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August 2011 - All The Single Girlfriends

Acting Like a Grown-Up

Aug 31, 2011 by

Acting Like a Grown-Up

Some believe this means being boring. Staid. No fun. All responsibility and no spontaneity. Au Contraire.  Of course this is just my perspective, but… Being a (single) grown-up means: You can decide when it’s time to act silly…and enjoy doing so…without worrying about what others think. You can designate one day a week as the “blob day.”  Mine is Sunday.  With a few rare exceptions, I do absolutely nothing that I don’t absolutely want to do.  Oddly enough, some Sundays are my most productive days… You can choose to have cold cereal for dinner, and enjoy it. (Some nights this is JUST the thing for me. No sad little single moaning here.  I love Weetabix, with very, very cold milk.) You’ve learned that kindness is both a virtue AND a skill. A skill that...

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Gloria at 77

Aug 29, 2011 by

Gloria at 77

At age 77, Gloria Steinem is having a renaissance in the media.  Of course, thanks to Steinem, we single women didn’t have it rougher than we did.  We could have, you know. For decades, Steinem not only fought that we women, single and married, be perceived and treated as people [not babes]. She also remained single, until late in her life.   And that was despite her classically attractive face and bone structure which could have attracted a wealthy husband.  Steinem was not from a privileged background. In conjunction with the airing of the HBO documentary on Steinem, Maria Shriver interviews her in the current edition of Interview Magazine.  The conversation has many surprises. For example, despite all her emotional boldness in activism and not marrying, Steinem tells us that she essentially ducked whatever was associated...

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The French Toast Throw Down

Aug 26, 2011 by

The French Toast Throw Down

Or as we called it .. Duel of the Spatulas!  Kaye insisted her French toast souffle recipe, with caramelized pecans, was the best. But Sandy was sure that chocolate chips that melted into her oven baked French toast had the “omg factor!” Note: In the photo .. Sandy on left & Kaye on right. This summer my cousin Kaye  and her husband David hosted a family party for about fifty of our cousins and close friends. Their home, in Hull, MA, a block from the beach, was a perfect location to reconnect with people who I hold dear in my life. Of course there was lots of wonderful food and drink including jello shots (are jello shots food or drink?). My niece Jessica spent weeks making 8 dozen different kinds of jello shots .....

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Weird Ingredients

Aug 26, 2011 by

Weird Ingredients

Here are a few weird ingredients I always have on hand and you should too… Okay, maybe you don’t need to have them, once you know what they are, but at least let me try to convince you. If you have read my food blogs these past 6 months, you probably know that I don’t cook bland food. Intense flavors with strong ethnic roots dominate my cooking. I have been known to un-invite someone for dinner at my house when they tell me they like simple food, not too highly flavored. (I suggest we meet somewhere to eat where I pray there will at least be hot sauce!) I imagine they also have homes with lots of the color Beige. But I know that is unfair because I know some serious eaters whose environments are...

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Reputation in the Era of YouTube...

Aug 24, 2011 by

Reputation in the Era of YouTube

Depending on where you’re standing, YouTube can be manna from heaven or the work of the devil. Many a successful career has been built on YouTube.  Filipina singer Charice Pempengco’s meteoric rise to international stardom is one proof.  It was YouTube that brought her to the attention of Ellen Degeneres and, eventually, Oprah.  Therefore, fear not, stage mamas.  There is hope for your child prodigy.  Simply wire every nook and cranny of your house to a CCTV camera so you can capture precious moments of your 6-month-old diaper-clad darling dancing to Single Ladies.  Hail the next Beyonce Knowles! To qualify as an expert these days, one must upload videos.  Ergo, the mad rush by every CEO, COO, CFO, consultant, marketer, expert, guru and entrepreneur to YouTube.  In case you have not noticed, every person...

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Marriage The Institution

Aug 22, 2011 by

Marriage The Institution

Perhaps we single girlfriends here in the U.S. should start a national Single Pride Day.   There is now concrete evidence showing that we took the road which savvy educated women around the world are increasingly traveling.   How that is playing out in Asian societies is the cover story in the April 20th issue of THE ECONOMIST. Sure most of us know that for women in European nations, marriage has been a declining institution.  For example, in Sweden, 55% of births are to unmarried women.  In Iceland, the number is 66%, reports THE ECONOMIST.  In the U.S. the institution isn’t doing too hot either.  Now we find out that pockets are Asia are also experiencing the female disinterest in tying the knot.  Not for me, Asian women saying. For example, as THE ECONOMIST notes: “The...

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Cherry Amaretto Jam

Aug 19, 2011 by

Cherry Amaretto Jam

If I measure my summer by canning jars, I’m up to 33.  I made a no sugar added apple-cherry cider jelly in mid-July with cider from my Farm Share.  Late July brought a jug of apple-apricot juice and I made no sugar added jelly out of that too.  Finally, my first preserving share item arrived, sour cherries!  I had been waiting anxiously for those cherries with a bottle of amaretto and package of pectin in hand. A preserving share is just one of many share types offered by local farms.  A little research of the farms in your area may unearth vegetable shares, fruit shares, bread shares, cheese shares and even mushroom shares!  Egg shares guarantee you a dozen fresh local eggs every week.  As a person with a beloved flock of pet chickens,...

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So What Makes a Foodie, Anyway?...

Aug 19, 2011 by

So What Makes a Foodie, Anyway?

We just passed the six month mark for our wonderful All the Single Girlfriends website and we now know that our Foodie Friday feature is a big hit with our readers. I started to think about what, exactly, defines a ‘Foodie.’ I did a quick Google search and found: “A person who has an ardent or refined interest in food; a gourmet.” “A person having an enthusiastic interest in the preparation and consumption of good food.” “A person devoted to refined sensuous enjoyment (especially good food and drink).” My response: “Yeah, yeah… tell me something I don’t know.” Thus I offer my ideas of what makes a Foodie. I consider this a work in progress and open to additions from anybody who wants to share. Rebecca’s Ten Top Tips for Knowing You are a...

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I Love Lucy

Aug 17, 2011 by

I Love Lucy

Just nine months ago, I adopted a cute cockapoo. I named her Lucy.  I must admit though my husband was definitely reluctant. Excuses like “you’re never home” rang true, but the reality was I was home quite a bit, just not when he was home! What is interesting is that although couples may vehemently disagree on most topics, they usually both soften in manner and tone to agree that the dog, cat, bird or horse is great. What happens between people and their pets that accounts for this emotional outpouring of love? Funny, if there is any criticism, it is the verbalized wish to receive the kind of love and attention the pet is getting. “I only wish she was as affectionate with me as with our dog!” “You should hear him speak to...

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Summer Strawberry Trifle

Aug 12, 2011 by

Summer Strawberry Trifle

This past weekend I was once again invited to a family reunion-with the amazing Diva Toby’s family. It’s funny isn’t it, how “family” has nothing to do with bloodlines. I choose to think of it as a family of the heart…and I have been fortunate to know and love this family for (gulp!) forty years. It was a beautiful August afternoon/evening down at the beach, at the home of Toby’s cousin (and a Diva in her own right) Kaye Ellen. Family came from far and near, excellent food and the ‘Tinis were flowing! So anyway, I’ve known about this party since late January, certainly long enough to have a plan for my assigned dessert. Sadly, on Friday night I started thinking “What should I bring?” Like most of us of a certain age, I...

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My Grand Pup, The Model

Aug 10, 2011 by

My Grand Pup, The Model

I often write about my wonderful daughter Erika.  She is a Hospice Social Worker in Bellingham, Washington, and has been happily married for 3 years to a man she met on Match.com. She is beautiful, smart and funny and absolutely dotty about her two Chihuahuas, Ginger and Lulu.  They make her laugh and she admits she loves them to distraction and makes no excuses about it. Ginger, my first grand pup, led the wedding processional in my garden 3 years ago. Dressed in fetching pink organza with a flower on her back, she pranced down the garden steps, her matching pink leash held high by one of Erika’s friends. She set the tone for the whole affair and everybody agreed it captured the lightness and love that permeated the whole event.  My daughter declared...

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The Expense of Joy

Aug 8, 2011 by

The Expense of Joy

There ought to be some joy in all this. Dating in middle adulthood is all confusion.  Everyone I meet has been wounded, one way or another.  The formerly married endured divorce, the never married endured someone who left or whom they had to leave.  Everyone fears vulnerability.  They question whether the benefits of partnership are worth the potential expense. I’m not saying dating in young adulthood is any kind of picnic by comparison.  I remember it as an anxious, stressful endeavor; the part of my life that causes me to say things like, “Every boyfriend I ever had, except for my late husband, made me miserable”.  I did, in fact, marry Dave because he didn’t drive me crazy.  He made me calmer.  I saw this when I picked up a journal I’d written in...

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