I didn't like them as much as Andy. For me, it felt like I was missing a meat or cheese flavor.
]]>I made a salad for the kids today with some of the blossoms
Fettuccine with Squash Blossoms
In a medium sauce pan add some unsalted butter, chopped garlic and scallions. Then add thin slices of your favorite summer squash plus some corn kernels and enough chicken stock to make a light sauce. Saute until cooked through and then throw in a handful of thinly sliced squash blossoms and basil until wilted. Season to taste, adding more butter if necessary to enrich the sauce and toss with cooked fresh fettuccine.
]]>Directions
1. Cut the corn kernels from the cobs and save the corn cobs. The cobs will be used to add additional flavor to the soup.
2. In a medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat, add the olive oil. Saute the onions for 3 to 4 minutes until they are translucent. Next, add the garlic and chipotle sauce and saute for another minute. Finally, add the corn kernels and saute for another 3 minutes, stirring constantly.
3. Add the salt, black pepper, corn cobs and chicken stock to the mixture and bring to a boil then reduce the heat and boil for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent the corn kernels from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
4. Place the corn mixture in a blender, minus the corn cobs, and puree. Add the heavy cream; for a smoother soup pour the mixture through a sieve.
]]>Bruschetta with Ricotta Cheese
Ingredients
ricotta cheese
extra virgin olive oil
garlic clove
cherry tomatoes
pepper flakes
basil leaves
country-style bread
Heat olive oil in a small skillet and sauté the garlic clove until fragrant. Add the cherry tomatoes and season with salt and pepper flakes. Cook the tomatoes until they are soft and juicy making sure not to let them collapse. Add a couple torn leaves of the basil.
Spread the cheese on a toasted slice of bread and add the tomatoes.
Ingredients
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 large fennel bulb (about 1 1/4 pounds), cut into 1/2-inch slices
* 3 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup chicken broth
* 1 1/3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
* 1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
Directions
1. In a large nonstick frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over moderately high heat. Add the fennel, 1 teaspoon of the rosemary, and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until the fennel is golden brown and almost done, about 15 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat and simmer until the fennel is tender, about 3 minutes. Remove the fennel and the cooking liquid from the pan.
2. Wipe out the pan and heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil over moderate heat. Season the chicken with some salt and pepper. Add the chicken to the pan with the remaining rosemary and cook until brown, about 5 minutes. Turn and cook until almost done, about 3 minutes longer. Add the garlic; cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the fennel and its cooking liquid and pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer. Cover the pan and remove from the heat. Let steam 5 minutes.
Based on the Food & Wine Recipe
About the Book
In The Audacity of Hope he draws on his experience as a senator and lawyer, a professor and father, a Christian and a skeptic, to illuminate the greatness of America's original ideals — and to remind us how vital it is to keep them before us. Along the way he explores such charged topics as globalization, the notion of American exceptionalism, the function of religion in public life, and the struggle to find a shared language in a nation torn by differences. While sharing his personal views on family, faith, and values, he argues that our very survival depends on finding common ground. - From the Publisher
Pundits and voters alike have hailed Senator Obama as a man of uncommon vision in an age of partisan opportunism. The Audacity of Hope is a book of transforming power, a foundation for those who long for a politics that acknowledges the nobility and complexity of our lives.
]]>About the Book
Music can move us to the heights or depths of emotion. It can persuade us to buy something, or remind us of our first date. It can lift us out of depression when nothing else can. It can get us dancing to its beat. But the power of music goes much, much further. Indeed, music occupies more areas of our brain than language does — humans are a musical species.
Oliver Sacks's compassionate, compelling tales of people struggling to adapt to different neurological conditions have fundamentally changed the way we think of our own brains, and of the human experience. In Musicophilia, he examines the powers of music through the individual experiences of patients, musicians, and everyday people — from a man who is struck by lightning and suddenly inspired to become a pianist at the age of forty-two, to an entire group of children with Williams syndrome, who are hypermusical from birth; from people with "amusia," to whom a symphony sounds like the clattering of pots and pans, to a man whose memory spans only seven seconds — for everything but music.
Our exquisite sensitivity to music can sometimes go wrong: Sacks explores how catchy tunes can subject us to hours of mental replay, and how a surprising number of people acquire nonstop musical hallucinations that assault them night and day. Yet far more frequently, music goes right: Sacks describes how music can animate people with Parkinson's disease who cannot otherwise move, give words to stroke patients who cannot otherwise speak, and calm and organize people whose memories are ravaged by Alzheimer's or amnesia. - From the Publisher
]]>I found the bits of information on Justice David Souterto be very interesting. How does a person who leads such a low-tech lifestyle end up on the Supreme Court? He writes with a fountain pen, moves his chair around his office to catch the light. Does not use use email, doesn't have a cell phone, answering machine or television. When he arrived at the Supreme Court he had never heard of Diet Coke. In 2003 he reveal that he had never heard of the group The Supremes. Yet he has written the most technical opinion on file sharing.
Synopses
Bestselling author Jeffrey Toobin takes you into the chambers of the most important — and secret — legal body in our country, the Supreme Court, and reveals the complex dynamic among the nine people who decide the law of the land.
Just in time for the 2008 presidential election — where the future of the Court will be at stake — Toobin reveals an institution at a moment of transition, when decades of conservative disgust with the Court have finally produced a conservative majority, with major changes in store on such issues as abortion, civil rights, presidential power, and church-state relations.
Based on exclusive interviews with justices themselves, The Nine tells the story of the Court through personalities — from Anthony Kennedy's overwhelming sense of self-importance to Clarence Thomas's well-tended grievances against his critics to David Souter's odd nineteenth-century lifestyle. There is also, for the first time, the full behind-the-scenes story of Bush v. Gore — and Sandra Day O'Connor's fateful breach with George W. Bush, the president she helped place in office.
The Nine is the book bestselling author Jeffrey Toobin was born to write. A CNN senior legal analyst and New Yorker staff writer, no one is more superbly qualified to profile the nine justices.
]]>Ingredients
3/4 pound fettuccine
2 tablespoons pure olive oil
1 pound chicken
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 pound pencil-thin asparagus, thinly sliced on the diagonal
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup frozen baby peas, thawed
Directions
1. Cook the fettuccine until al dente. Drain; reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water.
2. Meanwhile, in a large, deep skillet, heat the olive oil until shimmering. Season chicken with salt and pepper, add chicken and garlic and cook over moderately high heat. Transfer to a plate.
3. Add the asparagus and cook over moderately high heat until crisp-tender, 2 minutes; transfer to the plate.
4. Whisk in the cream and bring to a boil then add the pasta and reserved cooking water. Add peas, chicken and asparagus, season with salt and pepper and cook over moderately high heat, tossing, until creamy, 2 minutes.
A couple weeks ago when I found cheap fresh broccoli at the farmers market I made Broccoli with Fettuccine.
This story takes place against the cold, gray, bleakness of a New England winter. The Narrator, an engineer who is living temporarily in Starkfield, Massachusetts while working on a project in a nearby town, sees Ethan Frome by chance outside the Starkfield post office, and becomes curious.
The Narrator gathers bits and pieces of information about Ethan becoming more intrigued with the story of his life. Then one evening while returning back from work they are caught in a blinding snowstorm. Ethan invites The Narrator to spend the night at his farm house. It is during this stay that The Narrator is able to glean more information about Ethan's life.
Ethan Frome is extremely tall farmer who is trying to scape out a meager living while also tending to his frigid, demanding and ungrateful wife, Zeena. Zeena had come to live with Ethan after his mother had become ill and he needed help. She took over taking care of Ethan's mom as well as all household duties. After his mother's death, Ethan couldn't imagine living alone again and decided to marry Zeena.
Before his mother had fallen ill Ethan had left home to attend a technological college and dreamed of one day living in a metropolitan area. However, after year of marriage, Zeena became known for "sickliness" and his dream of moving away from Starkfield was doomed.
A ray of hope enters Ethan's life when his wife's cousin Mattie arrives to help. His life was transformed as he fell in love Mattie but their fate is doomed. One evening while out sledding Mattie and Ethan agree that death would be better than living apart. With the intention of committing suicide, Mattie and Ethan head straight for the elm tree at the bottom of the hill. The suicide attempt fails and end up being taken care of by Zeena.
When The Narrator stays overnight at the Frome farm, over twenty years after the smash-up, he is surprised to find that Mattie who was crippled by the accident complains incessantly. In fact, the two women are now so much alike, that he has difficulty distinguishing them.
Un hombre de clase alta empobrecido decide suicidarse en un hotel de Marruecos viviendo a todo lujo como en sus mejores días. En el hotel se encuentra con “cinco moscas azules” madrileñas, es decir, con cinco personas de su misma clase social sólo que ricas y opulentas. La vida de cada uno se describe con información que el hombre, Molinet, recibe de su sobrina vía fax. En fin, para salvar el honor de una mosca azul decide matar a una de ellos.
El libro me pareció muy ‘juvenil’ y demasiado largo pero vale la pena leerlo.
Directions
1. In a small skillet, toast the coriander, chile powder and turmeric over moderate heat until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the water to form a paste.
2. In a very large, deep skillet, heat the oil. Add the onions, garlic, ginger and curry leaves and cook over moderately high heat until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add in the spice paste, garam masala and pepper and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until the oil separates from the paste, about 2 minutes.
3.Season the chicken pieces with salt. Add the chicken, potato and squash to the skillet and stir to coat with seasonings. Stir in the coconut milk and chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook over moderately low heat until the chicken is cooked through and the potato and squash are tender, about 25 minutes. Transfer the chicken pieces to a bowl. Season the sauce with salt and pour it over the chicken. Serve with steamed white rice.
From Food & Wine Magazine
]]>1. Walk everyday, take stairs
2. Drink water as much as you can
3. Don't eat mindlessly or too much
4. Eat whatever you want
5. Eat fresh food
6. Avoid prepackaged or processed food
Directions
1. Cook the fettuccine until it's al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water.
2. In a skillet over medium-high heat heat the olive oil until it's shimmering, then add the broccoli florets to the pan and sprinkle them lightly with salt and pepper. Leave them alone to brown, 2 minutes. Add a splash of pasta water to the broccoli and reduce the heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the broccoli is barely tender.
3. Drain the pasta and toss it with the broccoli. Add the red pepper flakes, lemon zest and parmesan, and toss to combine. Add a drizzle of olive oil and more parmesan when serving.
Directions
1. In a stockpot, cook chicken for a couple minutes then combine the ginger, lemongrass, chicken broth, lime zest, lime juice, and fish sauce and bring it to a simmer over medium heat. Gently simmer until the chicken is cooked, then stir in the coconut milk, mushrooms, cilantro, and jalapeño.
2. Bring the soup back to a simmer but don't boil and cook long enough for the chicken to cook through.