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| Cabbage rolls, tomatoes from the garden and store bought pierogi |
Rick's Famous Polish Cabbage Rolls
It's October and Rick's childhood memories of family gatherings revolve around this great dish. The cabbage rolled around a filling of rice and meat provides a contrast of color, texture and flavors. Pinot Noir is light and fruity and compliments this dish.
Serves 10
1 onion, chopped2 tablespoons of butter or margarine
1 cup cooked rice
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 pound ground pork
Salt and pepper
1 head cabbage (about 3 pounds)
3 cups beef consommé
1 six ounce can of tomato paste
Fry the onions in the butter or margarine until golden and then mix the onions with the rice and the meat. Season with salt and pepper.
Place the whole head of cabbage in a large kettle with boiling water. Cover and cook for five minutes. Remove the cabbage from the kettle. Separate the soft leaves from the surface. Return the rest of the cabbage to the kettle and cook for another five minutes. Repeat until all the leaves are separated easily. Cut out the hard part of the stem of each leaf. It takes at least three times to remove all of the leaves.
Bake covered cabbage rolls in a 375º F. oven for one hour. It's always best to make more than you need because they are delicious reheated.
And Now For Some Advice
Mellow Out--Lessons Learned From Household Cats is a fun read that explores the influence cats have on our lives. The book delves into twenty areas where their behavior provides a calming effect. Each section begins with a quote that reflects mainstream thinking on the topic. This is followed by comments on how this concept plays out in society, and then, how the cats respond. Finally there is a discussion on how to use the behaviors of the cats to improve our lives. The broad themes of the book focus on how to take care of ourselves, how to tolerate adversity and how to embrace our emotions. Topics include such things are dealing with getting high, being overweight, love, and brown-nosing at your place of employment.
More Information about Mellow Out--Lessons Learned From Household Cats can be found by clicking here
Dieting is the only game where you win when you lose.
Karl Lagerfeld
It’s OK To Be Pleasantly Plump
I love watching detective shows with female leads—Beckett on
Castle, Jane Rizzoli on Rizzoli and Isles, and Teresa Lisbon on The Mentalist
are just a few of them. The one thing that all of these women have in common is
that they are slender, and many of us that are a little overweight envy them
because they represent the norm for our society. Being overweight is not cool.
On August 10, 2010, we received a desperate call from my
wife’s sister. “Sherry has a problem, and she can’t keep her two cats. I’m
driving up to Oregon to get them. Will you take one?”
A few days after that simple request, a black and white
medium-haired cat arrived on August 14. Her face was snow white in the area
around her mouth and up to her nose. Above that was black fur, and it was
difficult to see the two very wide eyes in this area through the fur. It looked
like she didn’t have any eyes! She had the strangest face. As for her body, the
ribs could be easily felt under her coat of fur. This cat was underweight.
The cat was only eighteen months old, extremely thin and had
already had two litters. Her name was Marie, and she did not like to be held,
possibly because the daughter of her former owner kept her tied up at night.
Fear embraced us. What if she were pregnant? Since we have a
huge yard with many cats in the neighborhood, we wondered how long it would
take for her to have another litter.
We put her in the spare bedroom, and she was cool and calm.
As happened with Mitsy, when we let her out of the room, hissing matches ensued—with
both cats now. The next day, I took her to the Humane Society complex that was
located on the other side of town. Marie howled as I drove to her appointment.
While she howled, I prayed that she wasn’t pregnant. It would be impossible for
me to handle a litter of kittens. You should have seen me when my own kids were
born. I was a nervous wreck. Strange thoughts raced through my mind. How do you
use the Lamaze Method on cats? Can you teach cats how to breathe?
I waited in the lobby while the techs checked out Marie. My
prayer was answered. She wasn’t pregnant. We then scheduled another
appointment. The next Wednesday I repeated the drive at 6:30 AM and the howls
continued as I drove her back to the Humane Society. She was spayed and at 4:30
the howls resumed as we drove home. Three weeks later, we returned for our
final appointment. Marie was completely healed, and there were no
complications.
Each morning the cats would receive half a can of delicious
cat food—mixed grill, turkey and salmon with cheese, etc. I made sure that I
bought a variety of flavors, but, in reality, the cats didn’t care. A bowl of
dry food would be out for them to eat whenever they were hungry.
The first thing Marie did was to eat more than she could
handle and then vomit. This was a recurring pattern. Eat as much and as fast as
possible. Eat the leftovers from the other cat dishes. Vomit. By way of
explanation, Marie could get away with eating from the other cat dishes because
when Samantha hissed, she just ignored her. Of course Mitsy just ran away.
While this was going on, Marie became friendlier. We would
turn on the bathroom light, and there she would be, staring at us from inside
the laundry basket. Her other favorite place to hide was behind the flat screen
TV. We could see only her tail hanging out. We were becoming very endeared with
her.
Mitsy and Marie became good friends as they bonded against
Samantha, who was larger than both of them. Samantha did not like this new
arrangement, and she let everyone know that. As their friendship grew and their
relationship with us changed, we ended up calling Mitsy, the Mitzer. In the
weeks after the operation, Marie just swelled up and we renamed her Chubby
Wubby. She went from 6 pounds, 12 ounces, to 10.15 pounds.
Before anyone gets angry, please note that Chubby is now 9.2
pounds and according to the Pet MD calculator, her weight is perfect. Our love
for Chubby continues to grow and she has become my good friend. Every time I go
into the kitchen, she jumps up on the counter and snuggles next to me. When I
watch TV, she sits on my lap. We love our Chubby Wubby.
Chubby was always calm and cool. It didn’t matter to her
what she weighed. In contrast, we humans have a great fear of gaining extra
pounds and that fear is exacerbated when we jump on the scale at the doctor’s
office. When I left high school, I weighed 155 pounds, and that number kept
creeping up. I met my doctor about fourteen years ago. She had just joined my
HMO after graduating from medical school. This woman was Vietnamese, very short
and very thin. After our first meeting, she started complaining about my weight—diet
and exercise, exercise and diet, were her mantra. A year letter, she went on
maternity leave, and I knew that I would get my revenge.
Most woman, like Chubby, keep the weight after they had
children and I knew that she would come back from maternity leave with lots of
extra pounds. I was wrong; she was as skinny as a rail. Over the years, this
happened two more times, and in each case she didn’t gain a pound. Last year I
ballooned to 240 pounds. Even I thought that this was bad, so I dieted a bit
and now I am almost content at 230 pounds and with a BMI in the obese category.
I can’t give up wine, desserts and pasta.
In reality, I have a family heritage to maintain. My mother
was fat, my brother looks pregnant and I am pleasantly plump. Our whole family
has been fighting weight issues. Like Chubby, I’m content with my weight, even
though I am trying to lose a few more pounds. My cat has helped me to realize
that it’s okay to be a bit chubby as long as you are cool about it.