Focused at Fifty

Mom's Tomato Cucumber Salad Are you ever at a loss for what to make with that grilled steak or chicken? Here are a couple of go-to recipes that I love making in a pinch. Easy, a lot of flavor, and minimal effort. How great is that?   Weekly dinners should always be like this! The first is a basic recipe my Mom has been making as long as I know. It is the traditional summer tomato cucumber salad. Fresh, cold, zesty, and filling. This recipes combines two of my favorite summer veggies. I usually make a large batch for two or three nights. You can add onion if you want a bit more zestiness to it. But be warned, with the Italian dressing and onions, you may want to make it on the nights you don't have a date planned. :-)   The second recipe, crisp rosemary potatoes, is my go-to recipe if I am making rosemary chicken or just grilling chicken breast. It is a great side dish!  I prefer to leave the potatoes in to bake for more time as I like them pretty crispy. Mar...

Mom at 6 yrs (1948) On August 24th, it was my dear Mother's birthday. She would've been 74. Hope she had a great birthday up there doing shots of her favorite Hot Damn liquor. Maybe she sat on the edge of a cloud in Heaven. spying on her kids while sipping Baileys, she loved that too. I can picture her enjoying herself, listening to some salsa, watching people walk by (if they have such a thing up in heaven). She was a people watcher.  More recently before she passed in 2009, Mom just loved to sit on my sister Sheryl's front porch in Philly and watch the world walk by. Mom said it reminded her of growing up in Newark, sitting in the front of her building as a child.  By now, my readers know that I often tell of memories of her as a sort of a record for my brother and sister and my niece and nephew, Angelica and Johnny as well. One day, I hope it will help them get to know their Nana better.  Mom grew up in Newark, NJ, in an apartment building on Goldsmith Ave...

Last Year's basil crop! Blogger's Note: I began writing this last Fall (2015) and for some reason put it aside and didn't come back to it until now. I wanted to complete it and share the recipes with my readers since I'm growing basil again on my deck. Both recipes below came out great and I highly recommend them. One change though for this year, I am going to freeze the remaining basil at the end of the growing season instead of dry it. In addition, this blog post is dedicated to my fraternity brother Alex Spiezio, who has encouraged me to continue writing about food and recipes. Thanks Alex! Removing and cleaning the basil I always seem to fail at my attempts at gardening. I have a great green indoor thumb but the outdoor garden seems to falter, probably due to my lack of patience or it becomes completely overgrown and unruly. What I am good at is growing herbs. Last year, my tomatoes faltered until the very end and my banana peppers only produced 4 peppers ...

This past Saturday morning, I poured myself a cup of coffee and began staring out the kitchen window, thinking about my fun evening last night with friends, and what the day held before me. My mind wandered as I contemplated life. I sipped my coffee. Thoughts turned to a tomato and cucumber salad I wanted to make later. Chores to do, errands to run. Fitting in the gym somewhere along the line. I began to watch the birds and butterflies zip between the oak tree, the pussy-willow tree, the bird bath and the butterfly bush. I spend 15 minutes just relaxing and watching the birds. I gazed out finding myself smiling. About 5-6 cat birds hopped from branch to branch in the pussy-willow tree, each taking a turn in the bird bath. Feathers ruffling, water splashing,. They seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves as much as I was enjoying watching them. They'd hop out, and preen themselves on one of the branches, shaking off excess water. Butterflies were all over the butterfly bush...

Image borrowed from www/homedepot.com John and I were at The Home Depot the other day buying some paint, some rope, and a bunch of other stuff you normally buy there. We had a cart weighted down with two 5 gallon drums of paint and we were slowly pushing it around the store when I realized I needed some top soil and possibly more plants for the deck. We slowly pushed the heavy cart out to the garden section and I told John to wait with the cart by the entrance while I got a 25 pound bag of top soil on the other side; it seemed like a mile away. I carried the bag all the way back to the cart and was just about to place it in the cart when it split open, dumping out top soil everywhere. I started laughing and John rolled his eyes at me, sighing. I carried the opened toil soil all the waay back to the soil/compost shelves. dropped it, and got another one. Then I walked all the waay back to the cart. Luckily this one stayed intact. "Marc, why didn't you just bring ...

Gelly the Graduate!  While I was vacationing in San Diego this June for my niece Angelica's graduation, I pondered on what to write about. I wanted to impart some wisdom to her from her Crazy Uncle Marc. What could I say which she would appreciate? At her graduation party, I had already told her how proud of her I was. How I enjoyed so much watching her grow up, becoming a responsible young adult, graduating with honors, and receiving her diploma! There needed to be something more... The next day, I was in San Diego's Balboa Park enjoying a morning to myself wandering around the gardens, studying the architecture, all the while trying to allow my thoughts and ideas to come together through my surroundings. NOTHING. LOL. I sat outside the Botanical Gardens watching koi fish lazily swim to and fro. I got out my laptop and realized my laptop was dead! Argh!!! I forgot to check the battery! I was getting nowhere fast. I decided I'd grab a quick beer in the Prado Resta...

Eastern Box Turtle hiding.  Last Saturday John asked me to go to yard sale up and over Blue Mountain to hunt for some vintage and antique treasures. We'd get out by 7:30 AM and be at the yard sale within 15 minutes. My normal morning-self once again was lagging behind. I desperately needed a cup of coffee, some healthy carbs and a bit of protein. After that and about half a dozen various pills for ongoing ailments, I was ready to go! We were just chatting while driving towards the mountain when out of the corner of my eye, I spied a turtle on the side of the road starting to cross the highway. "TURTLE!" I yelled. "We have to stop and save him!" "Marc, NO!" John flatly exclaimed. "Rt 183 is too dangerous, the highway is too busy. I'm not gonna let you get into an accident just to save a turtle!" "John, I gotta save him. Don't worry I'll turn around where it's safe. I HAVE to save him. I'll be beside myself if...