Blog-TOWER OF BABEL

I want to share recipes that I have used recently on corporate jets. They got a lot of compliments; they are summery, inexpensive and easy.

I love peaches, fresh white or yellow peaches. You can get them for fruit stands all over the US right now. I was grilled veggies the other day and I bummed into the peaches in the crisper of my fridge. I like to one task thing so I cut 8 freestone peaches in half. put them in a ceramic bowl with 1 tablespoons fresh lemon juice and one tablespoon veg oil, coat them well put peaches on a piece of parchment lined foil. Stir together 2 tablespoons light brown sugar, 2 teaspoons water, 3 tablespoons’ pure Madagascar vanilla extract, or any van extract, 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Brush over peaches. Make a foil packet, like a mailing envelope, and crimp edges closed. Put on grill, med, for 15 minutes. Remove peaches, let cool a bit. Put over vanilla or Cherry Garcia ice cream

I love tuna and I am always experimenting with it. I also like to clean out my fridge every 2 weeks of veggies and fruits and make salads with the leftovers
Mediterranean tuna salad
1 large can water packed tuna drained
1 celery stalk with leaves chopped
2 tablespoons lemon zest grated
6 tb toasted almonds or pine nuts
2 tb extra virgin olive oil
2 tb chopped capers
1/4 cup dill sprigs
12 oz salad greens


red beet and pear salad
6 red beets cubed
8 red pear cubed
2 cup gorgonzola crumbles
toss the above together
place over a bed of summer spinach
toss with balsamic vinaigrette dressing
salt and pepper to taste

watermelon and arugula salad
8 cups arugula
4 whole avocado
3 cups cubed yellow or red watermelon
2 cups chopped warm bacon or Serrano ham or prosciutto
2 cups feta or gorgonzola
grilled chicken breast -3- cut in strips
add the above ingredients
top with warmed raspberry vinaigrette

I had heard that we (flight attendants), complain about hotels, where they are, what chain they are and demand to change them if not liked.

To make 400-500 hundred dollars per day, I really do not care where or what they are. Just show me the money. Yes, I am a hired mercenary lately. I do remember the 2 most frightening hotels that I have ever stayed in. Needless to say, I sleep with one eye open.

One was in Tashkent Russia. I was flying for a bank. This was a refurbished PRISON - A place where murders and thug types slept. The room they gave me was very musty; I could not open the windows, there were no curtains. I went into the bathroom and the toilet was missing however 2 missing bricks in the floor - you can do the math. There was a pair of shower shoes that were stuck to the floor. The whole room was grimy and gross. There was used soap in the shower. I wanted to go to the hardware store and wrap myself in a tarp to sleep.

The pilot thought it would be cool if we stayed here instead of the Renaissance 5 star. We tortured him unmercifully. He lived but he was not happy. I was one night. We lived.

The other was in Chad, Nigeria. I got my hotel key that was attached to a Popsicle stick and the room number was written in pencil, not a great sign. The hotel was on the fifth floor. The elevator went out on the second floor and opened mid-floor. We were on a 3 week trip so I had serious luggage. I felt that I was in some Quentin Tarantino  movie.

I finally make it to the room. No need for a key, the room was open. The wall was missing to the outside. The a/c was missing to the outside, and there was another hole. There was yellowed fly paper spiraling down over the bed and in the bathroom, with flies already on it. The sheets had a dark imprint on them, with the form of the past 100 patrons. The water coming out of the faucet was brown.

I wanted Windex and a body bag. We tried to get another room, but learned that the French foreign legion was in town. They had not seen a woman in 10 weeks. The pool water was green and thick like pudding, and it bubbled and there were big mosquitoes hovering over anything that smelled better than a legionnaire. We were to be there for 4 nights. Kill me, someone please.

We went to visit the embassy. They entertained us during the day with scrabble and air conditioning and drinks. Nightfall, we crept back to the hotel, showered, armed with bottled water and bug spray.

So the moral of the story would be, If the pool does not bubble, do not complain.

I have been trying to update my work wardrobe. All my suits are at least five years old and they do not fit that well anymore. This is what i found to work. I am thin but since I have had ben, I have 2 inches of what I call blubber. Blubber is an in movable fat that sits on your waist. You can lose your keys, your wallet and your sanity, but one thing will be content in my life. The blubber, unless I go on a 30 day fast, will now and always be a part of my portfolio. So I have found a few dress options that hide said blubber.

1. The J crew blair dress - comes in navy, grey and black. 

2. Anything by Elie Tahari they know about blubber

3. Le suit works

4. All the suiting dresses by j crew

5. Talbots (bite my tongue), has career dresses that wash and wear well.

6. Calvin Klein has shifts in black, grey and navy worn with a bolero or short jacket

7. Hefty bag

8  Poncho 

9. The Dress Barn now has jones new york career shifts and matching jackets in black and navy

10. Donna Karan career

11. A tarp

12  Even kasper has a shift

Shifts are great on long trips, and they leave doubt on whether you suffer from blubber. 

I recently found a letter that I wrote to my son Ben on mother's day.

Mothers day is not just about mom's finally getting that sideways breakfast tray with the strange french toast and the undrinkable coffee, and the huge mess in the kitchen, where every bowl and saucepan have flour in them. 

Here is what I wrote to him. Yes, I know it is not mother's day, but this is sort of "stop and smell the roses" type of reverie we need in this hectic, sometimes cruel ,insane, and unfeeling world. 

Dear Ben, 

I was thinking about how easy it is to be your mother.

You are smart, a love nugget, my gompy, my beauty, my baby snugg and wonder boy. It , so far, has been my absolute pleasure to be your mom. 

I love you when you wake up all akimbo, and when you finally surrender to sleep. 

You are my family, you are a bonafide proof that someone can be related to me and always will love me in any shape or form.

You are my bright spot at the end of a darker than dark day. You are my firefly to joy.

I watch you sleep with your pristine baby profile smashed into the pillow, and i can not ever doubt  again that there truly is a god in my life.

I am calmer and happier because I breathe the same air as you. 

When I drop you off at school, I stay there and watch your lanky body lumber inside, and I smile when you escape at 2:15. 

Everyone is touched by meeting you. They see a bit of what I see, a kind, bighearted, gentle genius with a beautiful soul and smile to match. 

After a trip, i run to smell your hair and boy grim and know that I am home. 

I listen to hear your foot on the back porch. 

I am a total goner for ben i perlmutter.

You are feeling your way though life and i am your guide. I hope I am doing a good job. 

Mom

I always go though madness before a job interview. It takes 4 days now, for me to get ready. I am pathetic with all of this.

How do I hide things? I have one bad vein on the front of my leg from a motorcycle mishap, I have to put concealer on it before the panty hose. Then there is the scar on the right side of my smile from skin cancer. I have to tame this monster days before, with St. Ives apricot skin polisher, then I have to press it in for 1 hour prior to the interview. I do not use my middle finger, because the police will think I am flipping them off. 

I have a falling tarsal in my left foot, which makes me limp, when I am on my foot for more than eight hours. I feel like one of those zombies in the Michael Jackson thriller video, stuff just falls apart. My uniform in tatters, hunchback, makeup strewn black under my eyes. I am a total train wreck. 

I have to check and recheck my visage and outfit. I alway look thinner prior to interviews, I just chew nicorette gum and drink non diet redbull due to nerves. I was thinking, if they think you are thin, maybe they think you will not eat the expensive seafood platters.

I have no real finger nails,I have to have the nail people put new ones on. They always want to put the newest color on, last week it was bright orange, My nails would never get run over by a car. They would be the color of traffic cones. Then what would we talk about??? 

I have colics all over my head, I have more stray bumps of hair than the entire band of motley crew.  They need to be tamed. I have to have my hairdresser slay that dragon. Did you ever have 3 minute pantihoses? I bring like 5 pair of different brands. Last flight, I had 1 pair on for 30 seconds, really. If you buy them in CVS, they will let you down. 

Support hose, usually made out of titanium, is the color of cadavers on a really bad day. They come in 3 colors, drab, putrid and riger mortis. Then there are the shoes, I have to do a low heel because I am a mile higher. 

If I wear heels, usually the folks looking to hire me are 4 ' 11'' they think I shot hoops in the parking lot prior to coming in. They say to me "God, you are tall!", what the hell do I say to this? You get twice the person for the money? I wore a black Calvin Klein cashmere coat to one interview that had cat hair on it. I do not even own a said cat. 

What I do now is wear jeans , tee shirt and flip flops and change in Starbucks.

To find said location of potential job, I trusted my Garmin GPS one too many times. I ended up facing an abandoned warehouse with broken windows and rats. I figured unless I was applying for a mob job, this was not the place. I now bring printed directions as well. Being lost prior to an interview, really put you off your game. 

I was born to very uncomfortable parents. They were older and did not feel like providing the safe comforts of home. I was rushed though childhood like the bullet train in china. I understood this at a young age and did not become forlorn or forsaken. I did develop an attachment to things that would make me feel better, give me solace and comfort. I have hung on to these very things to this day. It makes this train wreck of a world more tolerable. If I am feeling bad, the following things and certain people, never let me down. These simple acquisition never let me down. They bring me to a better place where no one can get to me. 

I hope you will understand. It is like that hot chocolate on a snowy day, with the fireplace and the norman rockwell feel, dog at feet and a feeling of being safer than anyone you know. 

Things and people who have not let me down: 

Cherry lip gloss

Deep fried really burned 3 cheese grilled cheese sandwiches on rye

Campbell’s canned tomato bisque soup made with whole milk

Double sided garment tape 

Panda black licorice

Camel filter cigarette- 1 per day

Eyeliner

The photography of the rolling stone

Floss

My old boyfriend J 

Estee Lauder concealer

Nyquil

Mary Horner, british lady next door neighbor who taught me that mostly everything is irrelevant, and not to worry, it is a waste of time

Dom Perigon

Hot fudge sauce

Spray can of whipped cream

Golden syrup

Blueberry pancakes with real butter

Rollercoasters and house of horror

The swings at the beach

Starbucks, hot, cold or old

Good and Plenty candies

Swedish fish

Carmel Corn

Fleetwood Mac

Supertramp

John Lennon

Brauna

My sons humor

My sons impatience

Church bells in branford

Train sounds anywhere

Jet fuel at 5 45 am, 

Sunrise at HPN

The smell of my leather jacket

A good game of pool 

Russel baker's column in the NYT

Scrabble

Andy Rooney

Animal farm

David Sedaris

Augusten Buroughs

The twilight zone reruns

The invaders

The pretenders - "I'll stand by you" and “Chain Gang”

Pat Benatar "Hit me with your best shot"

Louie Armstrong "It’s a wonderful world"

Old Billy Joel

Queen

Happy hour at corner pub

The cape

Cheddar and raspberry jam on baguette

Steamed brown bread

Stevie Nicks

Drive down RT132

The sunlight streams in my room in the morning

My sister's eye rolling

My brother's humor

Origins grapefruit 

Lynn

Kevin

Randy

The horse farm

European yogurt

Weeds

Nurse Jackie

Californication

and finally my uncle the priest, Father Tom

and my Aunt Betty

Being an adult is frigging exhausting lately. everyone is still getting laid off., nice people, people with authenticity. I watched the state of CT "numbers", yep we are broke. I am noticing all this because I have been sick for 10 days straight, no break. I resent the  cough, the sick stomach and the lack of appetite for food , or  for thought. On top of all this, I have been avoiding all aviation peeps, because I do not want to hear about another fatality. My head is under the mud.

I was just thinking things were going to get better. Now we all have months written on us like bar codes, "I am March, and you? "I am December". We stand in a line like a court martial against a dismal landscape These are DOUs, dates of unemployment. We all think we are going to wait a year. A dear friend may get a 3 week on and 3 week off Taipae (or is it tilapia?), schedule. If this cancels on her, I swear i am going to start swinging. If you want a trip to cancel, put this lovely on it.

And do people, couples stay together during this limbo/purgatory/hell? I did not make that stat. I think deep down, instead of the "eyes are the first thing to go", the finances are the first to go, there will be a stampede to the door. Your self worth and all the psych-babble stuff is stirred up and served not so neat.

I walk around the house, thinking i just made Ben’s bed, and there it lay, unmade. I am shocked. My thoughts made it, but I started to do it, and then my unemployed self started to play with the blinds on the window. Then I walked out of the room, thinking I made the bed. This happens to me all the time now, because I hit, what I call, the 90 day mark of mind sludge.

I may go back to school in sep, but my brain is on the milk carton, and the photo of it is small, and looks like everyone else. See, I still have hope..

My parents taught me thru fear. They did not administer to soft spoken lessons that I give Ben. I try to teach him thru "love and logic".

When I discovered I was pregnant, I had to look back on how I was reared, and It was now, really funny. Then, it was not. 

The Irish Catholic God was accountable for pretty much everything, your thoughts, actions and deeds. I remember burying my hamster with a cross, holy water and a little casket, talking to this little dead furry body, saying "you must repent" this was to wash away "hammy's" wanderlust and sinful ways. I was convinced all freedom, fun and racy  thoughts about someone else’s body, was going to make me burn in hell like a million stars. I tried to picture hell at age 12. 

Of course it was all shades of red, fires everywhere, people running, moaning, screaming. All my teachers were there, because, in my mind, I sent them there a few times. Hitler was there, Machiavelli James Dean, Charles Milles Manson was going there, the woman down the street who beat her kids, she was there. The dog who bit me when I was 6 was there, and all the kids who called me skeleton in grade school, had a row of bus seat with their names on them in hell.  The guy who broke my heart when I was 13, he had a seat as well. The gossipy girls in my class were on their way there, and the creepy guy in the candy store was there. 

My parents told me that if I did not do as they asked, academically and in the house, that they would drop me off at the orphanage, "for a trade". Yes, i did believe this. I would want to know where the orphanage was, to sort of get a look see at my new digs.

I always wondered about the "birds and the bees". I still have not gotten that "talk". Ask your mother, ask your father. I was bounced around, back and forth, until the "fast girl ", debby told me. I almost threw up. I could never picture my own parents partaking in such savage liaisons. 

My parents also used the hell phrase on dating. My father would answer to door of the impending date, and interview him as if he was going to be performing brain surgery. Not many boys were fond of this torture. If I partook in any FUN, there would be a lightening bolt, going thru my head, that only my parents could see. I was going to start wearing a hat, so they could not see the bolt. This was counterproductive. 

I was also told if I frowned my face would freeze like that. If I was not married by age 23, I was to be an old maid. If I married outside of my religion, I should be banished to a life of incredible unhappiness. If I did not bring up my kids catholic, i would never be spoken to again. If I came home pregnant, I was just to pack my bags and leave, and never contact them again. Al these things involve leaving without wanting to leave. If I stole, my hands would fall off. If I complained about walking to school, my parents walked to school with no feet, in 3 foot snow drifts, with no coat, hat or gloves. Money does not grow on trees was another. There are people starving in china, was another. 

If you lie, your tongue will fall out or your nose will grow longer. If you get fat, no one will love you. If you do not have a job, people will think you are lazy. If you do not make the curfew, we will lock you out. 

So why am I so normal?

Aviation has wiped out all of my catholic guilt, I have made me normal, free spirited, and possess a devil may care attitude. It has saved me from a a frightful life. I am still catholic by the way, just not a small time girl type catholic.

I attended the 121 catering event last month. It was hosted by Karen Lyons, who is a corporate flight attendant and works as a consultant esquire for inflight catering. You always should have someone like her on staff to "translate" our thought process to the a/c catering facility. Tara Foster is a new face, working as an order/ expediter, as well as new chef, Nancy Bamber, formerly of executive Catering On Elm and private chef to Ron Perlman, of the Revlon family. 

What I learned:

Cost cutting is now omnipresent and a permanent factor.

Keep in mind, if ordering an item that is not in stock, there will be an up charge. 

You can provide your dishes to the caterer for plating

Special recipes can be made up but it may require an up charge

Always be specific and get an itemized bill

Pick seasonal for cost.

Save food and reinvent for next day like crudités (reuse in to spruce up salads)

In order to keep cost to minimum, stay away for shellfish and red meats

Vegetarian fare would be cost cutting as well

They will print pax menus if you need them

They will cryovac (freeze entrees) if needed, for international. and there will be an up charge.

Try to go out with tapenade, endive or the like, bruschetta, save garnish.

Bring little cookie cutters to make garnishes or to cut kid sandwiches, keep pax amused. 

For summer, assorted teas were suggested, Tea Fortes, flavors are lemongrass mint, lavender and citrus.

Rim glasses with colored crystal sugars

Always keep tuna on hand to spruce up pastas

Chris Lsacson was there to demonstrate garnishes stating that they all should be edible. He also touched base on the customs of other countries. What is acceptable in the US, may be verboten in Germany. You eat with eyes first, and you should add a bit more garnish, and a bit less food. We learned fanned tomato, apple swan, lemon crown and spider web( for desserts) cucumber rounds, palm tree (made with cucumber and green pepper. I am all set to decorate!

We had lunch on the patio: Celery hazelnut and Pecorino salad with mustard vinaigrette, french chicken salad with white grapes. baby swiss and tarragon

roast beef, watercress and wasabi mayo wraps. A wonderful mini cupcakes, lemon chiffon, angel food, and key lime. This was a good idea for dieters. Try to have only one, YEAH. right....... I had 3 of each. 

The staff, service and ideas were much appreciated and it was a wonderful time

On the way to the gym, i pass by a trailer park. Branford is pretty up and arrived, but we do have 6 trailer parks. This trailer park was not one of the better ones. They have plywood porches and some green plaid Barcalounger on the front steps. There are actually rules to this trailer park. No public drunkenness, no profanity, parking 1 slot per trailer. This means no one can visit you by car, they have to walk, which I do not think is a problem. Why is she writing about trailer parks?

I have always had "trailer park fear", that I would end up there somehow, by taking the wrong turn in life and having weird indoor furniture on my outdoor porch. Could this happen now? maybe. I was always proud of my addresses of past. Not too swanky, but intriguing, beguiling and on some LAND. I would imagine that if I looked out of my kitchen window in this said trailer park, I would be peering into some ones abyss of low no income. Can I look away once I start peering? Do I want to look poverty straight in the face? do any of us?

I think you have to be sort of brave to live in tin. I said tin not sin. I do not trust the weather. What does rain sound like in there? Where is the washer dryer? Where so the kids play? How come I never see any kids? Did the trailer eat them?

The actual address is 238 trailer park rd, branford. ct. how would that look on my resume? I think it would get me some compassion, but not a job.