My Sun Valley Girl Posse - Linda, Judy, Etienne & Chantal

Sorry I missed doing a blog last week but it was my birthday (no numbers, please!) and I was (still am) in Sun Valley, Idaho taking a little vacation with Joshua before school starts on September 8th. My parents have a beautiful place here which allows us to have a ready made home away from home...it doesn't get much better than that!

So, here's the scoop. Linda Fratianne, Judy Blumberg and I have known each other since we were little girls. We met at the Tarzana Ice Rink in Tarzana, California where we all shared a passion for figure skating. As time went on and our competitive careers got more challenging we changed rinks and coaches. Linda and I went to Frank Carroll, Judy to Betty Behrens...all of us began training at Van Nuys Iceland and Pickwick Ice Arena, home of the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club, which we all represented for the rest of our skating days. We lived for figure skating...simply could not get enough of it. How could we have possibly known back then that it would lead to lifelong connections?

Linda today

Sun Valley Showgirl Linda

Linda and I were particularly close growing up. Her natural talent combined with her incredible work ethic made her a stand out skating prodigy from the start. I admired and adored her; her shy, humble demeanor was particularly beautiful to behold in someone so young and gifted. I still have the postcards she sent me from an international competition in Vienna and the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck (her second Olympics in 1980 at Lake Placid earned her the silver medal...1/100th of a point away from the gold). She still has a little photo album with childhood pictures of her family in it...and me, the only non-family member to make the cut...how magical is that?!

Judy, daughter, Etienne & Maddie

Judy & her dance partner, Michael, competing

As for Judy and I, we went to junior high and high school together so we saw each other constantly along with a couple of other skater girls that went to school with us. None of us could wait to get on the ice at the end of our day. We went straight from school to the rink where we felt safe, had real friends and very lofty goals for ourselves. Judy started out as a singles skater but down the line switched to ice dancing which became her forte...a very smart, savvy move. She went on to four national titles with her partner.

As Linda and Judy went on to skating fame and glory at both the national and international level I quit skating at eighteen to go to UC Berkeley, then live in NYC to begin my career as an actress (one of the few spots I did in NY was ice skating for a Meadowlands commercial - actually ran into Judy at Sky Rink when I did my callback audition - what were the chances of that?!). We all kept in touch sporadically as the years rolled by.

Eventually, both Linda and Judy built lives as coaches in Sun Valley...a mecca for figure skaters especially in the summer months when kids from all over the country and world come to train. I remember as a teenager begging my mother to let me come but she refused to allow it, so it was ironic when years later she fell in love with the area and insisted that my dad buy them a place here. And that is how Linda, Judy and I found each other again.

We've since shared life's triumphs and disasters; from marriages to divorces, from boyfriends to single motherhood (Judy and I adopted our children...me, domestically, her from China), from good health to bad and back again, from parents living to dying, from success to failure or disappointment, from financial security to instability, from laughing to crying and so much more.

On this particular trip, we shared a wonderful birthday dinner (mine) with my parents, some friends of theirs, my son, Joshua, and Judy's little girl, Etienne (Linda's daughter, Ali, was busy preparing to go away to college later in the week). As you might imagine, there was a lot of raucous laughing, teasing and all around merriment..no one wanted it to end. As we stood outside the restaurant (a French bistro, bien sur) Linda began crying...she couldn't bear to say good-bye to my parents, who openly adore her but were unwittingly reminding her of how desperately she missed her own parents, both of whom had died many years earlier. Judy and I embraced her as she sobbed, forming a kind of cocoon around her. It was a group hug that brought all three of us to tears of gratitude...for our history together, the privileged lives we've lead and the friendships we continue to honor...a glorious, unforgettable moment in time.

Sun Valley Summer Ice Show

As if that moment wasn't enough there have been many others throughout my 10 days in Sun Valley. My parents went back to LA and Joshua went to day camp at the YMCA here so I  had even more time to be with my girl posse...sometimes just Linda, sometimes Judy and Etienne (one of the most enchanting children on the planet), sometimes my friend, Chantal (not a skating connection but originally an LA one as well)...sometimes a combination of the above...eating, drinking, talking, laughing, crying,  supporting each other...always a joy.

Just yesterday, after having brunch together with Joshua, Chantal made me laugh so hard I almost fell on the floor as she tried to figure out how to shut off the wind shield wipers in the borrowed car she was driving. This morning was a walk/talk with Judy and Etienne plus many hugs and kisses. Tonight Joshua and I will take Linda out for her belated birthday celebration. Though I am strictly a city girl who only  visits the countryside from time to time, I love Sun Valley and my girl posse - passionate, smart, funny, engaging, inspirational, talented women who I share such a rich history with and who are helping guide me through this crazy thing called life...Merci mes belles filles...merci beaucoup!

Plain Old-Fashioned Silly Fun

Well, my friends, yesterday got away from me. I was planning on writing this week's blog but got sidelined time and time again with plain old-fashioned silly fun. Yep, the kind that makes you belly laugh out loud with all your heart and soul. The kind that reminds you of how the most wonderful moments in life are the ones that surprise you with their spontaneity. The kind that you will remember for years to come.

I'm not saying that writing this blog isn't fun but it takes time and uninterrupted focus none of which I ended up having yesterday though try as I might to get some work done. Here's how the crazy day unfolded...

I began by spending the morning at the eye doctor. Just an annual exam to let me know how much my eyes are continuing to deteriorate (so lovely to be able to pay for that!). After gettting the also lovely news that if I wanted progressive lenses it would cost me almost $500.00...and that would be with me using frames that I already have (!) I left feeling slightly overwhelmed and dare I say slightly angry...end result...no progressive lenses for the moment. I headed home.

As I'm pulling up to my house, what do you imagine I see? My niece, Casey(who was babysitting), and my son, Joshua, on the grass in front of the house sitting behind an elaborately decorated table with a sign that said, ROCK N ROLL LEMONADE & COOKIES $2. They were laughing and literally screaming at passersby to buy their lemonade and cookies, me included, which I promptly did. I could not stop smiling as I examined their set-up. The best part was how really thrilled they were with themselves and the whole operation. By the time I had arrived they already had several dollars in their money jar and were counting on much more to come their way.

I went into the house to try to get some phone calls and emails returned only to be persuaded to come back out to help sell their wares and participate in some photo ops. As you can see from the photo above silly fun was the operative word here. After a while I went into the house to change into my workout clothes. I then left Casey and Joshua to their work and went on my walk. By the time I came home several neighborhood kids had joined in the fun and many more dollars were in their jar. Lots more laughing and screaming.

Again, I tried to go inside the house to get some work done but to no avail. At 2pm Joshua's friend, Sean, showed up for a playdate, and a new round of insanity ensued. They set up Joshua's tent in the backyard, got out all his nerf guns and bullets, put on appropriate battle gear and began protecting the Westside of Los Angeles from all the suspected and dangerous terrorists lurking in the bushes. Casey and I both got pulled into the game, cajoling, taunting and teasing them...this went on forever!

Finally, at 5pm the four of us went to Poquito Mas around the corner for an early dinner. I can't remember what exactly we said but we did not stop laughing the entire time...gafaw, crazy laughter that made people look at us with vaguely judgmental stares. I have to say that even though we tried to tone it down from time to time we really were just  having too good of a time to care. Of course, we had to follow up dinner with a frozen yogurt at Big Chill...more laughing, more staring from others.

When we got back home I tried once again to get some work done. I knew the blog was out of the question but I tried to rein Casey in to edit some of my writing for the new version of the SUGAR & STILETTOS play. This lasted about a nanosecond because Joshua and Sean were now back in full battle mode, round 2. Casey decided that I needed to be a princess held hostage by her so I donned my tiara, she wrote a ransom note, and I screamed HELP! while she made menacing threats on my life. There was running around from the front yard to the backyard and back again. Another note was written in pink ink; this time by me begging for HELP! I was really getting caught up in the emotions of my kidnapping. In between Casey's taunts to the young, brave soldiers we were dropping to our knees just cracking up at the silliness of it all.

By the time my friend, Eleanor, came at 9pm to pick up her son, Sean, everyone was totally sweaty and faces were red with exhaustion. The only one who seemed to have missed all the action was our cat, Tucker, who preferred to pose for pictures in a luxuriously seductive and shy way as opposed to getting involved with all the riff raff.

After saying good-bye to everyone I got Joshua into the bath, then bed where he willingly collapsed. By 1030pm I was in bed too. As I began the descent into blissful sleep I thought what an amazing day it turned out to be...not at all the one that I had envisioned but one that I will never forget.

There really is something to be said for plain old-fashioned silly fun...I highly recommend it...you should definitely try it sometime soon!

xo Nanci

P.S. Casey and Joshua ended up with $38.00 from their sales...$22.00 covered costs and $16.00 was pure profit...pretty impressive indeed.
P.S.S. All photography for this post courtesy of the extremely talented Casey Neidorf!

Chocolate or Vanilla?...that's the question!

There are two kinds of people in the world. One is either a chocolate person or a vanilla person...one is rarely both.

Upfront, I must admit  that, originally as a child, I was a vanilla person...I didn't even like chocolate (don't faint!), refused to eat it, plus was the only kid at birthday parties that wanted vanilla ice cream and cake. This was a sure sign that I was headed for tons of therapy later on in life.

Many, many years and tons of therapy later I am now (and have been for a very, very long time) a solidly chocolate person. That's not to say that I don't like vanilla. I like it well enough, but usually covered in chocolate fudge sauce, chocolate sprinkles or chocolate crunchies of some sort (preferably Valhrona 60%). I have rarely (if ever) met a dessert that couldn't be improved upon with a bit of chocolate therapy so to speak.

There is just something so decadent, so delicious, so devilish about chocolate and its many forms and textures. Whether it's a cake, a cookie, a torte, a tart, a galette, a pie, a sauce, a candy, a muffin, a scone, a pancake, a waffle, a croissant, a covered nut, a brownie, a chewy fudge bar, a quick bread (oh, I could go on and on) chocolate is one of life's dark golden treasures...one of life's purest joys, one of life's reasons to get up in the morning.

Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate...that's all I really wanted to say this week! Now, if you insist that you are a vanilla person, and there are some of you out there, like my friend, Cheryl Alpert, and her daughter, Caryn, plus my niece, Isabel...I understand...but I implore you to take a walk on the wild side from time to time and indulge in the wondrous world of chocolate...you will not be disappointed I promise!

To entice you, try Racine's Cake (from the Parisian restaurant of the same name)...it will delight you and tickle your taste buds in the best way ever...to go completely crazy make some of Dorie Greenspan's sinfully yummy chocolate whipped cream to go on top (see recipe below). And if you absolutely insist on being a stubborn vanilla person try Alicia's Blondies substituting butterscotch or peanutbutter chips for the chocolate chips.

Whichever way you lean (or if you are one of those rare people that go both ways) revel in your passion and savor every bite of every treat you eat!

xo Nanci

DORIE GREENSPAN'S CHOCOLATE WHIPPED CREAM:

Ingredients:
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 cups heavy cream
2-3 tablespoons sugar, to taste

IN A HEATPROOF BOWL large enough to use for whipping the cream, place the chocolate.

STIR THE CREAM AND SUGAR together in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the cream over the chocolate. With a whisk, beat the chocolate and cream together vigorously - you want to make sure you've got a smooth mixture.

COVER the cream once it is cool to protect it from foods with strong odors and REFRIGERATE for 24 hours. With a whisk or electric hand mixer beat the cream until it is almost thick; this will happen quickly so pay attention! You want the cream to be just firm enough to spread but not so firm that it loses its lightness and creaminess. The cream is ready to use as soon as it is whipped. It can be covered and refrigerated for 3 hours.

Joshua, sleepaway camp and my mommy blues

Well, it's been about two weeks since my almost eleven year old son, Joshua, left for sleepaway camp in the hills of Malibu...not exactly roughing it in the wild but a form of camping nonetheless.

We planned for weeks buying all sorts of camping gear (super cool foot locker, sleeping bag, camo backpack among a thousand other things deemed necessary by the camp powers that be). The excitement mounted with the arrival of each new item which immediately had to be broken in. There are few things more adorable than seeing your child "breaking in" his sleeping bag and pillow in the comfort of his own bed.


As we got closer to the departure date we meticulously checked off everything on "the list". Then we  began the folding and piling phase making sure we were ready for the official packing phase. Gratefully, my fabulous niece, Casey, came over the day before Joshua left and the two of them brilliantly packed every last thing to perfection.


Then came the BIG moment of actually going to camp. Joshua and I left the house early and ended up having lots of extra time so we stopped for a coffee (me) and a pastry treat (him) before heading to the departure site. 


Children and parents were everywhere you looked...children smiling from ear to ear with anticipation..parents smiling but nervous and apprehensive. What possessed any of us to think we could ship our beloved children off for three weeks without any contact with us? That's right...no phone calls, no visits...just one way emails (us to them), letters or care packages (no food) were allowed. 


After getting checked in and meeting the counselors the children started high fiving (the boys) and giggling (the girls). Parents stood around talking to each other, laughing from time to time. Finally, the moment had arrived for the kids to get on the buses. Joshua joined his cabin group (10 boys) and 2 counselors singing an improvised song as we all headed downstairs.


My son, quite oblivious at this point to my existence, began to board the bus. "Uh, excuse me, my man, how about a hug and kiss for mommy before you leave?" "Oh, yeah." With that nudging, Joshua hugged and kissed me, then disappeared into the bus.  Like all the other parents I dutifully waited for the bus to pull away...waving frantically and screaming good-byes. At this point I could no longer see him though I knew he was inside. I walked to my car and drove away feeling fairly confident that Joshua was in for the experience of a lifetime.


Since I consider myself a rather independent minded mom who loves my work and my life with the village of friends I've built up over my years in Los Angeles, Berkeley, New York City and Paris, France I was quite taken by surprise (maybe even shock) at the emptiness I felt without Joshua at home. The first few days I was paralyzed by the quiet...the total silence (except for the cat meowing occasionally) was just eery, unsettling even. I honestly didn't know what to do with myself and I am very self-sufficient. I very much like my alone time. But this was different. I missed his voice, his energy, his presence more than I could have ever imagined.


To be sure, after those first few days of wandering around my house in a stupor I got my legs back. I began to make plans with friends, get some important work done on my Sugar & Stilettos website and play plus do things that I don't normally have the time or inclination to do when I am busy taking care of my son full time...so it's been a pleasant time but not the free for all I thought it was going to be...at least not emotionally.


I've sent letters and care packages. I've checked the camp website every day for pictures and newsletter updates in giddy anticipation of just seeing Joshua's smiling face, pretending to hear his voice, trying desperately to get a sense of his well being. I've also waited anxiously for a letter back. I've gotten one...short and sweet. "Hey mom haveing (yes that's the way he spelled having) a fun time Love, Josh" (no punctuation whatsoever). I howled with laughter because the letter was so typical of my son...my son who doesn't like to write...who verbally could spin a tale that goes on for hours but if he has to write it down well, you are going to get...yes, exactly what I got. Everyone says that means he's having a really good time and I choose to believe that as well.


For any of you that are parents you know that the way your heart strings are pulled by your child surprises and yes, shocks, you time and time again. Being a parent is a magical and mysterious journey fraught with twists and turns at every corner. It goes to the very core of your being. Specifically, being Joshua's mom, has made me a better human being without a doubt. He forces me to be my best self even when I'm too tired and don't want to be anything other than lazy...who knew that a little person could do all that without even trying?

Before leaving Joshua made me promise that I would make his two favorite treats for his homecoming. So, this week I am busy baking Scottish Scones with Chocolate Chips and Heath Bar Toffee Bits as well as a batch with Chocolate Chips and Reese's Peanutbutter chips. He also ordered Magnolia Bakery's Crumb Buns which they make with dried cherries and I make with, you guessed it, chocolate chips! Since I don't have this particular recipe on the website yet you will find it at the end of this blog. 


As you can well imagine by now I'm really looking forward to having Joshua home again on Sunday. I can't wait to shower him with hugs, kisses, and homemade baked goods. I am thrilled at the thought of just enjoying his wonderful, funny, enchanting self. Of all the blessings I have been the lucky recipient of in this life, being Joshua's mother is by far the BEST of them all. 


I love you to the moon and stars and back again my little man...xoxo Mommy


Dried Cherry (except with Chocolate Chips) Crumb Buns
Adapted from THE MAGNOLIA BAKERY COOKBOOK

Ingredients:
Buns:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups bittersweet (60%) chocolate chips
Topping:
1 1/4 all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened and cut into small pieces

PREHEAT oven to 325F degrees.

Grease and flour (or spray with baking spray) 12 large muffin cups.

TO MAKE THE BUNS: In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, the baking powder, the salt and the cinnamon. Set aside. In a large bowl, on the low speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and the sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat inn the vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients alternatively with the buttermilk, in three parts, beating well after each addition. Stir the chocolate chips into the batter. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups.

TO PREPARE THE TOPPING: In a medium sized bowl, mix the flour and the brown sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. (Personally, I like to do this part with my hands...it's just so much more fun!) Sprinkle the topping over the buns, being sure to keep the crumbs within the muffin cups; otherwise they are difficult to remove.

BAKE for 20-25 minutes until lightly golden or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Leave the buns to cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 10-15 minutes and then gently coax them out to finish cooling on the rack. Joshua likes them warm or reheated if they've been frozen but they are also good at room temperature...your choice!