Behind the Herbes de Provence and other jars of spice,
Italian Table Olives, boxes of imported rice
Beyond the $60-a-pound morel mushrooms, shriveled and dried
The package of Chinese egg noodles, delicious when fried
Lurks a hideous creature
Not of this world, I would say!
It stays in the cold dark recesses
Just waiting for its next prey.
Monday to Sunday
The days go by,
The cupboard goes bare
Except for the monster, who still lurks there.
What to do? What to cook?
We certainly cannot eat
That old, grey, leftover meat.
There is nothing we can do!
What else could we eat?
Release the monster from its prison
Let us face our culinary defeat.
To the cupboard I go
I fling open its doors and shout,
Spam, oh Spam, you hideous thing!
I summon you to come out!
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
You Say Tomato…
As far as my stomach is concerned, there are only two seasons a year: tomato season and non-tomato season. There is perhaps no other food that can elicit such a wide range of emotion for me: from the giddiness of buying bags and bags of heirlooms at the summer farmers’ markets to the rancorous rage that bubbles up when I take a bite into a flavorless BLT in February.
Tomatoes seem to have a way of inciting strong reactions among others as well. Most people seem to either hate them or love them. Tomato-haters say that they can eat tomato-based pasta sauces, or pizza, but not tomatoes in their raw or partially-cooked forms, claiming that the texture is simply unappetizing. These tomato neophytes are the unfortunate victims of Supermarket Tomato Hell and have obviously never tasted the real thing.
To me, the tomato is emblematic of the argument for eating only what is fresh and seasonal. The tasteless, mealy red orbs disguising themselves as tomatoes on our supermarket shelves bear no resemblance in taste to the fresh, seasonal tomatoes you can get at your local farmers’ market during the summer months.
Perhaps this is why, during the tomato season, I am on Tomato Overdrive. I eat tomatoes at least two times a day (surprisingly, cereal, yogurt and other breakfast foods do not go well with tomatoes… go figure). During these months, my arsenal of recipes is dominated by this wonderful fruit: Caprese salad, hearty pasta sauces, bruschetta. By September of last year, my boyfriend commented that he was “getting a little tired of tomatoes.” He ate dinner alone for a couple of weeks.
I love trying all of the varieties available and the subtle nuances between each type. Green Zebra tomatoes, with their alternating streaks of pale green and apple green, are crisp and firm with a wonderfully tart flavor and are ideal in sandwiches or a rustic tomato tart. The sweet and succulent Yellow Pear tomatoes add small bursts of sweetness to summer salads. Brandywine and Cherokee Purple varieties add sweet, rich flavors to pasta sauces nearly impossible to emulate in the off-season.
I could go on and on.
This summer, I am on a Green Eggs and Ham mission to try and convert tomato-haters to tomato-lovers: “You do not like them. So you say. Try them! Try them! And you may.” Anyone up for the challenge?
Tomatoes seem to have a way of inciting strong reactions among others as well. Most people seem to either hate them or love them. Tomato-haters say that they can eat tomato-based pasta sauces, or pizza, but not tomatoes in their raw or partially-cooked forms, claiming that the texture is simply unappetizing. These tomato neophytes are the unfortunate victims of Supermarket Tomato Hell and have obviously never tasted the real thing.
To me, the tomato is emblematic of the argument for eating only what is fresh and seasonal. The tasteless, mealy red orbs disguising themselves as tomatoes on our supermarket shelves bear no resemblance in taste to the fresh, seasonal tomatoes you can get at your local farmers’ market during the summer months.
Perhaps this is why, during the tomato season, I am on Tomato Overdrive. I eat tomatoes at least two times a day (surprisingly, cereal, yogurt and other breakfast foods do not go well with tomatoes… go figure). During these months, my arsenal of recipes is dominated by this wonderful fruit: Caprese salad, hearty pasta sauces, bruschetta. By September of last year, my boyfriend commented that he was “getting a little tired of tomatoes.” He ate dinner alone for a couple of weeks.
I love trying all of the varieties available and the subtle nuances between each type. Green Zebra tomatoes, with their alternating streaks of pale green and apple green, are crisp and firm with a wonderfully tart flavor and are ideal in sandwiches or a rustic tomato tart. The sweet and succulent Yellow Pear tomatoes add small bursts of sweetness to summer salads. Brandywine and Cherokee Purple varieties add sweet, rich flavors to pasta sauces nearly impossible to emulate in the off-season.
I could go on and on.
This summer, I am on a Green Eggs and Ham mission to try and convert tomato-haters to tomato-lovers: “You do not like them. So you say. Try them! Try them! And you may.” Anyone up for the challenge?
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