Weekend Update,

I will do my best to be

honest and fair, 

friendly and helpful, 

considerate and caring, 

courageous and strong, and 

responsible for what I say and do,

and to

respect myself and others, 

respect authority, 

use resources wisely, 

make the world a better place, and 

be a sister to every Girl Scout.

The Girl Scout Law

The funny thing is, I nearly edited the Girl Scout Law. That is, in order to quote a Girl Scout's oath to use resources wisely, I nearly offered an abridged version of the 52 word law- because the Girl Scout Law is so wordy! Contrast it to the 16 words of the Boy Scout Law, which aside from the sisterhood bit, says pretty much the same thing:

A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, 

courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty,

brave, clean, and reverent.

Let's leave off wondering whether or not any of us have ever met anyone of any age who could abide or abide by either law, and let's leave off wondering what sort of jail girl or boy scout law breakers go to. 

Instead, let's delight in the fact that even when we're trying to come up with an easy-to-remember-and-stick-to code of behavior,

we still use more than three
times as many words!

 This is maybe why it's a good thing that God didn't bother to get in touch with His feminine side before issuing the Ten Commandments-  not only would they have been really hard to carry out, 

they would've been really, really hard to carry.

This week, our dinners did their best to make use of the food already on hand; they have been, in a single word, resourceful. 

"I", I thought, as I surveyed the menu line up, " am being resourceful. I would have made a great girl scout."

"If I hadn't dropped
out of Brownies"

Then, to find out whether indeed resourcefulness was a mark of a good Girl Scout, I read the Girl Scout law. And then the Boy Scout law. And then the dictionary. 

And resourceful may not be the right word. 

The right word might be frugal. Or thrifty. Or perhaps it's the sort of word that distinguishes the people who like you from the people who tolerate you: to the people who love you, you are resourceful. To those who merely tolerate you, 

you're a cheapskating miser.
(This is Hetty Green, who was once either
the most resourceful or the most
miserly woman in New York.)

Whether they were resourceful, or frugal, or thrifty, or cheap, there were a few dinners this week that were great, and  a few that were, well, maybe bad is not quite the right word.....

Here's what happened:

Stir fried rice was nothing unusual- a great stand-by idea for using leftover chicken  or shrimp or beef or, in this case, pork. the cool thing was finding a new way to like cabbage- this quick stir fried cabbage recipe would be great with Teriyaki chicken or ribs, or tempura anything, or...well, it's just good:

there it is, hiding behind the rice.

Next the risotto that set out to use up the tub of mascarpone that was wearing out its fridge time. It should have been fantastic, but you know what? 

It was just okay.
The mascarpone made the risotto creamier, but also
heavier.  Save the money on mascarpone and gruyere and risotto will
still feel like an indulgent treat.

the two nicest surprises?

This black-eyed pea salad- I had expected something like the once omnipresent Texas Caviar black-eyed pea salad, but this was much nicer- the chickpea dressing was fantastic! It's a substantial dressing that would be right at home on any kale or spinach salad. A great find! Here it is, made not with the canned black-eyed peas suggested in the recipe, but with peas from my (generous) mother's (generous) garden:

those are black-eyed pea fritters in the background.
I'm trying to forget those.
I think you should too.

And if you're a fan of butternut squash soup, and you wish there were something just as tasty and nutritious, but maybe easier and cheaper, here it is:\

carrot ginger soup
I am not kidding. This was great. Maybe even better
than butternut soup- and did I mention cheaper and easier?

Then the vast universe of great recipes available to all of us collided with my mind, which was (and is still ) pondering the shades of meaning that lie between the words resourceful and thrifty.
Cookies.
No matter what laws of character she may try to abide by, a girl scout, her friends and all her family abide by the laws of cookie. In fact, while I was considering the difference between being resourceful and using resources wisely, between thrift and frugality, a real girl scout in Oklahoma set a brand new Girl Scout Cookie selling record!  So, since in addition to an abundance of black eyed peas and carrots we had a surplus of butter and chocolate chips, I did the natural, frugal, resourceful, thrifty thing.

I made cookies

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip cookies.   A very tasty way to use available resources. If next week you find yourself serendipitously faced with a half pound of butter, a bag of chocolate chips, and a bag of chocolate covered caramels, consider giving them a try.

 Frugality, as it turns out, is not about getting things on the cheap,but about being careful not to waste the good things that you have. To be resourceful, the dictionary says, has even less to do with with the spending or not spending of money-  a resourceful woman (or man)  is one who can deal "skillfully and promptly with new situations and difficulties".

And that's what I'm hoping for you this week-I'm hoping that your week is somehow filled with good thingsInside and out.I hope that you feel your wealth-all the way from the shoes on your feetto the food in your tummyto the love in your heartto the knowledge in your head.and that you use that wealth wiselyand thoughtfully make the most of your every natural resource.
So that even if your day crumbles your cookies

You'll gather the best of who you are and what you have

and deal with it.

Like the true scout you are.

                                           

Menus, March 26, 2014

"The greatest achievement of the human spirit

is to live up to one's opportunities 

and make the most of one's resources"

Marquis de Vauvenarques

Last week, there were an internal several of these-

that led to an internal one or two of these-

as a few beloved activities surrendered time to a few other just as beloved activities.

After a week of being immersed in innumerable bits of paper and tubes of paint, eating only when eating was more interesting than the project at hand, the need to resume a regular dinner schedule pulled me to the surface, blinking like a mole in the sun.

Just this blind and lost looking,
but probably not this cute.

Dinnertime?
I wasn't even sure it was daytime!

All at once, a dreadful certainty loomed: 

there was nothing in this house to eat.

Which, though it seemed true for a moment, was no more true in this kitchen that it is in most other American kitchens, and to prove it, I cleaned out the fridge and freezer....

and made a little inventory:

 Right off the proverbial bat, you can see two or three important things-
1. Blueberries are an awesome snack, the Sharpie was actually in drawer where it's supposed to be, my calendar is so cool that even the used page backs are fun to write on,  and
2. I did not have nothing to eat.
In fact, there is so much to eat that it may be possible to spend this week in places other than the grocery store. Nothing wrong with grocery stores, it's just that they're not often

as interesting as other places.

Although that could depend entirely on your grocery store.

This is a real grocery store in Moscow.
I am not making this up.

Here's the line up that (I hope) will make effective use of the resources on hand, giving me time to catch up on a few  things I've been neglecting.

Thursday:  Leftover pork fried rice and stirfried cabbage

Hiding in the freezer was a zip bag of cooked rice, a zip bag of leftover pork roast, and half a bag of frozen peas. Put that together with the broccoli and carrots that are in the fridge, and dinner's nearly done! 

There's a head of cabbage in the fridge too, and though the outside leaves have yellowed, but cabbage is pretty hard-headed, and I'll bet there's enough good stuff for a side dish side dish.

I wonder what to call a meal made of two side dishes...

I'll think of that while I slice up the leftover pork as thinly as I can- some for tonight's fried rice, and some for sandwiches tomorrow...

If you don't have leftover pork, think of using a couple of pork chops, or some rotisserie chicken or some shrimp.

Friday: Carrot ginger soup and Asian pork sandwiches

In this fridge, which at first glance held nothing dinner worthy, there are two very large bags of carrots. I do not know how or when this happened. But I do know that carrots deserve more main course roles than they're given- this soup looks like a good try for the last chilly days of spring. These sandwiches, which look so great, may not adapt well to cooked pork, but I'll be giving it a try anyway.

Saturday: Mascarpone Risotto and Pan fried Salmon

Pan fried salmon may seem pretty basic, but it's a thing I have yet to master, so we'll keep trying it until I do. The risotto will be the highlight of this meal though- risotto and mascarpone on their own are wonderful- the idea of combining them is very exciting. The mascarpone in the fridge was relatively inexpensive at Trader Joe's; if you want to try the recipe, and don't want to shop for affordable mascarpone, consider using ricotta or a mix of cream cheese and cream as a substitute. And since substitutions are almost always acceptable, I might use bacon instead of pancetta.

Sunday: Shepherd's pie

There's a zip bag of leftover lamb roast in the freezer that will combine with a few of the surplus carrots and the gotta-go potatoes in the pantry and make a pie. Ground beef or ground lamb would be a great substitute though- and isn't the idea of making shepherd's pie in serving size dishes fantastic? This is an Australian recipe, and so may require a little bit of translation- fir the purposes of this pie,

this is not tomato sauce.............................this is tomato sauce

Monday: Black eyed pea salad and blackeyed pea fritters

Thanks to my mother's generosity, and the prolific kindness of her garden, there are about 4 zip bags of frozen purple hull peas in the freezer. What a pity to have such an abundance, and cook them only one way! A wealth of resources makes for a freedom in experimentation, doesn't it? The salad looks like a sure winner- it's the fritters that are a bit of a gamble. And it may not be a good sign that the picture of them won't copy itself next to the picture of the salad. But fritters made from ground black-eyed peas are popular in lots of cultures and, well...crispy fried protein sounds like a good idea.

And a great way to use my available resources.

This week, I hope that if (and almost certainly when)

you find yourself up against 

a moment or a mountain you feel unequal to

you take a breath

and in the space of that breath

you make an inventory

of all the resources you hold.

Your strength, your soul, your heart, your mind.

The love within you and the love around you.

And I hope that as you exhale you know

 that what you have and who you are

right now
 is enough.

And just maybe, even more than enough.

Menus and grocery lists, December 31, 2013

Across the continent, high above one of the world's most wonderful cities, a team is hard at work.

Hard at work, and having a ball.

It's New Year's Eve, the biggest winter festival of them all- and maybe the biggest winter festival of all time.  Ye Olde Norse partied like only Vikings can for the 12 days of Yule; the Scots got so silly with celebrating that the 12 days after Christmas were once called "daft days", while modern Scots begin the carousing of Hogmany at the stroke of midnight tonight. And who knows what kind of crazy crowds gathered in ancient Rome for "The day of the birth of the unconquered sun"?

Probably not this crazy.
It takes a sober head to say
 "Happy Dies Natalis Solis Invicti everyone!"

All through history, all over the Northern Hemisphere, people gather together and light things, drop things and throw things in the jubilant certainty that even the longest night will somehow surrender to some sort of morning.

In New York, since 1907, a huge ball is lit and dropped on the eager crowds below; citizens of Atlanta drop a peach

and make a very large cobbler
with the left overs.

Those in Mobile Alabama (are they Mobiles? Mobilians?) drop a Moon Pie

And in Brasstown, NC, the old year ends with the drop of of a well lit possum-

And the New Year starts pretty miserably,
if you happen to be the possum.

Yep, it's New Year's Eve, the night when all across the world, all sorts of things

get lit and drop.

Those of us who feel like cooking or eating tomorrow have a wealth of traditions to feast on- but it's more than traditional- it's symbolic. If Christmas food is about love and family, New Year's food is about luck and fortune. It's a dozen warming potfuls of good wishes.
Enough good wishes to feed us happily for at least a week- here's how we'll start:

Wednesday: Good Luck Greens, Peas and Ham

Ham, because pigs are always moving forward, greens to symbolize paper money, peas to symbolize coins and as a reminder that Southerners are resourceful enough to make dinner out of what some consider animal feed.
Two thirds of our children will begin the new year at my mother's house, and it's my hope to join them there. She's promised a traditional New Year's feast, and she does blackeyed peas and ham like only a true Belle of the South can do them. The woods, my mom, my kids, and great food that I don't have to cook. What a way to start the year!

Thursday: Roast Pork Loin and salad

More lucky pork, but this time a low sodium, low fat pork loin. The recipe claims to be fast, cheap, easy, and company worthy- could it possibly be true? I'll be using leftover pork loin to provide some protein to an otherwise vegetarian meal on Sunday, and freezing any leftover leftovers for a stirfry next Monday or Tuesday.



Friday: Slow Cooker Lentil Stew

Little coin shaped lentils to wish you a year of absolutely zero money worries. And at about $1.50 a bowl, a lentil stew starts delivering on that wish with the first bite. I've cooked about a bajillion pots of beans, but never in a crock pot, and becoming better pals with my slow cooker is one of my small and attainable goals of the year.  Lentils, the fast food of the legume world, will be the first step. If you want to make this a 15 minute stir up, use canned lentils and frozen veggies.
( Note to self: before they're mixed with the rest of the stew veggies, spoon out about half of the cooked lentils and set them aside for Sunday.)



Saturday: Spaghetti with Red Sauce and meatballs

Long noodles for a long life. Well, technically, that edible wish belongs to the Chinese New Year- our Gregorian Calendar packs in the wishes for prosperity, and neglects to wish you years and years in which to enjoy it. If you want to play the long noodles= longevity game, try slurping up the longest noodle you can without cutting it or letting it break. See? you're enjoying life more already!  I've linked to a Gordon Ramsay meatball recipe, but a busy Saturday may dictate a meatless meal, or frozen meatballs, or chicken sausage.



Sunday: Warm Lentil Salad with Butternut Squash

What a beautiful salad! We may turn this into another vegetarian dinner, or I may warm a few slices of pork tenderloin to serve with it.
Go ahead and cook an entire butternut- tomorrow night you can put it together with Saturday's red sauce in this fantastic looking butternut squash lasagna.



So there's a week of meals filled with all my wishes for you and those you love- prosperity, courage, health, good fortune.
That's five times the wishing power of a single New Year's Day meal,
and they deliver all my hopes

that whether you partied hard,

or not at all,

 the morning you woke to

was calm

and happy

and unlonely.

And I hope that all of the loads

you've carried through the 

year just past

become noticeably, definitely, 

lighter.

Because I know

that you, at your calm and happy ease

are quite capable

of setting the New Year on fire.