'88 Ritas

Summer, 1988. Four friends meet for one last Wednesday Jazz Night at Lawry's California Center. Two summers, sometimes with boyfriends or husbands along for the ride, they met after a long mid-week day to laugh, drink, eat, and enjoy great music. One sporting her worst hairstyle ever, along with her beautiful cousin Rebecca, forever friend and design schoolmate Francesca, and fellow textile designer and schoolmate, Tina. Soon, they would all go their separate ways: one to return to grad school in Madison, two to their textiles jobs, and one to join her future husband, Sid, and a new arts job in Ann Arbor.

Through 29 years there would be careers started and sometimes changed; there would be divorces and re-marriages, long relationships that began and ended, numerous location moves, children and grandchildren born. But this last moment together, on a long-ago summer evening speaks to a still-youthful optimism and excitement for the future, both for these women and for their lives in America. Remember to cherish all of those moments with friends and family...especially with a great pasta and maybe a margarita.

Pasta a la Robert

(a little ditty put down on paper while cooking and listening to Raising Sand, Robert Plant and Alison Krause)

Chopping mixing and making blends

in my solitary bliss

You and all your rhythmic friends

keep me company like this

Alone with you and my recipes

together we make magic

Without your soulful melodies

my efforts would be tragic

Slowly smoothly and gently stirred

let's spend an hour as one

Until your last sweet note is purred

and all our pleasure is done

Cynthia L. Cavanaugh 11/10

A summer dinner to share

Sid's World-Famous Margaritas

Three-Color Pasta with Pine Nut Butter Sauce

Warm focaccia or sourdough

Buttermilk Panna Cotta

Three-color pasta with Pine Nut Butter Sauce 4-6 servings

Fresh fettuccine in three flavors: fresh herb, red bell pepper, egg pasta

1/2 c. (1/4 lb.) butter

1 med. red bell pepper, seeded and thinly slivered

1/4 c. pine nuts

Fresh basil

Melt butter in med. size frying pan over med. heat. Add bell pepper and cook, stirring often, until limp but not brown (4-6 min.). Stir in pine nuts and cook until lightly toasted (2-3 min.).

Toss with fresh fettuccine cook al dente, and top with fresh basil.

Buttermilk Panna Cotta

2 Tbsp. water

2 tsp. unflavored gelatin

Non-stick vegetable spray

1 c. whipping cream

1 tsp. lemon zest

1/2 c. sugar

2 c. buttermilk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Assorted berries

Pour 2 Tbsp. water into a small bowl; sprinkle gelatin over. Let stand until gelatin softens, about 10 min. Lightly spray six 3/4 c. ramekins or custard cups with non-stick spray.

Heat cream, lemon zest, and sugar in med. saucepan over med-high heat, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Increase the heat and bring just to low boil, stirring occasionally. Add gelatin mixture; remove from heat. Stir until gelatin dissolves. Cool mixture to lukewarm, stirring often. Stir in buttermilk and vanilla; divide mixture among prepared ramekins. Refrigerate panna cotta until set, about 4 hours or up to two days.

Using small sharp knife, cut around panna cotta in each ramekin. Place plate atop each ramekin and invert, allowing panna cotta to settle onto plate. Top with berries and serve.

Sid's World-Famous Margarita 1 Margarita

Choose best tequila you can afford

Use only pure lime juice, like Nellie & Joe's Famous Key West Lime Juice

Grand Marnier or Cointreau

Fill shaker with ice cubes and pour in:

Three 1-1/4 oz. jigger tequila

One 1-1/4 oz. jigger Grand Marnier or Cointreau

One 1-1/4 oz. jigger lime juice

Shake well and pour over ice-filled margarita glass whose rim has been dipped into lime juice and "margarita salt" (available in a small plastic container).

From Sid, "be careful and don't drive if you have had more than two, unless you're my wife who can't do anything after one."