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Remember how hot Rex Smith was?  He wasn’t?  You mean my teenage self was crazy?  Oh….  well since I’m thinking back to when I was in a training bra, do you remember these books?

And the long anticipated sequel……god I wanted her jacket….so bad….I’m over that now.

and then the 3rd in the trilogy. These were hotstuff books….long before Bella and Edward existed…there was Jesse and Michael.  *swoon*  I read all 3 way back when….and I’m not even too embarassed to tell you I own these books today…they are in my library.  Nostalgic novels….I’ll snap a photo of my own copies…..just to prove what a book dork I am to this day.  Michael and Jesse…c’mon that was my first encounter with love.  Oh no…wait…it was Katherine and Michael from “Forever by Judy Blume”.  My cousin Wendy and my Aunt DeDe smuggled that to me without my mom’s consent…ahhh the good old days when books were contraband. 

When I was a teenager (in the mid 80’s) I read a book about a teenage girl who had Lupus and she lives on the beach with her parents who decide to get divorced.  At the end of the novel she goes blind (or it’s inferred or perhaps she dies) due to the lupus.  Her mother is from the flower child era and much of the book is set on the beach setting as she walks the beach in angst of her disease.  I recall it being one of my favorite reads as a teenager.  She has a brief stint with a boyfriend and many day’s lying in bed and much angst about the skin patch that lupus causes.  I loved the book and read it several times.

Now that I’m old..my memory fails me and I cannot recall the title of that book….tho low all these years nearly the entire story has stayed with me.

Does anyone else out there remember it?  Ahhhh while writing this….something came to me and I found it….did you read this book as a teenager?  I did.  About ten thousand times I think. The thing that really made me suddenly feel old is…..look up in the right hand corner of this bookcover photograph.  $2.50!!!  That’s how much a YA book cost when I was a YA.  *sigh*  But man was this book sooo good. I still remember it, all these years later.  Even stranger is…I know I read it around the time I was 13 or so….perhaps even 11 or 12….and now I have my own child who will soon be 17.  So so weird…time warp.  Someone give me some Geritol…and a slug of whiskey now.  I almost skipped this post but thought there might be some other old lady out there trying to wrack her brain for the title of this book.

My grandmother is from Italy and when I was 15 and first dating I would often bring my first boyfriend Steve to my grandmother’s house for Sunday dinner.  The first time I brought Steve to my grandmother’s house she chose this particular day to make polenta.  Most people have somewhat heard of polenta but in my grandmother’s native town in Italy they prepare a softer version of polenta (the consistency of oatmeal or grits) and it was and is tradition to serve polenta straight off of the dining room table.  Meaning, she spreads her polenta in big circlular shapes on her Formica dining room table.  She then spreads what most of us know to be spaghetti sauce on top of this and then there is a liberal sprinkling of romano cheese all over.  This later step is done with a huge flourish of activity; the cheese is literally flying all over the room. 

This is something I have seen and been party too since before I could walk or talk.  She then hands around forks for all to begin eating after my grandfather says grace.  Yes, there are no plates…and yes we eat the polenta off of the table until it’s gone. One of my fondest memories growing up is of when my brother, sister and I would try to make the shape of America out of our side.  Her table was shaped like a big circle with a big split down the center.  We always tried to shape America.  I have no earthly idea why.  We would argue over who ate Florida because once you eat away Florida the United States looks like a square.

So, one Sunday Steve and I walked in just as she was handing out the forks.  He eyeballed 15 loud Italians eating and talking with their hands sitting squeezed in around my grandmother’s somewhat small table eating red mush off of the table like pigs eating from a trough and proclaimed, “I cannot eat like this”.  My grandfather jumped up and said “Well then you do not pass and you cannot ever marry Kristy!”  He was of course joking but I don’t think that boyfriend ever really recovered from that experience. 

I wonder what Rick would have done if faced with that same dilemna.  Every single time I personally make polenta he creeps over to where I’m eating it and says “What the hell is that?”  Every single time.
I wonder if Keith remembers how he scarfed down Polenta when he was a toddler.  He called it “o’la” I have no idea why.
How do you make Polenta the way my grandmother does?  You can eat it off of plates…but….its like licking a donut instead of eating it…just not as satisfying!!!

Polenta

Ingredients:
1 cup yellow cornmeal

1 tsp salt

3 cups of water in pot

1 cup of COLD water

Spaghetti sauce

Romano cheese

Procedure:
1. Boil 3 cups of water.

2. Mix cornmeal, salt and 1 cup of COLD water in a bowl.

3. When water in pot boils gradually add the cold water mixture into the boiling water stirring constantly.

4. Reduce heat.

5. Continue cooking over low heat 5-10 minutes.

6. Spread mixture on your dining room table.

7. Cover with sauce and sprinkle generously with romano cheese.

8. Eat this meal directly off of the table with family surrounding the table. If you put it on a plate you’ll not get good luck like you will if you eat it off of the table.
 

Serving Size: 2-3 servings  

Grandma Rena’s homemade Spaghetti Sauce  
(the easy way)
 

Ingredients:
2 cans Contadina tomato paste

4 cans water

1 stick margarine (do not use butter…it doesn’t work!)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp rounded Italian Seasoning

1 tsp onion powder

Procedure:
Simmer over low heat 30 minutes
Serving Size: perfet for 1 pound of spaghetti, and also perfect on Polenta
 

Remember when I told you to go buy this book right away? Well..here’s my proper review so you know why I was so excited about this title.

Did you read the Twilight series and love it?  Were you surprised that you read the Twilight series because you might not be a tween?  Was it the sappy love story that you got caught up in?  If you answered yes to any of these questions you might want to read this title and meet Alexander and Tatiana.  You will not forget them.

This is a love story set in Russia during wartime.  Tatiana lives in a small two bedroom apartment with her family and everything is falling apart in her home country due to war.  And yet she meets Alexander.  Alexander is an officer with the Red Army and he’s all things that every girl dreams of.  He’s perfect for Alexander but at every turn there is a new obstacle for their love.

Wartime is a time of much angst and personal trying times for Tatiana and her small family.  She endures a great deal and we get to see her grow up due to these difficult times.  Throughout it all, there is the underlying love story.  A seemingly impossible love and all the things that can conspire to keep us from the one we love.  This constant struggle might appear to be irritating but not with the way that Ms. Simons writes.  She has an engaging style.  I greedily read through 832 pages and wanted to lick my eyes to taste every last word I read.  Yes, that may seem a bit much, however I absolutely fell in love with this book and I hope you too will pick up a copy and give yourself a break from every day life and let yourself get lost in Alexander and Tatiana’s love story.  This novel is a bit more grown up and not suitable for tweens, but if you loved Twilight and felt a bit foolish being a grown up reading a silly love story then The Bronze Horseman is for you.  Paullina Simmons is a fantastic descriptive writer and if you love character driven novels, then you will adore this one.

Happily this novel is #1 in a trilogy!  That means if you fall for Alexander and Tatiana you can look forward to two more full novels about their love.

I personally bought this book all by myself.  But it is available from Harper Collins.
 

Dear Keith,

As you know, I have tattoos, one rather large one  One that I haven’t regretted yet, but I didn’t get it until I was old enough to pay for it.  I even like doves. Heck I even liked some of those pictures of dove tattoos you linked in my comments section.  One of my favorite songs is “When Doves Cry”.  My first b.f. Frank sang it to me. I loved that boy…back when I was 14. 

I suppose when I was 14 I wasn’t all that sure what in the world I wanted.  Good thing it didn’t end up being that I got the boy I thought I wanted because now he’s got like half a dozen ex-wives and a half dozen kids too.  He’s probably still not sure what he wants.

I even have my tongue pierced. I think it’s the cause of some of my teeth problems now…heck I wish I could write my 30 year old self, who thought she knew what she was doing, a nice letter, sent straight to the past.  But I can’t.  Dear old Kristy, don’t f up your teeth getting you’re tongue piereced…it will cost you tons of money in less than a dozen years”.  Dang…too bad I can’t write that to the past.

Ahhh we all live with the consequences of our own choices.  I say you can get any tattoo you want when you can

a. pay for it

b. be the only one responsible for that choice

I’m all for tattoos.  All in due time, all in due time.

Momma  (ha….as if you ever call me Momma…never anytime until you want a tattoo!!)  Maybe had you said “Mommy Most Beautiful Mommy” like I taught you to when you were 2…I mighta caved. Awww bummer too bad so sad for you.

p.s. I already know it’s not fair and negotiations are not open. 

p.s.s. I also know you’re about to turn 17 and therefore you’re not 14…but you’re not 18 either.