Yellow Smiles
They cover now once
Barren hills
Soft petals, curly edges
Yellow daffodils
They make the first frost
A past memory
And from each bloom
A ray of hope
Yellow like the sun
Brings smiles upon faces
To the old and the young
By Lorraine Stark
It’s dinner time, and if you’re in a dinner rotation rut, Vivian’s Victuals has your back. Love the flavor-loaded dishes of the Mediterranean? This Sort of Greek Chicken recipe might just be the recipe you’ve been looking for.
Vivian’s (Sort Of) Greek Chicken
Eight pieces chicken or one whole one cut up
Jar of artichoke hearts, drained
About six fresh mushrooms, sliced
Jar of black or green olives, drained
¼ cup diced onion
4 (more or less) cloves garlic, diced
Greek seasoning, or thyme and oregano
2 TBSP lemon juice
Salt & pepper
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Spray a baking pan with oil and put the chicken pieces in the pan, with space between the pieces.
Mix the mushrooms, artichoke hearts, onions, olives, garlic, lemon juice and seasonings in a bowl and spread evenly over the chicken pieces. Cover with foil and bake about 30 minutes. Take the foil off, baste the pieces, and cook another 30 minutes.
Great served with couscous, pasta, rice or roasted potatoes.
Greetings from Matthews Cooks! We’re a ragtag group of home cooks submitting original recipes from our own kitchens and sharing the adventure with Matthews Beacon readers. If you’d like to add your own, please send them to renee@matthewsbeacon.com , and she’ll forward them to me (Vivian). When you send in recipes, add your family story, if there is one. It can add new dimensions to a dish. Please do not use recipes from cookbooks, as we need to respect copyright laws. If you first got a recipe from a book, then changed it over the years to suit your kitchen, that would be fine.
Dogwoods
Dogwoods
Petals cover
Bare grounds once winter’s white
With delicate little napkins
Floating
By Lorraine Stark
Abstract
Why does the artist paint pictures
Why does the poet write both convey
Thoughts for everyone and sometimes
They themselves do not understand why
This drive this urgency to tell a story on
Canvas or left on pages as each uses his
Gift his soul to bring some sense to this
So called normal state of living we define
For ourselves each day so that perhaps there
May exist a sanctuary somewhere away
From it all where we can concentrate on
A focal point that is stationary and is in
Proper perspective and blind folds do not
Cover what is but first you have to realize it
All depends upon the way you see the picture
And read the words that beckon our minds our
Hearts to bring some kind of tranquility where
It is impossible to find
By Lorraine Stark
Image via Unsplash
Bleeding Hearts
Planted
in jagged rows
they appear on curved stems
tiny pink hearts that seem to bleed
pink buds
By Lorraine Stark
Image via Unsplash
Curved Beauty
Seahorse
like the letter
‘S’, floats without effort
as it prances in the ocean
waters
By Lorraine Stark
Image via Unsplash @davidclode
I Can See
Tiny flowers
sprout in hours
after showers
from spring’s rain fall
On rows of white
the sun casts light
till day meets night
when the owl calls
My garden sleeps
the willows weep
till the sun creeps
and babies crawl
Upon dews tears
they lose their fears
sweet little dears
like flowers small
By Lorraine Stark
Image via Unsplash @mercoledi
Flirting
Polly
pretty baby
speak to me, you turn me
on with your squawks that ruffle my
feathers
By Lorraine Stark
Image via Unsplash @swimstaralex
At Ray’s Café
At Ray’s Café
Where lights are low
And lovers whisper
Between the flickers
Of candles glow
One mile up
On an old dirt road
At Ray’s Café.
By Lorraine Stark
Image via Unsplash @itfeelslikefilm
White Satin
Today’s forecast snow and freezing rain
Tonight snow ends icy conditions
Mother nature’s cocktail
White on the rocks
By Lorraine Stark
Image via Unsplash @timtied
Strings
They are simple
Or fancy, long, short,
Thick or thin but
None could ever
Compare to the invisible
Ones that keep love strong
For those cannot be measured
They remain in your heart
Attached and have no
End
By Lorraine Stark
Image via Unsplash @olhakozechenko
Ever-Green
The Christmas tree
Went up on time
On December first
When we finished
Decorating it looked
Like it would burst
We made a pledge
Before it hits the floor
To take her down by
January first
Well, January first came
And went
Our tree with fake
Evergreen scent
Instantly became
A Valentine tree
With tiny red hearts
And chocolate sentiments
Mixed with tinsel
And mistletoe
Heh, we missed
February first
Each month we promised
To take her down
And neighbors who came in
Made those odd sighs
And sounds
The calendar now read
Easter, had arrived
So now between the tinsel
Mistletoe and hearts
And chocolate sentiments
Were pastel plastic colored
Easter eggs
Beside tiny red hearts
March, April, May
And June went right by
Why bother to take it down
Its gotten way too hot
Now on the Fourth of July
Red, white and blue vinyl
Flags were attached by knots
They blended so well
With holiday decorations
Of months past
When September came
We said soon
What’s another month
And on the night of
Halloween
The tree keeled over
I guess the orange pumpkins
Were just too much
So tinsel, mistletoe, tiny
Red hearts, red white and blue
Vinyl flags
Rolled together
Across the floor
And one by one the
Giggles started and
We laughed and laughed
We had fun
Who cared what
The neighbors said
A moment of silence
Please
Our Christmas tree
Just dropped dead
And we were going
To put her away
In the box marked
Christmas tree next
Month, on the first
Honestly.
By Lorraine Stark
Image via Unsplash @juvnsky
Home Plate
Each pattern
Hand painted
Or not
Is invited
To spend time
Upon my table.
With their themes
For each seasons
Celebrations
Sets no longer
Whole.
Trademarks of
Individual character
Sets in
With chips and scratches
And missing pieces
They receive
The food
That warms
Your soul.
Some hibernate
Year to year
Or longer
And like a farmer
Who rotates soil
I select the
Appropriate set
For the occasion.
Mixed and matched
They become one
They know not
Race, religion, gender.
They are all
Equal sets
To me
To be shared by
Family, friends, neighbors.
So please pass
The plate
That welcomes all
And be careful
Not to break
It
For broken plates
And ones choices
Do not
Mend well
From harsh words
At all.
By Lorraine Stark
Image via Unsplash @tobychristopher
My Grandmother, Zinaida, was from a small village in western Ukraine. She and her family moved to Odessa when she was young, so they could attend school. About 1894, when she was 16, they migrated to New York. They took the required classes in English, hygiene, and citizenship. All her life, my Grandmother followed the rules she learned in those classes. She was always afraid she would be sent back to the Ukraine if she didn’t follow the rules.
She had difficulty with some words, no matter how long she lived here. The two words that she always mixed up, causing great hilarity in the family, were “kitchen” and “chicken.” She would announce that she was going to stuff and roast a kitchen, but had to clean the chicken first. I can still hear her voice and her laughter as she realized her mistake.
~Vivian’s Victuals
“[Zinaida] had difficulty with some words, no matter how long she lived here. The two words that she always mixed up, causing great hilarity in the family, were “kitchen” and “chicken.” She would announce that she was going to stuff and roast a kitchen, but had to clean the chicken first. ”
Oven-Fried Sesame Chicken
2 ½ lbs chicken
2 TPSP butter, melted
¼ cup sesame oil
¼ cup toasted sesame seeds
3 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp garlic powder
½ cup flour
Preheat oven to 400F.
If your sesame seeds are not toasted, warm a small pan to medium heat and put the seeds in the dry pan. Stir often, and when most of the seeds are light brown, remove the pan and put the seeds in a small bowl (to prevent the heat in the pan from scorching the seeds).
Cut chicken into serving size pieces. Mix the melted butter and sesame oil and brush each piece. Put remaining ingredients in a paper bag. Add the chicken pieces and shake well.
Place the chicken in a foil lined baking pan. Bake at 400F for 50-60 minutes until browned, turning occasionally.
Greetings from Matthews Cooks! We’re a ragtag group of home cooks submitting original recipes from our own kitchens and sharing the adventure with Matthews Beacon readers. If you’d like to add your own, please send them to renee@matthewsbeacon.com , and she’ll forward them to me (Vivian). When you send in recipes, add your family story, if there is one. It can add new dimensions to a dish. Please do not use recipes from cookbooks, as we need to respect copyright laws. If you first got a recipe from a book, then changed it over the years to suit your kitchen, that would be fine.
Diary
Moments pass like
Shooting stars
They fill our hearts
With memories
That set the
Foundation of
Poetic verses
By Lorraine Stark
Image via Unsplash @mjseka