I am beginning to wish that like many of my fellow Americans I took pictures of my food. It's hard to do a food-related blog post and not have any photographic evidence!
It's shocking that I haven't had a chance to get to the blog in almost six weeks -- I guess that's what teaching full-time does to me and my writing hobby. Not that I haven't been sitting at the computer -- but instead of writing blog posts, I've been responding to student posts (23 a week, with personalized graded responses) and papers (only 5 students in my upper level course, so that's utterly manageable) and presentations. Plus writing up a class observation for a colleague, a letter of reference for another, working on a long-overdue piece on World War One in "post-memory" for my Polish volume editor, and otherwise typing typing typing. And thinking that there's no time left to blog.
But I did take the time last week to cook. And it was glorious. Much much chopping, but sometimes when everything comes together the feeling of standing on your feet for hours on end is totally worth it. We had illustrious guests, and it was headed to about 80 degrees F during the day, so I planned a warm-weather Russian style meal with all the fresh ingredients we have been getting from our farm share. Four courses. Pretty fancy. Pretty fun.
From our CSA share I used lots of beets, onions, tomatoes, peppers (red, yellow, purple), cilantro, and leeks; at Tom's I bought free-range chicken eggs, the eggplant, and the dill and oregano; at the farmers' market we bought Bluejacket goat cheese; I got the apples at Peifer's (and even made a second pie to take to the vet who saved the cat when she got stuck in the attic wall in mid-August for a couple of days...) and the ice cream at Young's. Young's seemed like the thing to do, given that we were hosting the new dean and his wife who have moved to OH from Nebraska.
We actually drank a bottle of Kinkead Ridge, the wine from down in Ripley, OH, along the Ohio River. No one commented on it, though, so we were unable to make it a topic of conversation.
I understand that the vineyard is for sale. Check out these puffy white clouds: doesn't it make you want to give it all up and become a winemaker?
My oldest friends here in Ohio, whom we met our first week here, were also at the dinner, and they claim that I *still* make the best pie crust. So that was nice.
I am thinking a lot about food, as I'm reading the new memoir / history of Russian food in the 20th century by Anya von Bremzen (listen to the NPR review of Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing here) and planning a course, possibly for spring semester, that combines food history, Russian language, and literary texts.
Maybe I'm just ready for a more sedentary lifestyle, cozy evenings by the fire, and lots of soup and bread as winter settles in?
It's shocking that I haven't had a chance to get to the blog in almost six weeks -- I guess that's what teaching full-time does to me and my writing hobby. Not that I haven't been sitting at the computer -- but instead of writing blog posts, I've been responding to student posts (23 a week, with personalized graded responses) and papers (only 5 students in my upper level course, so that's utterly manageable) and presentations. Plus writing up a class observation for a colleague, a letter of reference for another, working on a long-overdue piece on World War One in "post-memory" for my Polish volume editor, and otherwise typing typing typing. And thinking that there's no time left to blog.
But I did take the time last week to cook. And it was glorious. Much much chopping, but sometimes when everything comes together the feeling of standing on your feet for hours on end is totally worth it. We had illustrious guests, and it was headed to about 80 degrees F during the day, so I planned a warm-weather Russian style meal with all the fresh ingredients we have been getting from our farm share. Four courses. Pretty fancy. Pretty fun.
Lemon-Oregano Tuna Mousse, Herbed Goat Cheese, and Crackers
Cold Russian Borscht with sour cream and dill
Leek-Pepper Quiche
Eggplant Caviar and Lobio (Georgian Pinto Beans)
Georgian Cheese Bread
Apple Pie with Ice Cream (Sea Salt Caramel or Vanilla)
From our CSA share I used lots of beets, onions, tomatoes, peppers (red, yellow, purple), cilantro, and leeks; at Tom's I bought free-range chicken eggs, the eggplant, and the dill and oregano; at the farmers' market we bought Bluejacket goat cheese; I got the apples at Peifer's (and even made a second pie to take to the vet who saved the cat when she got stuck in the attic wall in mid-August for a couple of days...) and the ice cream at Young's. Young's seemed like the thing to do, given that we were hosting the new dean and his wife who have moved to OH from Nebraska.
We actually drank a bottle of Kinkead Ridge, the wine from down in Ripley, OH, along the Ohio River. No one commented on it, though, so we were unable to make it a topic of conversation.
I understand that the vineyard is for sale. Check out these puffy white clouds: doesn't it make you want to give it all up and become a winemaker?
My oldest friends here in Ohio, whom we met our first week here, were also at the dinner, and they claim that I *still* make the best pie crust. So that was nice.
I am thinking a lot about food, as I'm reading the new memoir / history of Russian food in the 20th century by Anya von Bremzen (listen to the NPR review of Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing here) and planning a course, possibly for spring semester, that combines food history, Russian language, and literary texts.
Maybe I'm just ready for a more sedentary lifestyle, cozy evenings by the fire, and lots of soup and bread as winter settles in?
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