Eat Your Greens!

Friend Irene pointed me to this recipe because I'm always mentioning all the arugula our CSA provides. Here's the list of ingredients:

• 4 strips thick-sliced smoked bacon
• 1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 scallions, finely chopped
• 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 2 serrano chiles, stemmed, seeded, and minced
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons Creole mustard (see note)
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh tarragon leaves
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 6 ounces arugula

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Two-Potato-Salad-with-Creole-Mustard-Bacon-and-Arugula-353289#ixzz0fv9Xke3u

It's pretty simple to make: cook the things that need cooking (bacon and potatoes) then mix the rest together. I left out the celery because I didn't have any and I used dried tarragon.

Arugula intrigues me. I first tasted it in Bergamo, Italy. I had finally arrived, alone, exhausted from trans-Atlantic travel, done in by Milan traffic, and the stress of driving a rental car around an unfamiliar city at night looking for my hotel. And I was very hungry. I was the last person served in the dining room that evening and had whatever was left. It turned out to be sliced flank steak and just barely steamed arugula drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. I was hooked. The Italian version is a little different than what I've found in the U.S., but it's similar and delicious!

Since joining our local CSA, I've nearly had my fill of arugula and have been challenged to find ways to use it up before the next week's supply ends up in my refrigerator. It seems to have the strange ability to increase in volume the more you use it. I keep it in a "green bag" in the vegetable crisper and, like the whiskers on a corpse, it seems to grow after death, so I never run out.

You have to try this recipe -- you can't imagine what it tastes like -- such an unusual combination and sooooo good. Thanks Irene.

Anna Farfalla

I don't know why this quilt is named Anna Farfalla. While sewing, I try to get the quilt to tell me its name. Farfalla (Italian for butterfly) is obvious, but I don't know where Anna came from -- it just happened. She will be finished as soon as I affix a label. Now I need to give quilting a rest for a bit and clean my messy house! But first, I need to go get a pedicure -- can't possibly clean house with dull toes.

Snow is forecast for the weekend, I hope they are wrong because we plan to go to the Kansas City area. Ben rides the bus to Blue Springs on Friday where he'll spend the night in a hotel and play the next day at a Winter Drum Line Festival. Logan and I will drive up on Saturday to take in the performance, pick up Ben, spend the rest of the weekend with Kevin and Rachel, and celebrate Kevin (and Colleen's) 46th birthdays. So, no snow, please.

Yesterday, I went to the eye doctor for a check up on my eye that was treated with an injection of a chemo drug last May. At that time, there was macular bleeding from myopic macular degeneration (it's a little different than age-related macular degeneration). Last May I was legally blind in that eye. Today, although a blind spot remains, I can read the smallest print on the wall chart and the hand held card. Even the doc is a bit amazed.

Quilts for Kids

Downy fabric softener promotes Quilts for Kids by providing willing quilters with kits for making quilts which go to children in need: Head Start programs, Children's Miracle Network Hospitals,
Shelters, etc. When you fill out an online form, they send you a quilt kit. The fabric and pattern for this quilt arrived five days after I submitted the form. A week later, the quilt is done and I'm ready to put it back in the mail. The quilter donates the batting, thread, return postage, and her time.

More snow forecast for today, I'm expecting a snow day with no school tomorrow. The timing would be good, Ben is kind of sick, but won't admit it and I'd like to see him get some rest.

The Queen and Her Court

Queen Bernice Maples gives her subjects the royal wave on her 90th birthday during the feast held in her honor at Jimm's Restaurant.

She holds court with her consort and a couple of her male descendants. No, Logan is not her consort, the honor goes to Arlan. Son Steve looks on.

After the feast, it was hard to think about eating again, but today is the last day of January and I hadn't had my New Year's lentils. So, I whipped up a batch, and had a cup for dinner. I try to avoid using salt, so I jazzed this batch up with tons of garlic, balsamic vinegar, and garnished it with sour cream (has some salt in it, I think) and arugula. We get lots of arugula from our winter CSA share and I'm always struggling for ways to use it. I've made arugula pesto, salads, sandwiches, wilted, braised, and buried it in soups, pastas, casseroles, and omelets. Now, I've discovered I like its slightly peppery taste as a garnish.

Incidentally -- the deal with lentils in my family is that they represent coins or money and you are supposed to have them for New Years to insure a prosperous year. I've adopted a house rule that allows me till the end of January to consume them. I hope I'm not too late!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Brrrrrrrrrs

Done!

Two years ago, I fell in love with the pattern for this quilt. I agonized over paying $84 for the pattern alone, but finally succumbed when the store had only one remaining and I feared missing out. Then I suffered over buying seventeen yards of fabric all at one time for the front, back, and the binding. At $7-$10 per yard, it was a serious investment. When I won a $100 gift certificate from a quilt shop in Joplin, I bought the black fabric. I was committed.
Over the next year and a half, I assembled the blocks, using a technique called raw-edge fusible machine applique (or something like that -- don't quote me). Then I struggled with how to quilt it. Fearing I would screw it up, I decided to ask a local long-arm quilter (Dorie Hruska) to do it for me. For the first time, I relinquished "artistic control" and paid someone to quilt for me. I'm not sorry. The quilt and the quilting are gorgeous. All the local quilt gurus tell me I have to enter it in the next local quilt show. We'll see. Even though I spend a lot of time bragging about my quilts on this blog, when it comes right down to it, I'm kind of shy.

Yesterday was root canal #2. It went fine, we'll see how the recovery goes later in the week. I'm keeping plenty of Vicodin handy, just in case I need it, because we may be snowed in later this week -- possibly one or two days of school closure. More time to quilt!

A Day Late

Logan said he wanted a "perfect food day" for his birthday. When I told him his birthday was on Friday he decided to reschedule and have it on Saturday. Monkey bread starts his day.


At lunch time he moved on to homemade mac and cheese with ham and peas, except we didn't have any peas. BBQ chips accompany the meal and a glass of ice water finishes it off.
In the middle of the afternoon, he had a cake break. We could only find nine candles, but, oh well, he blew all of them out in a single breath. The cake was filled with ice cream which kind of melted because the cake was still warm when I filled it, but no one complained.
He ended the day with salmon, garlic/rosemary roasted red potatoes, and green beans with bacon and onions. It's what a boy needs to nourish a 5'9" 160 pound body. I measured both boys yesterday and they are still exactly the same height, although Logan outweighs Ben by 50 pounds! He was delighted with his new computer, Risk game, and enough cash to buy the wireless controller he wants for his XBox.

BTW, this is my 200th post!