There are a bunch of themes suitable for this edition.
Spring equinox, light foods, my first vegetarian experiences,
the conclusion of one year of this blog, and with it
a renewed dedication to my dear brother David
who I am sure is following all of this
from his side of the fence.
March is the month of his undoing.
The relentless pain of that sadness now sits farther away
from the surface of my day to day,
having turned from glowing coals to a throb.
There is a watercolor sketch he did, a self portrait, of when he was
about 15, of him leaning on a fence, surrounded by fields, some sun,
some water in the background. It looks like Little Compton.
At about that same time I worked as a counselor at a summer camp
in Upstate NY. Nothing too exciting,
looking after a bunch of spoiled teens.
A year later when I unfortunately wasn't there
the Woodstock festival took place.
That would have been exciting.
But in the summer when I was there it was just a sleepy little village
with a post office and only a hint that Bob Dylan hung out there.
On one day off I went for a walk through the woods and
discovered a clearing with a field of blueberry bushes.
Blueberry Nirvana. It's a wonder I didn't turn into a blueberry,
or at least blue.
On another day off I browsed through some books at the post office
telling of the benefits of being vegetarian
When I got home I declared to my family that I wasn't going to eat
meat anymore, and only organic fruits and vegetables
and unpasteurized milk.
No more steaks from the grill.
My parents got very excited were sure
I would get sick and undernourished.
I discovered this carrot salad recipe that Summer
which I love eating to this day.
Grate a pound of carrots unpeeled- another point of contention
with my parents. There were many other points after
that that unfortunately were not as easily dealt with as carrots.
Summer ones are sweeter than Autumn ones.
Lightly roast a handfull of peanuts in a non-stick pan
until they smell good.
Watch out they don't get too dark. Let them cool.
Add some herbs- dill is delicious along with finely chopped parsley.
Add some vinegar , any will do- apple cider, balsamico, wine vinegar.
Lemon juice is also very nice.
I like to use the fruit vinegar I make myself - very easy.
Take a package of frozen berries- mixed or just raspberries
together with store bought wine vinegar -2 cups vinegar
to a pound of fruit and put both
in a ceramic jug in a warmish place for 3 weeks.
Strain and transfer into nice bottles.
Best stored in the fridge.
Add your best olive oil. Right now I'm using the cold pressed oil
Piero sent me from his backyard in Sicily. He very generously
stuffed the spare room in the shipping box with lemons,
oranges, dried tomatoes and oregano.
Mix it all up and serve with your favorite crunchy bread
or mashed potatoes.
I'm not a vegetarian these days. I love all kinds of chicken and fish.
But there are definitely times when I am happy just with veggies.
Since she asked me, here is a recipe for my friend Renate,
who asked me for something light, and who fell in love
with Andreas over a Mango lassi.
It's a Springtime version and good for lightening up.
For 2 people in love:
blend a mango, a banana, orange juice, half a liter of buttermilk,
some lemon and lime- a bit of their rind if they are bio and 1 or 2
tablespoons of almond butter. Replace the main meal with this.
And because a few others have asked-
I have done all of the fotos, except for Lothar's February selfportraits
The stories are part of me, the threads of my being, and I write them
down a day before they are published.
But it did occur to me at the initiation of this blog that I might be a bit ambitious in determining to do 24 issues
so I scribbled down some possible themes.
Still to come:
ConnieDawn's Eggplant Parmigiano
Quark
Finger Food
Bistro ULCALO
German Italian American Breakfasts
Chicken Stories and Recipes
Antipasto-Barbeque-Kaffeetrinken
Challah and Easter specials with special attention to Praque
Matzoballs vs Meatballs
Crespelle-Pancakes-Mehlspeisen
Pizza
Final Surprise