Finally, the Braciole recipe I've been working on: This is a knock them dead entree. A big salad, some vegies, pasta, it's a meal! I have cut this down, but truth to tell, if you are making Braciole, make about four times this amount, and invite the whole family. This is what fits in MY crock pot:

Braciole

4 servings :

* 5 lb round steak, Cut 1/4" thick flattened out

* 1 lb Italian sausage, mild

* 1/2 C bread crumbs

* 2/3 cup dried currants or raisins

* 3 Tbsp parsley

* 1/2 tsp. fennel seed, bruised

* 2 tsp oregano

* 8 Cloves garlic, crushed

* 2 large onion, chopped fine

* 2 x16 oz canned plum tomatoes

* 2 x 6 oz Tomato Paste

Preparation:

Trim excess fat from the beef. Cut into as many evenly sized pieces as as you can reasonably make. Place each between 2 sheets of waxed paper. Pound each as thin as possible, the thinner the steaks, the better they roll up. Chill meat.

Brown the sausage lightly in a skillet & drain. Add parsley, oregano, fennel seed, garlic, onion and currants. Mix thoroughly.

Take out meat, and spread 2 to 3 tablespoons of the filling mixture on each flattened steak. Roll up each steak jelly roll fashion. Use string & toothpicks to keep the steaks rolled. Place the rolled steaks in the bottom of the slow cooker. Combine the tomatoes & tomato paste, (or your favorite red sauce recipe). Pour over the steak rolls. Cover. Cook on the slow cooker's LOW setting for 6 to 8 hours. ( In a pinch, you can oven bake them, but...) I take out the toothpicks, and leave the string to be removed at table. That's why there are napkins.

Serve Braciole with the sauce & spaghetti. Grate the good cheese on top.

This calls for the good red wine, too.

We, the disabled and chronically ill folks of the world, think this poet, Maria Jastrzebska, is brilliant. She says it all better than I ever could.

Friends

--Maria Jastrzebska

1

thank god

for the small procession of friends

who knock on my door

bringing me flowers and newspaper cuttings

interesting books

or the wrong kind of apples

because I've forgotten to explain

which ones I like

friends who take the initiative

in supermarkets or at the grocer's

adding things to my list

forcing me to treat myself

to unexpected strawberries

or mango

friends who send me cards

from abroad

friends who go on believing

in my recovery

2

they seem

like circus dancers

daring and fast

everything they wear is brightly coloured

when they talk about their lives

I imagine them

somersaulting through the air

hanging by a silver thread

from the high wire

I think:

that's what I must have been doing

till I fell

and landed in this bed again

caught in the tangled nets

of illness

telling myself it could be worse

3

when they talk

the noise grazes my senses

so I know my body will tremble

for a long time

after they're gone

other times

they're the ones

who seem tired

they seem to find relief

in this quiet room

they move

into the huge, uncluttered spaces

in my diary and like it there

they can relax

knowing there's no need to perform

4

and then there's the ones

who say: I wouldn't mind being ill

just a little

--oh not like you of course--

but I can't afford to

as though this illness was a luxury

I can't stop

who else would take over

the kids, my job

who indeed?

as if they envied

this curtain

that comes down

so indiscriminately

that gets me out

of whatever it is

I never really wanted to do

and in the same sudden gesture

cuts me off

from all the tings

I long to do

this stillness

after the curtain's come down

this is how tired women

without a moment to themselves

define luxury

Police detectives went to Nevada and arrested a man today in the murder of my daughter who was born Judith Marie Lee on September 5, 1966. She was murdered in her home in August 2001.

I had no idea how much this was weighing on my heart until I heard this news. I never thought he would see the inside of a cell. I am cynical enough to believe it's probably okay to kill a woman in this country, if she isn't someone important.

I have no idea how I feel, other than relieved. I know that not forgiving him is like taking poison and hoping that he will die, but I'm not at forgiveness just yet.