Lucinda Herbert

My Comments (724 so far…)

How are you reorganizing your food and kitchen duties?

I gave myself a gift this year — the wonderful, but pricey All-Clad slow cooker. The heat dristributes evenly and you can place the aluminum insert right on the stove top and brown your roast before slow cooking it. I can’t say enough good things about it — well worth the money!

Julie Morgenstern: Back to the Kitchen ... Oy Vey!

Be sure to read this wonderful article about how Julia Child helped to make American women feel that cooking was not something beyond their capabilities … how they came to no longer fear the cuisine! :-) Perhaps this new movie will spur people back to the kitchen!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/magazine/02cooking-t.html?ref=todayspaper

How are you reorganizing your food and kitchen duties?

margameri,

I couldn’t agree with you more! Our children have been foodies from the day they began eating solid food. I bought the Cuisinart mini-prep when my eldest was tiny (now I use it to save time chopping) because our kids rarely, if ever, ate commercial baby food. Whatever I prepared for my husband and me went into the the mini-prep and onto the babies’ plates. The older one (now 18) began logging onto epicurious.com when he was about 10 — I was busy and he desperately wanted some buttermilk biscuits! The younger bakes and makes the desserts I’m less inclined to prepare. Their friends hang around the house and always remark on the meals we put on the table (usually just what we consider to be the regular fare). Even with teens, we set the table and they gather around. I think there is something that connects you to your family and friends when you sit at the table and converse — even if you make just spaghetti bolognese and a salad. I have learned more about the goings ons in my kids’ and their friends’ lives by putting freshly prepared meals on the table. This year my older child began holding dinner parties on his own — mostly grilling steaks they’ve shopped for at Costco, but he has made me laugh when he told us that 8 of them can have steaks at home for less that the cost of several slices of pizza and some soft drinks at the local pizza parlour. I think he failed to factor in the rice and salad fixings he’s taken from my pantry, but I’m OK with that. At least they are eating well and experiencing the joy of sharing a meal with others.

How are you reorganizing your food and kitchen duties?

I am fortunate that cooking has never been an issue for me or my husband. To cut corners, however, there are a few things I try to have on hand like frozen shrimp and scallops (they can be bought @ Costco or any supermarket), plenty of fresh and frozen vegetables, as well as fruit, olive oil, red wine vinegar, chicken broth, soy sauce. Rice can be made in bulk @ the beginning of the week and then individual portions microwaved all week long. Keep beef, chicken, pork on hand for quick sauteeing or grilling. Fish I prefer to buy on the day. Use your microwave to steam vegetables (done in 4 minutes max) and then toss in a little butter or olive oil in a skillet. Anyone who has to feed a family - especially in winter - should do themselves a favor & invest in a slow cooker - prepare the night before, turn it on as you walk out the door and come home to a hot meal that can be served with the already prepared rice.

Cynthia McFadden Will Loan Anything – Except This

Karen,

I stand corrected, but I think I will continue to use loan as a noun!

Below is a link to an entertaining (at least entertaining to those who probably spend entirely too much time trying to get to the bottom of topics like this!) article about this very subject.

http://motivatedgrammar.wordpress.com/2008/04/08/loan-is-a-verb/

Cynthia McFadden Will Loan Anything – Except This

Cynthia,

I am a great admirer of yours, but still feel compelled to point out that lend is a verb and loan is a noun — therefore, "I have lent cars, houses, jewelry, and clothes with pleasure" would be better …

Eileen Fisher's Fall '09 Clothing Line (Photos)

I love her clothes - easy to wear, easy to dress up or down, easy to pack. I bought several of her linen blouses & skirts, as well as a pair of pants, t-shirts, & a loose white over-shirt for my trip to Egypt and they have been perfect. They were also easy to rinse out in a sink and they dry quickly.

What are the top three subjects you talk about with your best girlfriends?

When we are not talking about our kids or diets and exercise, we focus on politics, aging parents, interesting trips and adventures. I am recording this from Luxor, Egypt, where I am with my 18 year old son, a friend, her 18 year old son & 20 year old daughter. Like Joan I’d rather be doing tbis than talking about ailments!

Moms Battle for Right to Breast-Feed in Public. Tell Us What You Think

I am stunned that women are still being asked to not nurse their babies in public. I nursed both my children for a full year, the younger one for 14 months. Despite having babies I was still busy and had to leave the house on a daily basis - and they came with me. With the first one my husband and I vacationed in England & France and it seems every photo was taken when I stopped to nurse along the road and in restaurants. The French were most welcoming, the English less so. I was always discreet and often threw a shawl over myself and when I could I preferred to sit on a couch in an upscale hotel or department store couch. I certainly never nursed at a blacktie event or during a business meeting, but to be asked to abandon a park bench is absurd & unacceptable!

The Lessons on Beaches, Big and Small, by Mary Jane Clark

Sometimes when we are at a personal low, God sends us a gift like that. She may well have considered the time spent with you to have been a gift of sorts too because after all, suffering over children is among a mother’s worst heartaches - which she acknowleged out loud and may have thought privately to herself that thankfully it wasn’t something she had had to bear. I believe making a choice to triumph is important, but if we open our hearts and our ears, we’ll find that we can help each other along the way.

JFK Jr.'s 'Thank You' to Julia Reed

He was raised well and understood how important it was to acknowledge appreciation of a gift — and that’s what you gave him — and more than likely, you would have gone out of your way for him another time because of the truly nice note you received from him and not because of his last name. That small gesture was the genesis of what might have become a friendship of sorts. More young people should be taught how imortant and valuable a thank you note is.

Candice Bergen: 'Rachel Maddow Is the Smart Chick du Jour'

She can be great, but I wish she’d take the snarky tone out of her voice.

LIZ SMITH FLASH! Old Joe Jackson Thinking Showbiz for Paris?

MJ’s dermatologist expressed the very same sentiment on Larry King and that he’d encourage Debbie Rowe to act in order to protect them from the family. Katherine may love her children, but she didn’t keep Joe from them. I don’t know whether it has to do with being a Jehovah’s Witness, or fear of poverty, or whether she was even abused by Joe. The kids seemed very sweet and unaffected despite the unusual world in which they’ve been brought up — I too worry about their future.

LIZ SMITH FLASH! Old Joe Jackson Thinking Showbiz for Paris?

NK,

Joe Jackson is not an apealing figure, I grant you, but if you listen to the interview I believe you’d agree that ABC’s Chris Connelly is the one, who should be called on the carpet for posing such a question.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/MichaelJackson/Story?id=8047192&page=1

Better would have been to ask whether Katherine (and he) would continue to provide the children the privacy MJ did. Joe’s reply to a question like that would have been more inciteful.