carrots & co.

This was started yesterday. My being "on call" for work with Charlie turned into a full day of hard work in blazing sun, much of it up on scaffolding. I went up and down the scaffolding a million times, and since we were working on the upper deck, I went up and down the stairs a million times, too, fetching stuff from here and there. Sunburned arms. But anyway, we got the chimney ready for the stucco man, who comes today.

Now yesterday's blog:

Peel and cut up carrots in whatever size and shape chunks you wish. For this I generally cut them slant-wise a little less than an inch long. Alternating the direction of the slants gives you nice pieces. They will never be uniform, since carrots insist on tapering. 4 good-sized carrots are enough for two people. Put them in your little braising pan with a walnut-sized knob of butter, a pinch of sugar, a sprinkle of salt, and about 3/4 inch of water. Cover and bring to a boil. Turn down and cook five or ten minutes, until they are fairly tender when pierced with a fork or skewer. Remove lid, turn heat to high, and cook away all of the liquid. Watch carefully and shake or stir from time to time. In a few minutes they will begin to brown a bit, and they're ready. You can control how brown they get, and if you want them more caramelized, use a bit more sugar the next time.

Alternate: do the same thing, but melt the butter first and put in some finely chopped onion, cook until it's tender, then proceed. These you don't want to brown, lest you burn the onion, but it's a good idea to boil away the liquid anyway. (I used to do this a lot, and it's a way to use up part of an onion!)

Speaking of which, you can, if you wish, use the sprouty parts as scallions. You can cook up some sliced onions slowly to caramelize them and eat them with almost anything. You can slice one up, separate it into rings, shake it in some salted flour, and fry it in batches in about two inches of oil. Check oil by dropping a piece in; if it sizzles the oil is ready. Make potato salad with a lot of onion. Slice one thick, put a thin skewer (the kind used to truss a turkey) sideways through each slice, brush them with oil, and put them on the grill.

I should be doing all of these things as we speak. You're worried about using up a dozen onions; I have a hundred.

I wanted to go on and on with this, but I have to get up to the upper deck. Charlie is getting our chimney ready for the stucco man, and I need to help. I am almost done with my students (one visit left), but I still have to write a bunch of letters of recommendation. Summer vacation has taken on meaning again.

(Now I'm sitting in the upstairs sunporch, on call.) Actually, I've really enjoyed being in elementary schools this semester. I'm getting out just in time, though, since I'm starting to develop relationships with some of the children. Yesterday a third-grade girl and I were looking for images of amethysts on Google, and she threw her arm around my shoulder as we looked. Later another little girl came up to me because she'd heard I was interested in rocks. We discussed birthstones a bit, and she was sad that hers was a sapphire, while her brother had the beautiful opal. She was much comforted when I showed her Google images of star sapphires; she didn't know what a wonderful birthstone she had, and she won't ever forget it. This is also the class to which I brought a bloodroot and a trillium in a pot and a jar of cowslips, all flowers that were mentioned in a book they were reading. Anyway, little kids are a lot of fun, though they can be devils, too.

Gotta go.

--end of yesterday's blog--

Now let me add a thing or two. I think it is a good idea to let us post our own letters, though it means that Mom has to type all that stuff without having anything to post herself. Could old letters be mailed to the writer in exchange for promises to post? Anyway, I'm eager for Mom to get into the Europe stuff. Let's all give this some careful thought.

Suzy, I want the recipe for country-style ribs, if you're willing to pass it along. It sounds good, and it uses onions!

Congratulations on eating breakfast before work. I certainly understand what a struggle that is, though I sometimes can force myself to do it. Normally I have a granola bar in the car on my way to a school. Before golf is a real problem; usually I have slim-fast (no chewing!). It's hard to play 18 holes of golf (starting, say, at 6:30 a.m.) without anything to eat. I'm never hungry until nine or ten in the morning.

Well, Charlie started up the lawn mower about fifteen minutes ago (yes, at quarter to seven). Busy day coming up, so I'd best get started, too.