Frances Ellen Speaks!

Archive for the ‘Thoughts’ Category

Have you noticed it’s getting easier and easier to spend money?

Last week, I received a tiny booklet in the mail from QVC, which contained my very own personal membership number. To tell you the truth I wasn’t surprised, since a few weeks before I had somehow lost my mind while watching their programming. I bought three sterling silver rings, a bracelet, and some lovely food containers–all in one night.

I’ve purchased products from them in the past. The thing is, I hadn’t fired up my ultimate buying power all in one sitting before. Since I momentarily fell off my rocker that night, I guess QVC thought it would be an excellent idea to send me a membership number. Voila! Now I can buy whatever I want by punching in a few numbers on my phone’s keypad. How’s that for convenience?

Furthermore, I’m such a good customer of Amazon.com, they have bestowed upon me their one-click customer status. I click–they send.

It appears I’m not the only one having a hard time keeping money in my wallet. Maggie the Cat is evidently having the same problem.

Ive been spending money on books when i shouldn’t be spending money at all. I got the wonderful book “Elvgren” by Taschen it is so beautiful.

I suppose my way of thinking is similar to Terra’s over at Questionable Rationale.

As much as spending money sometimes stresses me out, I actually become stress free after a nice long (and sometimes expensive) shopping trip. I think it’s just bills that I hate paying.

Obviously, no matter how you do it, shopping feels good, at least in the moment. I have broken the habit of running to the mall, though. That’s a step in the right direction, right? Now, if I could only stay away from the TV and the laptop. Any suggestions?

The other day, I described to a friend of mine (much younger than I) the one and only time I could remember an entire movie theater audience jumping out of their seats to dance in the aisles. It was a crazy, spontaneous phenomena. One minute everyone was in their seats, the next they were dancing wildly wherever they could find an open spot.

That was in 1955. The movie was Blackboard Jungle. The song that roused everyone from their seats was Rock Around The Clock performed by Bill Haley and the Comets.

Seems like I’m not the only one who remembers that day fondly.

From Old Forty Fives, a really great site for some heavy duty reminiscing:

When did Rock’n Roll start?

Some people think it started in 1953 with Ike Turner’s “My Rocket 88,” or Big Joe Turner with “Honey, Hush” in 1953, or “Shake, Rattle and Roll” 1954. Personally, I believe it started with the premiere of the movie Blackboard Jungle in theaters across the country, in 1955. This movie featured the song “Rock Around the Clock” by “Bill Haley and his Comets,” which helped to propell Rock and Roll as a musical genre. It was reported that teenagers jumped from their seats to dance to the song.

Dancing was big in the 50′s. So was fashion. Do you remember how girls used to wear little scarves around their necks? And, of all things, girls actually had portable collars. Want to see more 50′s Fashions?

Petticoats and crinolines–we lived it, while others are obsessed with our fashion sense.

“Those were the days, my friends, we thought they’d never end…”

I am always surprised when someone tells me “back in the day,” they followed a local band from club to club whenever word got around that their favorite band would be appearing. I lived in Pennsylvania at the time, and the band we were crazy about was The Greaseband. We traveled all over to see them and dance to their music.

A friend of mine who lived in Boston followed a band named Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes. They were Jersey boys, but evidently performed a lot in Boston, too.

It got me to thinking a whole lotta people did a whole lotta dancing back then to a whole lotta different bands–talented guys who made the regional club scenes fun, but never got onto the national radar. What a shame, because they helped make weekends “somethin’ wonderful.”If you want to send me the name of your local band, I’ll try to locate their video and post it for you.

Last Wednesday, March 19th, I took part in a Telephone Conference sponsored by the Breast Cancer Fund. They had just released their latest report showing the connection between the Environment and Breast Cancer. One of the points I found most troubling was the undeniable fact that early exposure to toxic chemicals increases one’s risk of contracting cancer as an adult.

The Breast Cancer Website not only lists its findings, but it also lists Federal and State Recommendations to put into place in an effort to make our environment cleaner and safer. Although there are some strong advocates in Congress; Rep. Louise Slaughter, Sen. Orrin Hatch, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Hillary Clinton, to name a few, it should come as no great shock that the amount of time it takes Congress to enact laws, especially those having to do with the environment, could take years.

Therefore, I suggest starting at the ground level–in your own home.

A good place to start would be to throw away those plastic containers you use for warming up foods in the microwave. Switch to glass containers. It’s a proven fact that toxic chemicals contained in plastic leach into food during the warming process.

And if you’ve been using plastic baby bottles–STOP.

Following is a small section of the report regarding plastics.

The three plastics that have been shown to leach toxic chemicals when heated, worn or put under pressure are polycarbonate (leaches bisphenol A), polystyrene (leaches styrene) and PVC (leaches phthalates).

Bisphenol A is used in the linings of cans, baby bottles, sports water bottles and dental sealants. The evidence about bisphenol A and its many effects on human health is convincing and growing. Studies funded by the chemical industry say it’s harmless; non-industry studies show it’s a powerful hormone-disruptor linked to breast cancer.

Start looking for toys that are clearly marked BPA Free and if that sippy cup isn’t BPA free–trash it.

And by all means, listen to your gut! If it feels wrong, it probably is wrong. Back in the day, and I do mean 20 or more years ago, I told my doctor, following my complete hysterectomy, that I did not intend to take the hormone pills he was prescribing. He was quite incensed. He told me hormone therapy was the regimen he subscribed to, and that I made my decision “at my own risk.”

To be honest, back then it was hard to find reliable information about hormone therapy. There was no Internet. Very little scientific research made it to the printing presses. But the little bit I did read, just didn’t feel right to me. It was a gut reaction more than anything else. Now, of course, everyone is aware of the dangers we face from hormone therapy, and from hormones used in the production of our food.

We’ve come a long way since then. Now it’s time to step up. Be pro-active to protect the children. If you don’t, who will? Inaction is not worth the risk!

Every year, when St. Patrick’s Day approaches, I think about cooking up some corned beef and cabbage. Nine times out of ten, I pull out a big pot and spend the rest of the day smelling the aroma of Ireland. The dish is easy to make, but oh so time-consuming.

I think what really put me in the mood this year was an email I received this past week about the popularity of Irish Dance at a school in the Bronx. The New York Times wrote about the music teacher and posted one of the most heartwarming videos I’ve seen in a long, long time. I’m so used to seeing bad news that the sight of these inner city kids kicking up their heels gave me goose bumps, it really did. Go here to see the video — Keltic Dreams.

Did you know that New York City has been hosting a St. Patrick’s Day Parade since 1762? Is that unbelievable, or what?! Incidentally, Patrick didn’t chase all of the snakes out of Ireland, either. Another myth totally shattered according to the National Geographic News.

And I suppose it wouldn’t be a proper St. Patrick’s Day without the mention of Leprechauns. I had no idea that if you catch a Leprechaun, he’ll lead you to his pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but according to Sherri Osburn, that’s the case. So, it might be a good idea to get crackin’ on making a Leprechaun Trap. (A really good project to do with the grandkids.) Take a look at some Leprechaun Trap Photos.

Now for an easy recipe for Corned Beef and Cabbage, but be prepared to hang around the house for several hours.

Photo from

Corned Beef
5 or 6 potatoes, quartered
head of cabbage, cut into 6 wedges
carrots, as many as you would like.

Wash corned beef under running water to remove surface brine. Put in pot and cover with water. (Most corned beef roasts bought from a supermarket come with all the seasonings enclosed. Add them to the water.) Keep lid on pot. Once water comes to a boil, cook for 3 1/2 hours on low/medium heat.

During the last 30/45 minutes, add cabbage wedges, potatoes and carrots. Add more water to cover. Keep lid on pot throughout.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

Okay, I’m on my soapbox again, encouraging you to write something this week about yourself. If you do, I can almost guarantee one of your children or your grandchildren will thank you someday. You are living in their “good old days.”

I can’t tell you how many times I could kick myself for not asking my mother more questions about her life. Now it’s too late. The only things I have of hers, in her own handwriting, are a few recipes she gave me over the years. At least when I see her handwriting on the page, it helps me to remember other small things about her. I’m going to share one of her recipes with you at the end of this post.

But to get back to journaling, there’s so much to write about. Some suggestions:

• any kind of travel would be good
• all of your favorite recipes
• right now, the campaign for the presidency furnishes a bushel full of options
• what television shows won’t you miss
• what movie did you see recently that you absolutely loved
• if you are reading a book, try writing your own review

And remember, there’s no rule against being humorous. You can go in any direction, it’s your show. Someone mentioned to me a few weeks ago that she started writing stuff down occasionally and she does it in letter form, as if she is actually writing a letter to someone.

Or maybe something happens in the course of a normal day that seems worthy of preserving as a memory. Here’s one from Ireland.

I was driving home yesterday amidst a flood caused by a thaw of snow. We came to a big enough pool of water that stretch the entire width of the road. We watched as the car ahead of us passed safely through the water and then to my surprise the car stopped and waited. The driver waited to make sure we passed through the water safely.

Short, sweet and cute. That’s all it takes.

If you go somewhere…anywhere, write about it. Here’s a very short travelogue and a chuckle from Walking Around. She just returned from a trip to Wales.

So there you have it, one of my pep talks to get you writing and saving your memories. Now to the promised recipe from my mother.

Italian Wedding Soup

3 heads of escarole (found in the produce dept.)
1 lb. ground beef
2 eggs, scrambled
Chicken Broth, either homemade or 2 large cans Chicken Broth (my mother used College Inn)

First roll the ground beef into tiny balls about the size of your thumb nail. Set aside.

Wash the escarole leaf by leaf in a sink filled with cool water. Place leaves on a clean dish towel. There will be loads and loads of leafy greens, but they will shrink down when you drop them into a large pot of boiling water. Keep turning the escarole with a long wooden spoon until all of the greens have been submerged in the water. Cook until tender–about 20 to 25 minutes. To cool–transfer the entire pot to the sink and run cold water into it until the escarole is comfortable to handle. To remove most of the water from the escarole, squeeze the greens into fist-size balls. Cut through each ball, using a cutting board, about 6 times, slicing in two or three different directions.

Rinse out the same pot you used to cook down the escarole, and pour in the chicken broth. Most of the work is now done. Just drop the escarole and all of the tiny meatballs into the hot chicken broth. Cook on medium heat for about an hour.

Now for the scrambled eggs. Make sure the broth is boiling, then pour the eggs onto the surface of the soup. Use a tablespoon to swirl the egg around gently on the surface, creating little bits of cooked eggs. (This is reminiscent of confetti at a wedding–hence the name.) Once the eggs are cooked, the soup is ready to serve.

Optional: Some people like to sprinkle parmesan cheese on top of their soup, so make sure you have that on the table for those with that preference.

Enjoy.  And if you have a recipe from your mother that you’d like to share, feel free to send it as a comment.