Depleting the Larder

Throwing good food away goes against the grain, such a waste. How many people go without enough in their larder.  Our upcoming travel however, means leaving the RV on its own for a couple of weeks while we take the clan to Israel for a long dreamed-of family reunion.  Necessity means use it or loose it; the perishables in the rig refrigerator or fruit and veggies in the drawer.  Creative juices must be called upon to blend what is left together to avoid any waste.

I love a challenge and like most of us "cooks" never follow a recipe anyway.  Paul prepares his non-veggie part of any meal on his own. So I will deal with the rest of the menu. Our latke intake suffered this Chanukah, because I did not care to purchase anything so close to our departure. Therefore, the first night of Chanukah, I made delicious lentil/spinach veggie burgers that Paul grilled along with small peppers and onion and tomato slices.  This year, we chose to deprive ourselves of latkes or Sufganiyot (Israeli jelly donuts), but made sure the oil of the Maccabees still played a role in our celebration in preparing the burgers for sauteeing the spinach, onion and garlic. They were delicious and satisfied our needs.

So far, we have feasted upon buttercup squash filled with a kale, mushroom, bean saute and baked, omelets filled with veggies and cheese, a Tamali casserole topped with corn bread that bake gloriously together, Southern Tomato Pie, Tortilla and veggie Jambalaya soup, roasted sweet potato, onion and carrots, the lentil burgers and gorgeous salads chock full of avocado, jicama, fennel, more kale, edamame and nuts along with the usual suspects. The final contenders as we approach our departure date include onion, garlic, mushrooms, pinto beans, eggs, carrots, celery that could be paired with pasta, couscous or a lovely brown pecan rice grown and purchased in Louisiana. What fun, and nothing to throw away.

Off we go to delight in seeing our beloved Israel through our grandson's eyes, to catch up with family and friends, to refresh our sense of history, of belonging and of returning "home" and to feast on Israeli and Mediterranean meals and the renowned milk and honey of the land of Israel. This is just a small way of getting to repeat again to all of you, wishes for a happy and special holiday season and a healthy, wish fulfilling new year.

Last year's Latkes

Southern Tomato Pie

Fess up

In my last post, I confessed an obsession based on recording too much info in the form of electronic data bases, having succumbed to modernity and putting my collection of yellow-lined pads to rest. My book lists go back many years and wading through available book synopsis, reviews, Goodreads, word of mouth and the best-of book lists in search for the next read gets harder and harder. We live in the age of too much info at our fingertips. My fingertips are calloused for sure.

In the "old" days of wandering through the candy store-a.k.a libraries with physical shelves, I was endlessly overwhelmed at the number of tempting tomes I lugged to the check out desk to consume before the due date (online renewal being an option). It is even harder now, since my quest for each book to be a great read, a literary gem that I "can't put down."  Not every book fits that bill of course, it is what I anticipate and hope for with each choice.

Decision making is truly an art. What gets in my way is my confessed tendency to become too "cerebral," defined as a tendency to intellectualize and over-analyze every step of the way instead of just zeroing in on the decisive moment. I know I am not alone. Picking a "good" read is usually not life threatening, not as essential to our careers, health, or well being as the larger decisions we have to make through out life, but, none-the-less, remains a challenge.

So, as a follow up to my last blog and my data base library and the desire for word of mouth recommendations from revered family and friends with similar obsessions, I am asking for your input. In trade for suggestions of your favorite reads, I offer the following list for your consideration to read and some images from my book projects.

A few quickly chosen favorites starting with fiction (especially expressing my tendency towards historical fiction) All the Light you Cannot see, Anthony Doerr, The Invention of Wings, Susan Monk Kidd, TransAtlantic, Colum McCann, Twelve Years a Slave, Solomon Northup, The Book Thief, Markus Zusak, Discovery of Chocolate, James, Runcie, The Reader, Bernhard Schlink and many more.

Some non fiction favorites: 1491, New Revelations of America Before Columbus, Charles Mann.

Reading Lolita in Tehran, Nafisi, Azar, The Piano Shop on the Left Bank, Thad Carhart, Sixpence House, Paul Collins, Prague Winter, Madeline Albright--her autobiography, True North and Road from Coorain, autobiography by Conway, Jill Ker, Longitude, Dava Sobel, Evangaline, Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth.  I best stop there short of listing favorite authors, genres and themes. I look forward to your offerings, especially to download on my Kindle for our forthcoming trip to Israel with our family. There will be much more to share upon our return. Happy holidays to all, good health, good weather and good times. Grafiti found along the way Book of graphics Open book sculpture, 3 gorges project, China