Eating, Fall Style

I love Fall for so many reasons: the smell of leaves, getting to wear sweaters, cider, the acceptability of putting pumpkin in everything, the approach of Christmas, SCARVES, warm blankets, and the list goes on (and on). Food and drinks are a major part of all this--I love making pumpkin bread, drinking lots of tea, mulling hot cider (or wine!), and comfort food in all its guises, usually involving cheese. Here are three recipes that I've been making a lot recently. I tend to modify everything I make, because I either don't like an ingredient (lima beans) or don't have an ingredient (nutmeg, usually), so take these recipes with a grain of salt!

Carolina Vegetable Soup
--I like this recipe because you don't have to buy stock, and the bbq sauce and Tabasco make it jazzy. I am really picky about soup--it either has to be pureed with no chunks, or something very thick like a stew, chowder, gazpacho, or chili. I don't like soup with noodles. I don't like soup with chicken (usually). I look at soups more as an excuse to eat bread. However--I have a really excellent soup book, compiled of recipes from friends, and this is a great one, courtesy of my father, via Moosewood. My college friends dubbed this the Caravaggio Soup, because two of us made it for our seminar once and then we had SO MUCH LEFT that our whole house ended up eating it for a week. And I just had a bowl for lunch!

3 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 cups chopped onions

3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

1 cup peeled and chopped carrots

1 cup peeled and cubed sweet potatoes (1 whole one)

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 1/2 cups chopped zucchini (if you can find one)

1 cup fresh, frozen, or canned lima beans

3/4 cup frozen corn kernels

1 1/2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes (1 can -14 oz or so - of crushed tomatoes would work)

1/2 tsp fresh thyme (1/4 tsp dried)

1/4 cup barbeque sauce

4 cups water

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Tabasco sauce or other hot pepper sauce to taste

2 Tbsp shopped fresh basil (optional)

chopped scallions

--In a large soup pot, warm the oil on medium heat and sauté the onions and garlic until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes.

--Add the carrots, sweet potatoes, and celery and sauté for 3 minutes. Add the zucchini, lima beans, corn, tomatoes, thyme, and barbeque sauce. Stir for a minute and then add the water, salt, and black pepper.

--Cover and bring to a boil; then reduce the heat to low and cook for 20 minutes. About 5 minutes before serving, add the parsley, Tabasco sauce, and, if you wish, the basil.

--Serve topped with chopped scallions.

Pumpkin Mac & Cheese

This is good. This is really, really good. Not really helping my joint obsession with pumpkin and with cheese, but there we are. I made it once with sweet potatoes, and that is also good--but better with pumpkin, I think.

8 oz uncooked macaroni or other pasta, preferably whole wheat or whole wheat blend pasta

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 cup 1% low-fat milk

2 oz (about 4 Tbsp) 1/3-less-fat neufchatel creamcheese

1 cup freshly grated 50% reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese

1/2 cup freshly grated gruyere cheese (can sub in any good melting cheese, such as monterey jack)

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 – 1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper, or more depending on heat preference

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

--Cook pasta according to package directions.

--Meanwhile, whisk together and heat pumpkin puree and milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat until hot.

--Reduce stove heat to low. Whisk in cheeses until fully melted.

--Stir in nutmeg and cayenne. Season with salt and pepper.

--Stir drained pasta into the pumpkin-cheese sauce and mix until thoroughly combined.

--At this point, the mac & cheese might appear a bit soupy. If this is the case, let the mixture sit off of the heat for a few minutes. The cheese sauce will firm up as it slightly cools.

--Serve with an extra dusting of nutmeg, if desired.

Roasted Corn with Manchego and Lime (courtesy of Epicurious)

I usually half this recipe, and replace the jalapeno with a bell pepper, the chives with scallions, and the Manchego with a little mayonnaise. This makes it resemble street corn, which I would get in Brooklyn whenever humanly possible. Also, I never have red pepper flakes on hand, so I either use chili powder or omit it. This is a good recipe for corn country--and roasting makes corn REALLY easy to peel.

6 ears of sweet yellow corn, unhusked
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
Kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 jalapeño, seeded, finely diced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 lime, cut into 4 wedges
1 cup finely grated Manchego cheese
1/4 cup thinly sliced chives
2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest

Preheat oven to 450°. Roast unhusked corn on a baking sheet, turning occasionally, until heated through and crisp-tender, about 15 minutes. Let cool. Shuck corn and cut kernels from cobs. Discard cobs.

Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add corn kernels and sauté until heated through and light-golden in spots, 3–5 minutes. Add butter; stir until melted.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer corn to a large wide bowl or deep platter; sprinkle jalapeño and crushed red pepper flakes over. Squeeze lime wedges over; sprinkle with cheese, chives, and lime zest.

Rewards (and FOOD)

I finished grading my students first papers! (which were a mixed bag, in case you were curious). I was able to do all 50 of them in 4 days, but those 4 days were not overly fun, and involved me going to bed at 2 last night, getting up at 7, and grading until 11 this morning. BUT, they are done, and I celebrated this afternoon by going for a long walk in the crisp fall air, getting a few shirts and a pair of yoga pants at the mall, treating myself to new bodywash (nectarine and ginger! Dove, mmm), and going to Bloomingfoods. There are 3 Bloomingfoods, which is the co-op grocery store, here. I don't go there enough to justify belonging to the co-op, but one of my friends does, so I just use her number (which means she'll get more discounts eventually).

Bloomingfoods is an amazing place, with some phenomenal people watching--it's a fun mix of very, very hippie-types, trendy 20-somethings, and professors. It's also very organic, health-conscious, and therefore usually quite out of my budget. But today was one of their tent sales, where they erect a huge white tent in the parking lot and put all of their overstocked goods out there at really good prices. It's a mad house, especially right when it opens, but it had calmed down a bit by the time I got there. So what did I acquire?
--sweet potato and apple chips
--organic white cheddar popcorn
--pitted dates
--3 honeycrisp apples (I am really, really picky about apples, being from upstate NY and being snobby about apples. Bloomingfoods is one of the few places in town that carries apples that I really like, probably because they are locally grown.)
--German sparkling apple cider
--2 liters of sweet tea
--organic cranberry pecan cookies
--a bar of milk chocolate with lime
--a bar of dark chocolate with chilies
--an Asian pear
--fresh mozzarella
--2 avocados
Cost: $21.

Now, I did indeed just list you my grocery list, most of which was impulse buys, but there you are. Tonight, two of my friends are coming over for dinner--one is making lentil loaf (aka, vegetarian meatloaf), the other is making a grape salad, and I'm making tomato, basil and mozzarella salad, and taking some leftover rice crispies, pouring melted chocolate over it, and sprinkling it with sea salt. We're going to do homework--and really, the best way to do homework is with friends and food. Yesterday I taught for 3 hours, then graded, then went to two lectures back to back (both of which were phenomenally good, on viewing 17th century Dutch art and Iranian posters from the Revolution), and then went out to dinner with three friends, where we all acted very silly. I think probably because most of us had been on campus for 11 hours by that point, and had had to be "academic" all day, so we just sat around giggling about nothing. It was wonderful. Friends and food--those are the rewards I need.

And most importantly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

Isfahan, Pie, and Saturday Adventures

Another perfect, Midwestern-y, Bloomington-y Saturday. Why? Well, I shall tell you!

We went to the Farmer's Market as per usual and finally, finally, finally PEACHES are here! I got a small basket (there were 9 in it) from a very nice Amish man. I know he was nice, not only because he had a nice smile, but also because two little girls were looking at some peaches next to me and both were holding some rocks (they were probably about 3 and 5 years old). And he said to them, "how would you like to trade one of your rocks for one of my peaches?" and they looked at their dad and he said, "ok," and so they did. Sometimes people make me very happy.

Then we each got a perfect onion (seriously, it is the most beautiful onion I've ever seen), and I got green beans and a small bag of kettle corn, which a couple in plain dress cooks in a big big kettle (well duh) every week. My friends also got local honey, zucchinis, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Then we went to an Indian buffet. There are (I think) 3 Indian restaurants in town and now I have been to all 3. This one is the most cost effective, but not the tastiest. Still and all, though, good naan, good saag aloo, and quite a good variety of dishes for a lunch buffet.

We parted ways, and two of us walked across campus to get to our bus stop. When we got there, there was a woman waiting for the bus who needed to get to Target, but wasn't sure what bus to take, or if she was in the right spot (she was). We got to chatting, and she said she was from Iran and had been here for 4 days. She'll be here for a month before applying for a research visa to start a post-doc in African-American literature here in the fall. She asked me how old I was and when I said 24, she asked if I was married. And I said no (my friend had just taken a phone call so she missed this) and the woman told me that I was too young to get married anyway. "Get your degree first," she said, nodding. "That's what I did with my masters, and then I got married, and had twins. They are 12 now, and back in Iran with their father." She got her PhD in India, teaches in Tehran, and likes studying African-American women, "because we are women, and so we should be feminists. yes?" (we said yes, too.)

We told her we were studying art history, and that we had just taken an Islamic art class and were interested in that. So she started telling us about visiting Isfahan and what it is like now, which was VERY exciting as Isfahan is straight-up awesome. I now pull out my trusty class notebook to tell you that Isfahan was the capital of Safavid Iran from 1590ish-1722 (and is now the 3rd largest city in Iran). It was known as the "pearl of Persia," and is kind of equivalent (except bigger and more awesome) to Versailles in terms of gilt, grandeur, and grandiosity. According to an official chronicler named Iskandar Beg Munshi, "Isfahan is half the world they say/but by saying so, they only go halfway." In other words: once you saw Isfahan, especially in the 17th century, you didn't need to see anything else. Everything else paled in comparison.

Most importantly, images!
This is the Mosque of Shaykh Lutfullah (1603-1619). This was the second mosque there, and we're not quite sure why there were two. Possibly it was a mosque specifically for women, but it was more likely a private mosque for royals, as a tunnel connected it to the palace. It looks an awful lot like the Dome of the Rock, which very well could have been intentional. It is completely cloaked in blue and gold tile work, and there is stucco-designs on the windows so it looks like stained glass. Some interior shots:
This is the Music Room, or Chini-Khane (China Room), which I believe was located in the palace. This is where the displays of art were, well, displayed. It was a trophy room and proto-museum, which symbolized, through art collecting, the far-reaching power of the Safavids.

Speaking of far-reaching power, this room is one of the "mirror rooms," and it was furnished in Venetian glass. Which, for an Italianist like myself, is pretty exciting! Also, I weirdly just found out there is a Duke Ellington suite called "Isfahan." Check it out here.

Our bus came, and our new friend (whose name we never learned) attempted to get in the back door of the bus, while telling us to "tell the bus driver that I want to go to the Target." So I was on the sidewalk telling her that she wanted the other bus that stopped there, and that it would be there soon, and there were maps on it, and to get in the front door when the bus got there, while my friend tried to stall the bus driver, who CLEARLY saw me, but shut the door and started to pull away. So I had to jog after it and tap on the door and dive on. And then we took seats and dissolved into giggles.

The rest of the day was spent lounging about, having long phone chats with various family members (including my super cousin who got to see Jeter's 3000 hit today in person! most excellent), and making PIE. I love pie. It is (if I had to pick) my favorite dessert. I love how they look, I love the fruit, I love apple pie with cheese and pecan pie with nothing, and I have not, until today, made a pie on my own. One of my best friends from college works in a pie shop, so she was always in charge of them, and both my mother and sister are great at making pies, so I can usually just enjoy the fruits of other peoples labors. Today I did peach (with my market peaches!) and it turned out quite well. It was less runny than I was expecting, although I think I need a remedial lattice making class! Photographic evidence:

Also, if anyone has a foolproof crust making method, let me know it, please. I used refrigerated dough, which is fine, but I'd love to make my own. The problem is that I have about a foot of available counter space, so rolling out doesn't work very well.

So, pie. Summer. Friends. A slight sunburn. It doesn't get much better than that. And if you are interested in more things pie related, check out Pie in the Sky, a Brit TV show from the mid-90s about a policeman who retires to open a restaurant and keep chickens in the backyard but who solves crimes on the side. Or Pushing Daisies, a really great TV show about a piemaker--the dreamy Lee Pace--who owns the Pie Hole pie-restaurant and has the ability to bring the dead back to life for limited amounts of time. He teams up with a private investigator to solve crimes, since he can ask the victims what happened to them. Kristin Chenowith is the waitress. Jim Dale narrates. Delightful. Or Waitress, a sweet and sad movie about pie, babies, abuse, waitressing, and love. To quote Waitress:

"Baby don't you cry, gonna make a pie, gonna make a pie with a heart in the middle/Baby don't be blue, gonna make for you, gonna make a pie with a heart in the middle/Gonna make a pie from heaven above, gonna be filled with strawberry love/Baby don't you cry, gonna make a pie, and hold you forever in the middle of my heart."

Ice Cream & Entrepreneurship

Tonight, Jerry (of Ben and Jerry's) came to campus to talk about social activism and small business development. Well, I think that is what it was about--a friend and I went because we heard there was free ice cream as a part of this shindig. Which there was! But it was actually really interesting, too, in non-food related ways.

As I imagined he would be, Jerry Greenfield was funny and insightful, and the type of person that you would probably want to hang out and have a few beers with. I have been to the Ben and Jerry's factory in Vermont, and I fully admit to loving everything about Vermont (I'd live there in a heartbeat, for real), including the fact that B & J stayed so true to their local roots for so long. They don't own the company any more, exactly--it was bought out about 10 years ago by a bigger company, I think Unilever. But it sounds like they did a lot of things right, by being accountable to their workers, making sure 7 1/2 percent of their profits went back to local businesses (I think he said the average at the time was 1 1/2 percent, which is ridiculous), and being conscious of where they were getting their ingredients from--for example, their brownies come from a bakery which employs people with prior personal or financial problems, and gave them job training. Jerry made a good point that there can (and should be) a spiritual motivation behind business too. Not necessarily spiritual in a religious sense, but in a sense that we are all connected, and should treat each other as well as we can. Very important.

As for the ice cream--they had single servings of chocolate chip cookie dough, chocolate fudge brownie, cherry garcia, and a newer flavor, peanut brittle. I was intrigued by the peanut brittle, but went with the cookie dough, while my friend went the brownie route. As we ate our ice cream, our hands freezing from the wind as we walked to our bus, we swapped stories of how Ben and Jerry's has been a major player in our lives. Hers factored into a break-up, while mine was from my first night of studying abroad in England. I was so hungry and homesick, with no phone or internet, and had just left my parents a voicemail from a pay phone that went something like, "hi! I'm in Norwich, and things are fine..well, not really fine...I don't know [incomprehensible crying]...um, the phone is beeping, I might need to put in more pounds but I don't have any more, love you, bye." So, in THAT great frame of mind, I went to the on-campus store, where there turned out to be Ben and Jerry's. I bought a pint--strawberry cheesecake, I think?--and went to my room and unpacked and ate most of it. It turned out to cost something ridiculous like $8, with conversion and all, but so worth it.

It sounds so Bridget Jones-like, to have such an emotional, visceral response to ice cream, but everyone I am friends with really does. I don't know if it is because we are 20-something year-old women, or if I just hang out with ice cream lovers, but there you have it. I distinctly remember my roommate and I in our sophomore year of college passing a pint of brownie batter B & J's back and forth between our desks during a particularly bad week. And I do come from an ice cream loving clan! My aunt always has multiple flavors on hand, and during one really memorable game of catchphrase, my uncle had to get her to say "ice cream" without saying the words, so he said, "you love this," and she said immediately, "ooh! ice cream!" [my cousins were mad she didn't say, "my children."] The only poem I distinctly remember writing (and illustrating!!) was about ice cream. I was seven. It was published in our hometown newspaper.

So if you have ice cream memories, you are not alone. Feel free to share them (and your favorite flavors!) here. To me, it suggests summer, friends, and general silliness. And to Ben and Jerry's--thank you for staying more true to yourselves than a lot of companies do. You've made this socialist ice cream lover very happy.

Guest Blog: Bloomington Eats

I love food. This is an admission that comes as no surprise to most people who know me, and happily I have fallen in with a crowd who brings cookies with them to bars (genius) and are as excited as I am about trying new cuisines and all the awesomeness that this town has to offer. And happily, my sister's roommate is a Btown native with parents who routinely feed me, because they are nice like that. Since she is a cool kid (Hi Arianna!) she agreed to write a guest blog for me about eating out here. Enjoy. I know I did.

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Few people would know (other than the millions that I've personally told) that Bloomington, Indiana, is rich in culture. Sure, there's the Lotus festival, which is held "once a year" (read as "year-round") and features a full week of folk and traditional music from across the world. And sure, we have the Tibetan Cultural Center that has hosted the Dalai Lama several times. And sure, there's the University that attracts thousands of international students. But I feel the best way to talk about multicultural Bloomington is through food.

Bloomington's international restaurants are top-notch. I'd say I've been to a good 75% of them, especially those on 4^th Street – and if I haven't been to one, I probably know someone who has. Also, most of these restaurants are or were once owned by families who had emigrated directly from their country, some of whom my family and I have gotten to know personally. Of course they're happy for our near-constant patronage, but there are also some fascinating stories behind the restaurants and families that own them.

So here's my list of my favorites. I'll try to keep it all short and not gush too much about any certain ones. They're also in no particular order, as I truly love them all.

Anyetsang's Little Tibet

Tibetan/Thai/Indian food

415 E 4^th Street

Their specialty is Tibetan, but they also serve delicious curries. They're located in what was once a house. (There are apartments above them as well – can you imagine the delicious dreams you’d have???) I’d say the most popular dish is the Mo Mo – meat dumplings served with soy sauce and chili stuff – or the many variations on those. The Tom Ka soup is also a delicious savory-sweet choice. Most dinners come with lentil soup (different every time) and a small salad with the best dressing in the world.The waitresses (mostly college-age females) dress in traditional clothing when working and most are incredibly knowledgeable about the menu, so don't be afraid to ask. There's also a nice patio and garden in the back for when it's warm outside.

The family that owns this Little Tibet (and that cooks in the back) has a son who went to my high school. I see him occasionally, but I don't think he knows who I am, and that's fine. That's about the most exciting anecdote that I can tell you about this restaurant, though it's also delicious. Go there.

Red Sea (now closed) v. Ashenda's Abasha Restaurant

Ethiopian

420 E 4^th Street

First generation Eritrean immigrants owned the Red Sea. My mom got talking to one of the main cooks, and I remember her being super helpful. She even gave some tips on how to cook Ethiopian/Eritrean food. Then it closed down.

Then a new restaurant opened down the street. I would argue it's not as good as the Red Sea, but it satisfies my love of Ethiopian food. There are only a few unique sauces, but then you can choose your meat or main vegetable. When you go with someone, the meal is served communally, and it’s traditional to use your hands to eat. Also, ask for extra injera (bread), which helps with the eating. Generally, the décor is a little tacky, with fake-y African prints and elephants and giraffes, etc. This restaurant also closed down a couple years ago, but it was reopened by public demand. Enjoy it while it's still here!

Tip on finding it: it's inside Puccini's Italian restaurant (just tell the maître d' you're there for Ashenda's).

Don Chuy's La Torre

Mexican

1155 S College Mall Road

I don’t know if this is the best Mexican in town, but I will go nowhere else. We've been going to La Torre for years (it opened when I was in 2000, I think), and I pretty much know everyone there by sight. The family is active in the community, and they try to hire immigrants who know little to no English and help them get on their feet. Also, so many of the waiters and waitresses have helped me practice my Spanish, so it’s a win-win situation. Don Chuy also runs the Taco Truck that’s around downtown Bloomington on drunken party nights. [editor's note: I've seen the truck! But never partaken of its wares. Will add that to my list of things to do.]

The traditional dishes are fantastic and are generously portioned. My favorite is the carne asada, but the carnitas are also delicious. Any choice is a good one here.

Shanti Indian Cuisine (aka Shanti's)

Indian

221 E Kirkwood Avenue (#G)

This food. Is. Delicious. But service can be iffy. The guy who owns it knows my family well and always asks how I am. We think there might be pressure on him, though, to hire members of his family – but the family doesn't want to work there. There are good servers here, but you might have to overlook some pricks and slow service to find them.

Back to the food: the butter chicken is a Shanti classic that I haven’t found as good anywhere else. I do not want to think about how many sticks of butter are in that little dish, but when you balance it out with potatoes, eggplant and homemade cheese with peas, it's all good. Recently dinner has been served with some type of appetizer and a salad, but I haven’t been there in a while (we also usually get a complimentary dessert). Also, dinner can be more expensive, so I suggest lunch if you're a student.

Turkuaz Café

Turkish

301 E. 3^rd Street

This was my favorite place for a while, but the ownership changed. It's still really good, and they expanded the menu a little, but the best part of going in there was talking to the guy. My mom was working a long-time substitute job in an elementary school library on the west side, and it turned out that his son went to the same school. One night when we were there, he told his dad who my mom was (no doubt he recognized us before then, too). He came over and thanked my mom for being so nice and helping his son find books. That night, we all talked for an hour after our meal. I remember him being so happy to be in Bloomington and to have a successful restaurant. A few years after that, we heard he moved back to his hometown – TO BE THE MAYOR. Yeah, that's right. I know a Turkish mayor.

Like I said, it's still really good. The most popular item would be the pide – this pizza bread boat with different fillings. Dinner comes with lentil soup (different every day), and a plate of three delicious salads (tomato and cucumber, tibouli, and something else). I would also suggest the gozleme, which are these potato pancake things, though they've changed since I've had them last. It also comes with olives, cucumber and feta.

Tip: If you’re planning on staying for a long time, they have nice floor seating with plenty of pillows, though my back usually starts to hurt after a while.

Well all of this has made me extremely hungry and a little homesick, so I think I'll stop here. There are so many other restaurants and cultures I didn't cover and of those includes: Thai, Afghan, Burmese, Italian, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Creole, plus other Indian, Mexican, Turkish, and Tibetan restaurants. Also, there are others I haven’t even been to yet! I guess I can always work on that in the future.

How I Spent My Winter Vacation

Charlie Brown always had to write a report about what he did on his summer vacation, but I've never had to do that. (Did anyone have to do that? Maybe it was just Charlie Brown.) Anyway, I am back in Indiana after three weeks at home/my relatives on the other side of the state, all of which was lovely, fun, relaxing, and too too short. I spent a large chunk of my time curled up on the couch either reading or eating, in some cases reading about eating, and in two cases, reading through letters. And that is what I'm going to mention today.

While I was at my aunt's I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. It's about the German occupation of Guernsey during WWII, something which I didn't even know happened! It's told through letters between a writer based in London and some people in Guernsey, and then she goes to Guernsey because she connects with them over books. I know it's been out for a few years so I'm a little behind the times, but it is such a good book. And a fairly quick read--I'm usually pretty slow and I finished it in a day and a half. It's sweet without being cloyingly so, and it's clever and the characters are people you genuinely would like to have tea with. But they don't feel one-dimensional either. The people in Guernsey had horrible, horrible things happens to them, and the descriptions by one character who was in a concentration camp are hard to get through. At the same time, some of the German soldiers who occupied Guernsey were kind too, and they were also starving and scared, which made me think about the German Army in a way that I normally don't. Having the book conducted through letters was a great way to do it. It's lovely.

Since I was on epistolary book kick (epistolary meaning something which consists of letters--I just looked that up), happily for me my mother got for Christmas As Always, Julia: the Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto, edited by Joan Reardon. It is fabulous. Having been raised watching Julia Child on PBS, I have known for a long time that she was a witty, opinionated dame, but so is Avis DeVoto, it turns out. Their friendship started because Avis's husband Bernard had written an article on knives which Julia, who was living in Paris with her husband Paul, had read and liked, and wrote to thank him and mailed him some knives. Avis, who answered her husband's letters from readers, wrote back. And they became friends.

Avis and Julia were penpals, so their letters were a bit different than letters between people who know each other in person. They sent pictures of themselves and their families, and eventually they met. They stayed in close contact for the rest of their lives. What is so cool about this period in Julia Child's life is that the letters started in 1953ish, when she was just beginning to work on her revolutionary French cookbook, which would eventually become Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Avis was instrumental in getting it published, through her connections with publishing houses. This was also the time when McCarthy was wrecking havoc on civil liberties, and as the DeVotos and Childs were all liberal, they had much to talk about.

As Always, Julia, encompasses 7 years of their letters, during which time Bernard DeVoto had a heart attack and died at a fairly young age, and Julia and Paul moved from Paris to Marseilles to Bonn, Germany to Washington DC to Oslo to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Avis also lived. One thing this book did was make me want to travel--I found myself getting quite jealous of Julia, who frequently zipped over to Paris while they were living in Marseilles and Bonn. Avis, too, spent all of her summers on the Cape or Maine or out West. I was also jealous about how passionate they were about politics. Avis was so proud of Adlai Stevenson that she wrote many letters about him, and helped fundraise for him. I can't think of any politicians I am excited about, and that is sad. This book also made me want to cook, but then also made me lose my appetite. I will never be excited about chicken livers or the best way to bone a duck. I don't need sauces on my vegetables, and though someday I would like to make beurre blanc, but it's not high on my list of life-goals. Still, it's fascinating to read about someone who is so focused on food, who wants others to love it as much as she does.

Both of these books got me thinking about letters, and really how important they are as a record. Yeah, we have email, but it's not the same. Emails won't be in archives for dorky researchers like me to someday pore over. Getting a letter from someone you care about is such a good feeling. My friends and I do send a fair amount of non-email mail, but my New Years goal is to write two letters a week. If you get one from me, you certainly shouldn't feel obligated to reply. But do think about writing a letter to someone.

The Mighty Sweet Potato

Thanksgiving is arguably my favorite holiday. And this year I am really, really, really (reallyreallyreally) excited for it. Last year I didn't get to go home, and it was still wonderful since my parents and sister came out to my aunt's and grammy's and most of my extended family was there, and I learned how to make gravy (kinda). This year my extended family will be on one side of the state, and we'll be on the other, but they have promised to make us a video of them singing and other related shenanigans. If I can't sit at the "kids table" (so-called even though we're mostly in our 20s now), at least there will be some hilarious footage of it! So it may be a low-key Thanksgiving, but I get to go home. Home! For the first time since August! (I know, I know, it's not that long. But it's long enough.)

What I like about Thanksgiving is that at its core, it's not about stuff. It's about, well, giving thanks! For my family, this ranges from the silly, to wishing for peace, to lambasting the pilgrim fathers (and a lot of other people) for being so awful to the Native Americans, to listening to "Alice's Restaurant". If we were sensible like the Canadians, we'd celebrate Thanksgiving earlier in the season, so that it could also be more about harvest and bounty, as it should be. It's about cooking and eating with those you love--who don't necessarily have to be your family. I was talking to someone tonight who said she always has a "friendsgiving" instead, and those are equally fun. We had a potluck tonight, and I am full of lovely food. Although, it is the point of the semester when people are stress-cases (yo, included) and occasionally snap at one another (yo, not included). The conversation too soon degenerated into how we are excited that Vasari is now searchable online. I mean, really. I will be excited to not be here for a few days.

Anyway, the real point of this post is how much I love sweet potatoes. You can make them sweet, you can make them savory, mash them, put them in soups, make fries--all genuinely delicious. I had two varieties tonight (mashed with cranberries, and roasted with sage or tarragon or something). Earlier this week I made sweet potato quesadillas (rock on, Moosewood!) which were tasty. My grandmother makes a really good variety with orange juice--sweet, but not cloyingly like the marshmallow ones sometimes are.

Sweet potatoes are versatile and they are amazing in chip form and dipped in honey mustard. I like them with brown sugar. I like them roasted with cumin with black beans and rice on the side (this was my quick Brooklyn dinner sooo many times). I feel the same way about butternut squash, although I usually can't be fussed to cook a whole one of those, and then have to eat it for days. And if you have any favorite sweet potato recipes, pass them along!

I might not have another post before I have to catch a shuttle to the Indianapolis Airport at, ahem, 5 am on Tuesday, so if I don't talk to you before Thanksgiving--I hope you all have a nice day, wherever you may be and whomever you may be with. And in the immortal words of Adam Sandler in his immortal Thanksgiving Song: "Turkey for the girls and turkey for the boys, my favorite kind of pants are corduroys."

The Runcible Spoon

They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
which they ate with a runcible spoon.
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
the moon, the moon.
They danced by the light of the moon.
--"The Owl and the Pussycat," Edward Lear, 1971

I can vividly remember the illustrations in "The Owl and the Pussycat" book that my mom used to read to my sister and me. What I didn't realize until I was looking it up tonight is how SHORT the actual poem is. It's three stanzas! When I was little, it seemed so long.

Digressions aside, the reason I was looking up "The Owl and the Pussycat," and more specifically, the enigmatic runcible spoon, was that I went to a restaurant over the weekend called the Runcible Spoon! We wanted a quick--and cheap--bite before heading to a movie, and the Spoon was right on the way. It's housed in a converted Victorian-y looking house, with an umbrella-ed patio in the front. The interior boasts wooden plank tables in various shapes and sizes, a windy staircase, and a nice soothing coffee smell.

The food? Good. Really good, especially for the prices (my dinner was $6, with tax and all). I got a "Black Russian," which is basically a vegetarian Reuben. I admittedly really like Reubens (the main reason I can never be a true vegetarian, I think) but the Black Russian was a good substitute, with sauteed (but not mushy!) vegetables in place of the corned beef. It was on reaaaaally awesome dark rye bread, with a side of "smashed" potatoes, which turned out to be more like a tasty potato pancake. It's mostly sandwiches and all day breakfast, with some good veg/vegan options (one of the people I was with is vegetarian, and she vouches for their black bean soup). I think they might have pasta too.

Anyway, check it out! It kind of reminded me in Rent of the Life Cafe where they all jump up on the tables and sing "La Vie Boheme." I feel like something like that could happen at the Runcible Spoon some evening.

Oh, and a runcible spoon? "Runcible" is a word that Lear made up, and he uses it to describe different things in different works. It has also been defined as a pickle fork, or a spoon with a cutting edge, although in Lear's drawing of it, it just looks like a ladle. For even more oddness, check out "The Owl and the Pussycat," set to music by Igor Stravinsky.

Three Friday Food Stories

I love to eat. I am, however, lazy, and although I can kind of cook, I don't often do it. Plus, it's a bummer cooking for one, as I usually get sick of leftovers after a few days. (I do love to bake though.) So I love it when there are affordable and different restaurant options around, not for a daily basis (that's what cereal is for!) but for every couple of weeks. Some excellent finds from today:

I went out to lunch with my "mentor," who is a third year PhD student, focusing on Southern Renaissance, who also happened to be super nice. The department has us meet up with a mentor so that we can ask advice, freak out to them (if need be), go to them if we're having problems, etc. It's a sweet idea. Anyway, we went to a Turkish restaurant called Turkuazcafe, and oh my gosh, it was delicious. I'd never had Turkish food before and also never sat on the floor, covered with lovely carpets and pillows, to eat, but we did both. I got the eggplant pide, which was sort of a pizza-like bread boat thing, topped with mashed eggplant, tomato (but not too much, which is good for me, a fairweather tomato friend) and lots of garlic and paprika. It came with a bowl of red lentil soup, 3 little salads (coleslaw-like, cucumbers and tomato, and couscous). And it was $6.50. I will absolutely be back.

This evening, two of the other girls (or should that be sister students?) in my program and I went to the Campus Candy store. For someone who does have an occasional (ok, ok, frequent) craving for tempting tooth decay, this place is dangerous. Any type of gummy candy you could think of--brain shapes, egg shapes (yolk and all), licorice pinwheels, worms, spiders, bears, snakes, and a lot more. Not to mention any combination of chocolate, pretzel, nut, and toffee that you could have wanted, PLUS retro-candy, like my favorites, Bit O Honey and Mary Jane's. Not cheap for the bags, but getting just a little bit is still a good sampler.

(no, this isn't a picture from Campus Candy--it's one I took a few years ago in Paris, because they were smurf gummys, called "Petit Schtroumpf," which I just loved. Embarrassingly, they were in the basement of the Louvre--I might have taken more pictures of the candy down there than art. Whoops.)

Lastly, we had the departmental picnic tonight. I cop-ed out and brought grapes, not having too much to bake with yet, and then I proceeded to bring the grapes home with me, because there was so. much. food. I just ate sides because there were so many good ones. If anyone has a good homemade hummus recipe, I'd like it--I keep wanting to try it, and there were some great varieties there tonight.

On that note, I'm going to eat a licorice pinwheel and hit the hay. Good night, my Petit Schtroumpfs.