STORYTIME TAPESTRY

The Newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world

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Special Treat ??“ Debra Shiveley

Sept 24, 2005? 

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I experience delight when I create the perfect dish.

Debra Shiveley

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Perhaps it is because of my childhood that the making and serving of a delicious meal is a means of showing my love.?  The emotionally deprived, food starved waif that was once me, resides still within my middle aged breast, and she must be comforted.?  So now, an overflowing pantry and the ability to create memorable dishes is the canvas upon which I paint a portrait of love for my family and friends.

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Today I decided that my son deserved an extra special treat.?  He had worked hard all day helping our neighbor get ready for a party.?  Jim is basically housebound.?  His wife has Parkinson??™s Plus and he refuses to send her to a nursing home.?  Day after day he lovingly, patiently cares for Janet, a complete invalid, and tonight he is having a cookout for the care givers that help him keep her home.?  It is an important day for Jim, a rare treat, and Chris has been eager and willing to help him make everything just right.
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It??™s been a long day and now Chris is in the shower.?  His last job was preparing our paddle boat for Jim??™s party.?  While he is washing away lake water and seaweed, I begin his special meal.?  The repast that says ???I am so very proud of you!???

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I go to the refrigerator and, once again, marvel at the glorious sea scallops I have found for this evening.?  No tiny little buttons, these.?  No!?  They are large, succulent, beautifully white and glistening, fresh smelling and tender.

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I admire the asparagus.?  Green, firm, the heads a beautiful testimony to this king of vegetables. Steamed and then tossed in rosemary butter, their nutty goodness will be an appreciated, unexpected delicacy.?  It is one of Chris??™ favorite vegetables.

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I preheat my all-clad pan before I add the oil.?  ???Hot pan, cold oil - food won??™t stick.???? ?  The oil begins to smoke and I add creamy, sweet Danish butter.? ?  It foams and a delicious aroma begins to drift through the kitchen.

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I take the scallops, sprinkle them with Hawaiian Pink Salt and fresh cracked black pepper then add them to the pan, watching them carefully, smelling them, savoring the layers of aroma that begin to permeate my domain, my sanctuary, my kitchen.?  They turn golden and opaque and beautiful.?  I place them on a plate and add white wine to the pan.?  All of the golden goodness from the bottom lifts and mixes with the wine.?  It reduces, it morphs, it becomes an ambrosia.

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I pour this savory sauce over the scallops and add the asparagus to the plate.?  It looks so beautiful: the pearl-like golden brown scallops with verdant green, fragrant asparagus.?  I place the plate before my son.?  He picks up knife and fork and goes ???Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.???? 

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I am in heaven.

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D. E. Shiveley Copyright 2005

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Debra Shiveley

merribuck@merribuck.com

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About Me:

Hello, my? name is Debra Welch.?  I'm 52 and the very proud mother of a soon-to-be 13? year old son named Christopher.

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Christopher is adopted, so I have some writings on the subject, and he was? born with a moderately severe unilateral clefting of the lip, gums and hard and soft palates.?  He is beautiful!?  Chris also has learning differences:? ADD, Dysgraphia, and Executive Function and? Working Memory Deficit.?  He is the joy of our lives.

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I have been writing since age nine.?  My father came to visit and plopped down a pad of paper and a pencil.?  "Write me a poem," he said "and call it 'Poetry Problems.'"?  This is when I learned that my father and great grandfather both wrote poetry.?  I was being tested.

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I have just finished co-authoring a novel with my cousin titled "Jesus Gandhi Jetta Mae Adams," a murder mystery set in Columbus, Ohio and am starting my second novel.