April is flying along. Though we have had mostly rain this past week, the daffodils have jumped right up and have buds. If we’d just get a little sun they would likely bloom next week. Suddenly the pasture is green, the cows are able to find real grass to munch and seem to enjoy sleeping outside overnight now. You can see the two of them in the above photo. Sunrise has been rare as we have had fog and ice and clouds most of the time, but this one day was spectacular. Our weather has been in the 50s and 60s some of the time. Spring in Maine is unpredictable, full of mud and snowstorms. But when it is sunny it is very very lovely.
In other news, my new stove and worktable are in place and being put to use. I am enjoying the new orderliness and the shiny, oh-so-functional equipment. We had a friend to dinner and made steaks on the grill, smashed potatoes, and salad with this nice little Moroccan flatbread for dipping into some olive oil with zatar. I tried a great recipe for salmon and scallop chowder and we ate it several times during the week with croutons from the Moroccan bread. Now, I have been elected to make the bunny cake for Easter dinner so I’ll have some baking to do tomorrow. Until next week.
All pictures taken by the author
This week in cooking
Moroccan Flatbread is a versatile and flavorful addition to a soup or salad meal, or any time when you’d like a quick bread that can be accomplished easily in a few hours before dinner. We like to dip it into olive oil with a little zatar (a sumac, thyme and sesame seasoning).
I was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey to Mildred Shropshire and Theodore Felsberg Jr. I was raised in Galloway Township and graduated from Oakcrest High School in southern New Jersey in the Sigma 67 Class in 1967. I attended Cedar Crest College in Allentown, PA, and graduated from Stockton University in Galloway, NJ, in 1974 with degrees in Philosophy, English Literature, and (almost) music. After that, I taught piano to local children and adults in the 70s and 80s, had a catering business, "Jean's in the Kitchen," from 1980 to 1992, then went to graduate school at Rutgers Camden to obtain my Masters's Degree in Social Work. Since 1996 I have worked as a therapist and counselor, first in New Jersey for five years and then, when our family moved to Maine, in Augusta, Maine, for five years. For the past 17 years, I have had a private psychotherapy practice in Gardiner, Maine, During the pandemic, I packed up and moved my office home to Washington, Maine. On the year of my seventieth birthday, I decided to write and self-publish a memoir about our parents' World War II romance, Dear Milly. I began blogging on Medium in earnest in 2020 and have posted more than 265 stories, including a block of stories about my catering career which I hope to turn into a book in the next year. I have been writing and collecting poetry since childhood but never showed it to anyone. Recently, I learned how valuable it could be to join a group for feedback and support for my writing. I have taken several courses and written many poems, and recently had several poems accepted for publication. Off in a new direction, again.
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Jean Feldeisen 