Menus, January 22, 2014

“There is no surer foundation for a beautiful friendship than a mutual taste in literature.” 

P.G. Wodehouse

Opposites, as they say, attract. They being the lots and lots of people who have who go all swoony over  stories that start with people who dislike each other eventually finding out that if bees had knees, the dreamboat they had once seen as the scum on the pond of humanity would be them. These stories of opposites slamming together like protons and neutrons looking for an atom to call their own go way, way back- there's the love of dark Hades for the sunny Persephone-

Wait, not that one,
that ended badly.

Or there's the sweet, resolute Juliet falling like a ton of Verona bricks for that fickle, moody Montague boy-

Okay, not a real happy ending
for those guys either.
Hmmm.
Ron and Hermoine maybe?

The thing is that though opposites may attract, odds are even that if they approach each other at a high rate of  speed, 

things are going to get a little wrecked.

Which is why beautiful, enduring friendships often start with frequent repetitions of phrases like "me too!"  or  "I thought I was the only one!" Sort of like this:

"Wow! I thought I was the only half-dressed,
high-voiced, mousy music lover
in the whole world!"
"Me too!"

Lovers of all things bookish know that to recommend a favorite book to a new friend is to offer a test of potential me-too-ness; if they pass, you may have found someone with whom you can share your deepest pleasures. Which is great, because someone with whom you can share your deepest pleasures may just turn out to be someone with whom you can share your deepest woes.

even if on the outside,
you're not very much alike.

That's why this week's dinners lined up around the  suggestions of a few people who love reading some of the same sort of stuff I do- my daughter, (who puts so much imagination into the reading of recipes that dinner's as good as cooked before the groceries are home) and the teeny and not-so-teeny Denverites who have shared their reading and eating passions with me all week.

Wednesday: Corned Beef and Cabbage.

Here's an easy one pot warmer for a January night. Easy, that is, if you totally disregard Alton Brown's instructions for starting with a beef brisket and brining it yourself in the fridge for ten days. Just start with a corned beef brisket from the supermarket. I'm going to try this in a slow cooker, and I may add an interesting liquid- maybe a little apple cider- to the cooking water. Zip bag some of that shredded green cabbage for a slaw on Friday, and any leftover corned beef is turning into sandwiches on Saturday.

Thursday: Macaroni and Cheese with Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad.

On one hand, this recipe looks way more complicated that the instructions on the blue box of mac and cheese. On the other hand, this is not blue box mac and cheese. It'll take a little while, but it's really yummy, and you can freeze the leftovers. The same two year old who named mac and cheese as his favorite dinner took me on a lunch date last week where I had a salad that was copy-worthy at first bite. Just clean and thinly slice some Brussels sprouts (kale or cabbage would be great too)  lay on some grapefruit sections, walnuts and feta, and top it with a dressing like this grapefruit vinaigrette.

Friday: Honey Lime Tilapia and Red Cabbage slaw

Here's a recipe that earned raves from my daughter- a simple marinated fish, and a simple un-mayonaisey slaw. If you have a food processor with a slicing blade, it'll make quick work of shredding both Brussels sprouts and cabbage, and if any of this meal is leftover, it'll tuck itself nicely into fish tacos for lunch.

Saturday: Butternut Squash Soup and Reuben Sandwiches

True, we had butternut squash soup just last week. Also true: it was very very good and I want some more. The recipe linked here includes canned pumpkin and cubed butternut squash, which is all pureed together before serving. If you're pressed for time (and who isn't?)  using another can of pumpkin is a great option.  Wednesday's leftover corned beef gets sliced thin and takes a warming trip through the microwave for these sandwiches- and I'm pretty sure my tummy just growled.


Sunday: Sweet and Savory Crepes

This idea comes to you from a sunny afternoon  at CrepesnCrepes in Denver, where the grown ups had a wildly delicious mushroom crepe, and the littlies surprised us by enjoying every last bite of a crepe packed with strawberries and blueberries. Here's the basic crepe recipe- fill them with berries, with the mushrooms in cream sauce linked to above, or with eggs and asparagus, or with- oh, you get the picture. That lunch, which proved that happiness can be wrapped up in pancakes, was followed by a stroll through a pedestrian mall, and a longing gaze through the window of The Hermitage Bookshop. Which was very sadly closed.
But I'll be back- There are books in there- books that, going by the name of the place, hermits come out of seclusion to recommend to each other. Or maybe it's a place where one can hermit oneself away among the shelves with only a few hundred of the very best characters ever written for company. 

Either way, that's sort of what I hope for you.
I hope that this week, 
you know the company of people
who can read your joys,
and don't skim over your sorrows.
I hope the people who know 
the story of your life 
see you as it's hero.
And that this week, once or twice,
you can revel in the sweetness of friendships

that are bound by books.