Katie & Nico's Engagement

Katie & Nico

Picture taken in Rome, April, 2008

August 27th

A Short History of Our Whirlwind Louisville, KY Weekend…

When I read the schedule that Katie made for us, I said that not even Princess Diana, bless her, had she still been living, could have fulfilled this program…but somehow we did and it was truly delightful. Thank you, Katie!

Almost the first thing we did upon being picked up at the airport on Friday, August 22nd, was to visit Churchill Downs (spectacular) where FR and Nico reserved the Aristides Room for the rehearsal dinner day and evening (next May 22nd) It’ll be complete with races, betting, food and drinks for 50 people!!! This is the room next to the one visited by Queen Elizabeth, who, we were told, never smiled or waved to the greeting crowd. We, unlike the Queen, are really going to party! Forget just about the wedding day—this is going to be a wedding weekend! Maybe even a week!

The young couple gave us a whirlwind tour of Louisville and we saw some beautiful parks and old mansions, and then were ushered to see Garden Court, the beautiful Louisville Seminary, where the bridal reception will be held. Gorgeous grounds! Several of us “out-of-towners” who will be attending the festivities will be staying in a hotel on the reception grounds.

Our first evening in Louisville, Felipe took us out to dinner at Avalon, a lovely upscale restaurant in Bardstown—a neat area with interesting little shops and restaurants. The dinner party included the parents of the groom, the groom-to-be, his fiancée and her mother, and also Elizabeth, Katie’s sister from North Carolina and her friend, Lauren. It was a most enjoyable evening—nothing like hanging around young people with good food and drinks.

Everything went super nicely over the Louisville, KY Engagement weekend, thanks to Katie and her mother, Lera, a sweet, fun, and lively gal. (I had met her only once before and felt most welcomed). The engagement party, held in the garden of Katie’s childhood home on Daisy Lane, went off without a hitch. Lera’s wedding dress and veil were on a mannequin, making the festive occasion quite special. We met many of their relatives and friends and Katie’s 91 year old Nanny. Everyone had a lovely time.

The menu consisted of: fried sesame chicken wings, two kinds of potato salad: one of them was a German potato salad made by Nanny, baked beans, devilled eggs, baked ham tea sandwiches, a cucumber and sour cream dish, zucchini-chocolate chip tiny muffins, and a chocolate cake. There were several types of beer, Pinot Grigio wine, and a Bourbon cocktail that Nico made with pineapple juice that could knock you out of your socks and to the moon, which his mother didn’t taste because FR did.

Everyone that saw Katie open her gift from us liked it. Most especially the bride-to-be said she loved our present, and Nico thanked us for our presence. Gotta love that boy Katie’s engaged to—he has manners—and everyone in KY seems to be crazy about him—they couldn’t ALL have lied to us. So we didn’t do such a bad job after all! Katie was the belle of the ball, and Lera, a most charming hostess.

Saturday, the day of the engagement party, Katie took us to Lera’s friends spread: Debbie Foley’s Silver Brook Stable—a beautiful horse farm—where we saw some new-born colts, and some outrageously beautiful horses with names to match. Debbie and Lera have been friends since grade school. After the party we went to the KY Fair to watch Debbie come in 3rd riding Callaway’s Karla, Joann Griffin’s horse, in the 5 Gaiter Class at the World Championship Horse Show. We met Joann and her husband Joe after the race to congratulate them.

The KY FAIR Horse Show was wonderful—even more than we bargained for because Katie's brother Jack McCray is the assistant trainer to the winning horse, Breaking News, in that class. So it was an exciting evening. Katie always gives away a trophy at the show in honor of her great-grandfather, but this year she gave that honor to her visiting sister Elizabeth from NC give it away. Very admirable thing to do.

Sunday morning eleven of us guests had breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and then most got on their way. Felipe, Nico, Katie, and I toured downtown and went to the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. It was neat seeing the presidents who had signed baseballs.

Then while FR and Nico had a drink at Ramsi’s Café on the World, Katie and I ducked into Carmichael’s Bookstore and a neat used book store called, All Booked Up, where I found two leather-bound treasures signed by Gail Godwin—perfect condition and unread. We joined the boys for more drinks and “Madame Toussand’s Empanada” appetizer, which is filled to overflowing with London Broil, Kentucky Kenny’s sharp cheese, portabella mushrooms and onions, baked inside a homemade ajean bread and drizzled with garlic-infused olive oil! Indeed, we did. Then it was off to pick up Aline (AKA Nanny) and dinner at Lera’s for barbeque pork, green beans, coleslaw, potato salad, and leftover cake!

The “begaged ones” took off at 5 am on Monday, but Felipe and I spent the day with Lera shopping. We had lunch at this cute, funky restaurant that was on the Food Channel, called Lynn's Paradise Cafe. Great Bloody Mary's! We ate spinach salads—mine with Gorgonzola, tomatoes, bacon, and hard cooked eggs—the others had the same by with Gouda and toasted pecans—all had the poppy seed vinaigrette. Yummy!

Here are some of the shops we visited: Mission Jewelry (Fine Art), Crazy Daisy (Antique Mall), Caffeine Gallery, (Karen Hartsough, the artist gave Katie and Nico a beautiful frame she created), Celia’s, The Hadley Pottery Co., (Yes! Felipe bought me two beautiful plates! The Red Tree, and numerous others.

Lera dropped us at the airport around 4 pm, so for now, Arriverdeci, Louisville till next springtime and the nuptials.

Broccoli & Cheese Quiche

Aug. 19th

So here’s the recipe for two broccoli quiche "pies." I make two, so I can freeze one or give it a friend. In the olden times, I would make the crust—if you absolutely must have it, write to me and I’ll post it…

In the meantime, those other smarty pants among us will use Marie Callender’s deep dish frozen pie crusts—just make sure you prick the bottoms!

Ingredients:

4 eggs
2 cups milk or a combination of milk and cream or 1/2 and 1/2 so okay,
take a guess at what I use??? Right on! 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of cream…and make
mine heavy, darling!
1/4to 1/2 lb bacon, cut small (with this, I’m rather conservative…closer to ¼)
1 small sweet onion chopped
2 cups of fresh broccoli florets wilted (7 min. cooked in microwave)
1 cup of grated parmigiano
1 cup of grated or shaved Emmantel—that is Swiss cheese
1/2 cup of sliced, grated, or shaved sharp cheddar
Salt if you must, black coarse pepper a definite, and garlic powder
Beat together the cooled, already scalded milk/cream concoction.
Add the eggs and beat some more. Then add all the cheeses and seasonings

For those of you who live east of the Mississippi:

Beat 2 cups of cream—or a combination of cream and milk or half and half…what
I do is scald the milky/cream stuff first…then cool.

Cook the bacon and onions together till they almost crisp and spread on the bottom of the crusts.

Next pour in the cut up ½ cooked broccoli florets. Sprinkle with more seasonings, like paprika and red pepper, if desired.

The oven should be heating to 375 degrees, then reduce heat and pop the two quiche in the oven and bake them for 35-45 minutes at 350 degrees and test with a dry knife—when you stick it in the center—it should come out dry…if moist, leave it in a little longer.

For those of you poor dears living in the mountains, here’s what I did—heat the oven to 375 and then pop the quiche in and let cook for 1 & ½ hrs , then reduce heat to 350 for 30 minutes and when a knife is placed in and comes out fairly dry—these beauties are done


For the salad:
A day or two beforehand of the dinner party, roast on a high flame a cup of walnuts and sprinkle with sugar and honey. Cook, continually stirring. Turn off the heat and toss the nuts out onto a dish covered with aluminum foil…until they cool—separate the ones that are stuck!

With the nuts you can add: dried cherries or cranberries and I love to add chucks of creamy Gorgonzola. I used my cherries—thanks to Marni, I now know they're called Mt. Ranier--and they are drunk as skunks in Grappa!

Wild Mushroom Medley (sauce for pasta)

Aug. 18

Mushrooms can be in any combination of wild that you like—for our up-coming Wednesday dinner party for 8 persons, I'll use 3-4 kinds: hen-of-the-wood, chanterelle, shitake, and possibly something else—basically whatever I find at the market, more than 1/4 and less than a 1/2 lb of each. I love to make things complicated. I really judge by eye. Use the amounts you want!

You can use just two, if your pocketbook can’t handle the cost of the 3rd. Or if you can’t find a third or fourth available, you can even use dried porcini mushrooms. Soak them in boiling water and then discard the water when softened. Add a tiny bit of fresh water—say 1/8 of a cup, and retain it.

Regular champignon and baby portabellas may be used in combination with the dried porcini, but the flavor with the fresh wild ones is incredible by comparison—especially if they are fresh porcini! (In which case you wouldn’t need to use the other mushrooms, unless it’s an “old impress-the-company” kind of dinner party because they’re all big wigs. Or it’s a really a business meeting, dinner a disguise to make things pleasant and your husband asked you too. Yes, this is exactly the case…and No, they don’t read my blog!

For the sauce:

Olive oil
Butter
Garlic or garlic scapes
1 small sweet chopped fine or minced onion or a fistful of scallions, sliced paper thin (save the green tops for serving along with chopped parsley)
2-3 lbs of wild mushrooms—I will use at least 3, and perhaps a smattering more.
½ lb of lean cut or mid-section bacon, cut into small pieces
2 cups of heavy, heart-stopping, artery clogging whipped cream…for you airy
fairies who think you’re going to live till 110 years of age, use half and half—
what a cheat on flavor and texture, but, hey, it’s your choice.
1 cup of chopped parsley
Paprika
Hot cayenne pepper, for those who desire it
Black coarse ground pepper to top the pasta as you serve it!
White wine
3-4 tablespoons of fresh grated Parmigiano


Directions:

In a huge, as in super big skillet with high sides, because you will pour the pasta into this! heat the olive oil and butter, garlic scapes and/or garlic flecks, bacon and onions on a high flame and cook till the bacon is as you desire it—I like it just about crispy. Fling in the cut up mushrooms—don’t make these so tiny that you don’t recognize them as mushrooms.

Keep the flame high, and when these are wilted, irrigate with a lovely white wine…never use crappola wines—remember this is going into your digestive tract. When the alcohol burns off, keep stirring and add the cream. Stir until thickened. Add salt, if desired—I don’t do this, depending on the bacon to do it for me—and the paprika and pepper. Lower flame.

When the pasta is cooked, drain tightly and empty it into the sauce. Stir. Add the parmigiano and stir some more. Don't overdo the cheese. It's only to amalgamate the pasta (in this case
1 & 1/2 lbs. of penne) Serve each plate with a smattering of the parsley and the thinly sliced green scallion tops. Sever to mouth-watering executives, who have probably starved themselves all day, not realizing that they will not be able to eat as much!

One more tiny little killer detail. If you want to make this a mouth-watering, memorable experience that lasts forever in the minds of the guests: add about 2 tablespoons of truffle oil just before serving the pasta, but don't give away your secret...

Oh, a little aside. I’m serving a mixed zuppa of mussels and cockles for antipasto, a zucchini parmigaina and a huge salad for seconds, and for desert, pitted white-fleshed cherries (called Ravenna in Italy, I don't know the American equivalent, but have juist been informed that they are Mt. Ranier cherries by my frind Marni) that I have soaking in grappa. Would a broccoli quiche be overkill before the zuppa??? I’ll see what I have time for, and if I make it, will include the recipe here for all you of those of you who cook with what the Dali Lama calls, "reckless abandon."

The Summer Wednesday Market in Park City

Here is a sampling of what I found: Beehive Cheese CO. makes hand crafted cheeses and all of these cheeses are made form Utah milk! Yippee! There's a great variety and we bought several to taste...I can't say they are inexpensive--but have you checked out the prices in supermarkets of other cheeses lately? here's what we tried:
Promontory cheddar (smoked with Apple and Walnuts a 7 oz piece cost $7.
Promontory cheddar aged 22 months --Paprika rubbed approx. 8 oz. same price
"Barely Buzzed" is a mild cheese coated and rubbed with espresso and lavender and I found it yummy!

We bought lobsters Freshies Lobster Co. Shore to Door in 24!!! and they were live and delicious Maine beauties. About $17 a lb--that's cheaper than the supermarket prices by $5 a lb. If you are hankering for a taste of the sea here in the Wasatch mountains order from them.

Next we tried an Asiago baked Italian loaf and a ciabatta made by Volker's Bakery--they feature artisan bread. E-mail vritzinger@aol.com They also had a strudel that looked very tempting--we steered clear of that. After all , if you're not running, how many carbs can you do in a day?

I bought fresh Swiss chard, basil, white eggplant, huge zucchini, and turnips form local growers...didn't get their name or contact, but I will next week when we shop for fresh mushrooms (see an earlier blog for those beauties.) We have guests for dinner next Wed. night so I am making a mushroom medley with fresh pasta...if I haven't put that recipe on this blog yet, I sure will this week.

Caldo Gallego (Galician Soup)

Aug. 15th

Caldo Gallego

A wonderfully thick Galician bean soup!

My husband’s Tia Zoila use to add “unto” which is a kind of rancid fat…I skip that part and find it’s very delicious just the same…maybe more so.

So here are the ingredients

One huge soup pot and plenty of water
Two lbs. of dry white cannelini beans and plenty of water to cover several inches!
The end of a prosciutto with plenty of meat on the bone…remember, the more you put it, the more you'll find!
Swiss chard chopped, as much as you like—I use a kilo (at least 2 lbs.) sometimes 3lbs!
Turnips (2 lbs.)
Potatoes (2 lbs) I like the yellow fleshed ones--but you can use any kind

Wash and soak the beans overnight. If you didn’t do it and still want to make this pottage, then boil the beans for 10 minutes at a roiling boil and then let sit covered for an hour…there you go!

Cook the beans for two hours with the prosciutto on the bone. Usually I get an end cut and it's always less expensive than by the lb. when it's sliced at the fat end. The meat should be falling off the bone when finished cooking—if not, guess what, folks, you cook it a little bit longer. Take out all the bones, any skin or gristle, and then you’re ready to add the tubers.

(Go here for The Cook’s Thesaurus : http://www.foodsubs.com/Tubers.html on tubers and corms. And go here for a quick education on corms, cormlets, and cormels and roots: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corm )

Add cut chunks of turnips, and cook for 10 minutes and then add the cut up peeled potatoes and cook for 1/2 hour moderate heat . When the veggies are cooked, you can do a fork test—they should be willing to break themselves in two at the insertion of the fork! Smash the beans and veggies a little bit to thicken the soup and then at the last 10 minutes of cooking add chopped Swiss chard. Turn off heat.

No salt, no pepper, no garlic, no onions, and no oil—and it’s perfect without any of these! Serves 8-10, depending how generous you are when you ladle the soup into each waiting bowl.

Serve with warm thick slices of Pugliese Bread, Italian Loaf, or French baguettes, or whatever your little ole’ heart desires…except sliced puff white American! Leave that for the dilettantes.

Make sure you have a delicious and crisp white wine to accompany this dish…you’re gonna need it! It’ll aid digestion and won’t fill you up like a balloon the way water will. It you must have water, then try a lovely San Pellegrino—sparkling (cool, but no ice!) to aid digestion and you won’t drink as much of it as tap water. If you really must, add lemon to it. I like my water to taste like pure water and not lemonade.

P. S. One of the tastiest dishes I remember eating in Spain--some of you will not believe this--was pig's ears with fat white beans! served in a terracotta dish with vino tinto: Temranillo
Can you find pig's ears anymore? Another great piggy dish is red beans and pig's knuckles. These recipes will be published on this blog by request only.

Tuna with sesame seeds & balsamic reduction

August 14th

Ahi tuna, yellow fin, whatever--just make sure it's fresh.

Dip the steaks--not too thinly cut--in olive oil and then sprinkle with sea salt, coarse ground black pepper and smear with crushed garlic or sprinkle with garlic powder for a lighter taste.

Dip pieces into black and white sesame seeds...press down so they adhere....

Heat coated grill (olive oil, or some butter--but remember this tends to burn easily!) very hot and toss the tuna steaks on---press down firmly on the steaks once per side and still on a high flame, flip them and continue cooking for 2 minutes on high. This will give you a pink center or medium prepared steak. If you want it more red or less pink, guess what, folks, you adjust the flame and keep the rarer pieces on for less time, the more well done pieces a little longer on the flame...nor genius or Ph. D. stuff here!

Make a balsamic reduction (you can do this while the fish is grilling). Pour 1/2 cup at least into a stainless steel cooking pot and put it on high flame till you gt the thickness and consistency you want. Then when fish is cooked, pour a dash of this reduction on top of the tuna and then swirl it all around the plate--you'll think several things at once when you see this:

1. you have died and gone to heaven
2. you're in a fancy restaurant, not your very own humble kitchen.
3. Aha! my husband's going to know I've been cheating on him and going to posh places

Cancel that last...dying young and going to Hades in a jet plane ain't all it's cracked up to be. Ask
James Dean

Serve the tuna with healthy veggies like steamed broccoli and/or smashed and mashed garlic potatoes! (Remember garlic fights against cholesterol and is natural and it also helps keep the blood pressure down when combined with Niacin--ask your doctor--I josh you not.)

Enjoy!

Picture of Sicilian Cannoli

Here's a picture I forgot to add the other day with the recipe for cannoli filling. These are authentic Sicilian ones, I brought on a visit to my aunts (one is 96, the other 94!!!) in Palermo last April. The outside pastry is darker than you'll find in most bakery shops here in the States. I always add a little cacao to the mix before deep frying them--that's the secret--oh and use wine instead of water to blend the pastry dough.

Cannoli filling

My friend Marni liked the carrot cake and asked me if I had a recipe for cannoli filling--it's also the same filling used in cassata cakes. For the filling--no measurements, so go by taste--some like it sweeter than others.

So here's that recipe from my head--don't have my files or books with me here in the wilds of the Wasatch Mountains.

Ricotta, vanilla, and powdered sugar all blended together--add chocolate bits and/or candied fruit. Sometimes I used to add a little Sambuca, or fior di arrancio, or Grand Marnier. The ricotta has a stronger flavor in Italy as it's so fresh. A little old lady used to come around in the early summer mornings in san Felice Circeo when Nico was little and she carried the ricotta, steaming hot in little wicker baskets.

Nico would eat it with fresh made blackberry jam or neighborhood honey. Sometimes he'd spread it on bread or pizza-pane. I learned how to make cannoli (shells and all!) because my Dad loved them. I used to keep them stored in a cookie tin and fill them when needed. He only liked the chocolate. He wasn;'t nuts for frutta candida--even home made, so I'd just put a cherry at each end. Mio caro, dolce Pappa'--how I'd love to make thee for him today.

Carrot Cake (in English & Italian)

This Carrot Cake recipe is bilingual. I wrote it for Sandra and Franco Brasolin’s youngest daughter, Ornella, who tasted it in the good old US of A. These are dear friends of ours, and we’ve known them since before our son was born. Franco manufactures jewelry in Milano, and Felipe and I translate for him when he does the spring JCK show in the Venetian in Las Vegas. We dine out every night of the show, and eat good food, and while eating, like all good Italians, we talk about food—that being served, that which has been consumed recently, etc.

Per: Ornella
For: Ornella

Eccoci qua la ricetta per Carrot Cake.
Here is the recipe for CARROT CAKE

Ha bisogno di una teglia quadrata di 20 cm. Ungi bene la teglia, e spargere farina sopra.
You need a square pan about 8 inches by 8.

Ungi bene la teglia e spargere la farina.
Butter the pan and sprinkle with flour.

Devi mettere tutti gli ingredienti fuori dal frigo per u'ora prima.
Place all of the ingredients outside of the fridge for about an hour beforehand.

1 tazza di farina passata, e ripassarla
1 cup of all purpose sifted flour, sift again.

1 cucchiaio di lievito (polvere bianco)
1 spoonful if baking powder

1 cucchiaio di cannella
1 spoonful of cinnamon

½ cucchiaio di sale
½ spoonful of salt

Mescolare tutti gli ingredienti sopra e aggiunge:
Mix all the ingredients above and add:

2/3 tazza di olio vegetale
2/3 cup of vegetable oil

1 tazza di zucchero
1 cup of sugar

2 uova mescolate bene
2 eggs well beatten

Poi aggiungere:
Then add:

½ tazza di noce
½ cup of chooped nuts (any nuts will do)

1 & ½ tazze di carote gratucciate
1 & ½ cups of grated carrots

Versare dentro la teglia imburatta e mettere in forno caldo basso ( 180)per circa 30 minuti.
Pour the mix into a buttered pan and place in a hot oven (350) for about 30 minutes.

Servire con formagio di crema Philadelphia o puoi fare un “icing” dolce di:
Then serve with cream cheese or make icing of:

¾ tazza di zucchero a velo passato
¾ cup of powdered sugar

3 ounces (supergiu 1 etto) di cream cheese
3 ounces of soft cream cheese

1 & ½ chucchiaio scorza di limone o arrancio grattuciato
1 & ½ spoonfuls of lemon or orange zest

1 chucchiaio di vanilla
1 spoonful of vanilla

Lavorare bene il formaggio e aggiunge lo zucchero lentamente e poi gli altri ingredienti.
Blend the cream chees well and add the sugarslowly and then all the other ingredients.

Quando il dolce é freddo, poi spargere il “icing.”
When the cake is cold

Spero che mi caspisci!
Hope you understand me!

Baci—
Kisses,
~Nina

Sockeye Salmon with potates in a rosé sauce

Aug. 3rd

Here’s a dish I made last week when Phil and Donna were visiting and our friend Maria came for dinner. (So let’s say this serves 6 people generously.) While I was cooking we also had four visiting doe munching the weeds to the side and back of the house. They are very curious little girls and put their heads up at whistling, but do not scamper off until they have had their fill.

Now to the salmon…always buy wild salmon and never farm raised. If you're going to spend money and time preparing something—make sure it's healthy as well as flavorful!

In a large deep fry pan—I use Bialetti! I coated the bottom with very little olive oil. I sliced two large Yukon Gold potatoes very thinly. (You may use any potato you have…I just happened to have these in my pantry.) These, I placed around the bottom of the pan. I added 3 white fresh onions also thinly sliced…save the green tops for later. I flecked these with about 3-4 fat shaved (as in extremely thin and papery!) garlic cloves. Then I salted the potatoes, onions and garlic, and covered with water. I cooked them for about 20 minutes: 10 minutes high and covered and 10 minutes medium uncovered or until the water almost all evaporates.

To this I added a glass of Pinot Grigio! (that’s what we were drinking for dinner), and on a high flame till the alcohol burned off. Then I poured in 8 oz of liquefied fresh pulp tomatoes—no skins—but you can cheat and add a small can of tomatoes (8 oz.).

Next I poured in almost ¾ of a cup of heavy cream. When this starts to bubble and burble, lower the heat to a moderate flame. Add a whole fillet of skinless salmon.

Since my husband purchased this for me—he forgot to ask the fish “peddler” to skin it. Needless to say, I took in hand my sharpest new Chicago Cutlery boning knife and skinned that salmon sucker clean and neat. You may need to use a smaller knife such as a 3 inch peeler to slice away any insolent piece of remaining skin.

Next what you want to do is rinse the fish so that any scales that might to be brazen enough to adhere to the fish’s flesh come off. Pat dry with paper towels. Add the fish to the pot so it lays on top of the mixture, and spray with butter, or dab with butter, or if you are an absolute fanatic and won’t even spell the word butter, margarine if you must. Salt and pepper generously. Raise the heat and cook for 5-10 minutes only. Spoon the sauce, not the veggies, on top as it cooks.

I usually sprinkle the fish with some garlic powder, and I add some very hot red SIRACHA HOT CHILI SAUCE to the sauce because my husband doesn’t like bland food. Also when you serve the fish a fresh dusting of coarse ground black pepper looks and tastes divine. Add thin rounds of the green tops saved from the fresh onions. (May also use scallions.) Serve to oohs and ahhs when the guests savor the very first bite.

Oh, and as an accompaniment to this, I made bruschetta, some with just garlic and oil, and some slices smeared with a lovely French creamy cheese, also a huge mixed salad, and asparagus. For desert we had a medley of mixed berries with a choice of vanilla ice cream and/or fresh whipped cream.

NB
Not entirely a dieter’s dinner, but oh well, c’est la vie! And life is short no matter how long you live!

Lauren Small's Gazpacho

As promised! Lauren Small sent me her recipe for Gazpacho and here it is below. But first, here’s a little background information about Lauren. She is a woman of many hats. She's an award-winning equestrian, a wife, a mother, a sister, an aunt, a fiction writer, a novelist, a teacher of creative writing, a great friend, a wonderful reader, a member of the Screw Iowa! Writer's Workshop (www.screwiowa.com), a thorough “critiquer” and a good cook!

Lauren Small’s novel, Choke Creek, is due out mid-September by Bridle Path Press and will be available on http://www.amazon.com/ and also on Lauren’s website: http://www.laurensmall.com/. Her novel will be taught in high schools in Maryland and Florida.

The novel is based on the Massacre of Sand Creek in 1864. The story is told in alternating chapters between the main character, Evie Glauber, who is in search of truth and her boyfriend Eason, who joins the Army to fight in Viet Nam. Small's love of history, research and her wonderful lyrical writing are showcased in this debut novel. Small’s research led her in many directions and one of the books that inspired her writing was The Things They Carried by Tim O’ Brien. As Small says in the book’s “Afterword,” “As for the Indian Wars—there is much that still needs to be said. It is my hope that this book will become one voice in the conversation.”


Here’s the recipe for Gazpacho (Serves 4)

Gazpacho

4 large, ripe tomatoes
1 cucumber
1 green pepper
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
1 small clove garlic
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce (or to taste)

Cut cores out of tomatoes. Peel and seed cucumber. Take seeds out of green
pepper. Cut all vegetables into chunks and puree in food processor with all
other ingredients. If the soup is too thick, add a little water. Chill and enjoy.