For Planning Out Loud

[Jenise]

I'm doing a dinner party on Saturday night, the star of which will be eight vintages of Woodward Canyon's Dedication Series Cabernet stretching from 1989 to 1996. This dinner is an appreciation meal for three couples who fed us generously and often while we were kitchenless during our 14 month kitchen remodel and who we haven't had over since the kitchen was completed. My plan is to serve the eight vintages in four flites with four small-plates courses. An amuse bouche with champagne or a white will precede the meal and a cheese plate will follow.

Due to some unfortunate dietary restrictions, for awhile now I haven't been cooking the kind of food I really love to make.

And there's another reason: during the last three months I've been tested every which way for the most serious illness of all which my doctors considered highly probable in light of certain symptoms. I'm pleased to report that they failed to find even a speck of that, but the less-bad news is that the "dagger in my side", which aptly describes the pain that roused everyone's suspicions, is due to some oddly-referred spinal problems in need of a neurosurgeon's skills as well as arthritis "throughout" and most severely in the back of my neck. Not great news but certainly a lot better than the other thing. And what that has to do with Saturday night is to simply say that I'm apparently not physically able to do a lot of the things I used to do.

Just last week I found out my limitations. I attempted to make some smoked chicken ravioli. We smoked three chickens on Christmas Day which deliberate produced the leftovers needed to make some lovely smoked chicken ravioli which I thought would be an excellent, lighter meat-oriented course for the Woodward Canyon dinner. Only, to my shock and dismay, I couldn't do it. By the time I had cranked out just three of the eight sheets of pasta I needed, the pain was so impossible that I had to walk away sobbing and leave Bob to toss all the ingredients away and clean up. I recall that in early October I was able to make some green pea ravioli, so things have gotten worse.

So, for now I'm a crip. Shouldn't lift anything over five pounds in either hand or do anything that requires wagging my arms about or reaching forward. Typing and carrying a purse on my shoulder, two mundane daily needs just for instance, are not benign anymore. I can't even wear an apron because the weight of that light cloth strap on the back of my neck causes unbearable inflammation. And yet I insist on entertaining because I can't stand not being in the kitchen.

Which gets me back to my menu planning for Saturday. The amuse will be a little demitasse of either avocado veloute or pureed celery root and truffle soup. The first course will be a red wine friendly salad of sliced mushrooms and sunchokes marinated in a red wine vinaigrette tossed with arugula and served on plates lined with a capicolla carpaccio. I had planned on doing some individual oxtail terrines--I liked the idea of serving two cold courses and two hot--but after the failed ravioli exercise I'm afraid of that (as discovered during our last crab season, it's the repetitive reaching motion of picking the meat off the bones that's the problem). The practicality of doing a cheese course explains itself. I've not decided anything else. Roasted slices of rare filet mignon parked on a bit of celery root/potato puree topped with individual foie-gras stuffed Mushroom Wellingtons wouldn't be a bad idea--admittedly, the Wellies are borderline even with purchased dough but if I space out all the preparations over the next few days where that's the only thing I do in one day, then maybe I can get away with it. Rack of Lamb, which would be high on my list of glamorous proteins to serve, is out because one of my guests doesn't like lamb.

Maybe I should forget I know that.

Wow, Jenise. Good luck with everything, girl! My heart goes our to your palate and your ambition. Keep us informed. I'm certain the meal will be fantastic. BTW, would love that oxtail terrine recipe.

[Jenise]

Wow, Jenise. Good luck with everything, girl! My heart goes our to your palate and your ambition. Keep us informed. I'm certain the meal will be fantastic. BTW, would love that oxtail terrine recipe.

Thanks, pal. You know what, there's a very big part of me that wants to scream and cry "I'M TOO YOUNG FOR THIS!" but the truth doesn't change a thing or that I have to figure out how to get along in spite of it. And I repeat that I'm grateful for my diagnosis: concurrent with getting to the bottom of my issues I've been tending to a good friend in Alaska with terminal brain cancer who has complained less about that than I did here in one lousy thread about my back. Makes it easy to count one's blessings.

Sorry to hear about this. Perhaps you could hire someone to help you. I'm thinking a trustworthy, competent neighborhood girl to work directly under your supervision?

Oh, Jenise! I'm so sorry to hear that you are having so many difficuties.

A thought about the menu... do half lamb, half beef, let the diner choose between chops and steak.

A thought about things more broadly... take a management course so you can excel at instructing Bob what to do when you've reached your limits.

That's a tough one Jenise. Might a warmer climate be better for you?

I am so sorry to hear about your spine problems. I hope there will be some successful conservative interventions.
Don't give up on pasta. Now is the time to invest in the Kitchen Aid Pasta Attachment - $100.00 - no cranking, no arm action except to guide the dough.
I've used mine many more times than I've use the Atlas hand crank. It's a time and energy saver.
Best wishes for alleviation of pain and motor limitations.

[Jenise]

Sorry to hear about this. Perhaps you could hire someone to help you. I'm thinking a trustworthy, competent neighborhood girl to work directly under your supervision?

That would be great, Howie, but in my neighborhood I AM the competent young neighborhood girl.

[Jenise]

I am so sorry to hear about your spine problems. I hope there will be some successful conservative interventions.
Don't give up on pasta. Now is the time to invest in the Kitchen Aid Pasta Attachment - $100.00 - no cranking, no arm action except to guide the dough.

Wish that would work out, Christine. I glossed over the details but the other day it was actually Bob turning the crank and all I did was guide the dough. Well, and I filled one set of ravioli with the first two sheets before starting the second set, but that's all it took. However, thinking later at the store back to my comment about store-bought pastry it occurred to me that I can buy sheets of pasta and do those, oh crap where's my brain, it's a c-word, pasta rolled like an enchilada, THOSE things. Not much handwork involved to make eight of them.

... I can buy sheets of pasta and do those, oh crap where's my brain, it's a c-word, pasta rolled like an enchilada, THOSE things. Not much handwork involved to make eight of them.

Blintz?

[Jenise]

That's a tough one Jenise. Might a warmer climate be better for you?

I know what you're getting at, Karen. When we lived in Alaska, a friend with back problems had to move back to the lower 48--but so far the cold hasn't bothered me and I'm presuming it's not really cold enough here to be an issue. I tend to be rather impervious (I wear flip flops unless it's snowing) and don't tense up.

[Jenise]

... I can buy sheets of pasta and do those, oh crap where's my brain, it's a c-word, pasta rolled like an enchilada, THOSE things. Not much handwork involved to make eight of them.

Blintz?

LOL! Yes, YOU can call them that.

[Jenise]

Jo Ann, I don't have a recipe. It's something I just kind of put together. But I did spend a little time today perusing the internet for inspirational pictures or descriptions of same, and rather fell in love with a Daniel Boulud version with a strip of foie gras down the center. My word, would that be elegant.

Cannelloni? Personally, I would have liked it better if Clemenza had said "leave the gun, take the cannelloni" (I don't do desserts).

Sorry for your pain. Hope that doctors find solution (hopefully not neurosurgery, but whatever works) soon.

All I can say, Jenise, is that I'm extremely happy to hear that you're not having to deal with the really serious "it". Still, what you're dealing with doesn't sound like much fun. I imagine you'll be going through some trial-and-error to figure out what you can and can't do without too much pain. On the plus side, it's early in the process and your doctors may be able to come up with some treatments that will help. I expect you'll be turning out great meals no matter what, though. You're a true cook. You have no choice.

On the more immediate note, you could always dump the Wellingtons and go for a side dish that didn't involve rolling out pastry dough (as delicious as those would be). I also love the sound of the salad with the capicolla carpaccio.

On the more immediate note, you could always dump the Wellingtons and go for a side dish that didn't involve rolling out pastry dough (as delicious as those would be).

Or use ready made puff pastrey dough. We have will fine results.

My most sincere sympathies, Jenise. My wife Jean has been dealing with a lot of pain, too, from a pinched nerve in her neck at the C6/C7 cervical junction, the result of a bone spur from disc desiccation. It's an ongoing problem, but physical therapy has provided her with the greatest relief and hope for the future. I'm not sure what's going on with you, but if you're not getting PT I strongly suggest that you get a referral from your neurosurgeon and give it a try. Living with chronic pain is no fun at all.

Best wishes,
Mark Lipton

[Jenise]

My most sincere sympathies, Jenise. My wife Jean has been dealing with a lot of pain, too, from a pinched nerve in her neck at the C6/C7 cervical junction, the result of a bone spur from disc desiccation. It's an ongoing problem, but physical therapy has provided her with the greatest relief and hope for the future. I'm not sure what's going on with you, but if you're not getting PT I strongly suggest that you get a referral from your neurosurgeon and give it a try. Living with chronic pain is no fun at all.

Best wishes,
Mark Lipton

Thank you, Mark, but you know what, throughout the last three months I've met each piece of not-so-good news, and there have been several, with cheerful equanimity. "Oh, is that all?", I'd joke at some fairly serious stuff that requires some fairly extensive and inconvenient measures, "I can deal with that!" It took finding out that I couldn't make ravioli to send me over the edge.

So thanks for telling me about Jean. I'm sorry she's been going through all that, but it's extremely encouraging to hear about people who have been helped. I haven't seen the neurosurgeon yet so I have no idea what he or she is going to reccomend, but I have lined up doctors for second opinions and talked to friends who have been helped by local PTs so I'm armed.

Btw, I will do almost ANYTHING to never have to endure another MRI.

[Jenise]

I also love the sound of the salad with the capicolla carpaccio.

It's one of my own creations: fresh, clean and attractive to plate, but hearty and more than able to handle a good cabernet. Most people think of salads as not being red wine-friendly, but there are bridges that work beautifully and allow one to serve healthy, leafy greens.

Thanks for the kind words.

Another C word : crespelle . Lighter than pasta, very elegant . Stackable or rollable.