Jane Heller

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author

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R.I.P. Whitney

February 11, 2012

I was stunned tonight when I was sitting at dinner with friends, having been away from the TV/Internet all day, and heard about the death of Whitney Houston. I started thinking about all the times I’d enjoyed her music, including her first appearance on “Soul Train” so early in her career.

http://youtu.be/bMVqvBmTZro

She was so beautiful and so talented and so troubled. People jumped on her when her comeback tour went awry, but I actually loved her last album because her voice had ripened and matured.

To have her die on the eve of the Grammys tomorrow night makes the whole thing even more tragic. I understand Jennifer Hudson will sing a tribute on the show. I can’t imagine there will be a dry eye in the place.

 

 

Filed Under: Mainly Jane, Music, News stories Tagged With: Beverly Hilton, Grammy Awards, Soul Train, Whitney Houston

And I Thought I Was Snarky

February 15, 2011

Has anyone else noticed how mean people are lately? I don’t want to make myself out to be a saint here; I’m hardly that and can trade bitchisms with the best/worst of the snark artists. But I do have the compassion gene when it comes to the misfortunes of others. I wouldn’t be writing a book about caregiving if I didn’t.

Case in point. Yahoo posted an excerpt of Esquire‘s interview with Liam Neeson, who opens up about the sudden death of his wife, Natasha Richardson. Who wouldn’t be sympathetic to a man getting a call saying his wife had hit her head while skiing and was in a coma? And yet commenters on Yahoo were critical of Neeson because of the following:

“I walked into the emergency — it’s like 70, 80 people, broken arms, black eyes, all that — and for the first time in years, nobody recognizes me. Not the nurses. The patients. No one. And I’ve come all this way, and they won’t let me see her,” Liam recounted to Esquire. “And I’m looking past them, starting to push… I know my wife’s back there someplace. I pull out a cell phone — and a security guard comes up, starts saying, ‘Sorry, sir, you can’t use that in here,’ and I’m about to ask him if he knew me, when he disappears to answer a phone call or something. So I went outside. It’s freezing cold, and I thought, What am I gonna do? How am I going to get past the security?”

They focused on the fact that he seemed upset that no one recognized him. Right, but he was trying to get in to see his wife who, as far as he knew, was at death’s door! I mean give the guy a break!

I couldn’t believe the remarks about how celebrities think they deserve special treatment and the like. The story wasn’t about that, as you’ll see if you read the whole excerpt. It was about how an actor threw himself into his work so he wouldn’t have to face his loss.

And then there’s the local CBS reporter in LA who appeared to have a mini-stroke on the air while covering the Grammys the other night. By now, I’m sure everyone has seen the video of her speaking incoherently.

I found the video terrifying, because whatever was going on with her could happen to any of us. All anyone at CBS will say is that she underwent medical tests, but doctors have been all over the airwaves with possible theories involving a brain malfunction.

What are people saying on Twitter, on the other hand?

“She was drunk.”

“News people speak gibberish all the time.”

“Send her to rehab with Charlie Sheen.”

Seriously? She’s a young, beautiful woman who suddenly lost control of her ability to form words. I’ve volunteered in hospitals long enough to spot a medical problem when I see one. It wouldn’t occur to me to mock her (unless, of course, it turns out that she was drunk, in which case I’ll delete this entire post).

And then we come to CBS News reporter Lara Logan, who was sexually assaulted covering the events in Egypt last week.

(Photo: CBS News)

The comments have ranged from “Well, she’s hot” to “unprintable.”

Have we lost our way or what?

Filed Under: Mainly Jane, Movies, News stories, Popular culture Tagged With: CBS News, Egypt, Esquire, Grammy Awards, Lara Logan, Liam Neeson, Natasha Richardson, Serene Branson, snark, Yahoo

I Missed The Grammys Tonight

February 14, 2011

If you’re reading this and you watched the show, please give me your favorite moments! (I already know Lady Gaga showed up encased in an egg.)

The Grammys aren’t my favorite awards show, since it’s the Oscars and Globes that really float my boat, so I wasn’t all that crushed about missing it. Besides, Michael and I had a date with friends to make dinner here and watch a screener of the prize-winning documentary “When I Rise.”

The feature-length doc tells the story – much of it in her own words – of Barbara Smith Conrad, a black music student at the University of Texas in the late ’50s, just after the school had been desegregated, who had been barred from performing in the drama department’s opera production. The movie describes how she overcame prejudice and forged a career as an international opera star. Very moving and inspirational and highly recommended.

Also recommended was the brisket Michael cooked yesterday, giving it 24 hours for the flavors to really get going. Wow. Was it ever good. He used a recipe from Tyler Florence from the Food Network.

Ingredients

  • 4 large garlic cloves, smashed
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
  • 4 sprigs fresh rosemary, needles striped from the stem and chopped
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 (4 pound) beef brisket, first-cut
  • Coarsely ground black pepper
  • 4 large carrots, cut in 3-inch chunks
  • 3 celery stalks, cut in 3-inch chunks
  • 4 large red onions, halved
  • 2 cups dry red wine
  • 1 (16-ounce) can whole tomatoes, hand-crushed
  • 1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour (optional)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

On a cutting board, mash the garlic and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt together with the flat-side of a knife into a paste. Add the rosemary and continue to mash until incorporated. Put the garlic-rosemary paste in a small bowl and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil; stir to combine.

Season both sides of the brisket with a fair amount of kosher salt and ground black pepper. Place a large roasting pan or Dutch oven over medium-high flame and coat with the remaining olive oil. Put the brisket in the roasting pan and searcrust on both sides. Lay the vegetables all around the brisket and pour the rosemary paste over the whole thing. Add the wine and tomatoes; toss in the parsley and bay leaves. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil and transfer to the oven. Bake for about 3 to 4 hours, basting every 30 minutes with the pan juices, until the beef is fork tender. to form a nice brown

Remove the brisket to a cutting board and let it rest for 15 minutes. Scoop the vegetables out of the roasting pan and onto a platter, cover to keep warm. Pour out some of the excess fat, and put the roasting pan with the pan juices on the stove over medium-high heat. Boil and stir for 5 minutes until the sauce is reduced by 1/2. (If you want a thicker sauce, mix 1 tablespoon of flour with 2 tablespoons of wine or water and blend into the gravy).

Slice the brisket across the grain (the muscle lines) at a slight diagonal.

The sauce that results from this recipe is to die for. It comes out carmelized, like candy. I’m so glad we have leftovers. Oh, and I made my chocolate cake with gluten free flour for the first time, since our friends are wheat sensitive. It didn’t quite have the same consistency; the cake was more like a brownie – not a bad thing, just denser.

Anyhow, Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! May your day be full of romance.

Filed Under: Food, Mainly Jane, Movies, Music Tagged With: Barbara Smith Conrad, brisket, documentary film, Food Network, Grammy Awards, opera singer, Tyler Florence, Valentine's Day, When I Rise

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About Jane Heller

Jane Heller is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Her fourteen breezy, witty novels of romantic comedy and suspense are now entertaining millions of readers around the world, along with her two books of nonfiction.

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