The Big Life Award

A friend and I were recently discussing what it means to say that someone has lived "A Big Life."  If we were on a committee together to give the Big Life Award and had to come up with some criteria, would you agree with these? And who would you nominate?  Here are my suggestions and two nominations: 

1. Extensive humanitarian work.   This person has seen a wide breadth of humanity, the privileged, the underprivileged, and gotten their hands dirty in knowing both.  They have reached out to others in a very personal and ongoing way (beyond sending cash), despite the fact that they didn't have to and not just for the show of it but because they genuinely cared. 

2. They are a self-made person in some way.  Luck may have played into their life, but they also worked hard to make that luck into something more than a passenger ride. If they have achieved measurable career or personal "success," it is due primarily to their own meritable efforts and laudable ideas, not based on the work of others. 

3.  They are well-traveled and, within that context, have enjoyed the finer side of that experience as well as interacting in the lives of the common man. They understand noblesse oblige as more than an expression but as a moral imperative because they have come to understand the lives and needs of the ordinary individuals they have met in their travels and feel a personal need to change what they can.

4.  Someone who has not been afraid to speak their mind and do things (when necessary) in a very different way than the rest of the crowd  -- a maverick; a firebrand.  These are the people who change everyone around them, like a comet streaking through the lives they touch.

At first blush, I think we all want to think of someone we know -- a loved one perhaps -- as having lived a big life, but I believe it is the rare individual who fits these categories.  Most of us are preoccupied with getting along in our own lives and don't get beyond that challenge to reach out to the greater humanity.  We think of being devoted to friends or family as virtuous, and of course it IS --  because that is a step above being devoted to ourselves.  

I would argue that people who have lived the biggest lives would never admit it and would say their lives are quite small because they are always seeking to achieve more for others -- beyond family and friends.

My first two candidates:  Desmond Tutu and George Clooney.  

Okay. Shoot me down.

Baked Eggs with Spinach and Bacon (Aka Happy Birthday Lou)

I don't cook breakfast. Well not usually.

But today is my husband's birthday and lately I've been cooking up quite a little storm in my house, so I knew I wanted to make him something special.  I got this recipe in Bon Appetit's September issue, and I'm just going to say that if I was able to make something that turned out this good the first time around, it is a major hit with me.  Very few ingredients, easy, quick, and impressive. 


I'll show you the end results first and then show you what I did. 

It's beautiful, isn't it?  And it tastes delicious.  This recipe and more can be found at the Bon Appetit website, so I think it's ok if I share it here.  I've been loving my Bon Appetit magazine!!  I think it's helping me become a cook, after all these years.

4 servings

• PREP: 30 minutes
• TOTAL: 45 minutes

Recipe by the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen

Ingredients

• 6 slices applewood-smoked bacon
• 1 5-ounce bag baby spinach
• 2 whole wheat or sourdough English muffins, split horizontally, well toasted
• 4 large eggs
• 4 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
• 
  

• SPECIAL EQUIPMENT

  4 1-cup ramekins
  
  

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat until crisp; transfer to paper towels. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
      
  Pour off drippings from skillet; reserve drippings. Add spinach to pan, sprinkle with pepper, and toss over medium heat, 1 minute. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Transfer to strainer set over bowl to drain. Brush four 1-cup ramekins with drippings. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Crumble bacon.
  
  
  
  
  
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  Place 1 toasted English muffin half, split side up, in each ramekin. Divide spinach among ramekins, then sprinkle bacon over, dividing equally. With back of spoon, shape well in center of each ramekin. Gently crack 1 egg into well in each ramekin, keeping yolk intact. Drizzle 1 tablespoon cream over each egg. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
  
  
• Bake eggs until whites are just set but yolks are still runny, 14 to 16 minutes.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Bon Appetit, Birthday Boy!!

Read More http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/quick-recipes/2010/09/baked_eggs_with_bacon_and_spinach#ixzz10gKqET6X

The Man of my Dreams

Last night I watched an older movie called "Jack."  This is the one with Robin Williams, where he plays a boy with an unusual disorder where he ages four times as quickly as a normal human.  After being home schooled for the earliest years of his life, Jack enters fifth grade as a 40-year-old man instead of a 10-year-old.  After some social-misfit scenes, Jack manages to gain acceptance with his peers by virtue of his proficiency at basketball, and presumably they all come to love him for what's underneath his "giant" exterior. That's the main story.  But here's my personal takeaway -- make of me as shallow as you will...

There is a scene where the 5th grade boys - Jack among them - are all up in a tree house being, well, boys.  They're reading Penthouse. Eating gross combinations of food. Burping loudly. And taking turns farting into a can with a lid. And then sniffing it.

I'm sorry. That's just one too many disgustings for me.  I mentioned this to my husband this morning and asked whether boys really do this.

BIG,  SMUG SMILE ON HIS FACE.  "Yep. Absolutely."

Now,  I ask you.  Is it any wonder why some women have such a disconnect to their men after they get to know them well?  Or men to their women for that matter?  There we are at 10 years old, polishing our nails, practicing hairstyles and sewing dresses for our dolls. (Ok I was a tomboy so I was also climbing trees and riding minibikes while sewing those dresses, but still...) practicing kissing pillows and all of that, and our future Prince Charmings are preparing themselves for us by FARTING INTO CANS???

Someone is bound to occasionally be disappointed in these adult pairings.  (Phwhat? No Penthouse? No burping? No toilet seat up?)

I'm not judging. I'm just saying. There's might not be truth in advertising.

10 things I want to remember about the summer of 2010

in no particular order...

Bill standing in his flip flops and tuxedo, watching and waiting for Ally to arrive at the altar to marry him.

Ally's little salon breakdown on the morning of the wedding and her needing Ben at that moment more than anyone else in the world -- and how he talked her through it.

Distracting Ally before her bridal shower--that endless cup of coffee while we waited.

Shadows and light at Horton House, HF Bar Ranch, Wyoming.

Dewey, Truman, Monty and Zulu in the early morning at the Hamptons.

NOT getting into the Nate show with Kim and Atsuko--but a great afternoon together anyway.

BBQs with Ellen and Frank-margaritas and always too much food.

Geocaching in Central Park and Greenwich Village.

Riding horses at dusk in the foothills of the Bighorns.

Hiking the banks of the Shell Creek with Cindy and the picnic ride to the South Fork.

I think, therefore.

I can never think of the things I want to write when I sit down to write them.

I need an assistant who will walk beside me to copy down my lofty thoughts as I walk, since they only come to me as I walk. Which won't happen.

So I guess the world will be bereft of my lofty thoughts.  Which is undoubtedly a good thing, because I wouldn't want to discover my thoughts aren't as lofty as I imagined them to be.

Fashion Week 2010 - Lincoln Center

Fashion week starts tomorrow at its new location - Lincoln Center instead of Bryant Park - NYC. I think everyone will be happy, as there is a dearth of good restaurants in the BP area. I used to live there and hated trying to find anywhere good to eat in the neighborhood. Now I live within a short walk of Lincoln Center and can always find a good place to eat. P.J Clarkes and Rosa Mexicana, both across the street, are doing a booming business today and will likely continue to do so for the next week.  There was lots of commotion this morning as the tents are up, photographers are milling about trying to catch a shot of the fashion somebodies, and construction crews are working on the frame you see behind me and that you'll soon see on the Project Runway finale (if you are a fan). So much excitement!!  

I went into analysis today

...called I Write Like writing analysis.  My friend Ellie from Girl Got Poetry sent me the link, so blame it on her.

So my sample revealed that it was written in the style of Chuck Palahniuk.  I Googled him.  "American transgressional fictional novelist."  I'm guessing he wrote that about himself since, a) it's on Wikipedia, and b) nobody calls someone something like that and gets away with it.  Chuck is best known for the book-to-film missive, Fight Club.

I wasn't all that impressed with the comparison. I want to be Nora Ephron ... and I WANT IT NOW.

I wonder how many samples I'd have to submit to get the right answer?  Ellie said she's thinking of submitting repeatedly until she comes up with an author comparison that feeds her ego.

Hey, I'm just trying for accuracy here.

Let me know who you are if you go into analysis at  I write like

GPP Street Team Challenge 44-In a Scrape

The challenge was to use paint and nothing but a credit card to apply. No brushes, sponges, etc.  I often use a CC for some layers but finish with a brush, so it was interesting to see how much I could do with just one tool. Using stencils or masks was optional, so I used an animal skin stencil from Artist Cellar (I also love their metallic Byzantia paints). This could be a background, but in my case I was seeing it as a cave and temple of worship. It's called Houses of the Holy. (yes yes, I was a child of the Led Zeppelin era.)

keys

Eat, Pray, and then Completely Invalidate Yourself?

If you didn’t see this movie and are planning to, you might not want to read this.   But if you read the book and saw the movie, tell me -- did she really spend a year looking inward, becoming a strong, independent woman ready to love herself and eventually another, only to be told she should toss off her balance and follow a man's path? Really?  Don't get me wrong, if I were newly single I might follow Javier around for a week or two as well. But after that... 

Why would a woman leave a husband who adores her, go on a quest to find herself, gain x pounds in a glorious orgy of non-male referenced eating, find her soulful, spiritual center through prayer, meditation and work, and then, after all of that, toss this hard-earned balance away to follow a guy's idea of how life should be?  We're told this is "for love."   Love wouldn’t ask her to throw off her balance. Love would offer greater balance. Greater peace and harmony. Love would meet her in the center, in whatever way that meant to her.  And also, why are so many people in this movie telling her she needs a man?  You know what? As much as I dearly love my husband (and I know you read this darling) we women love men but we don't "need" them.  There's a huge difference.

One final thing. I really dislike movies and commercials that impose their values about how life should be.  Too often they are preachy pulpits for filmmakers to tell us how they think our lives need to be conducted.  I can figure that out for myself.