9 Moons Ago

  

Of Radish Tops on a Plate

There you are
4 buttons of purple-y red and pinky-white
Little disks of salad enhancement
Feathery green remnants on top
So simple, yet
Enough to make a meal just that
much hotter.
Like when I took your hand in mine
and you thought I was about to be sweet
But I slid your fingers
between my own just-washed, but not dried
gentle fingertips, and opened my
pretty mouth.
And popped you in, sucking a little with a shy smile.
It was unexpected
And a little bit, just a little bit, naughty.
Your hands are one of my favorite delicacies.
(I never did hear you object to such
playfulness.)
So, after that came a more spicy advance,
And that salad never did get made properly.
We ate greens with radishes anyway.
And I threw in black olives for good measure.
You threw in the dish towel and succumbed to my wicked game.
Thank God for that.

A. M. Lehr June 2008

  

In my early college years at Moore College of Art and Design, I subsisted, along with all the other freshman and sophomores in my dorm, on the most unhealthy diet of breakfast cereal and ice cream. There were a few dishes on the menu that we dared to try, in order to gain our meager allowance of nutrients and roughage. These ones we ate were the dishes that did NOT contain every recycled vegetable from the last week’s entire menu. I’ve never been offered squash, green beans, lima beans and corn in so many different dishes in a consecutive four day period before, or since.

One way we got some nutrition, besides all those bananas in the ice cream sundaes, was through juice. My favorite was cranberry juice. This was not a weak, pale cousin to cranberry juice. It was not a blend, nor a cocktail. It was 100% nice and tart cranberry juice..or close enough to 100%!

Wandering the store aisles these days, I read the apple juice and sugar content in the cranberry juice bottles and sigh and replace them back to the shelf. I am not sure why there doesn’t seem to be anything more potent than 20% cranberry …unless it’s just because I’ve been in Australia too long and Australian people get a whole different kind of “American” food product over here… but that’s another story…

So I had a flash of inspiration, and I will share my new recipe with you..for those too lazy or poor to make juice from 100% cranberry.

One bag of store-bought ice, because it makes it easy in the summer, when you can go through ice quite quickly:
Add enough ice to the glass to give you some water, so you are being a bit healthy.
Juice of your choice. (Or cordial for your Aussies)
And lemonade, can be carbonated or not. I make it strawberry lemonade: Whatever kind of light refreshing beverage you like, basically.
The secret ingredient: a handful of frozen cranberries.
A straw.

By the time you finish your drink, your cranberries have thawed and are ready to munch on..and some have filled up with juice, others are a bit icy. I find it nice. Especially because I like it TART!

Mmm..The box of cranberries can last you quite a while too. Mine lasted for two weeks. I’m ready for one more box, but I may let it wait, because I’m only here for ONE WEEK and then it’s off to Pennsylvania with me to come home to my loving family and friends…and start up a new chapter in my life. And share in the beautiful ever-expanding life of my family.

I feel quite fulfilled and also expectant. I will be sharing more of the goodness I am finding in my life, despite the rough patches, in the coming months.
Much love to all of you who have helped and encouraged me on this path!
Life is getting good again. I am well on my way to being well again.
xo Amy

  

Things are going well with both Cameron and myself, but since I might not post anything else till November, here’s an early “Halloween Postcard” from me to you! Trick or Treat!

  

From time to time, for various occasions, Cam and I will treat ourselves to some beverages (aka booze). One of these times, we picked up a bottle of Asti and as we were leaving the store, Cameron spied a very inexpensive (aka cheap) bottle of “Passion Pop” which intrigued him, because it was lemon lime flavoured. I grimaced, but told him to put it in the cart and we’d try it for experimentation’s sake.

The Asti was lovely, as usual. The Passion Pop?

Hrmmm. So nasty that I didn’t finish one glass. THEN I read the label:

“LEMON LIME FLAVOURED WINE PRODUCT
Produced with the aid of milk, fish, egg & nut products and traces may remain.”

Eewwwwwwww…

So, that’s the difference between a good inexpensive wine and a cheap wine….

…product.