Puzzler Alert

The Simpsons this Sunday will feature the voices of crossword puzzle creator Merl Reagle and puzzle editor to the gods Will Shortz. The theme will revolve around crossword puzzles...and is titled "Homer and Lisa exchange Cross Words." Not only that, but the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle will contain a hidden message relevant to the episode.

That's a lot of cross-promotion. But the big fun is the puzzle geek factor. Every single crossword visible in the episode will have been created by Merl Reagle and I think it'll be fun to see how many references I can catch. I'm an occasional Simpsons watcher, not an addict, but this one will definitely be one to catch if you're a puzzle fiend.

Tending the garden

So, Houston is an odd place garden-wise. When the rest of the country is closing down its gardens, down here October and November are the times to plant and cultivate. You try to get your winter color in by Halloween, so that they have time to grow and get a bit hardy to resist the coming cold snaps. Nothing cheers me up more than seeing the bright faces of pansies and other plants in winter.

But, my garden was frankly a mess. Over the last year, I just had let it go and go and go. There were weeds, trash trees and overgrown foundation plants. Last year I never got any winter color planted and maybe that was the start of my 2008 troubles. This inaction was followed up by not planting any spring or summer color accents and just letting what was there go wild.

It just was hard to figure out where to start, but one Saturday in October, start I did. I began freeing the bed of daylilies from their choking collars of Saint Augustine runners and weeds. Some of their leaves barely had any green color on them, they'd been stifling under that mess. With that bed restored, I moved on to the grasses and the butterfly irises and the kniphofia. I got Paul to help me remove some of the bigger trees and little by little, the beds and order was restored. I don't like rigid lines and formality in the gardens, but these had gotten a little too Darwinian even for me. The plumbago and the esperanza (yellow bells) were trimmed back to semi-recognizable shapes. The holly bushes and foundation plants were trimmed so that you can actually see the windows.

I gave myself a budget of $200 to plant some color. Flats of pansies, alyssum, nasturtium, and dianthus added the splashes of color. Hurricane Ike removed so many branches from the oak tree that my back yard is significantly less shady than normal, so I'm trying some sun-lovers in new spots.

I ripped out some lantana that has never bloomed right since I planted it 4 years ago. I added a butterfly bush (I have never had luck growing these, but I am trying a new, slightly more protected from the summer sun spot), some gayfeather (which I grew successfully for several years in the garden) and some society garlic. I'm a native-plants type of gardener, and I have a local nursery that provides good quality stock. Their plants are probably a little more expensive than the big-box garden shops, but I've always had good results.

Finally, after a fruitless search locally, I ordered some daffodils from a mail-order company. I've been wanting to plant daffys for ages, but I always miss the window. I've ordered pre-chilled bulbs and when they come in December, I'll be interspersing them with the daylilies. This is a combination that works really well in gardens and I hope it'll take in mine. I don't want fussy plants that I have to dig up, so I ordered a cultivar that naturalizes in Houston.

In the back butterfly garden, the Monarch caterpillars are munching the Mexican milkweed. We still have eggs and we've hosted quite a number of caterpillars. I'm not messing with that bed, because the weeds are helping provide cover for the caterpillars from those birds. The kids and I check the caterpillars nearly every day, and we watch them grow from the length of a pinky nail to big and fat and ready to transform.

Anyway, I think restoring my garden was the first step in making things better.

Progress

I realized today that we've been two weeks without losing our power for more than five minutes or so. We even went through a big thunderstorm with our power intact--no blinking clocks making us late this morning. This represents huge progress for us--we were losing power 3 times a week. Just three weeks ago, I had to throw out everything I had re-accumulated in the fridge because we lost power for 18 hours. The grid is seeming more stable.

That's also a good metaphor for me right now. I feel more stable. The election being over helps (man, that was stressful), as does finishing up a brutal fall sports schedule. We've got issues to handle and deal with, but they're no worse than normal (except for that finding a middle school thing). I am starting to feel confident again, less nervous and overwhelmed.

Of course, that confidence doesn't extend to the economy. Watching so much of our carefully saved money go "poof" in the market downturn has made me feel more cautious about spending. So, one small thing I am doing is trying to make sure I cook more and buy less convenience and prepared food and take-out. This last 10 days I've been in a fall mood, as we had a slight nip for a few days (seems to be gone now). So I've been using the slow cooker a lot. In addition to getting to use cheaper cuts of meat in the cooker, flavorful stews and soups are a big hit with almost everyone in the family.

Here's what's in the cooker now--a Moroccan-inspired Tagine. I'll cook some couscous at dinner time to serve the tagine over. I didn't have tomato paste, so I used crushed tomatoes and a bit less chicken broth. And I threw in a chopped red pepper for an extra hit of antioxidants. Everyone likes this dinner. We have a busy day with Odyssey of the Mind practice after school (I'm coaching the younger's team), indoor soccer practice and a middle school tour sandwiched in there. I have more energy in the morning, so it's nice to know that dinner's in the pot already.

Chicken Tagine

8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 1 3/4 pounds total), cut into 1-inch pieces

2 medium onions, thinly sliced

4 large carrots, peeled and thinly sliced

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup dried apricots, coarsely chopped

2 cups chicken broth

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons flour

2 teaspoons garlic salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon black pepper

1. In a 6 quart slow cooker, layer chicken, onions, carrots, raisins and apricots.

2. In a medium-size bowl, whisk chicken broth, tomato paste, lemon juice, flour, garlic salt, cumin, ginger, cinnamon and black pepper. Pour over chicken and vegetables.

3. Cook 5 hours on high heat or 8 hours on low.

daytime tv

I've been laid low with a stomach virus. It's worse than the normal ones, in that you spend a good 12-15 hours retching. And today, that over, I still don't feel well. I'm much better than yesterday, but only about 50% on the road to normal.

Thanks to Ike, we still don't have cable (or decent Internet access). Comcast is my new bogeyman. Their customer service is horrid. Now, they refuse to answer your calls and just say, "we'll call you when your service is back on." Today was the original date that the cable guy was supposed to come, but my money's on a no-show. Everyone understands about the breadth of the recovery after Ike, but the lack of communication has been appalling. When things are back to normal, we'll be considering other options.

My library finally opened earlier this week, so I have a couple of books. I just don't feel up to reading. My head hurts and I can't really concentrate. So, I'd like to lie down and watch tv. I really, really would like more options. Yesterday, I watched 15 minutes of a Fantasy Island rerun before falling asleep. Something better than 1970s tv, gameshows and soaps would really be welcome right now.

Weary

That's just kind of how I am. Weary and a bit exhausted mentally. I haven't been sleeping well and that probably adds to my feelings.

Don't get me wrong. I know how lucky we are to have someplace to stay and a way to get out of the heat and humidity of a Houston non-fall. My sister has been fabulous, and been a great host and incredibly hospitable and welcoming. We had a nice outing to the Botanical Gardens with a friend here in town.

But, we're all tired. We'd all like to be back in our normal routine as much as possible and there's not been that much progress towards one. There's still no strong estimate about the power at our house; the power restoration in our area has been non-existent. We do find out today at 5pm whether the kids will start school Thursday or next Monday.

Anyway, I'm feeling kind of blue and down this afternoon. That doesn't happen to me that often and I'm trying to shake myself out of it. I thought perhaps blogging those feelings would help me figure out what's at the root of them and how to feel better.

On evacuations

I've gotten some questions on why we didn't evacuate prior to Ike, and I have some sort of random thoughts that I wanted to work out. Blogging is always a good way to do that.

The Houston metropolitan area is huge. As we saw in Rita, there is no way to get all the residents out in advance of a storm. So the city has set up different zones, based on the risk of flooding. The plan for Ike was to get those people who had decent chances of being flooded out. The power of the storm surge is tremendous, and as you can see from the remains of Crystal Beach, you don't want people in area where they can be inundated by storm surge.

As bad as it is, we were actually quite lucky in that Ike took a wobble and passed over Galveston instead of further to the west. A direct hit over Freeport could have been catastrophic for Galveston Bay (and Clear Lake, Pasadena, and all of SE Harris County and Galevston County). Hundreds of thousands of homes could have been flooded and the potential for injury and loss of life was large.

Folks in my area were asked to stay in place so that those who were in danger could get out. In a lot of ways, this plan worked quite well, both for us and for our community. The people in mandatory evacuation zones did get out to safety. And Ike passed over, a powerful storm but not catastrophic. We were able to evaluate the situation at our home post-Ike, prepare our house for an extended absence, do some fence repair work, and then leave. We had supplies at home for more than a week and two cars in good repair with full tanks of gas.

But, of course, being this prepared takes money and time. I had an extra $400 to buy water, nonperishable food items, bug spray, batteries, plywood, etc. We had the time to gas up the cars and board up our home. While the kids were at school, I could go wait in line to buy bread and peanut butter and jelly. We have a camp stove and propane and everything you'd need to rough it. And, we have the financial ability to go stay in a hotel out of town (or with my sister).

I think asking people to stay was right. But, if you are going to do that, you have to be prepared to help them afterwards. Not everyone can afford to buy what we bought; way too many people scrape by from paycheck to paycheck. Not everyone is a salaried employee who gets paid when they miss work. Many people faced the storm unprepared, but they stayed put because their city and county and state asked them to. This was vitally important in that it could have and probably did save lives.

But, what will happen next time? This has been extremely difficult and hard on so many people. I worry that next time, people won't listen to the city and the county and won't stay.

Tavuk Izgara

That's what we had for dinner tonight. Here's the link to the original recipe from Whole Foods. Tavuk Izgara is a Turkish dish, but it's basically another variation of my favorite yogurt-marinated chicken. This sort of marinating really helps produce a juicy dish and keeps the chicken from drying out.

And here's my modified version:

• 8 chicken thighs
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 yellow onion, grated
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• juice of 2 lemons, plus the shredded rinds
  
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
  
• salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Mix together the yogurt, onion, garlic, lemon juice, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper. Put chicken thighs in a bowl and add marinade. Toss to coat each piece completely. Cover bowl and refrigerate overnight or at least 8–10 hours.

When ready, preheat your oven and add the chicken to a 13x9 pan. Cook in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or so (the easiest thing to do is to use a meat thermometer - poultry is finished at 165 degrees). At that point, turn the oven up to broil and broil for a few minutes to get some color on the chicken (it's very white otherwise). Serve with pilaf and your choice of vegetable. The Whole Foods Recipe calls for grilling and I am sure that is the best way to cook it. But, I wanted to stay inside.

It's very tangy and delicious. My kids love lemon. The littlest one picked out all the onions, but they both gave this dinner a big thumb's up.

And while I've been writing this, they're playing monopoly as we wait for the pineapple sorbet to chill. Here's that recipe:

• 1 whole pineapple
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup simple syrup

Peel and core one ripe pineapple. Do it inside a bowl so that you can catch the juice. Shred the flesh until it's in small pieces. Add 2 tablespoons sugar and let sit...the sugar will draw out more juice. If you don't have any on hand, make a simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water, heated until the sugar dissolves) and let it cool.

When it's time to make the sorbet, add the pineapple pieces and the syrup to the ice cream maker. Follow manufacturer's instructions to freeze (mine takes about 20 minutes).


Honestly, this is a simple and delicious desert. Very pleasing on the palate; very easy to make. This got a big thumbs up from everyone.