Nov
13
Despite the reality of mid-November rain showers and sleet storms, the proverbial clouds have lifted. Since last week's elections, things have been feeling good. Late Tuesday evening, I, like millions of Americans, felt proud to be an American. When I was living in Paris, my distaste for the local culture charged me with a new-found americanism. But when I was back in Europe, disenchanted by my experience with the culture and politics of my own fatherland, I hardly resisted being identified as Dutch. Scandinavian. Anything else. Any sort of exoticism would have done me well. I realize that many of us will be disappointed with Obama's future performance as president. He won't be as liberal as we want him to be. Or if his proposals are, they will also be controversial enough to be checked by other legislative bodies. I am impressed with what he has (we have) achieved so far, with Obama's amazing swoop of a campaign. I can't wait to see what happens with our country, regardless of which side of the lake I'll back watching from.
Of course it helps that I have found a job. And that they will pay me well. And will give me more responsibility than most of my former employers saw fit.
This past week I engaged myself in a sewing project. I made myself an early-winter poncho from tan plaid woolen suiting and a charcoal "lightweight polyester fleece that transports moisture moisture away from your skin and is inherently flame resistant." (Pictures coming soon?) Because it's not knit, it should probably technically be called a cape, but I would prefer to keep the image of a superhero strolling the streets of Ann Arbor out of your head.
While scooping myself dinner from the hot bar at the People's Food Co-op sometime last week, I decided to give kale a try. It has a bit of a bitter taste, but I find it far more tolerable than arugula. Anyway, this evening I tried a recipe for kale chips. After tearing the leaves off a few stalks, I ripped them into chip-size chunks. I rinsed them well in cold water, drained, and dried them off with a paper towel. Then I tossed them with a teaspoon or so of olive oil. I spread them out on a baking sheet, then sprinkled them with my roommate's coarse kosher salt. 12 minutes at 350 degrees did the trick.
They don't really taste anything like potato chips. But they are greasy, and they are salty. So they are delicious. Plus, I figure they retain a lot of their nutrients. They aren't thick like potato chips are, and they shatter very easily. I warn against stepping on any of the chips you may accidentally drop on the oriental rug, and I do not recommend baking sugar cookies on the same baking sheet before (at least) washing it off.
Yesterday I spent a couple hours making lasagna. I followed this recipe with a couple alterations. I used:
1/2 lb. ground beef
1/2 medium sweet white onion, diced
1/2 large green pepper, diced
1 glove garlic, minced
1 large box of dry lasagna noodles
26 oz. red pepper and garlic-flavored pasta sauce
14 oz. stewed tomatoes (sliced, but not diced)
3 oz. tomato paste
1 tub of ricotta cheese
3 cups of mozzarella
1 1/2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
dash of chili powder
splash of white wine vinegar
(Note: I left out the mozzarella)
I don't have a large pot in which to cook all of my lasagna noodles at once, so I snapped them in half and boiled two 3-quart pots of water, one after the other. To keep my first set of noodles from sticking too much, I left them piled in a shallow pan sitting in the sink filled with cool water. Every ten minutes or so I would run more cool water on the noodles and carefully separate them. In the end, one could say I ran out of sauce -- I prefer, that I was making my own low-calorie recipe.
Things I would do differently the next time:
Make sauce first and let it simmer while boiling the noodles.
Borrow lasagna pan and aluminum foil before starting to cook.
Invite friends over to help me eat the damn thing.
Sounds delicious, even without the mozzarella. You definitely need to get yourself a pasta pot.