The Day After, Buoyed by delicious food I make more / Poem: Death of a Tree

Two views of upended tree on Terwood Road and Greyhorse.

This huge ole tree, plus a few others were the source of our Hurricane Sandy power outage which lasted three days.

When I was on my way to Thanksgiving carpooling yesterday, I passed the tree - with a wow! - and immediately thought of a poem I want to write about it.

All day I cooked, read, slept, and watched the great American Masters' documentary Inventing David Geffen. Slept thru much of it cuz this little girl was tired!

If you love rock n roll watch it!



I just discovered Campari tomatoes, known for their "sweetness, juiciness, and lack of mealiness."

I stopped using canned tomatoes b/c the sealer of the can leaches out noxious chemicals, so when I make chili or soups with tomatoes I've been using live tomatoes.

Two people at Giant recommended these tomatoes - Barb the self-checkout gal and Robin, up in the community room.

This is how new products get discovered by families - or blog readers. I told my mom about Compari when we spoke today.

I can't believe how delicious my new breads are - whole-wheat challahs again. I gave Scott half a loaf and offered some to neighbor Patrick, via email, but haven't heard from him yet.

I get into the 'zone' when I'm making bread, esp. when kneading. I take the phone off the hook so I can totally concentrate and have a relationship with the ever-evolving dough.

For lunch, I had a hankering for something out of the ordinary. I drove off, literally not knowing where to go, and then spotted a new restaurant near the health food store Nature's Harvest.

It's called Colonial Quy-Bau and was wrin up here.

They've been open since January - 10 months - and seem to be doing quite well. When I got there at 12:30, the place was crowded. I brought a reprint of the Grateful Dead article to read and kept my insulin pen on the table, ready to shoot up after I ordered.

My Japanese eggplant and tofu dish was delicious, with a nice assortment of crisp veggies. The decaf was fresh, delicious and hot.

It all cost $9, plus $5 tip. That was my contribution to Black Friday.



DEATH OF A TREE

She stood at attention watching the cars along Terwood Road

Each year she grew a little taller

better views 

the Tyvek House across the street

the flowering magnolia with creme-soft petals

the snowman with silly stick arms at the corner house

Tulip Tree took it all in

standing guard on Terwood and Greyhorse.

Never complaining,

as her leaves shivered into curled hands during the rainy season

she laughed when the squirrels built their many-chambered nests

in her topmost branches

and felt tickled as the woodpeckers drummed for insects deep

Our Tulip Tree had but one wish she kept to herself.

If only I had feet, so I could stroll across the street and see how people and animals move about. 

My pretty leaves, like hair, would wave about as this giantess moves with the grace of a flower.

Come a windy day in November, our tulip tree got her wish.

She laughed, she cried, she howled

Titanic winds tore at her skirt

violating her modest being

whistling down her precious yellow leaves

"I’m falling, I’m falling," she cried,

and in those moments of pain

as her feet uprooted from mother earth

she witnessed the world,

a child taking its first steps,

she tried to see it all

the pelting rain

the rooftops of the houses she guarded

and the final thump

as she lay senseless 

but beautiful still

in the middle of

Terwood Road.     

Another Thanksgiving Blast at the Cartagena-Roches plus I got to read my poem! / Let us now eat our daily bread

Rich drove Donna's Prince Valiant car (just made up the name) across the Ben Franklin and into Clarksboro, NJ. I was in shotgun while Donna and Nikki were in the back seat.

Donna routed us to the cheapest gas station around, a Citgo. Let's see who owns Citgo. 

Citgo Petroleum Corporation (or Citgo) is a United States–incorporated, Venezuela-owned refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial products.  - Wiki

Hey! Before we forget, what's the significance of today's date? November 22.

Thinking time.

JFK was assassinated on 11/22/63, Terry Greenstein's birthday.

Always a lot of outdoor activity on Colonial Drive.

Paddy smiles even when he's knocked down. Later, we went for a walk. He rode his bike while I walked fast. When we got to the RR tracks at the end of the street, Paddy, who is 8, asked, "Is Santa Claus real?"

We had a long discussion about this. Paddy believes he's real but that when he arrives on Xmas Eve, Paddy won't hear him cuz he'll be asleep.

We also talked about the death of a young child, Isaac, who had been a neighbor. Isaac's parents moved out, said Paddy, b/c of the sad memories they had of living there with their only son, who had a disease that made swallowing difficult.

Mom arrived with Jade, husband Matt, and Jade's brother Miles, fresh from Boston University. She's greeted by her g'daughters Nikki and Melissa.

Donna cuts our whole-wheat challah, which Mom pronounced "Dry."

"Well," I said, unruffled, "it's not sposed to be moist."

Here's my new friend Jim Sutcliffe, a super-interesting guy. Dyou believe we were both reading a recent New Yorker story called The Vast Recorded Legacy of the Grateful Dead.

He subscribes to the magazine while I read only selected articles online cuz I'm too cheap to subscribe. I told Jimmy my cousin Ray Sewell of Eugene, OR, was the chef for the Dead.

He works in marketing at Live Nation and gets to see lots of rock concerts.

I watch them at half-time at the SuperBowl.

Jimmy was recently married to his beloved Angela Cordovano at San Francisco City Hall.

We raised our glasses to the two of them. And also to Jade and Matt, who just returned from a European honeymoon.

Oops, sorry I missed your face, Angie!
Jim said that in SF public nudity was acceptable, but they just rescinded the law.



San Fran City Hall. They enjoyed the various districts, such as the Mission, Presidio....names I haven't heard since I was 19 and lived in the Haight-Ashbury with my black boyfriend Curtis Branch. He used to hang out on the corner with his buddies and drink Chivas Regal.

Where are you now Curtis?

I came running out of the house when my daughter Sarah arrived. We gave each other a gigantic hug.

I was sposed to sleep over their house tonite but I didn't bring enuf insulin, dammit! We were gonna have a slumber party like we had back in Shaker Heights when I'd sleep over Mary Truby's, my best friend.

She brought me a beautiful gift from Paris.....picture postcards, plus a silver coin. Guest what? I left them at Nikki's. Aargh!

Two simply terrible pictures of my mother, who was in fine form. She was born in 1922.

Okay, that's better! Nikki looked lovely in purple and here's Angie, the newlywed, and Quinn and Donna.

According to tradition established by Steve Roche, we hold hands and go around the room telling what we're thankful for.

Steve, we think to ourselves, the food is hot and I'm starving. Why don't we do this after we're stuffed. I'll suggest it to him next year.

Crowd shot. That's Jade with the long hair.

Ah, my nephew Al Pomper now lives in Philly. He's loved taking photographs since he was young. Next to him is my nephew Miles Greene, on leave from Boston University. And there's host Steve Roche who made sure the beer was cold and frosty.

A few times when I saw an abandoned can or bottle, I took a sip or two. I do love my booze but I don't really drink. Got outa the habit at age 38 when I took psych meds for manic-depression.

Enter the turkey! It had been soaked in brine and was tender and delicious. Sarah made the mmm-good gravy.

Oh darn! I didn't get a picture of Tyler's friend Roxanne, who wants to be some sort of teacher.

Jimmy Sutcliffe asked me what short story writers I like. Alice Munro, a Canadian, I said, and also Chekhov whose "Lady with a Lapdog" is a masterpiece and can be read here.

I also told him that I'd recently read that Turgenev had wrin possibly the best love stories ever. Here's The Torrents of Spring.

I think I'll print out Torrents and read it in bed. But, first, lucky you get to read my poem.

LET US NOW EAT OUR DAILY BREAD

Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 22, 2012

Please accept these loaves of bread
the way Jesus fed the multitudes at Cana in Galilee
I am not Jesus, though I was born on Christmas, and
thought when I was manic, I was Christ, better than
feeling like Stalin

You’ll want to know what’s in these breads
they have no label or universal product symbol
Eggs are the basis of all challahs, which, Jew or gentile,
Democrat or Republican, I insist you pronounce like the Jews,
Challah!

Now there’s a perfect challah for you.
Then we add some cooking oil for lightness and don’t forget
the sweetener, I like honey, but Donna and I used agave nectar
from Mexico or South Africa

Raise your hand if your people are from South America!

My people are from Hungary, the tough Magyar race who lived
in the mountains, but my family rode the seasick ships to America
bringing their paprika and gefilte fish

Have I mentioned yeast?
I buy mine in a jar. It keeps forever in a machine called the fridge but
if you haven’t one, you may bury it in the cold ground or under the snow

Forget measuring cups. We have hands, don’t we? Cup your left hand
and you’ll find the perfect tablespoon which is how Donna and I measured
our yeast.

This bread is made with love.
We took the time to roll, with our lovely non-arthritic fingers, long sticks that we braided like Rapunzel’s hair into one magnificent egg-washed braid – don’t forget the poppyseeds - that rose in the oven

Then we turned the oven on, not like the Wicked Witch in Hansel and Gretel, but Donna’s oven beyond the granite countertops
“Light on!” we pushed and watched carefully until the three loaves were as
golden-brown as beloved retrievers who once passed our way or a few cats who are still with us

A challah is much more than a bread.
It is the history of our people, your people, my people.
Think of this with every delicious bite.

What I learned today at the Giant gas station!

I brought in two Giant bonus cards, mine and Scott's. Who has the most points?

I went inside and the man on duty, Rob, said he could COMBINE both points, so I got 40 cents off the $3.59.

While inside and waiting, I noticed they have a sink in the back AND a sign that read something like WHAT TO DO WHEN SOMEONE DRIVES OFF WITHOUT PAYING.

Of course I asked Rob about this. Yes, sometimes they forget, but often they do not.

Get a good description of the driver and the car. Then call the store manager.

Once, when I was manic, I went to Big John's Texaco in Hatboro (it's now a Sunoco station). Oh, my mind was racing a million miles a minute.

I got out of the car, went inside with my credit card, and left without any gas.

While I was running back n forth to my car, a man in a purple Harley pulled up. "What a beautiful bike that is," I said.

"Thanks," he said, smiling beneath his helmet. "Happy thanksgiving."

I'll tell ya, I just wanted to linger around that sexy gorgeous Harley. The man wasn't bad either, until he pulled out a cigarette.

I asked the men behind the counter What's your busiest day of the year, Black Friday?

No, they said, the Saturday after that.

How dyou know, I asked. Did they tell you in a meeting?

No, they said. From experience.




I understand today is Thanksgiving. The Greenwold Family is still trying to figger out how to get to New Jersey where we'll spend the holiday.

Conflicting messages come thru the email and over the phone.

"My car can fit us all"

then

"Go with Dan."

I'm going with Donna. And my breads. And with Melissa and Rich. Gotta bring all my paraphernalia. Scuse me while I pack.

Teaching Donna to make a Whole-Wheat Challah

Grace, how did you show up? She likes Mr. Tiger who protects my house.

But who's gonna protect me and Donna from wolfing down all the loaves of bread we made today?

I got to her condo around 3, and just got home at 8:30. In between we watched the first part of To Kill a Mockingbird on TCM, which'll be followed by Gone with the Wind. Can you believe it?

Scarlett, I've gotta miss you b/c I needed to come home to take my antirejection meds. I did bring my diabetes paraphernalia there so I could eat.

Some of the ingredients. King Arthur Whole-Wheat Flour from Kansas wheat is the best there is in the USA.

I also use about 2 cups of unbleached white flour to add a little lightness to the bread. I don't like dense whole-wheat breads, and, after all, this is a challah, light and fluffy.

When we were growing up in Cleveland, we'd buy our challahs at either Hough Bakery or New York Bakery and eat half a loaf on the way home. Is that right, Mommy?

Since Donna didn't have honey, we used 2 tablespoons of her agave syrup. I like my challahs to be a lil sweet.

The amount of liquid you use determines how many breads you will make.

I wanted four cups of liquid, which included warm water, 1/4 cup cooking oil, 4 eggs (warmed up in warm water), 2 egg whites, save the yolks for the 'egg wash' you'll put over the loaves.

You want everything to be warm to encourage the yeast to rise.

All you need is one tablespoon of yeast. Simply measure it in the palm of your hand. I don't use measuring cups or spoons. That way, you don't have to wash them.

I add a tablespoon of salt after I've added flour to the batter so it won't impede the rising of the yeast.

Donna had a nice stainless steel bowl we put the dough in.

After it doubled in size, we made a huge mound and got ready to divide it up. Donna and I would each work on our own half.

See those thin pieces of dough in the middle? These three will be kneaded into a braid.

We start the braid in the middle. When it's completed, we secure the ends by pinching them and 'gluing' them underneath with water.

The finished challah breads. We spread the 'egg wash' over each braid....

Egg wash is yolk mixed with a lil water.

Poppyseed on top is a must.

Now we pop it into the oven to rise half an hour. Then we bake for 50 minutes at 350 degrees.

The risen dough is now baked.

Fini....and lookin' delicious!

This is actually raw dough, waiting to be crafted into one more whole-wheat challah braid, this one for Donna and me to chow down.

Go Donna go!

Donna is painting the egg wash with heavy cream. She read in her new bread book that heavy cream gives it a nice crust.

We're gonna bake this for half an hour. And then we're gonna add a special mix like you find on bagels. Donna chopped up raw onions and garlic. We don't want them to burn, which is why we're adding the garnish during the last 20 minutes.

It came out beautifully. I set the timer for 20 minutes to let the bread cool and make sure it was done inside. A 'tigey' bread is the worst!

I like mine with butter. Absolutely scrumptious!

Put in your order and I'll bake one just for you!

In 2008, I wrote a post about Breadmaking as a Holy Activity. 

Sunday Movies at the Upper Moreland Library - Poem: The Last Movie

Here's our Movie Man - Maurizio Giammarco, PhD

He selects terrific foreign films for us to watch and always brings in cookies from an Italian bakery.

Sunday was the last movie for this season. I always attend the films unless I'm in the hospital for complications of my kidney transplant.

What makes these Sunday movies so compelling? Like most complex questions, there's not a single answer.

We watched Lorna's Silence by the Belgian filmmakers, the Dardenne brothers. Few Americans have heard of them.

I also checked out another Dardenne film, The Son, which was an amazing film, that like Lorna, was intensely suspenseful.

The Son was made specifically for the actor Olivier Gourmet.



Here's Olivier with the man that murdered his son. What a film! Sparse dialogue, as in all the Dardenne films, according to Maurizio. One Z please.



THE LAST MOVIE

Two o’clock on Sundays
a time I reserve for you
o Maurizio of the difficult pronunciation
Maurizio Maurizio
not one of your popular baby names like
Ethan, Jason or Jaidan.

You have survived the difficult name your parents gave you
and grown to look the way Maurizio ought
debonair, if they use that word anymore,
turtlenecked and jacketed with wisps of red hair
that, when young, made you the beloved of your family
and to your library audience
men and women past their prime
avoiding dotage with supplements and puzzles

You, a maker of films we’ve never seen,
are a keen observer as you teach at the front of the room
"Ah, there’s Christ imagery!"
"Ah, erotic imagery!"
I must look harder next time,
and the music, “if you will,” your favorite phrase, a simple
Beethoven sonata at the end of “Lorna’s Silence”
by the Brothers Dardenne

Your thick stapled handouts bring tears to my eyes
as I toss them, half-read, in my junk mail carton.
“Take two,” you say, “as you pass out cookies from your favorite bakery”
I confess that during Lorna’s Silence, where we are trapped in narrow spaces,
with ruthless people who make us squirm
I wish to comfort myself with more chocolate cannoli and that fat crumbly cookie
with morsels of goodness inside

The Sunday movies will be gone until January.
How can I live in these darkest months without you?
A chocolate cannoli perhaps on the third Sunday at two?

Hello again Larry DiBello! Med review

Larry DiBello was our guest speaker at New Directions. A retired pharmacist who worked in clinical trials for Eli Lilly, he keeps up with the latest drugs for everything, including mood disorders. Frankly, he told the group, there's not much new.

Larry and I met for dinner before the meeting. We ate at the KitchenBar where we each had salmon on a cedar plank. Scrumptious, plus as Larry pointed out at the meeting, salmon is full of fish oil, very healthy for folks with mood disorders.

Larry spends much of his time volunteering for the Family Resource Center at Friends Hospital. Call him with any med questions at 215-514-5110. Guaranteed to return your call.

Today, he and his wife Anna are heading out to spend T'giving with their daughter and her family in Fredericksberg, MD. I always remember the time I went to their home - very far away - I went with Denis and Fran Hazem for a meeting of DBSA groups - and Anna made delicious pound cake. A food-lover and diabetic like moi never forgets delicious food.

At KitchenBar, Larry and I discussed my kidney transplant and the damage done by lithium. I told him I contacted a woman to see if she'd publish my fabulous novel - her small press only publishes mysteries and sci-fi - and she told me she's waiting for a kidney. Yes, lithium. She's avoided dialysis by staying on a strict diet but has a fistula in place.

Before meeting Larry, I stopped at Kremp's for his gift. I got him two medium-sized poinsettias. They just got them in from their greenhouse.

The above photo is their fish pond with coi.



Then we headed for Abington Prez.

We had a good turnout. Larry is candid, honest and funny. Always a great speaker. In fact, I'm gonna call a woman in our group with IBS and tell her to call Larry for questions.

Before the meeting, "Jay" came up to me. He had taken Ambien for sleep and went into a horrific depression, as did another member of our group, who is still severely suicidal.

Jay said he heard on the news that the Mayo Clinic will stop prescribing Ambien b/c hospitalized patients often slip and fall when on the drug.

Highlights:

Use a mood chart - rate your moods between 0 (fine)  and 3 (severely depressed) -  and give it to your doctor.

Titrate (wean) all medications. Psychiatrists say: Start low, go slow, until desired effects are achieved OR intolerable side effects occur. Decide whether you can tolerate the side effects b/c of the benefits of the drug.

New drugs include:

- Viibryd, a serotonin increaser

- Savella - dual-acting, increases both serotonin and epinephrine. Indicated for fibromyalgia. "Indicated" means that drug tests have been done. Not indicated as yet for depression. These tests cost a fortune.

It's an effective antidepressant, said Larry, and doesn't cause mania, as many antidepressants do.

- Abilify has been out since 2002. My former psychiatrist gave me an Abilify tissue box which I kept in my upstairs office for many years until cobwebs started growing on it. Did you know humans have an innate fear of spiders and snakes? Just learned that on my audio book The Social Animal by David Brooks.

Abilify is now used as an add-on, or enhancer. Use from 2 mg to 15 mg. Indicated for both bipolar and schizophrenia. You use less in schizophrenia than for bipolar.

- Seroquel is also used as an add-on...use 300 to 500 mg. I love the generic name for Seroquel - quetiapine. Look at the suffixes of these drugs. That's how you find their derivation.

People take a lo-dose of Seroquel to sleep - maybe 25 mg - and a higher dose as a mood stabilizer, up to 800 mg.

Somnolence - or sleepiness - is a side effect. 

What's a milligram?



A teaspoon of sugar contains 5,000 milligrams. Thanks, Larry. Great point!

- Saphris. Not used a lot. Dosage: 5 to 10 mg. Asenipine is the generic name. Same 'pine' as quetiapine. Taken sublingually, under the tongue so it doesn't upset the stomach. All the above meds are used for both schizophrenia and bipolar.

- Latuda is only indicated for schizophrenia. But as we know off-label drugs often work for folks with bipolar when nothing else has worked.

- Clozaril is the first of the so-called atypical antipsychotics. Like most great drugs, it was discovered by accident. The Germans used it as an anesthetic and it was found to be a calming agent for schizophrenics. After that came Risperdal and Zyprexa. (I used to take Risperdal when I got psychotic and was very happy with it. However, I ended my manic-depressive career on thiothixene or Navane.)



And, yes, I did have the bottle. It was a great comfort to me.

Larry DiBello believes the best antidepressant is PROZAC. It's got a seven-day half-life, he said, so if you forget a dose it stays in your body. Many people in our group who forget to take a med feel the effect immediately!

Prozac is also indicated for OCD at 80 mg.

Many antidepressants are also indicated for pain. Cymbalta is a popular pain medication. It has numerous applications - including generalized anxiety disorder. It's also used for diabetic neuropathy.

- Some of the generic Wellbutrins are no good. "It's tricky to make a time-release capsule," said Larry.

Larry fought depression by running.

"I ran in 24 marathons," he said. "I'm not depressed anymore, I'm a cripple."

He has a metal knee and will get the other knee fixed in the near future.

Larry goes on his elliptical machine for half hour every morning. He might listen to music or simply run with his eyes closed and think.


Ah, that life has come to this. Machines.

Drugs for pain either work in your brain or in the affected area. Opiates do nothing to help with the problem, but anti-inflammatory drugs do, by reducing inflammation in swollen joints or wherever: Advil, Alleve, Naproxyn, and good old willow bark (aspirin).

- An extract of pineapple - Bromelain - has several uses - anti-inflammatory and also to reduce growth of tumors.

Larry suggests taking 800 mg of SAM-E. In Europe, you need a prescription for this, where it was studied. For some people it works as an antidepressant.

Be sure to ask your doctor if you can take any supplement. They may be contraindicated with your other meds.

- Sleep. Try Benedryl - 25 mg or Melatonin 1 to 3 mg, sublingual. Takes a week to work. Gee thanks.

- Omega 3 fatty acids. Larry suggests OmegaBrite. It was developed at Harvard. It was wrin up in the Archives of General Psychiatry for prevention of psychotic disorders!



Thanks Larry! Great talk.