Plan for Today...for Julie and Julia

First, thanks to Bruce for his great ideas for a slogan to replace A1's "Sing for your Beef"! See them in yesterday's comment section!

I totally blew off my challenge for yesterday because something sneaked up on me and took up my whole day. So my challenge for today may be fixing two veggies instead of one. I'm thinking of adding potatoes to the asparagus experiment. (This doesn't mean I'll combine them!) :)

Potatoes are the food of heaven in my opinion. I've often said I could live on them, although I would tire of that amount of starch after a few months. These round or oval "tubers" are the most versatile vegetable on the planet in my humble, non-chef-like opinion, and I like them almost every way possible: baked, fried, mashed, boiled, broiled, roasted, whole, halved, sliced, fat, thin, soft, crisp, chopped, pureed into soup or folded into a delicious potato salad. I like them peeled or not, mostly not because the skins are heavenly and they contain vitamins. The only way I don't like potatoes is raw, but if I found the right recipe, that would change.

My favorite dishes, not in any particular order of preference are:

baked potatoes
twice-baked potatoes
potato skins
rosemary potatoes
thinly sliced and fried potatoes, just this side of crispy enough to be a chip
hash browns
scalloped potatoes
skinny French (not) fries
lattice potatoes,
French potato soup and
homemade potato salad

I'm learning my French cookery limits and boundaries, including the herbs (herbes!) that are used and not used in French recipes. If rosemary potatoes appear in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, that will be my recipe of choice for today. Rosemary goes with potatoes like brown goes with rice...just a natural, harmonious relationship.

When I became a vegetarian, suddenly my eyes opened to the many, many kinds of veggies that are often overlooked or dismissed because of all the focus on meat in this meat-centered culture. It's really sad! Some carnivores (not my foodie roommates) miss out on so much, and they ask me what I eat! HA! With regard to potatoes, I have been introduced to many different varieties and colors. Most recently I have focused on Yukon golds, purple potatoes and the little fingerlings that come in all different colors in their pretty mesh bags.

(I just realized that the above paragraph should have been put in another place in this entry, but the application won't allow me to cut and paste. :( I hope you understand! Maybe next time I can write my blog in my word processor and paste the whole corrected thing into this window later. That'll show 'em!)

Have a great Sunday and I'll post about my asparagus and potatoes after the experiment is completed. Any bets on whether or not I'll get them both done with a new sauce for asparagus? Hmmmm...that's a challenge, even with my school work done and out of the way.

Peace and Good Food,

Bev