After Tropical Storm Andrea, Reading, Writing and Raspberries

Andrea dumped the greatest amount of rain on us and many other Atlantic Coastal destinations for a 7th of June since records of such things were kept.

Nevertheless the air today did not feel sharp, clear and clean.  It's humid, even though not that warm.

Still, 'tis the season for raspberries and I'm stuffing myself with them, as I've been doing all week.  Vanilla non-fat yogurt, raw sunflower seeds and raspberries -- such a splendid breakfast.  As for dessert -- any combo of raspberries and chocolate will do.

Of course it's pasta-wine-jazz night tonight, tonight being Saturday night.

I continue reading Volume II of Savannah's An Epic IV Volume Civil War History: Vol. II: Brokers, Bankers, And Bay Line: Inside the Slave Trade.

Food For the Gods

Potato Salad.

The old Romans appreciated their lettuces and salads and crunchy vegetables even in poetry.

They knew their vinegars.  They had eggs.  Surely they had something that was mayonnaise or very like.

They had onions, celery and parsley -- you name it, they had it.

Except, they had no potatoes.

I do, and we have achieved a potato salad worthy of the gods, even if I am she who so deems the worthiness.

We have melon.  We have ham.  We have a green salad.  We're ready for 90 degrees.

Eating

I managed to make some extra special chicken stock.

Next, ginger dumpling soup with dumplings from Chinatown (the ginger too, for that matter, and the shitakes and the cilantro and the shaved carrots and the sesame chili oil).

The ginger turned out perfect -- young and tender and aromatic, perfect for mincing. The whole house was fragrant with ginger running through the freshly created stock that burbled for a few hours previously.

This week is dinner at home only tonight, Tuesday and Wednesday. My B-Day tomorrow (Grant's Tomb and the Met's Egyptian Galleries, as we're still deep in Ancient Egypt's arrow and cyclical time schemes, and with tomorrow a holiday, the Met will be open tomorrow. I'll finally get to take photos of Grant's Tomb, since Vaquero finally replaced the camera he lost this previous autumn). Thursday is the Frederick Douglas Award dinner for best black history of 2007. I thought we had to go to Yale for that, but it's here, which is great. Friday is dinner at a friend's where a writer who is working on a history of the downtown music scene of yore wants to interview some of us who were there.. Saturday is a another friend's book party. So some ginger dumpling soup on hand will be a good idea.

We got a Leicester cheese yesterday at Gourmet Garage that is so rich it's frightening. It isn't a healthy thing at all. Probably we should be drinking port with it. It's dessert really, not cheese!