Domestic Putterings

Pitching In

My delightful, wonderful friend Julie is one of those people who went to New Orleans and found her home. Not even Hurricane Katrina and its devastation could keep her from returning to make the Crescent City her home. It is the passion of people like her that have helped New Orleans reach for a future.

She writes a blog, NOJuju, about New Orleans food, style and culture.

But lately, Julie has been dealing with her recent diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis and all the joys associated with it. Terrible wrist and hand pain have made it hard for her to keep up with the blog, as she's had to marshal all her strength towards doing her actual paying job.

Julie put out the call to her friends, asking them to contribute material. Tim wrote about oysters. Melinda wrote about turning the cabbage in her Seattle garden into a vegetarian version of stuffed cabbage.

I'm the latest to help out, touting Cleveland a bit in an entry about Bar Symon.

Laissez les bon temps roullez!

The Honeymoon's Over

Before I started my new job at the Chronicle-Telegram last month, John and I finally took our honeymoon.

John really wanted to honeymoon in South Beach and I was fine with that. But one layoff later, we scaled back the wedding and postponed the honeymoon until the fall.

We'd gone to the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York a few years ago. John is an oenophile, so he wanted to find out more about the wines of the region. That trip was wonderful, so we decided to do an expanded version of it for our fall honeymoon, and timed it so it'd be around peak foliage time. A longer trip meant we could go to the Lake George/Saratoga region, where I lived while I was working at the Post-Star in Glens Falls. I hadn't been there in almost 12 years.

Going Home ... and Coming Home

In case you're wondering about the long break between posts, your Domestic Putterer took a little vacation. And, it turns out, just in time.

I'd decided over the summer that, since I was out of work anyway, it'd be a good time to take a trip back to Connecticut to visit my family and friends. I'd missed my 25-year high school reunion last fall, and hadn't seen my grandmother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew in almost a year. Mackenzie and Nick are growing up so fast; I don't like missing such a big chunk of their lives. And, when your grandmother is in her mid-90s, you know -- but don't want to admit -- that opportunities for time together may be dwindling.

When plans started being made on Facebook for an all-years reunion for Pomperaug High, I figured I'd come back for that and stay about five or six days. Then it was announced that the Homecoming game for my college alma mater, Central Connecticut State, was the following weekend. So the trip got extended another five days. It'd leave me lots of time for family, but also time to see friends and just hang out. I knew that I wouldn't do half the stuff I'd want to, which led me to skip trips to New York City or the shore, and focus on people time close to home.

Do You Know What it is to Miss New England?

The sky is a slightly hazy blue. The sun is bright, with the promise of real summertime heat later this afternoon. The herbs and petunias have been watered to get through the heat until tomorrow's possible rain. A Heinen's run is planned for later this afternoon to get something for the grill tonight. Fajitas? Pizza? Still not sure.

I could do housework. Mount Laundry needs to be scaled yet again. But I keep going outside, sitting in the screened-in porch, watching the birds flit to and from the birdfeeder, and reading the latest House Beautiful. I feel restless.

The feeling is familiar, and I know what it is. I'm homesick. I haven't lived there for almost 20 years, but Connecticut and New England will always be home. This time of year, I want to be at the shore.

A Holiday Worth Celebrating

My friend Maia sends out a homemade calendar every Christmas instead of cards. It's called "Every Day's a Holiday," and notes some of the more obscure celebrations we may not know about.

Today's a red-letter holiday. It's Chocolate Day! The day commemorates the introduction of chocolate to Europe in 1550. It is believed that Christopher Columbus brought cocoa beans back from one of his trips to the New World in 1502. At first, no one was interested as the unsweetened, spicy brew the Aztecs consumed (for energy and supposed sexual prowess) was unpalatable to European taste buds. Conquistador Hernan Cortez, seeing how the Aztecs prized cocoa beans and used them as currency, had cocoa planted all over the Caribbean. Cocoa was given another chance in Europe, this time flavored with the vanilla and sugar from Spain's Caribbean territories.