More great writing

I received this message via Twitter today: "If your life has been touched by Alzheimer's, you're a fan of Glen Campbell, or you appreciate great writing read this. http://bit.ly/tRQjgE"

I need not say more.

Appreciating great writing

This article by Kellie Hynes in the November issue of Sauce magazine seized me at the lead:

"A friend helps you move. A good friend helps you move a body."

http://www.saucemagazine.com/a/1623

Ode to One Prairie Outpost Eggs

While I was missing in action this summer from this blogspot, my co-worker Natalie – who runs more than Forrest Gump and puts the Energizer Bunny to shame with her social schedule and hobby – still found the time to pay homage to our ladies’ eggs on her blog The Sweets Life. Thanks for the shout-out, Natalie!

Speaking of shout-outs, I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the talent of my sister Jennifer, who designed the carton labels for our One Prairie Outpost eggs. Thanks, sis!

Summer's Swan Song Ratatouille

On this gorgeous sunny autumn day, not quite ready to admit that summer is really over, I found myself with a few fleeting gifts from the garden. From Aunt Kitty and Uncle Bob: a foot-long yellow squash and two softball-sized eggplants, each a just-right texture with surprisingly few seeds for being late-season. From my Dad and my father-in-law: the last of the tomatoes – while Joe and Larry’s plants weren’t as prolific as summers past, theirs faired far better in the over-wet-spring and long-dry-summer Missouri growing season than ours and those of many other novice and veteran gardeners alike. And finally, a bevy of green peppers from our humble plot. This was the perfect blessing to try my hand at ratatouille. I had recently listened to an interview on The Splendid Table with Francis Lam on his approach to the ultimate oh-baby umami ratatouille. Don’t be scared away by how fussy he makes this recipe out to be. Any cook who can multitask her way around the kitchen can handle this recipe easily while tending to other matters. I contentedly kept this going while I processed that pile of nearly two dozen green peppers from our garden, which needed to be diced up and put up in the freezer. I must note a few alterations to Lam’s recipe that I was forced to make not out of disrespect to his way, but simply because I was bound and determined to make due with what I had on hand, which really is the point of ratatouille. First, remember the squash Kitty and Bob gave me was a yellow squash, not a green zucchini. In place of shallots, which were not occupying a place in my pantry on this day, I simply used three small yellow onions that I did find there, since the recipe also called for onion. Also, I happened to have only one red pepper in my produce drawer at the time, so I pureed that as Lam recommended, and diced up one of the green peppers on hand and cooked that down with the onion. Trying to make up for some of the flavor components I might have lost sans shallot, rather than mince and sauté one head of garlic as called for, I slow roasted two heads (peel intact) wrapped in foil in the oven until it was the consistency of soft butter and let it cool slightly before squeezing it from the peels into the tomato-pepper-onion jam described in the recipe. I was able to use my own container garden thyme which has started to dry out a bit and a handful of the few green basil leaves still clinging on to what can only be described as the mint family’s version of a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. The eggplant and squash cubes roasted up nice and easy in the oven, and then I combined all the ingredients gently as Lam coaches. I enjoyed a small, tasty dish of ratatouille for a late Sunday lunch with a nice autumn breeze coming through the kitchen window along with the rustling of leaves and the occasional chorus of egg-laying hens. Can't wait to enjoy more tomorrow for a small work-time lunch escape at my desk.