Suzy Says

When Megan was a baby, one of our father’s grad students moved in with us. His name was Gilbert, and he was from Tanzania. Due to political unrest and other unpleasant things of that nature, his wealthy family was unable to get money out of Africa and into upstate New York.

I’m guessing that his stay with us outlasted his temporary financial embarrassment, since he lived with us for a couple of years. He may even have stayed with us until he graduated and went home.

We stayed in touch over the years, Gilbert-style. No writing, no emailing, just the occasional phone call saying “I’m at the airport – can you pick me up?” or, memorably, “Can you buy a truck for me and ship it? Here’s the money.” Gilbert took Dad with him on safari, negotiating prices for lodging and then explaining to the surprised hoteliers that Dad was his brother. He introduced Dad to the Maasai, who called him “The Old White Man Who Walks Far”. And that was before his knee replacement.

Gilbert sometimes cooked for us – in retrospect, I imagine Dad was quite relieved not to have to cook for seven people every night – and one of our favorite recipes was his Chicken Pilau. I made it this week for our Thursday dinner, perhaps inspired by the very thoughtful gift Megan made for our brother’s birthday. She copied the cookbooks (and accompanying drawings) Dad made for us girls, and made Jonathan one of his own.

Here’s the recipe. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed that little stroll down memory lane.

Chicken Pilau

1 cup white rice
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
2 stalks celery
3 cups chicken stick
Cooked chicken, equivalent to 1/4 bird, cut into pieces
2 sticks cinnamon
15-20 whole cloves
2 tablespoons oi

Chop the onion, garlic, and celery finely. Sauté in large frying pan until tender, increase heat, add uncooked rice, and continue sautéeing until the rice is golden. Stir well to avoid burning. Turn down heat, add chicken stock, and simmer for ten minutes, then add cinnamon and cloves and chicken – this is the recipe of an African friend and there the amount of meat per portion is small. [Note: I just put everything in at once, and it was fine.] Simmer for another ten minutes – when the rice should be tender – or transfer to the oven (medium heat) in closed dish, where it can remain for some time.

Porchscaping

Megan had a good first shift back at work, though it was very busy. Among other things, a healthy, happy baby girl was born. By the time the twelve hours were up, both Megan and her knees were glad to go home. She was also glad that I was on hand to make dinner that night.

Star was a good girl. Even when Erica dropped by for a quick chat, Star didn’t bark at her! Erica stayed long enough for me to admire (OK, covet) her fabulous shoes, and then went to pick up Jessica from school.

Today I had conference calls starting at 6 am. Audrey kindly woke me around 5:00, making the alarm clock unnecessary and me cranky. When most of the day’s work was out of the way, Rob and I put up the hanging baskets you can sort of see in the picture above. It’s hard to see the purple one off to the right, but I promise you it’s there. I also potted the geraniums and marigolds for the pots on the steps. I think it’s a big improvement on the way it used to look:

Today is sunny and beautiful, as it should be for my brother’s birthday. He and Rob will be the same age for two weeks, until Rob’s birthday rolls around on the 18th. Jonathan is working late today, but we’ll have a barbecue for him this weekend. I already have champagne.

I’m so happy that I can celebrate my sibs’ birthdays with them. When I lived in the city and in Oakland, I didn’t want to brave the traffic, since Megan’s birthday is near Memorial Day and Jonathan’s near Labor Day. I still remember getting stalled in traffic on the Waldo Grade after visiting Megan for her birthday. I was there for 45 minutes, my sunburn (I had my 1966 Mustang convertible in those halcyon days) getting redder and my patience shorter by the minute. Now all I have to do is walk across the driveway, or drive less than a quarter of a mile. That’s a much better commute.

Essential baby-sitting equipment

So I’m baby-sitting Star. As previously noted, this consists of avoiding the heat in Megan’s shady house, painting my toenails (Calypso!), catching up on work and correspondence, and also Season 3 of “Gossip Girl”. There may be the occasional Otter Pop, but Star won’t tell.

Between Star and the kittens, I may well become an egomaniac. Or more of one. The kittens greet my ungroomed, uncaffeinated appearance in the morning with joy, barely able to wait for me to pour coffee before jumping on me and cuddling up and purring. I wonder what they’ll do when they’re too big to sit on my shoulder?

Star spent about ten minutes jumping on me, kissing me, and bouncing around after I first arrived. She was so thrilled to see me I could hardly believe it. I honestly think she loves me more than anyone on the planet, and for no particular reason. As I write, she is leaning against my leg. I guess that’s the dog version of the shoulder purr.

It’s been in the 80s the past few days. September and October are often the warmest months of the year. Last night, I slept with the balcony door open for the first time since trapping Audrey inside at night. Rob found a suitable piece of Plexiglas which he fitted above the baby gate he found at the dump, and also found a heavy pottery mold, which he placed against the baby gate to keep Audrey from pulling it out of the doorway. It worked, since she was ready to go out on schedule at 6 am. You can see why I was delighted help him out by baby-sitting Star, though it’s probably literally the least I could do. It’s the Suzy way.

First day at school!*

When Audrey woke me up this morning, I discovered that both kittens were sleeping on me. One of them was lying across my neck with his head on my ear. I’m beginning to understand that old wives’ tale about cats stealing one’s breath – they really like to be close to your face. Audrey still likes to sit on my chest with my nose muffled in her fur.

I let her out at 5:15, even though it was still dark out. I put all the outside lights on and hoped that the predators had clocked out early. Mark mentioned that he saw (and heard) a fox in his yard a few days ago. He lets his kittens in and out, day and night, and they are fine, which I’m trying to think of as an encouraging sign about the safety of the great outdoors. His kittens are about the same age as mine. I bet mine are jealous of his. I’m still going to try to follow Dr. Karen’s instructions and keep mine in for another three months. By then, it will probably be raining and they might be slightly less enthusiastic about the whole idea.

Maybe.

As I write, Clyde is napping on my left shoulder. He was very determined to live up to his nickname today. I put him in Henry’s old bed with Roscoe, and bent over to get my coffee cup from the side table for a refill. Before I could pick it up, Clyde ran up my back and clung to my neck, purring. I carried him with me to the kitchen and poured the coffee. When I sat down to drink it, he settled in and went to sleep.

I hope Audrey gets used to the boys soon. She still sleeps with me, and I make a big fuss over her every time I see her. She’s been out a lot lately, but that may well be because we’re hitting the best weather of the year as well as kitten avoidance. Hopefully they’ll all settle down amicably.

In non-kitten news, yesterday was Jessica’s first day at the local school. When Erica picked her up, Jessica exclaimed, “Mom, that school is a blast!”

*Photo by Erica!