Uncommon Courtesy

The message of the week this morning in class was part of a "habits of excellence" series. The thought being that by consciously deciding to behave a certain way, and making the effort to ingrain that behavior, after a while it becomes integral to who you are and takes no work at all. It apparently takes 30 days to create a habit if you try. We've covered the habits of integrity, of perseverance, of setting goals and going beyond them. Today was the habit of courtesy: Saying "hi" to someone new, "thanks" to a partner who helps you out, "excuse me" when you need attention, and so on. Oddly enough, these small kindnesses go a long way. Especially when there's an overabundance of negativity and bad behavior all around*. So here goes.

To my husband, the best habit I ever formed in my life:

Hi!
It's so nice to have met you.
Thanks for being my friend, and for keeping me giggling all these years.
Please excuse all my annoying little habits and my more significant character flaws.
I really appreciate all those hugs, and the smile in your eyes when you look at me.
I'm profoundly grateful that you married me seventeen years ago today, and that the words we said to each other that sunny afternoon** have proven not only true, but wise and right and comforting beyond measure.
I hope to see you again soon. Like tomorrow, and each and every day after that.


* It's killing me how many of our friends are splitting up. But we did just go to a 50th wedding anniversary celebration, so there is hope.
** To love, honor, cherish and amuse, for all the days of our lives.

National Cheesecake Day

One of the great pleasures in life is indulging someone who appreciates it. That's why my niece and I get along so well. I indulge her. She appreciates it.

Most of the time.

We had an unexpected day to ourselves yesterday, as my kids were both otherwise engaged. With my astute powers of observation*, I had gleaned that she had a special fondness for cheesecake. It was a perfect opportunity to put my painstakingly honed recipe** to work and earn some major Auntie points at the same time.

Me: So, I think we should make a cheesecake for dessert tonight.
Her: (jumping up and down) Auntie Shar! Can I help? Can I? I love cheesecake!
Me: Of course you can.
Her: Do you have graham crackers, Auntie Shar? I like the kind with the graham cracker crust. From Sam's Club. And it has cream on top. Is it that kind?
Me: Well, I think I might be out of graham crackers. I was thinking about maybe using animal crackers*** instead. What do you think?
Her: (mouth literally dropped completely open with awe at the thought) You can do that?

You bet we can. We get out the stuff and get to work.

Me: Guess what we need to add after the animal crackers? Sugar!
Her: (whispering, because she is almost paralyzed with happiness about how this is working out) Can I do that part?
Me: Of course.

She taste tests the crust. Two thumbs up. HUGE smile.

I get out the mixer and announce that we are going to make the cheesecake part now. She's up on the stool, dangling my keys over the bowl.

Me: I said CHEESEcake, not KEYS cake!
We howl with laughter for a good 10 minutes over this one. I am, by far, the coolest aunt on the planet.

She taste tests the filling. Loves it. I pass her the beater, the bowl and the spatula for good measure. Her mom's not home, and I'm in charge, so it's totally fine. Plus at least half of it is on her fingers and her face anyway.

Her: Auntie Shar, how much pieces of cheesecake can I have?
Me: It's up to your Mommy****.
Her: My Mommy said I can have between 6 and 7 pieces. That's what I get to have in Michigan.
Me: Wow. That seems like a lot of pieces.
Her: It's BETWEEN 6 and 7, so it's not that much.

We pop it in the oven. Then her parents come home to take her out house hunting with them.

Her: Mommy, we can't go on the outing because the cheesecake is not done and I'm the taste tester.
Her mom: Sweetie, you can't taste test the cheesecake right away. You have to wait.
Her: Do we have to wait all the 8 hours, Mommy?
Her mom: (Seeing my puzzlement over this exact wait time expectation) No, this cheesecake is not frozen like the one at Sam's Club.
Me: We get to eat this one today, right after dinner, for our dessert.

Pause.

Her: Mommy, can I have my dinner now? I'll eat some chicken if you want.

The rest of the day goes by in a blur. She patiently waits for the sky to grow dark. She eats a whole carrot without complaint. She cleans up all the meat they put on her plate. She gets her jammies on. It's agony waiting, but she does it. At last, I unmold the cake with a flourish and set it on the counter in front of her. Cutting carefully, we present her with the first slice as the rest of the crowd waits its turn.

She looks concerned. She takes a tentative forkful.

Her: I don't care for this. Can I have a different dessert, Mommy?

My sister, however, has seconds. That's why we get along so well. I indulge her. She appreciates it.

National Cheesecake Day Cheesecake*****

For Crust:

Heaping 2 c. of hard, crisp cookies (gingersnaps are my favorites, but you can use animal crackers, chocolate wafers, cinnamon grahams, or whatever you like)
1/4 c. sugar
extra spices (optional, but helpful if your cookies are plain graham crackers)
5 Tbs. butter, melted

For Filling:

2 lbs. (4 8 oz. packages) cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 c. sugar
3 whole eggs and 2 egg yolks
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
dash of almond extract
1 Tbs. heavy cream

Use a food processor to make your cookie crumbs by processing the cookies until they are finely and uniformly ground up. You should get about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 c. of crumbs out of this. Process in the sugar and spices, if you are using any, then add the melted butter. The mixture should hold loosely together in clumps when you press on it. Press the mixture into the bottom and an inch and a half or so up the sides of a 10 inch springform pan. Refrigerate while you make the filling, about 20 minutes. If you're a super fast filling maker, put the crust in the freezer instead.

Preheat oven to 350.

For the filling, using an electric mixer, blend the cream cheese and the sugar together until light and fluffy. Blend in the eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the extracts and the cream, and blend until the mixture is completely smooth. Pour into the prepared crust, then bake for 40 minutes. Turn off the oven, open up the oven door and leave in for another 20 minutes. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until ready to serve, at least 3 hours or overnight.


* She ordered nothing else for dessert the whole time we were in Vegas. In what should probably have been a clue to me, she always had one bite, then my sister and I usually split the rest.
** My sister is a cheesecake fanatic from way back. Let's just say this addiction is definitely genetic. I have literally pored over and tested recipes from about a dozen cookbooks to come up with this one in order to even begin to approach her high standards.
*** Degree of difficulty here is zero. She's crazy for animal crackers, and I know it.
**** Like hell it's up to her mom. My house, my rules. However, I won't invoke this clause unless her mom makes a bad decision.
***** According to The Cheesecake Factory, July 30 is National Cheesecake Day. I may not be quite as cool as I thought, but you have to admit my timing is just uncanny!

Foodie Girls Lunch Brigade - Episode 2

Did you ever notice that while you are right in the middle of eating one meal, you almost always start taking about eating something else? It can be something you ate last week, or when you were a kid, or had while you were on that road trip that was otherwise completely forgettable. Or, it can be a wistful or lustful (depending on the meal) description of some anticipated dining experience in the future. In our case, it was a combination of both.

FG1: (Biting into taco) I was at the Farmer's Market last week and had the best Po' Boy sandwich.
FG2: (Licking sauce off her fingers) Really? I love a good Po' Boy. Was it oyster? Those are the best.
FG3: (Reaching for quesadilla) I loved eating in New Orleans. The food there is amazing.
FG1: (Mouth full) Mmm hmm. Couldn agree wiff you mo! Wuv it.
FG2: (Getting last bit of sauce) The beignets and the chicory coffee! I'm having a craving just thinking about it. (Opens up burrito as she says this)
FG1: (Picking up her share of the burrito) They have those at the place in the Farmer's Market!
FG3: (Polishing off the last short rib taco) We have to go there.
FG2: (Swigs Diet Coke and sits back contentedly) Definitely. I'm in!
FG1 and FG3: (Also swigging) Done!

Episode 2: So So Gumbo


And this is how we found ourselves meeting up a week or so later at The Gumbo Pot, one of the better known and well regarded* spots in the market. Our membership had expanded by one with the addition of my sister, and we eagerly perused the menu.

I will confess that I eat here pretty often, and I always order the same thing: An Andouille sausage po' boy. The sausage is peppery, juicy, sliced in half, grilled to perfection, then nestled in a huge roll with a healthy smear of lovely mayonnaise, cool crisp lettuce and a couple of tomatoes. Given the size of the bun, I almost always pile all the meat onto one half and the whole thing comes right into balance. I had this sandwich the first time I ate at the Gumbo Pot, and I've never even bothered to order anything else. Today was the day.

Between us, the table was soon loaded with red beans and rice, Gumbo Ya Ya, shrimp po'boys, corn muffins, sweet potato slaw, jicama salad, crab cakes and my sausage sandwich, of course. The anticipation was palpable.

FG4: (after tasting the gumbo) It's OK. Not great, but OK. Ours is better.**
FG2: (after biting into her shrimp sandwich, wrinkling her nose, opening up the sandwich, counting the shrimp and peeling back the lettuce) We need more of the sauce for this. It's not working without it.
FG4: (putting down her fork) This sweet potato slaw is nothing special. It would have been better with carrots.
FG 1: (savoring her sausage sandwich, but now feeling quite guilty about recommending this place) Mine is really good. You guys should try this.
FG3: (Putting down her sandwich and reaching for a spoon to try the crab cakes) Hey! These are actually tasty!
(All are momentarily relieved)
FG4: (Momentum builds) The red beans and rice are good, too. (It is soon dashed again) But that cornbread is so not worth the calories.
FG2: (Coming back with sauce, adding it, eating a bite of crab cake, a bite of red beans and rice, and a forkful of the jicama salad, and pausing to survey the available options from there) How about I grab us a taco sampler plate at Loteria Grill?
ALL: (Enthusiastic with relief) Great idea!

She returns bearing a plate of 14 of the most flavorful little bites of food*** you can imagine, along with a jicama salad, bright with chile, lime juice and crunch that puts the bland oversauced prior example to shame. We dig in happily, order our beignets to go****, and call it a day.

Foodie Girls Final Verdict: Go directly to Loteria.***** If you do pass Gumbo Pot, collect an Andouille sandwich and an order of crab cakes. It'll give you something good to eat while you plan your next meal.

* Zagat rated 19! 4 stars on Yelp! A pretty long line for a Monday!
** This is fact, not opinion.
*** Except for one that was distinctly reminiscent of chewing old plastic. We spent about 5 minutes trying to guess which inner organ it came from. This discussion added to the overall disgust level, and we moved on.
**** Hot, puffy and covered with powdered sugar, but for my money a far better New Orleans dessert is the maple pecan praline at Littlejohn's. They are known for their fabulous English Toffee, but their pralines are out of this world!!! Best bite of sugar in LA.

***** Their tacos kick some Kogi butt as well.

Welcome to Las Vegas

I will state upfront that I am not a Vegas person. I have, however, been known to thoroughly enjoy myself there, and have even done so on more than one occasion. If I look back for common threads about those visits, I find the following:

1. The duration of my visit was less than 48 hours.
2. My husband was with me, and my kids were not.
3. Our hotel room was peaceful, spacious, and had a luxuriously comfortable bed.* Hotel amenities included an upscale spa and eateries helmed by nationally known chefs.
4. We had a memorable meal at least one outstanding gourmet restaurant.**
5. I won enough money at a really fun, loud craps table surrounded by some of the nicest drunken strangers I ever met to pay for the entire trip and then some***.

Here are some details on my most recent foray:

1. The duration of our trip was nearly 5 days.
2. My kids were with me, and my husband was not.
3. Our hotel room was a steal at $29 a night via Hotels.com, and my sister, my niece, my two kids and I crammed in there with our luggage and a blow-up air mattress. Hotel amenities included a 70 lane bowling alley, a Subway and a Baskin-Robbins.
4. We ate at a buffet that cost less than $10 at least once per day.****
5. The closest I came to a craps table was when I was lugging the 12 pack of Diet Coke I bought at Target through the haze of smoke in the casino to get to our room and I accidentally bumped into one on the way.

So, let's just say this was not one of the trips where I thoroughly enjoyed myself*****. But there were some highlights:

1. My son's face lighting up with a smile from ear to ear when he hit a three pointer in the opening game of the basketball tournament that brought us all to Vegas in the first place.

2. My niece and daughter squealing with delight over the completely liquified fruit snacks they found in the car:

Me: Girls, I'm so sorry we forgot about the heat. They're ruined!
My daughter: Are you kidding? These are WAY better than regular fruit snacks. I love them!
My niece: These are super better! These are double better!
My daughter: When we get back home, we should microwave all the fruit snacks to make them do this!
My niece: Yes! Yes! Yes!

They then proceed to smear the gooey mess all over their teeth, face and fingers, grinning like maniacs.

3. Seeing Love with the kids dancing and singing in their seats, jaws agape at the magic unfolding all around them.

4. Realizing that there were so very many people who shouldn't be wearing bathing suits around the ridiculously crowded wave pool that my joining the group would be no big deal.******

5. We had been driving for maybe 10 minutes on our way to the gym, and my daughter noticed that all of the ice in the water bottle we had filled up at the hotel had melted. We were all exclaiming over how this could be possible in such a short time with the a/c on full blast in the car, when we heard this comment from my niece******* in the back seat (delivered completely deadpan and in a voice that one would swear bore the traces of a two-pack-a-day habit):

"Welcome to Las Vegas."


* Tip: Stay at the hotels that are attached to but not part of another place. My personal favorite is the oddly capitalized THEHotel at Mandalay Bay. The Signature at MGM was also lovely.
** Tops on my list: Nob Hill Tavern at MGM, DB Brasserie at the Wynn.
*** The luckiest table mates I ever had were all wearing viking horns.
****By far the tastiest meal of the trip was the $2.50 hot link sandwich that a guy was grilling in the 110 degree heat outside of the basketball gym. It was mouthwateringly good! I had one for breakfast the second day.
***** Honestly, it felt like about five thousand people from the midwest who never work out brought all their kids and some pierced neighbors to squeeze onto a sea of identical lawn chairs while a convention of tattoo parlor refugees strolled by in a constant stream. Everyone was drinking something frozen with a plastic surfboard in it. I was the only person for miles reading a book.
****** The low point was my son and daughter insisting that I accompany them on the New York New York roller coaster less than 20 minutes after I had consumed a Fatburger. Thank God I had skipped the fries with that.
******* Did I mention that she's five?

Millenial Milestone

According to Sitemeter, Cheesy Pennies has just crossed over the 1000 visit mark! How cool is that? Thanks for reading, everyone!

Foodie Girls Lunch Brigade - Episode 1

"Ladies Who Lunch" is a phrase that, for me at least, is laden with implied meaning, all of it negative.

Let's start with "Ladies". These women would be respledent in elegant, crisply pressed dresses, tasteful yet expensive pearls, coiffed hairdos, junior league membership, and freshly applied neutral-colored lipstick. If they have children, you would never know it, as neither their bodies nor their conversations show any trace of child-rearing, aside from the occasional boast about prep-school admissions.

Then we have "Who Lunch." It seems to me that this Lunch is the principal purpose and activity of said ladies, as their lives are otherwise devoid of demands and fulfillment. The lunch itself is served on china, with linen napkins, either poolside at the country club or in the solarium of one specimen's spacious mansion. Topics of conversation are likely to be their despair over finding and keeping good help, soliciting donations for an upcoming charity event, pilates horror stories, and the guilty pleasure of watching The Real Housewives of New Jersey on Bravo. There is iced tea and thinly sliced poached chicken salad involved, and a light chiffon type dessert which is only barely picked at although they are all secretly starving.

OK, enough with the perjorative sterotyping already. As much as this perception truly does linger wtih me, talking about it here is a defensive move on my part so that I can contrast that image with our intrepid team:

The Foodie Girls Lunch Brigade. Our mission: Chasing down great mid-day eats in LA.*

We are not coiffed. We wear no lipstick. We come hungry, and we relish every bite of our food. Paper plates are fine with us. It's a new day. It's a new generation. It's Ladies Who Lunch 2.0.

Episode 1: We Try the Truck

If you have not been under a rock, you will have heard tell of the elusive Kogi Truck. Fashioned after the plethora of mobile taco trucks that have been roaming the streets of Los Angeles since time began, this 2.0 phenomenon features a 4 star chef, a fusion of Korean BBQ and Mexican food (think short rib tacos and kimchee quesadillas), 36,687 followers who track its locale via twitter, a publicist who is obviously a genius, and a highly divided group of local afficionados who can't decide if this is the greatest food on the planet or an overrated waste of time. They officially crossed the chasm when NPR did a story on the legendary trucks.

Time for us to check it out. We discover that the Azul truck will be parked next to a Santa Monica office park from 12-3, and the rendezvous is arranged. After surveying the crowd in line for recommendations and waiting for about 20 minutes, we order pretty much every kind of taco, one of those quesadillas, and a beef burrito. A short while later, our number is called and we retreat to a picnic table with full plates and our cold Diet Cokes**.

The tacos were tasty, but mostly because of the heavily dressed slaw/salad on top of the meat. The tortillas were nothing special, and I found eating the filling on its own was a better way to go. The beef short ribs were the best of the bunch, with a nice carmelized BBQ flavor on the meat. Chicken and pork were indistinguishable and just OK, and the tofu was distinctly unappetizing. We had better luck with the kimchee quesadilla, where the tart crispiness of the cabbage contrasted well with the cheese and the sauce on top. The burrito was almost sweet compared to the other dishes, with the addition of potatoes to the filling and the subtraction of the tangy slaw that covers the tacos. We liked it.

Have we become followers, avid for our next dose of Kogi magic? Definitely not. Was it worth a try? Sure. But only if it happens to be in the neighborhood, and the line is not too long.


Foodie Girls Final Verdict: We won't be back.

If anyone out there feels the call to join the Foodie Girls, let me know. But if you're wearing make-up and pearls and don't want to talk about your kids? Forget about it!

*I am jumping the gun by giving us a title and a mission after one outing, but we do have another one scheduled for next week, so my presumption will hopefully be forgiven and perhaps even endorsed by my cohorts. If in fact we do not continue, I will demote the effort to "Two lunches I ate with my friends a while ago."
** I give them big points for choosing Coke over Pepsi, and for keeping the sodas exceptionally cold in a bed of crushed ice.
*** Photo credit on this post goes to a fellow Foodie Girl. I forgot my camera that day.

Happy endings all around

The last 48 hours have brought a flurry of good news to Cheesy Pennies HQ, and I herewith am sharing with all of you:

1. My daughter is home!!! I went up on Thursday and collected her at the Amtrak parking lot where three and a half weeks earlier the same bus had pulled away as tears rolled down my face. I cried this time, too, but with the sheer relief and joy at seeing her jumping up and down and waving at me as the bus made the turn. Her eyes were brimming, too, as she clung to her new friends and the counselors, promising to see everyone next year. When I asked if camp was too long, too short, or just right, she replied, "Way too short!", then gave me a big smile and asked where the closest In-N-Out burger was. She sang me every camp song there is as we drove to the airport, showed me that she kept all the e-mails and letters we sent her in a special place in her trunk, and then she fell asleep on the plane ride home.


I say, way too long*.

2. It's no weeks until my niece gets to California. She called me yesterday:

Her: Hi Auntie Shar! Tomorrow I am coming to California. But you know what the problem is?
Me: There can't possibly be a problem with coming to California tomorrow! We're so excited to see you!
Her: The problem is, I have to get on an airplane for about 5 hours, and the airplane has to go to Arizona, and it stops for a long time, and then it goes again, but it's more hours, and then it comes to California.
Me: I see.
Her: And, I have to get up at 8 in the morning and go to the airport first.
Me: Here's the thing. Imagine if you did all of that. You get up at 8 in the morning. You go to the airport. You sit there for hours and hours. You go to Arizona. You sit for some more hours. And at the end? You were right back in MICHIGAN!
Her: [Huge fit of giggles]. That would be BAD!
Me: See you tomorrow!
Her: See you tomorrow, Auntie Shar!

Report from my sister this morning: She gets on the plane, and literally is pushing the side of the plane with both feet and one hand to make it go faster to California. I love that girl.

3. I got a free fro yo today at Menchie's.

4. Jazzy, fan of strawberry shortcakes, is pregnant!

5. Michael Jackson is doing well. My mom gave me the full report on our drive to my house the other day.

Her: Well, Michael Jackson is just fine.
Me: [Afraid I have missed some major news bulletin about autopsy results] He is?
Her: Yes. [Beaming] His fans have paid off all that debt. Isn't that something?
Me: Mm hmm.
Her: And, he's helping all the other celebrities.
[Now I'm just afraid in general]
Her: They can see what not to do now. He showed them the pitfalls of all that craziness, and the drugs and the doctors and doing shows when you are sick and all that nonsense. You know how I'm worried about Beyonce. She came right out and said she has dual personalities. She says she is one person when she goes onstage, and then a totally different person the rest of the time. It's just not right, but that's someone that Michael can help. Poor Brittany, too. Even Miley Cyrus is in danger, but because of Michael, I think she might be OK.
[She sighs with relief]
He can truly rest in peace.

And, with my whole family back at home, so can I.

* In truth, it was probably just right, as every single stitch of clothing that she owned was absolutely filthy, her legs were a scabby, mosquito-bitten mess, and it took an hour in the bathtub for her to become recognizable again as she emerged from under a thick layer of dirt. If all the kids came home this way, they may need to truck in some more soil for the farm. If you look closely at the photo, you can see the stains on her shirt.