In Honor Of St. Paddy, A Story About Corned Beef & My Daddy

March 17, 2015January 28, 2021 / Ally Bean / 16 Comments

Here’s a memory from my childhood, which was in many ways more unusual than most. 😉

St. Patrick’s Day reminds me of my father.

He loved this holiday, partly because of his Irish heritage and partly because of the whisky [and whiskey] that flows on this day.

Among the many things that I could tell you about him, I’ll start with the fact that he was a genius. As in, GENIUS. Scary smart. Wickedly funny. Strangely conservative.

Always up to something batty in his spare time.

He was a foodie long before that term existed, and being a physician he thought that he could make anything, no matter how obscure, if only he had a good recipe.

• • •

So one day when I was about 8 years, Dad decided to make Corned Beef.

He bought cookbooks & researched recipes. He bought the perfect pickling spices from catalogues. He bought many large 10 gallon stainless steel cans with lids. He bought 7 or 8 different cuts of meat after talking with meat cutters about which ones would be best. He bought gallons of premium vinegar.

Then he set about making Corned Beef. Lots of it.

This required brining solution, boiled in huge pots on the stove top; large containers in which to put the beef, with brining solution, as it pickled; a cool place, like the basement, to leave the containers; and the ability to turn the containers every so often so that the beef was evenly brined.

It was a mess to make.

• • •

During this activity, my mother and I watched.

She was not thrilled with his latest excuse for spending money; but I, on the other hand, found it fascinating to see what was going to happen next. I had my doubts, but then again I’d seen this guy successfully do many a nutty thing, so I was rooting for him.

Well, as it turns out, when one is making Corned Beef from scratch one can determine if the brining process isn’t going well by using one’s nose.

That is, the meat begins to rot.

It fills a home, from bottom to top in our case, with a pungent carrion potpourri. Easily distinguished from any other normal home scent, by anyone who is willing to admit that there’s a problem here.

• • •

But Daddy wasn’t immediately willing to admit defeat. NO WAY. For days he refused to say that anything was wrong, determined instead to make his project work through the magic of denial.

But he didn’t succeed.

Eventually, my mother convinced him that he had to throw out the rotting meat, and begrudgingly he did so. Then he went to the grocery store to buy a piece of Corned Beef so that we might have it on St. Patrick’s Day.

Providing for us a holiday meal that could well be the most expensive one we ever had!

[Images from here.]

Here’s A Thought: Healthy Meals, Happy Life

March 5, 2015January 28, 2021 / Ally Bean / 36 Comments

• I found an interesting infographic, from Cooks Smart, that talks about meal planning and the ways in which it can help a family live a better life.

It struck a chord with me because I’ve cooked more this winter than in the past three years combined. For reasons related to good health, boredom and a husband who’ll eat [without complaint] whatever I dream up, I’ve gone back into the kitchen.

And I’m loving it.

I grew up around parents and aunts who enjoyed making meals. Healthy meals. Fancy meals. Fast meals. Exotic meals. But meals created by using real ingredients and following recipes, written or oral, passed down through the family.

There was a sense of history associated with those shared recipes. Back then we connected through food.

• • •

• However today I hesitate to even mention that I like to cook, here or in real life. Many women who I know see it as passé or pointless.

Most of the women really.

Better to eat a Lean Cuisine “like a normal person” one of them told me. Why waste time cooking?

Another told me she cooks on holidays only. That way she can use her fancy plates and silverware and glassware. Everyday [thankless] cooking is not for her, she said.

But I like the stress free everyday sort of cooking that I do. I follow some recipes [more or less]. Or I wing it to see what happens when I throw some ingredients together.

Either way, I believe, that with the right attitude cooking is creative fun that leads to healthy meals– and, maybe even, a happier life.

[Image sources here and here.]

Fred the Monkey & Sandrine the Bear’s Fun Afternoon

February 27, 2015February 9, 2019 / Ally Bean / 39 Comments

[The following story is my entry in evilsquirrel13’s The Second Annual Contest of Whatever. Please enjoy!]

Fred the Monkey & Sandrine the Bear’s Fun Afternoon

~ • ~

Fred the Monkey was bored.

All day it had snowed outside while he was stuck inside Grandpa Aloha and Grandma Mahalo’s house. He wanted someone to play with, so he asked them if he could call Sandrine the Bear and invite her over to play games.

Grandpa and Grandma said that it was okay.

Sandrine arrived at the front door wrapped in her mother’s scarf. She looked pretty and was warm. Sandrine was ready to have fun.

Fred suggested that they play an easy game first. He found Grandma Mahalo’s Tic-Tac-Toe game and the friends started to play it.

Because Sandrine was his guest, Fred let her go first. She was “X.”

Fred was “O.”

Grandpa Aloha looked on as they played. He loved to watch the kids goof-off just like he did growing up in Hawaii.

Suddenly, he realized that down in the basement there might be his favorite game for the kids to play. He went downstairs and searched.

When Fred and Sandrine saw what Grandpa Aloha had found for them to play, they were delighted. Grandpa’s favorite old-time game was Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots.

Sandrine got to pick her side first. She was “Red Rocker.”

Fred was “Blue Bomber.”

But after many exciting rounds of the game, both monkey and bear were ready for a snack. They’d had enough fun punching each other.

Fortunately, Grandma Mahalo was more than happy to make them some tea and serve it with cookies.

Then it was time for Sandrine to go home, but the friends decided to do one last silly thing before she left. They took a selfie with Buddha so that they’d have a photo to remind them of their fun afternoon playing games together.

~ The End ~

In Which I Become A Cliché & Make Myself Laugh

February 12, 2015January 28, 2021 / Ally Bean / 25 Comments

I ate dessert first last night.

I wasn’t certain if I was hungry so I had a snack of yogurt and homemade granola, which I sometimes have for my dessert.

After I ate it I was sure that I was hungry so I made myself a lovely dinner of chicken and mashed potatoes and broccoli and cranberry sauce.

Zen-Den was traveling for business so it was just me dining at the kitchen counter.

• • •

It wasn’t until I started cleaning up the kitchen that I realized that I’d eaten my meal in reverse order.

I started laughing at myself.

I mean, no one thinks that they’ll be the real life embodiment of a pop culture cliché gleaned allegedly from a woman born in 1892, yet I managed to do it.

By accident, of course.