For the love of the game

I love baseball. And I am a huge Red Sox fan.

Say what you will about the annoying "Reverse the Curse" signs and the belligerent fans who shout their hatred of all things Yankees, the "There's always next year" and "Save Fenway" bumper stickers - I love the game.

My love affair with baseball started early. As an only child, I had to play two roles: my mother's daughter and also my father's son. Playing the role of tomboy, I spent countless hours sitting on bleachers at every game Dadso and I could find - MLB, AA and AAA, High School and College games - we saw it all and loved it.

To this day I prefer to sit in the bleacher seats (approximately Section 36, row 20 at Fenway Park) so that I can be in perfect alignment behind the pitcher so I can call each pitch and see the game from the pitcher's point of view.

Before the rest of the family came along, Dadso and I spent many summer evenings watching baseball on the couch or racing down to Boston to catch a Red Sox game after work.  There were countless trips to Mecca (Cooperstown, NY), and endless searches for the perfect baseball cap.  When kids started wearing their caps backwards, Dadso made a point to tell me - repeatedly - that "when he was a kid" he always wore his cap backwards because he played catcher. This somehow made him a trendsetter...

We ate too many sausages on Yawkey Way, stuffed ourselves with peanuts, and did the wave as if the outcome of the game depended entirely on our zeal and vigor.

Of all the fun things Dadso and I did together in my childhood (and there are many), memories that involve baseball are without a doubt my favorite.

My shared love of America's favorite pastime did not end with Dadso.  I had the distinct privilege of growing up in the same household as my maternal grandmother.  A Red Sox fan since childhood, she had never, as I had never, seen the home team win a World Series. That is, until October 2004. I will spare you the recap of the come-from-behind ALCS win, beating the hated Yankees into submission, followed by the best four games of my life to that date. You saw the papers, you know the story.

I watched many of the games - staying up far past my bed time - with my then 83 year old grandmother.  She had been born just three years after the Red Sox' last World Series win and, as you may imagine, was glued to the couch for every game. For a woman whose regular bed time was 7pm, staying up for the games was a real challenge. We faithful kept each other up, sharing the role of coffee maker and snack retriever. We did it together; it was our thing.

If you remember the final game of the 2004 World Series, then you remember, as I do, that the planets aligned to bring the Red Sox their first win in 86 years. I mean this literally, of course, as there was, on the night of the fourth and final game of the season, a lunar eclipse.  

This was another first for me, as I had never seen that happen, either.

I watched the game with my dad that night, and was on the phone with my grandmother for nearly every play. When we won (yes, Red Sox fans say "we" like The Nation had something to do with the win), Dadso and I hugged and looked at each other, stunned but thrilled. I immediately called my grandmother to celebrate and tell her I was on the way home.

I will never forget the look on her face when I walked through the door. Her eyes were shining and she was glowing with tears in her eyes.  My grandmother almost never smiled, hardly ever looked joyful - a typical New Englander. I can barely remember a time when she was that happy.  Thinking about it now I still get misty-eyed - how much baseball meant to her and how special it was that it was something we shared.

My grandmother did not live to see the Sox win again in 2007, making the win bitter sweet. I know she would have loved it - I would have loved to have shared it with her - but I am so thankful that she got to see the boys win just once in her lifetime.


So why blog about baseball in January, you ask? Because baseball is more than just a game - it's a way of life. For me, it is also a way of connecting with my family.

I was reminded of that today when I came home to find "A League of Their Own" on television.  "A League of Their Own" is one of those movies that I can watch over and over and never get tired of; if I catch it on television - no matter how far into the movie - I have to sit down and watch the whole thing. I just can't help myself.

I love so much about this movie: Geena Davis, Tom Hanks, Madonna, the WWII era clothes and cars, the family dynamics of the characters and, of course, the baseball.

I cry at the end of the movie every time - and each time for a different reason. Sometimes I get sniffly because Bob (Bill Pullman) returns from war, other times because the Peaches are so let down that they do not win, and still other times because I love the expression on Dottie Hinson's (Geena Davis) face when she sees how happy her kid sister Kit Keller (Lori Petty) is to have not only won the first ever World Series of the AAGPBL but to have finally stepped out of the shadow of her big sister.

Watching this movie today made me miss my grandmother more than I can say and it made me think of how grateful I am to have had baseball to share with her and to continue to share with Dadso.

I think every family needs that special something that brings everyone together and in my family it is the love of the game.

Woof! Woof!

Isn't this bark beautiful? I made it today.

It's semisweet chocolate with dried cranberries, tart dried cherries, almonds, and some coconut that I "toasted" in a nonstick pan.

Pretty AND delicious.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Berry good!

Desperate for something sweet after lunch, I whipped up this little tart. Isn't it pretty?









Instead of a pie crust I made a meringue (like a big cookie).

The "custard" is light cream cheese, fat free cool whip, and marshmallow cream.

It's topped with strawberries (yes, they were frozen - but they're the unsweetened variety). I made a glaze by melting some strawberry jam with water to thin it out.



Mom and I agreed it's a "make again."

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Best Ever Banana Bread

When I was little, I used to have a very difficult time saying "bananas." It most often came out "nanabans" (or nan-a-bans for those of you not acquainted with me and my family since my early childhood).

Phonological process disorder now overcome, I have not (and I suspect will never) gotten over my love affair with the delectable golden pods.

My love of these scrumptious little goodies leads me to feel as if I am about to have a moment reminiscent of Bubba from Forrest Gump, so I'll spare you and cut to the chase...

Years and years I have searched for a great banana bread recipe. I've tried far too many that are not worth sharing and always come back to the recipe from my first ever cookbook - a child's Gold Medal Flour ABC Cookbook.

Last night, with a bunch of bananas that had been forgotten on the counter over the holidays, I made two (count 'em two) loaves of pure deliciousness.


The recipe is as follows:
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (3 large)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs (or egg substitute if you're going vegan)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I prefer to add 3/4 cup)
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease loaf pan with shortening (no matter what your mother taught you about flouring the pan after you grease it, you can skip that step for this recipe).
Mix sugar, bananas, oil and eggs with wooden spoon. Add remaining ingredients.
Pour into baking pan.
Bake 60-70 minutes.
Let cool 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Happy Baking!

The Red Arrow Diner

I love breakfast!

After all, didn't your mother ever tell you it is the most important meal of the day?

It's my favorite meal to eat, to cook, and to enjoy with friends and family.

I could eat breakfast three meals a day, every day, and be completely satisfied.
(sorry, lunch and dinner, there is just something about breakfast...sigh...)

This morning I kicked off the New Year with breakfast at Manchester's quintessential local greasy spoon, the Red Arrow Diner.

Attached is the clip from when Guy Fieri visited with his show, Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives.

It's been open since the 1920s and is just so perfectly Manchester.

All told, the whole place is about the size of my kitchen (including the seating areas).

It's not the kind of cuisine I'd recommend for every day (much as I love it) because you could easily become the size of a house - but it is yummy.

If you've never been, you should go at least once and get yourself a sticker. ;)