Karen Sandler

Category: Traditions

  • It’s Getting Pretty Out There

    Spring in the Sierra Foothills is a gorgeous time. The weather is perfect and wildflowers like California poppies start covering the hillsides along the freeway.

    It’s always a great time for my garden, before the 100 degree days of summer hit and the more tender flowers struggle in the heat. The tulips are gone already, but my other bulbs, mainly irises, start showing off. The purple one to the left has always been my favorite with its big, showy blooms.

    This year, Cosmos have made a reappearance in our garden. We have a couple of raised beds that we used for years to grow our peppers and tomatoes in. The last few years, I haven’t been able to grow a veggie in those beds to save my life. I decided to use smaller containers for the peppers and tomatoes (you can see one pot in the upper right corner), and let the flowers take over the raised beds.

    Gerbera daisies are another favorite. The flowers are such a vivid red. I also love that they’re perennials. This particular plant has probably been with us for a half-dozen years or more. It got moved and separated, struggled for a year or two, but now is doing beautifully.

    One more picture, just because it’s pretty cool. Those are a variety of Cosmos. Rather than flat petals like the others, these are sort of trumpet shaped.

    They look a little unworldly. I can imagine them on an alien planet, looking harmless and pretty. Then you get too close and that stem extends, the petals wrap around you and shoot out a venom…

    Sorry, I guess a writer’s mind never quite shuts off. Do you have pictures of your own spring garden? Or fall, for those of you in the southern hemisphere. Share a link. I’d love to see them.

  • Flashback to the ’70s – Vidal Sassoon

    I was born and raised in Southern California, in the decidedly blue-collar neighborhoods of Hawthorne and Gardena. Beverly Hills was just a dream, a place my dad would drive us around so we could see the big, beautiful houses.

    Then in my teen years, my boyfriend and I, both “starving” students, started hanging out along Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, soaking up the wealthy ambiance. We drooled over gorgeous jewelry in the shop windows and experienced the occasional celebrity sighting. Maybe a few times we scratched together enough money to have lunch at some not-quite-so-pricey place.

    From my college ID, circa 1974.

    We also started to get our hair cut at Vidal Sassoon’s salon. At that time, you could find a stylist there who was relatively affordable. I had my hair styled by a Japanese-American man named Tanaka (he went by one name). It was maybe $20 for a cut–a lot of money then (and my dad probably got stuck with paying for it), but so worth it. Tanaka was way cute. And I would spot Vidal and Beverly Sassoon at the salon and feel quite glamorous.

    Alas, over time, the prices increased and I started to feel kind of scruffy compared to the other very chi-chi clients in the salon. When it got to the point that I couldn’t afford the Sassoon cut, I let my hair grow out and eventually it hung past my waist. But I have very fond memories of Vidal’s salon, how pampered I felt and how much fun Tanaka was to visit with while he styled my hair. I’m sad to hear of Vidal’s death, and sorry to let go of a special part of my teen years.

  • A Girl in Shop Class

    The other day, I was listening to an interview with Neil DeGrasse Tyson on NPR’s Science Friday. (side note: I am madly in love with Neil DeGrasse Tyson. If I wasn’t already married, I would woo Neil).

    Anyway, he got to talking about his childhood, how as a black kid he had to be an athlete in high school to fit in (he wrestled). When he told people he wanted to be an astrophysicist (which he knew from age 11), they told him oh, no, you should be an athlete. Neil said it wasn’t so much racism but the fact that that in those days (late ’60s, early ’70s, based on his age), athletics seemed to be the pathway for someone with his skin color.

    When asked what had kept him going despite society’s skepticism (although his parents did fully support his dreams) he mentioned he had/has a tremendous reserve of strength and self-motivation inside him. When he faced opposition or lack of faith from others, he would draw on his reserve to keep going. Sometimes his reserve got low, but he still kept going until he achieved his goals.

    One funny story he told was of being in shop class in junior high. All the students were to build a desk lamp. It was a simple design, with very clear instructions. But Neil didn’t want to build that desk lamp. He had a particular love of Saturn. He convinced the shop teacher to let him build a Saturn lamp. Neil glued together several blocks of wood, carved out a globe for the planet and a circular piece for the rings. He drilled a hole through the globe to run the cord through and rigged the ring to swivel so that the lamp would turn on when the ring was pressed. He still has that lamp on his desk at the Museum of Natural History. Here’s a video that includes a demonstration of his lamp. It’s at about the 1:10 mark.

    As he was talking about his shop class, he mentioned a reality at that time–that only boys were allowed to take shop. Girls were relegated to cooking and sewing classes. That brought back a memory for me.

    Somehow, when I was in junior high, I was allowed into a shop class. I was the only girl. I loved it. Our project was to design a floor plan for a house. Once we had our design, we were to use balsa wood to build walls. I created a house with a large courtyard in the middle and the rooms ringing the courtyard. I thought it would be cool to have a very private yard like that.

    I was able to draw the floor plan, and got two or three runs of balsa wood glued on. But then came the semester break. I was moved out of shop class (despite my objections) and moved into sewing/cooking class for the second semester. Although it turned out I also enjoyed cooking and sewing, the injustice of being booted out of shop class still stings.

    (Another side note: There was one boy in cooking class. I suspect he was ridiculed by his peers and looked upon with suspicion, just as I had been in shop class).

    I’m assuming that these days if a girl wants to do shop class, she can do it. I know boys take cooking class now in high school. They might still get razzed about it, but they at least have choices.

    So how about it? Anyone have an experience like mine? Or were you allowed to finish that cool project in shop class and you skipped learning how to cook and sew? Let me know in the comments.

  • Something Yummy for Those Holiday Potlucks

    Total cheat on my blog today. My schedule is stacked high with “to-do’s” so I haven’t the time for a thoughtful post. So here are a couple of my favorite recipes you might want to make for that upcoming Christmas or New Year’s Eve/Day potlucks. The first is a cobbler recipe that was given to me by my late neighbor, Connie. She was an accomplished cook.

    Fruit Cobbler

    Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

    filling:
    6 cups berries or pared, cut up fruit such as apples or peaches
    ¾ cup sugar
    1/3 cup flour

    Combine berries or other fruit with sugar and flour. Mix well and pour into 8×8 inch pan. Note: If strawberries are used, add ¼ cup of tapioca. Note: chopped up crystallized ginger goes well with peach cobbler.

    topping:
    1 cup flour
    1 cup sugar
    1 teaspoon baking powder
    ½ teaspoon salt
    1 egg, beaten
    ½ cup butter (1 stick)

    Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix well. Add beaten egg to dry ingredients and stir until mixture is moistened but still crumbly. Spread topping evenly over berries/fruit in baking pan. Melt butter and drizzle over the topping. Bake 40 minutes or until topping is golden and fruit is bubbling.

    This is a Finnish recipe that I got from a fellow student in a chocolate class I took a few years ago. Very unique and marvelously good. She translated it from a Finnish Chocolate book, hence the metric measurements.

    Chocolate Cake with Graham Crackers

    200 g (7.055 oz.) dark or semisweet chocolate
    250 g (8.82 oz.) coconut butter (or regular butter)
    2 eggs (or pasturized egg equivalent)
    3 dl (about 1.5 c.) powdered sugar
    graham crackers
    milk (you can use Kahlua or Creme de Cacao instead)

    Melt chocolate and coconut butter (or plain butter) in double boiler hot water bath. Let cool down. (I melted the butter in microwave and added chocolate into the warm butter which melted the chocolate. Be sure to mix well to a smooth mixture).

    Beat eggs and powdered sugar until light in another bowl. Beat chocolate/coconut butter mix slowly into egg/sugar mix.

    Line a meat loaf pan with parchment cooking paper. Spread about .5 inch layer of chocolate mixture on the bottom. Set a layer of graham crackers (any other type of sweet cracker that you prefer) on the chocolate mix. Brush with milk (or any liquor). Cover with another layer of chocolate mix. Repeat layering 3 to 4 times ending with chocolate layer.

    Chill 2 or more hours. Remove from pan and remove the parchment paper. Dust with cocoa powder. The cake is ready to eat.

    The cake keeps well in the refrigerator and ages well. Because of the raw eggs it is safer to keep the leftovers refrigerated unless you use the pasteurized eggs.

    Enjoy & Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Felicitous Kwanzaa!

  • Happy Turkey Day

    To those in the U.S., happy Thanksgiving! I hope whatever you feast on Thursday is abundant, delicious and entirely to your liking. Even that weird green bean casserole with the funny crunchy stuff on top.

    Now I’m off to make some pies.