Ode to Strawberries

In the summer, if Bethie and I were very lucky, Gram would have some strawberries out for us when we'd go over to her house for Sunday dinner. We'd more or less gorge ourselves on them. Sometimes, she even had the powdered sugar out so we could dip the strawberries in it. She even took us strawberries picking once. I think this is why I always associate strawberries with Gram.

The Farmer's Market was just covered with strawberries today. At first I wasn't going to get any. The other day, I bought two pounds of strawberries from Kroger for $3, and I still had over half of those left, and at the market the going price seemed to be $6 for a quart. And then I smelled them. Oh, man. There's such a huge difference in quality between berries at Kroger from California, and berries at the market that were picked ripe the day before, or even, that morning. I can't believe I almost didn't buy them. I've already eaten half.

Fun "fact" from wikipedia:

There is a theory that the name derives from the Anglo-Saxon verb for "strew" (meaning to spread around) which was streabergen (Strea means "strew" and Bergen means "berry" or "fruit") and thence to streberie, straiberie, strauberie, straubery, strauberry, and finally, "strawberry", the word which we use today. The name might have come from the fact that the fruit and various runners appear "strewn" along the ground.

Another theory suggests strawberries received their name from the long-time practice of packing the delicate fruit in straw.

Spring Vegetable Gratin

From Cooking Light Magazine:

For variety, switch vegetable combinations depending on the season. Try chopped eggplant and zucchini in summer, for instance, and quartered Brussels sprouts and cubed butternut squash in the fall.
Ingredients

1 (6-ounce) package original recipe long-grain and wild rice (such as Uncle Ben's)
1/3 cup all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 ounces)
3 cups 1% low-fat milk
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded fontina cheese, divided
1 cup (4 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 1/3 cups (2-inch) slices asparagus (about 3/4 pound)
2 cups frozen green peas, thawed
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced green onions
Cooking spray
Preparation
1. Cook the rice according to package directions, omitting salt, fat, and seasoning packet.

2. Preheat oven to 400°.

3. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Place flour in a medium saucepan. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly with a whisk until blended. Cook over medium heat until thick (about 8 minutes), stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add 3/4 cup fontina, 3/4 cup Parmesan, thyme, salt, and pepper; stir until cheese melts. Stir in rice, asparagus, peas, and onions. Spoon rice mixture into a 13 x 9–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with 1/4 cup fontina and 1/4 cup Parmesan. Bake at 400° for 18 minutes or until bubbly.
Yield

12 servings (serving size: about 1/2 cup)
Nutritional Information

CALORIES 197(29% from fat); FAT 6.4g (sat 3.5g,mono 1.7g,poly 0.4g); PROTEIN 12g; CHOLESTEROL 20mg; CALCIUM 286mg; SODIUM 375mg; FIBER 2.9g; IRON 1.9mg; CARBOHYDRATE 22.5g


RESULTS: I've been holding on to this recipe for a depressingly long time. It's not fun to get a recipe for spring veggies in February, and then have to keep putting it aside until the veggies actually come into season. I've been wondering for a while why our farmer's market hasn't had any asparagus. Suz and I have gone just about every week and no asparagus. Today for the first time I got there as it opened and I discovered that there has probably been asparagus all along. I got there at 8:15. I left at 9. There was asparagus when I got there, there was none when I left. Luckily, I snagged a bunch.

I really liked this recipe. It could use a kick, like maybe some old bay or red pepper or something, but it's just a nice pleasant casserole. I like that it seems that you can make substitutions pretty easily. I didn't have fontina cheese, so I used some feta with the Parmesan, and that's pretty good. I think you could switch out the veggies with almost anything you want, but you may have to pre-cook some things. Some lady online didn't like the asparagus, she thought it was too crunchy, so if you may want to steam that first. I also don't see why you couldn't replace the wild rice with white or brown rice, or even orzo! This recipe is definitely a keeper.

I stumbled upon this photo blog today. My favorite pictures are here and here.

This cracked me up.

I found a fun new website on epicurious.com. It's about finding local foods in your region, and recipes to go along with it. It looks to me that the Indiana growing season is a month behind Maryland (although, they're probably looking at Indianapolis, which is a little cooler than Bloomington). (Not a month cooler, mind, but a little).

angel food cake with strawberry-rhubarb sauce

From my mom's Better Homes and Gardens cook book:

ANGEL FOOD CAKE
1.5 cups egg whites (10 to 12 large) (you can also get a pint of all egg whites at the grocery store, which is nice because any egg yolk in the whites is disaster)
1.5 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 cup sifted cake flour or sifted all purpose flour
1.5 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup granulated sugar

1.) In an extra-large mixing bowl allow the egg whites to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, sift powdered sugar and flour together three times.

2.) Adjust baking rack to the lowest position in oven. Preheat to 350. Add cream of tartar and vanilla to egg whites. Beat with an electric mixer on medium until soft peaks form (tips curl). Gradually add granulated sugar, about 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight). Don't overbeat, or cake will be dry.

3.) Sift about 0ne-fourth of the flour mixture over beaten egg whites; fold in gently. Repeat, folding in remaining flour mixture by fourths. Pour into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan. (this is not the same as a bundt cake pan.) Gently cut through the batter with a knife to remove any large air pockets.

4.) Bake on the lowest rack for 40-45 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched. Immediately invert cake on a wine or beer bottle (see the picture). Cool thoroughly (about 2 hours). Loosen sides of the cake from pan, remove cake from pan by sliding a metal spatula between the cake and the pan. So you don't cut into the cake, constantly press the spatula against the pan and draw it around in a continuous, not sawing, motion.


STRAWBERRY RHUBARB SAUCE

I made this one up by combining the recipe for rhubarb sauce and strawberry sauce. Adding the balsamic vinegar was my own idea, though.

Cut about 2 cups of rhubarb and 1 cup of strawberries into little pieces. The rhubarb will break up, but the strawberries will stay in one piece, so make sure they're the right size for you.

Put 1/3 sugar and 1/4 water in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Add rhubarb, return to a boil, and simmer for 5 minutes covered. Add strawberries, simmer for 2 minutes stirring. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar (maybe, half a tablespoon? Depends how much you like balsamic vinegar). Leave on the heat for another minute, then remove. Serve immediately or chilled.


RESULTS:
John and Suzanne invited me over for a barbecue on Sunday. I was in charge of bringing a watermelon and angel food cake. I mentioned that to Mom and she said, why don't you make the angel food cake? Angel food cake always seemed to me like one of those things that professionals make, like sausages or hard liquor, but it's not for the ordinary person to attempt. But the directions are actually pretty easy (if you follow them, which I didn't. See below.) The hardest part is being patient whipping the egg whites, and then folding the flour mixture into the egg whites. I think it works better if you try to spread the flour out as you're sifting it into the egg whites, that way it folds faster.

My first mistake was not sifting the flour and the sugar. The second was using a bundt cake pan instead of a tube pan. Both turned out ok; I was worried first of all that it would stick horribly to the pan because I couldn't get the knife around smoothly, but I just had to work at it. It was also not dense like I feared. Success!

As for the sauce, it turned out very well, if I do say so myself. It was sweet, and good even without the balsamic vinegar, but I thought that especially since it's going on such a sweet cake, it needed another flavor profile other than sweet, and the vinegar seemed to be the thing for balancing out with some sour. You can also add some orange rind to the rhubard as it's cooking, I think that would add bitter. I might reduce the sugar in the sauce the next time I serve it with angel food cake, just because that's so sweet, it doesn't need such a sweet sauce. Anyway, it was all very fun, I recommend trying it.

No cooking for me for a while, I'm here in beautiful Maryland visiting the fam. I arrived early yesterday afternoon and Bethie picked me up at the airport and we went straight out shopping. I got a few good tops and a great red work tote (it's quite big, but definitely not the largest bag they have there). This morning we went to Jean's house for breakfast. Jean can make some mean scrambled eggs, let me tell you. And, a mean fruit salad (looked to me bananas, strawberries, mango, grapes, and watermelon) that tasted very nice with sliced unsalted almonds on top. I recommend trying that.

I'm here for a friend's wedding, which is in Edgewater (near Annapolis). It should be great. The rehearsal dinner is tonight and it's catered by the barbecue company I used to work for (I get to be on the OTHER side of the serving line for once). The wedding is tomorrow at 2 pm, with the reception immediately after. Both are at Liz's parents' house, so everything should be lovely and relaxed. And the weather really could not be better. I busted out my rimmed hat for the sun and am sitting on my mom's porch with the cat typing this. It feels like summer!

Inexpensive Wine List from Slate.com

I got this from an article on Slate.com. The author knew there were cheap wines to be had in "cities" like New York, but was sent on assignment to find out if good cheap wines can be found in "the sticks" like Wilmington, DE. Regardless of your feelings about Delaware in general and Wilmington in particular, it is the largest city in Delaware, hardly the sticks. I really hate NYC snobbery. Anyway, I want to learn more about wine, and especially wine I can afford. Here's his list.

2005 S.C.V. Castelmaure Corbières Col des Vents ($9.99)
2006 Artazu Artazuri ($11.99)
2004 Cune Rioja Crianza ($13.99)
Gruet Brut nonvintage ($13.99)
2006 King Estate Signature Collection Pinot Gris ($13.99)
2006 Cline Ancient Vines Zinfandel ($11.99)
2006 d'Arenberg the Hermit Crab ($13.99)
2007 Cusumano Nero d'Avola ($12.99)
2006 Prunotto Dolcetto d'Alba ($14.99)
2006 Altos Las Hormigas ($8.49)
2007 Loosen Bros. Dr. L Riesling ($12.99) from Germany.

Here's his sum-up:
"Anywhere you look, you are going to struggle to find inexpensive domestic wines worth drinking—it's the cardinal sin of American winemaking, in my opinion. Generally speaking, the foreign shelves will have much more to offer. Of course, French, Italian, and Spanish wines can be confusing in ways that, say, California merlots and chardonnays are not. One usually surefire method of finding interesting foreign wines: Let the importer be your guide. The United States is blessed with a small army of superb importers, who bring in excellent wines at all price points. If any of the names on this list are on the label, you can be reasonably certain you've got yourself a good bottle."

Whether any of these wines are available in Bloomington is another issue. I do like the sound of the Hermit Crab wine.

Rhubarb-Lentil Soup with Crème Fraîche

From Cooking Light Magazine:

Soaking the lentils in hot water helps them cook a bit more quickly when they're added to the soup. Because of rhubarb's likeness to the tangy herb sorrel, this dish plays off classic lentil-sorrel soup.

1 1/2 cups boiling water
3/4 cup dried petite green lentils
Cooking spray
2 cups finely chopped carrot
1 3/4 cups finely chopped celery
1 1/2 cups finely chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 cups chopped rhubarb (about 12 ounces)
4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
6 tablespoons crème fraîche
Dill sprigs (optional)

1. Pour 1 1/2 cups boiling water over lentils in a small bowl; let stand 10 minutes.

2. Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add carrot, celery, onion, and parsley to pan; sauté for 4 minutes. Add rhubarb, and sauté for 3 minutes. Drain lentils, and add lentils to pan. Stir in chicken broth and salt; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 35 minutes or until lentils are tender.

3. Remove from heat; let cool 5 minutes. Place 3 cups lentil mixture in a blender or food processor. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender. Place a clean towel over opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters). Blend until smooth. Return pureed mixture to pan; stir in pepper.

4. Combine chopped dill and crème fraîche in a small bowl. Serve crème fraîche mixture on top of soup; garnish with dill sprigs, if desired.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: about 1 1/3 cups soup and 1 tablespoon crème fraîche mixture)

RESULTS: I really wanted to like this soup. I love lentil soup, I love rhubarb, I got to use my stick blender. All good things. I didn't love this soup. It wasn't awful. Maybe it's because I replaced the creme fraiche with lowfat yogurt, but the whole thing was too tart to be satisfying like lentil soup should be satisfying. If anyone tries this soup with creme fraiche, let me know.

I really love cooking light magazine for the informative articles and the cooking tips, but I haven't been consistently wowed by their recipes. Some have been truly excellent, like that pear crumble I made for Thanksgiving, but most have left me with that vague, this-dish-doesn't-taste-as-good-as-it-could feeling. I think the most successful dishes from that magazine are the ones that were fairly healthy to begin with, like vegetables, and maybe just needed a tweak at the most. It's sort of like a beacon for me, a way to present the common sense healthy options right there, in front of my nose. The less successful recipes are the ones that are the "healthy version of...", like that disastrous alfredo.

For all you Office fans out there...

This was on Saturday Night Live this weekend. My boss Margaret and I were both very impressed with Steve Carrell's Japanese.

As hoped, I made it through the whole week without calling in sick, but it looks like I passed the cold onto Chris. He's been saying for days that it's allergies, but I think he's just sick. This is one of those colds that isn't awful enough to convince yourself to take it easy, so it lingers for weeks. Poor Chris!

I've been neglecting the ol' blog somewhat this last month because I've been taking a watercolor class on Thursdays, and that's more or less largely what I've been doing in the evenings. It's so much fun! Nothing I've done has been terrific, of course, because I'm just learning. Here's the one picture that I'm not totally embarrassed about posting online. I was experimenting with composition and with what happens with the colors when they mix and when you drop clear water on the color already on the page (that's called back wash, and it's what makes the watermarks). I have other ideas for painting dogwoods that I want to try. Chris says it could be my dogwood period. Let Van Gogh have his blue period, I'll take dogwoods!

stuffed artichokes

Growing up, Bethie and I wanted stuffed artichokes for our birthday dinner. They were so much fun to eat, and they were definitely a special treat for us. Unfortunately, I never really paid attention to how to make them. Here's a recipe I found at cooks.com.

STUFFING:

1 c. seasoned bread crumbs
6 oz. grated Parmesan cheese
1 sm. can rolled anchovies, finely chopped (optional)
4 cloves garlic, mashed
4 to 5 oz. olive oil

Trim tops of artichoke leaves to remove pointed tips. Soak artichokes in salted water about 15 minutes. Drain. Mix the stuffing ingredients well. Fill the artichoke leaves with stuffing. Stand stuffed artichokes on a rack in the bottom of a Dutch oven.

Put a small amount of water in the container, but do not let the water touch the artichokes. cover and steam slowly, adding several drops of imported olive oil over stuffing about every 15 minutes. Continue to steam until artichokes are done when the leaves pull out easily, almost one hour. The secret to this recipe is in the use of the olive oil. DO NOT USE TOO MUCH!

RESULTS: Poor Chris has never had a stuffed artichoke before and was a little befuddled by it, but I thought it turned out great. I had some trouble finding the right temperature for steaming. Telling me to "steam it slowly" is unhelpful. I put the pot on the smaller back burner on low, and they still weren't done after 90 minutes, so I put them on the front burner on medium, and they were done in 10 minutes. I think it might be a trial and error sort of thing.

Fun artichoke facts:

• Artichokes and cardoons are members of the thistle family
• the part of the artichoke that we eat is actually the flower.
• In the US, the peak artichoke season is March through May, with a second peak season in fall.
• Artichokes, though associated with Italian cooking, were originally developed for cooking in the Muslim world.

Pizza Olympia

1 (10-ounce) focaccia, cut in half horizontally
1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 (7-ounce) bottle roasted red bell peppers, drained and chopped
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1 tablespoon drained capers
1 cup (4 ounces) crumbled feta cheese

Preheat oven to 450°.

Place focaccia halves, cut sides up, on a baking sheet. Combine minced garlic, tomato paste, and dried oregano in a small bowl; spread evenly over focaccia halves. Top evenly with roasted peppers, onion, and capers; sprinkle with feta cheese. Bake at 450° for 12 minutes or until focaccia is golden. Feta cheese doesn't melt, so check the crust's golden color to know when to take these out of the oven. Cut each pizza in half.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1/2 pizza)

RESULTS
It's highly possible that this pizza would have been good, had I not mis-remembered and set the timer for 25 minutes instead of 12 minutes. Hard to say, though. I liked the sauce, that was fun, but everything else would have made for a pretty solid hunk of firewood, as it was. Needless to say, I did not check soon enough for the crust's golden color.

It's a good thing that I also ate an entire bundle of asparagus with olive oil, salt, pepper, and parmasean cheese, as per Bethie's suggestion (I sauteed them in a little butter, though, not steamed them). I'm hoping that won't have any digestional repercussions.

Chicken and Artichoke Stew

serves 8. (I only made enough for 4 servings)

INGREDIENTS

3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
salt and pepper
2 Tbls. butter
2 large onions, finely chopped
1/2 c. all purpose flour
3 1/2 c. chicken broth
6 med. carrots, cut into rounds
1 tsp. dried thyme
2 cans (14 ounces each) artichoke hearts, drained and rinsed
sliced lengthwise.
1/2 c. chopped fresh parsley

DIRECTIONS

1. generously season chicken with salt and pepper. heat 1 tablespoon butter in dutch oven (or 5 quart stockpot) over medium-high heat. brown half the chicken on both sides, about 5 minutes. transfer to a plate. repeat with remaining butter and chicken. set aside to cool.

2. reduce heat to medium. add 1/4 cup water; scrape bottom of pan with a wooden spoon to loosen browned bits. add onions; cook until golden, about 5 min. stir in flour; cook 1 more minute.

3. add broth and 1/2 cup water; bring to a boil. add carrots, thyme, 1 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. pepper. simmer until carrots are almost tender, about 5 min.

4. cut chicken into 1/2 in. pieces and return to pot; cover, and simmer until chicken is cooked through and sauce is thickened, 10 to 15 min. add artichokes; cook until warmed through, about 1 min. stir in parsley. serve over rice if desired. (I used brown rice)

RESULTS
Today was so windy and cold that I would not have been surprised to see a little Piglet blown by, so it seemed like a good stew day. Luckily, though the electricity had been out all morning, it came on around 4 just in time for cooking. Now, this recipe, for me personally, was not a keeper. It was sort of bland, but it did make the house smell delicious with the onions sauteing in the butter (is there a better smell? I think not) and it was filling and warming. I think the final product was improved by a sprinkle of balsamic right on top (off the heat, of course), it lifted the whole thing from sort of a gray goop and gave it a little more color and brightness. I think lemon would have been good too. BUT, the main reason I posted this is that I cooked the chicken to perfection! I think I'm really getting the hang of chicken, at least if it's browned first and then braised or stewed. I can't guarantee more than that, but baby steps.

In other news, Bethie introduced me to pandora.com yesterday. It's pretty neat, I haven't really had a chance to get into it (re: loss of electricity), but I like the idea. You can create your own radio station by typing in a band you like, and then the computer builds a station by matching that band with other bands with similar qualities. Anyway, it's neat.

Highlights for this coming week include:

• season finale of the Office
• making foccaccia pizza tomorrow for dinner
• an outdoors session of my 4-session watercolor class (barring more of this endless rain) at Oliver Winery (Mom and Beth, I took you both there
  
• Making it through a 40-hour work week without having to call in sick for the first time in a while, God willing
• reading to about a hundred school children on Wednesday for work
  

Happy mother's day Mom and Kathy!

Today's lessons:

1) premade dried gnocchi in a box, though better than mine and infinitely easier to make, is still not as good as I remember. Here's hoping Carey has some luck with gluten and Martha!
2) If you put a spoonful of tomato paste in a sauce towards the end of the sauteing the aromatics (garlic and onion) stage, it adds a really nice smoky hint as the paste cooks in the olive oil.
3) gnocchi stays much hotter in the middle than pasta does, even when the outside is cool to touch.
4) it is very possible to burn the roof of your mouth so badly it blisters in many places.

Here's hoping tomorrow's lessons are easier. :)

Gas Tax Holiday

The house economist has been educating me on the gas tax proposals by McCain and Clinton (which no economist on TV seems to like). If you're interested in this issue and don't have your own economist handy, here's an MSN article that sums up what I've heard from various places. The bottom line in the article for how to save on gas? "Don't drive like a jerk." If you don't want to read the whole article, which isn't long, here's an excerpt:

"Eliminating the federal tax, about 18 cents a gallon, would encourage more driving, putting added pressure on supplies, and driving the underlying price of gasoline higher. Since gasoline taxes go to pay for rebuilding crumbling roads and bridges, this is probably not a good time to do away with them. And making gas cheaper will only postpone progress toward developing alternative ways of fueling cars."

Another interesting point in the article is that reducing gas expenditure by as little as 15% would make a huge impact on cost to consumers, but the White House (the article didn't specify which administration) has rejected the idea of putting the responsibility of conservation on the consumer to help reduce gas prices as "a 'personal virtue' that has no business in U.S. energy policy." That may be, but that doesn't mean it doesn't belong in another official forum, like a speech or something, a la "ask not what your country can do for you," etc etc.

Also, I feel I have to apologize in advance. This is supposed to be a cooking blog, but I fear I may stray more often into politics from now until November. I'm from DC. It's in my blood. I will try to be as fair as I can, though, and you can always skip those entries if you like.

New Poll

Just for fun, I put a new poll up with some of my favorite recipes that I've tried since I started the blog, just to see which ones you all have tried, either my versions or a different one you found somewhere else.

Greeky Lemon Chicken Soup

Get me started on a conversation on the Food Network and you'll soon discover that I can't stand to watch that Semi-homemade woman because every episode I see something that will start a fire, whether it's the can of Pam right next to an open flame or long sleeves dangling frighteningly over the gas burner. However, Beth was kind enough to email me a recipe, so I didn't have to watch it, to help me get over this cold:


Greeky Lemon Chicken Soup
Start to finish: 15 minutes
Makes: 4 servings

3 cans (10.75 ounce each) condensed chicken and rice soup, Cambell's
3 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth, Swanson
1/3 cup lemon juice, ReaLemon
3 large egg yolks
1 precooked chicken breast, shredded (I put in two breasts, and just boiled the suckers before shredding them and plopping them in. It may also taste good it you brown them or something first)
1 Tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley (optional) (My philosophy is that you can never have too much parsley, so I put in 2 tablespoons)
I also added ground pepper, but she didn't

1) In large saucepan, combine soup, chicken broth, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat to simmer.
2) In a small bowl, lightly whisk egg yolks. Gradually whisk 1/4 cup of the hot broth mixture into egg yolks to prevent curdling. Slowly pour the egg yolk mixture into remaining hot broth mixture, stirring constantly
3) Stir in chicken; heat through. Stir in parsley (and pepper).
4) Serve with warmed pita bread with hummus on the side.


RESULTS: It was pretty darn good! I chopped up a couple carrots and put them in at the beginning. I had some green onions to use up, so I put those in with the parsley at the end, and I think the added a lot of flavor and texture. I didn't have the energy for chicken, so I left that out, but it would have been better with the chicken. The texture came out very creamy and tasted almost as if there was a stick of butter in there, although of course there wasn't. I would even say it was almost TOO rich, and I might try it next time with only two egg yolks, or one egg yolk and one whole egg. Beth, what do you think? The lemon zing, though, was a nice counterpoint to the richness.

Gnocchi woes

In college, I visited Tula in Palo Alto, and she took me to her favorite Italian restaurant. We sat by the window and looked out over the beautiful cobblestone streets, and as usual I hadn't the faintest idea of what to order. She said her favorite thing there is the gnocchi, so I got that, never having had gnocchi before. It was wonderful, and I've been trying to make it in my kitchen ever since.

Well, 9 years and many many failures later, I've decided to give up. I've tried making it up on my own, looking on the internet, trying numerous versions in the Spoon, with potato and without potato. Friday, I tried Julia Child's potato recipe, and it was so awful, despite the two hours it took me to make, we threw it in the trash; actually, gnocchi is really the only food I've ever had to throw away because they've been so awful. Once I tried flour gnocchi, and the recipe said it was baked with just some butter dotted on top, and after a few minutes in the oven the individual pieces had all melted together to form a sheet of goey, buttery awfulness. I'd happily order it in restaurants, but I haven't seen it anywhere. The saddest thing is that the pictures with the recipes look so good, and cookbooks always say how easy it is to make gnocchi, but I've ever done it right. Sigh! Chris ended up going out and buying me gnocchi that you just put in boiling water for a few minutes, like fresh pasta. We'll see how that goes.

Mustard Greens

I think I've developed a love-hate relationship with lettuce salad. It's cold, hard to eat, it's not very filling or satisfying, and it's essentially a vehicle for salad dressing, which removes basically all the healthfulness of a salad. At the farmer's market last weekend I bought a teeny weeny baby swiss chard, and I'm looking forward to trying that if it EVER decides to grow, but in the meantime I went to Kroger and got some mustard greens. Wowee! I love them! They are HUGELY bitter, and really do taste like mustard, so obviously not for everyone. I never really took to sauteed spinach because it basically turns to green stringy mush, but the mustard greens really held up to sauteing, and they were so much more filling and satisfying to eat, and probably had a lot more vitamins and minerals than Romaine. Cheaper than lettuce, too. All I did was clean them really well by swishing a few leaves at a time in a big bowl of water. I trimmed the stems off by folding the leaves in half lengthwise and then cutting down the length of the stem. I threw them in a saute pan with some olive oil (and garlic?) and salted them, and then just let them cook down until they wilted. I stirred a little bit, too, but that's basically it. Oh, I threw on a little dash of Parmesan cheese, just for kicks. Would also be good with bacon, I imagine.

In other news, I've just about completely lost my voice today. It comes and goes, but mostly goes. The only thing I can think of is this cold I've had. It only hurts a little, but it feels like there's something physically blocking the noise from coming out, even though I know it's just that my voice box is strained. Any suggestions for getting my voice back? It's better for a little bit if I haven't talked for a while, but then once I start talking again I lose it. I know I should just not talk for a while, but I sort of have to for my job and, you know, communicating with fellow humans. Harper knows hand signals.

I finally got to see Obama in person last night at a rally at Assembly Hall, which is where the basketball games are played. I've never been to a rally before, and it was decidedly more rambunctious than, say, the Dalai Lama's trip to Assembly Hall. It was fun to see people I knew having roles there, like the econ department's bookstore rep was the guy in charge of throwing the beach balls back up into the stands if they came down to the floor. There were a lot of people there. Both Clintons and the Lama only had half of the hall, they put a curtain in lengthwise to make it more intimate, but this was a surprise visit and everything was already set up for graduation, so Obama had the whole Hall, and I'd say about 85% of the 17,500 seats were filled. By contrast, I think I read that about 3,000 people showed up for Hilary.

Highlights include:

• Obama making fun of his bowling (in)ability, saying he's going to take out the bowling alley in the white house and put in a basketball court and play basketball with IN rep Baron Hill (who's in the Indiana basketball hall of fame. Yes, Indiana has it's own basketball hall of fame)
  
• Seeing the correspondent from the Daily Show (the ex-marine who went to Iraq) do some filming. If it wasn't on last night, keep an eye out for tonight.
• Bookstore rep guy getting help throwing the beach ball up into the stands from a 5 year old
• Obama's speech was pretty interesting. He didn't talk a whole lot about policies, but it was a rally to get out the vote, not a stump speech. He gave a lot of information about where to early vote, like locations and times the buildings are open. He is also a very good speaker, I don't know if you've heard. Everything was either memorized or off the cuff (no prompters) and there were times that I felt myself close to tears because I really really want a lot of the things that he was talking about trying to do, and it feels like the Bush administration has let us all down on those things. I guess it was bitterness combined with hopefulness. Anyway, this isn't a political blog, so I don't want to get into it, but he's a good speaker.
  
• It was funny, although in poor sportsmanship, when the crowd would boo when Obama first mentioned the names of his two opponents and Bush. I didn't boo. I'm not a booer, except for important things, like Dallas Cowboy draft picks.