Sheri on Jan 31st 2007 BS
I gave a flute lesson here last night. After choosing my student’s solo piece for an upcoming contest and playing through it once with her, slowly, I dropped a bomb. She is involved in her school’s musical right now and she elected to be on stage rather than in the pit.
She plans on being an instrumental music major in college. I explained that when applying to schools, they do look at overall performance experience, but the bulk of it better be on her instrument. Makes sense, right? I told her that she needs to start being in the pit orchestra instead of on stage. I don’t think she was very happy about that.
I pulled out a scrapbook I kept all the way through college and showed her that going back to 1986, I was in every musical…in the pit. Since I had the book out, I showed her all the articles and programs from various performances I did as a flautist.
After she left, I continued to relive my glory days and googled old friends and professors. One of the professors I googled was Lovell Ives, who was Director of Jazz Studies when I was at UWGB. I found something very interesting while reading the various hits for Professor Ives. Back in 1992, I was a part of the group that recorded “Go! You Packers! Go!” which is the Green Bay Packers fight song. Turns out that even as recently as this past football season, this recording gets played at every game (I assume only home games).
Lovell directed the Packer Band. I was principal flautist at UWGB and he needed a flute/piccolo player for the recording. I got paid $90 for a couple of hours of studio work and had a blast.
And there’s still a piece of me out there, being played on a regular basis.
How cool is that?
Sheri on Jan 29th 2007 Sweets
It’s cold. Damn cold. Have I mentioned that I absolutely LOATHE winter?
I hate to be chilly.
I had 6 meyer lemons in the fridge and a mango that I picked up Friday night. What to do…what to do…
I am going to imagine that it’s July when I eat this.
Meyer Lemon & Mango Sorbet
1 1/2 cups water
3 cups sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
6 Meyer lemons, juiced (makes about 3/4 cup juice)
1 mango, diced and pureed
Put the water, sugar and zest in a saucepan on medium heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. Put in the fridge to chill.
Juice the lemons.
Puree the mango and lemon juice together. Put in the fridge to chill.
Once the simple syrup and mango/lemon puree are cold, mix them together and pour into your ice cream maker. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions. When the ice cream maker is done, after 30 minutes or so, it should be really thick. Pour into a freezer bowl, cover and chill at least 2 hours. I let mine sit overnight.
Dig in. Pretend it’s summer. Unless you can’t because you were dumb enough to take your sorbet outside to take pictures in the snow. Because you’re dumb. Really, really dumb.
Sheri on Jan 28th 2007 Main Dishes
The Man and I spent the bulk of the afternoon napping on the couches with the boys. It’s so flippin’ cold outside that we just didn’t feel like going outdoors to do anything. I went at 7 AM to finish up the grocery shopping and the car said it was 7 degrees. SEVEN DEGREES. My face froze in the 15 feet it took to get from the car to the store and vice versa. That was enough for me.
While I was shopping, I spotted a good-looking beef roast, so I grabbed it up and figured I would make it for dinner. I dreamt on what I was going to do with it and here’s what resulted.
Sheri’s Beef Roast
A 2-pound boneless bottom round roast
12 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 tbsp olive oil
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper
Cayenne pepper
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Using a sharp knife with a short blade, make 12 slits in the sides and top of the roast. In each slit, shove a garlic clove. Sprinkle all sides of the roast with onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and a VERY dash of cayenne. Let sit for a few minutes.
Put the olive oil in a skillet and fire it up. When the oil is hot, put the roast in the pan. Sear all sides to keep the juices inside and then get it out of the pan into your baking dish. Cover the baking dish and then put it in the oven. Bake for 1 1/2 hours.
Wine Sauce
2 tbsp butter
7 crimini mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1/4 cup onion, minced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 cup red wine
1 1/2 cups beef stock
A pinch of salt
3 tbsp cornstarch
Melt the butter in a skillet. Add the onion and mushrooms; saute until mushrooms are soft. Add the garlic and saute for another 1 to 2 minutes. Pour in the red wine and then bring to a boil. Once the mixture is boiling, add the beef stock and salt. Cook for 10 minutes, then whisk in the cornstarch. Reduce the heat and allow to thicken.
I served this with sour cream and chive smashed red potatoes and steamed broccoli. Another keeper.
Sheri on Jan 28th 2007 BS
…maybe he doesn’t quite get it.
Conversation at the grocery store:
The Man: “Look, honey!” He’s waving a bag of chips. “These don’t have transfats! You can eat these!”
Sheri: “Umm…honey?” Reads the back of the bag… “Read the bold print.”
The Man, taking the bag, reads silently: “Oh.”
The bag has in bold print, “Contains egg, milk, soy and wheat ingredients.”
So where do you suppose he got “no transfats” out of “no wheat, barley, oats and rye?”
At least he was thinking of me while grabbing his junk food, right? 
Sheri on Jan 27th 2007 BS
For those of us who suffer with various chronic problems, there is Chronic Babe. Posted there is this link.
If you’ve got family and friends who just don’t understand, read it.
Happy Saturday
Sheri on Jan 26th 2007 Main Dishes
Yesterday, I was in serious need of comfort food. You see, The Man and I got into it a bit via IM in the morning about 2 things: my time on the computer/not going anywhere and him never being home.
Ever since I stopped drinking 7 years ago or so, I haven’t been interested in going out with friends. Quite frankly, it’s just not fun for me to sit there and watch everyone else “having a good time” while I sip my glass of water. So I just stay home so I don’t have to feel out of place, a sore thumb, a red-headed stepchild. Well, my hair is red, anyway. :0)
The solution? The Man is going to check with his favorite watering hole if they can either get Sutter Home Fre or if I can bring in my own bottle. I know I would be willing to go out more if I had my own “alcohol” to drink.
I didn’t quit drinking because I was an alcoholic or anything - I quit because after a Christmas party 7 years ago, my hiatal hernia flared up so bad that I missed nearly a week of work. From that point on, if I drank more than a sip of any alcohol, it burned for 2 days. It just isn’t worth the pain - kinda like being gluten free!
So we worked it out. And I made a comforting dinner to celebrate. I am already regretting the lack of vegetables, but I will rectify that at lunch today.
Simple Cornish Hens
2 Cornish hens, cleaned
Sea Salt
Fresh ground black pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Remove the giblets from the hens and then rinse well. Pat dry. Using shears, cut the backbone out of the hens so that you can lay them flat. Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper; place skin-side down in the skillet. Brown both sides, then place in a roasting pan and put in the oven. Bake until the juices run clear when you pierce the birds with a knife, about 30 minutes.
We had ours with my favorite
risotto. Well, without the spinach.