etc.

Our first farm share of the season arrived last week and in it was a small handful of organic asparagus. Last night the mister tossed the lot in a bowl with olive oil and salt and grilled them and it might have been the best asparagus I have ever eaten. We talked about that at the time, “is this the best asparagus we’ve ever eaten?”, which immediately prompted us to remember all the good and varied asparagus delights we ate in Belgium (during asparagus season! How lucky we were) and then we thought of the small shot-glass of chilled white asparagus soup we had during our first meal in Antwerp and it was settled. The grilled asparagus was the second-best asparagus we’d ever eaten.

Not just orange but actual oranges. Well, clementines, to be exact.

I wish I could remember what novel it was that I read this in, lo those many years ago. All I can remember about it was that it was a delicious novel and that it gave me this, a new way to eat clementines, that quickly became the only way I eat clementines.

You’re going to want to try this:

• peel a bunch of good, sweet clementines.
• remove as much of the white, pithy stuff as your patience and fingers will allow.
• break your pealed clementines into segments and place the segments on a plate or other flat utensil.
• place your clementine-filled plate in a warm dry place; a radiator works well, if you have one (although a kitchen counter does the trick, too).
• leave it there for a day.
• eat.
• thank me later.

I’m well aware that this sounds a little silly (stale oranges!) and I can almost see the dubious looks on your faces (stale oranges?). But, trust me when I tell you that good, sweet clementine segments become juicy morsels of awesome when you let them sit for a day. Their skins thin and dry out a little, giving you a hint of a crunch when you bite into them, followed by a rush of sweet delight. It’s a party in your mouth, people. And a healthy one, at that.

I think this is my favourite colour.

I said I’d be better about posting in November, didn’t I? Right. While I work on that, might you be interested in a pictorial guide to cutting pomegranates? I thought so.

Note: you must adore avocado to enjoy this beverage. If you do not adore avocado, please move along. And repent your non-avocado-loving sins on the way.

Avocado Shake
Into the blender:

• half an avocado
• tray of ice
• dash of milk
• lots of sugar dissolved in a cup of hot water.

Blend thoroughly. Serves One. This is not a healthy beverage, but it is divine. Recipe cribbed from watching it made at our favourite Vietnamese restaurant in town.

I think I am becoming a domestic goddess. To-day for lunch I threw together the following ingredients: fresh pasta, diced tomatoes, summer sausage, ricotta cheese, garlic, fresh basil, salt, pepper. If you know me at all you know that I don’t ever “throw together” ingredients and end up with a startlingly delicious meal. Bow before me.

One of my most frequent typos: satursday.

Just in from a colleague: The Mildred Wirt Benson (aka Carolyn Keene) Collection.

Recently read, thoroughly enjoyed, heartily recommended: The Professor and the Madman (Simon Winchester), The Year of Magical Thinking (Joan Didion), Gentlemen and Players (Joanne Harris).

Currently reading, thoroughly enjoying, heartily recommending: On Beauty (Zadie Smith).

Two good words that begin with “c”: criminy, caterwaul.

Cajun catfish, mussels steamed in white wine, garlic, and basil, couscous with wild mushrooms and toasted almonds

It’s good being married to the mister.

Happy year of the dog, to you.

To-night for supper we had porchetta sandwiches and organic greens. It was delightful, even for someone who doesn’t enjoy the pork much (except for The Bacon). I looked up porchetta after our meal and found out that it is, in fact, roast suckling pig, yet we did not, in fact, roast a suckling pig. We just bought a rounded roast-looking thing and stuck it in the oven for three hours. And it was good, suckling or not.

The two writing assignments that had me anxious and overwrought have been delivered, both drafts, but both complete and in near-final form. Next up? A conference paper, to be delivered a week yesterday. I don’t expect to be anxious, nor overwrought, in preparation for this one, but you never know.

Recipe notes

• butter: all three recipes call for unsalted butter. I only ever buy salted butter, so I used that and it worked out just fine.
• chocolate chips: the frosting recipe calls for unsweetened chocolate. I had semisweet on hand and used that instead. It, too, worked out fine.
• food colouring: I divided the vanilla frosting into two batches and added two drops of red colouring to one batch, and two of green to the other.
• prep: I baked the cupcakes last night and frosted them this morning. No adverse repercussions to report. I made the chocolate frosting last night and refrigerated it overnight, so it was quite hard when I took it out this morning. I used the double-boiler method to soften it up for spreading (didn’t actually boil it, just put the bowl of frosting in a larger bowl of hot water).
• vanilla: I almost always use way more vanilla than what is called for. Did so again with these recipes and I think they turned out better for it (most recipes do). We have a litre bottle of pure vanilla extract that we bought in Mexico 5 years ago and I usually splash the stuff generously into most baking recipes. We only have about a quarter of the bottle left, so a trip to Mexico will have to be planned within the next 2 years. For purely culinary purposes, you understand.

Two things, not related at all to each other. The first is a recipe: I commend it to you. We had these biscuits with supper last night and they are very good, oh yes.

The other is this: my list of practically daily reads. I thought it was high time I did one of these again. If the list wasn’t so very long, I’d sidebar it. But it is, so it gets a static page of its very own, with content generated by Bloglines.

And that’s it, for now.

I gave a talk on Web search tips to a group of solo librarians yesterday at the request of a very cool solo/info goddess and good buddy of mine. It went well I think. I was in a room full of people who had the most interesting and diverse jobs a single group of people could have. The talk itself was something of a first for me — my first no-PowerPoint presentation. I might never use the software again. And I got a free supper out of it, which was great, both the meal and the getting.

Also, all my detox-talk has been the cause of some interest amongst a few friends & readers. Here’s the soup:

I seasoned with 2 bay leaves, seasoning salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, basil & thyme. And I used coloured peppers instead of green (they were cheap that day at the market). The week goes something like this: eat unlimited quantities of soup, fruit & veggies; chicken or beef on days 5 & 6; brown rice on day 7; drink water, milk, coffee/tea, fresh fruit/veggie juice, no alcohol. I didn’t add the chicken/beef/rice and that worked just fine for me. The first couple of days will be difficult, after that you’ll feel great. If you don’t like the soup, it’s game over. Happy detoxing.