, the door is designed in such a way that it is nearly impossible to pinch little fingers.
Labels:
Personal Narrative
Welcome! I am an American writer and high school teacher. Please comment and share, as you wish. Taint: A Novel available at your local bookstore and on Amazon.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Top Ten
Turkish Delight
wide-brimmed straw hats in summer
jasmine pearl tea
eyewear
outdoor fruit and vegetable markets
tepertős pogácsa
freshly ground peanut butter
baking bread
being in my body
pockets
Széchenyi Fürdő
my mother's dumplings
rocking chairs
giving books I love to people I think might love them too
The Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter
diners
grandma Kelley's rice casserole
home made play dough
Le Mans Hall
midwives
baking muffins
Spencer Tunick
wool socks, knee-knigh, with stripes
Coin-Operated Boy by the Dresden Dolls
bread and butter
pumpkin
church bells
African chicken and peanut soup from the New England Soup Factory
martini with blue cheese stuffed olives
1059 Riverside
singing the ABC's as a lullaby
gesztenyepüré
yogurt
sneaking away from a sleeping baby
bodza
Book Club
Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins
Rome
sunflowers
avocados
Indigo Girls
dandelions
sleep
Warren Dunes State Park
french fries
blue
the fact that baking bread is so simple
clean pressed sheets
walking by a lilac bush in bloom
holding hands
playgrounds
NPR
Prairie Home Companion
PBS
hard wood floors
freshly squeezed ABC juice--apple, beet, carrot
handmade afghans
Jeune Homme Nu Assis au Bord de la Mer, by Jean- Hippolyte Flandrin
wide-brimmed straw hats in summer
jasmine pearl tea
eyewear
outdoor fruit and vegetable markets
tepertős pogácsa
freshly ground peanut butter
baking bread
being in my body
pockets
Széchenyi Fürdő
my mother's dumplings
rocking chairs
giving books I love to people I think might love them too
The Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter
diners
grandma Kelley's rice casserole
home made play dough
Le Mans Hall
midwives
baking muffins
Spencer Tunick
wool socks, knee-knigh, with stripes
Coin-Operated Boy by the Dresden Dolls
bread and butter
pumpkin
church bells
African chicken and peanut soup from the New England Soup Factory
martini with blue cheese stuffed olives
1059 Riverside
singing the ABC's as a lullaby
gesztenyepüré
yogurt
sneaking away from a sleeping baby
bodza
Book Club
Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins
Rome
sunflowers
avocados
Indigo Girls
dandelions
sleep
Warren Dunes State Park
french fries
blue
the fact that baking bread is so simple
clean pressed sheets
walking by a lilac bush in bloom
holding hands
playgrounds
NPR
Prairie Home Companion
PBS
hard wood floors
freshly squeezed ABC juice--apple, beet, carrot
handmade afghans
Jeune Homme Nu Assis au Bord de la Mer, by Jean- Hippolyte Flandrin
Labels:
Personal Narrative
Welcome! I am an American writer and high school teacher. Please comment and share, as you wish. Taint: A Novel available at your local bookstore and on Amazon.
Monday, May 16, 2011
And Then
And then Leo stepped off the curb.
I reached for him, grabbed his arm. I pulled him back and then
I jumped in front
of the car to push it away from him.
And then I
thought: it's okay that I have my hands pressed into the grill. when I
hit the pavement bones and muscles might give way. A second birth.
And then
I screamed,
My Baby, My Baby, My Baby.
His nose was
bleeding, he cried.
I shouted, Leo too? The car, Leo too? (In broken Hungarian)
I knew the car hit
me (or I hit the car). I wanted to know if the car hit Leo.
No one could say. Or would say.
I sat on the curb.
Leo sat upright in my lap, heart to heart. His blood soaked my shirt.
I reached for Iza.
She came and stood next to my, stroking my back. She took care of
me. (That's not her job.) She never cried.
Later a witness
said the car's front tire hit Leo in the head.
And then the
ambulance came. The police.
There was no
fault. Except mine, of course. I am the mother.
It is my job to keep them
alive,
at minimum.
at minimum.
The driver:
a young man in a suit. Two other young men in the car, wearing
suits. I didn't say a word to them. I wish I would've told
them they weren't to blame.
I worry about them too.
I worry about them too.
People rushed to
the scene: A woman with a child on her hip, a nurse from high school next
door, several men. There was shouting and silence. Someone offered
me water.
I refused, but then directed them to pour it over Leo's finger. It poured over his raw flesh. Iza quickly pointed out that the water was spilling. This part of the story she always repeats,
when the water spilled.
I refused, but then directed them to pour it over Leo's finger. It poured over his raw flesh. Iza quickly pointed out that the water was spilling. This part of the story she always repeats,
when the water spilled.
I took Leo's
finger, his right index finger, bloodied, and put it in my mouth.
I sucked it clean. I was calm.
I sucked it clean. I was calm.
In the ambulance they bandaged my scrapes, but never examined me. They felt Leo's head, but never took off his shoes or clothes to look for
wounds. Later I will see his elbow is scraped raw.
And then, sitting
in the ambulance, the police asked my name. Janet Kelley, or Kelley
Janet? (In Hungarian they say the family name first.) Birthdate?
11/18 or 18/11? (In Hungary they offer the day first, then the
month.) In my head I shout: absurdity! who the fuck cares!
Drive us to an x-ray machine!
Laszlo had left
that morning for Zurich. I had no cash, no phone (it was in the
apartment), and no passport. I didn't know our street address. I
knew the street, but not the house number.
And then the
ambulance was driving quietly, sedately through tree-lined Budapest avenues
toward a hospital. Leo fell asleep in my arms. I checked to see he was breathing.
The x-ray
technician was hostile, to say the least. She wanted me to hold
Leo a certain way and I didn't understand. And then when I did
understand, I tried to say I couldn't hold his face that way because my hand
was in pain. Her response, if you don't do it we can't take the x-ray.
So what is a
little more pain?
The x-ray showed
no damage to the bone. And they released us. We took a taxi home, no car
seats.
The accident happened
at noon. We were home by two.
And then, lunch as
usual.
And then
I pulled Leo back. I felt him slip from my grasp.
I jumped in front of the car. You know, to stop it.
I jumped in front of the car. You know, to stop it.
I walked away. Leo
walked away.
Izabella watched
the entire event from the curb. This terrifies me.
And then, again,
Iza asks, "Do you wanna tell about it? Accident? When
the car came?"
I am convinced
the car didn’t hit Leo. I am sure his head injury was caused when I
pulled him back and he fell down on the street.
I almost wish I
had a broken bone.
And then I was waiting in front of the nursery's large wooden door on a narrow street in Budapest, close to the castle. It was noon. Clear, sunny fall day. The children raced
down the sidewalk as they returned from the park. I was there to pick up Iza
and Leo. It was their third morning in the nursery. I brought them at ten
and then
was supposed to return at noon. Two hours. And then
was supposed to return at noon. Two hours. And then
a woman in a car
was waving hello (or asking if she could park?) and
then we were all
saying hellos--six kids, two teachers, and myself.
And I hugged and kissed my kids
And I hugged and kissed my kids
and then there was
small talk or not and hungry kids ready to go inside to lunch and naps and then
Leo stepped off
the curb.
"Do you wanna talk about it? Accident?"
Yes, I do. As many
times as you do, Iza. And then
again.
Labels:
Izabella,
Lenard,
Personal Narrative,
Transylvania/Hungary
Welcome! I am an American writer and high school teacher. Please comment and share, as you wish. Taint: A Novel available at your local bookstore and on Amazon.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Thursday
Iza, we need to wash your hair.
Can we do it on Tuesday?
Iza, let's get dressed so we can go to the park.
In two minutes, mama.
Iza, can you find your shoes?
No rush, mama. Take your time.
Can we do it on Tuesday?
Iza, let's get dressed so we can go to the park.
In two minutes, mama.
Iza, can you find your shoes?
No rush, mama. Take your time.
Welcome! I am an American writer and high school teacher. Please comment and share, as you wish. Taint: A Novel available at your local bookstore and on Amazon.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Spring Blossoms
The kids are kids now, not babies.
How is this threshold defined? They still nurse, both of them. So that is not entirely part of the definition. Our nursing days are numbered, however.
An important milestone is definitely their enrollment in ovoda, in our case this means a family daycare in Budapest. We have opted to send them both three mornings a week. I stayed one morning with them and they have spent one morning without me.
I don't think that preschool is necessary and my motivation for sending them is twofold: 1) mama needs time sans kids and 2) we want them to be immersed in a Hungarian language experience.
How is this threshold defined? They still nurse, both of them. So that is not entirely part of the definition. Our nursing days are numbered, however.
An important milestone is definitely their enrollment in ovoda, in our case this means a family daycare in Budapest. We have opted to send them both three mornings a week. I stayed one morning with them and they have spent one morning without me.
I don't think that preschool is necessary and my motivation for sending them is twofold: 1) mama needs time sans kids and 2) we want them to be immersed in a Hungarian language experience.
Welcome! I am an American writer and high school teacher. Please comment and share, as you wish. Taint: A Novel available at your local bookstore and on Amazon.
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