The Effort

Would anyone care to join me
in flicking a few pebbles in the direction
of teachers who are fond of asking the question:
"What is the poet trying to say?"

as if Thomas Hardy and Emily Dickinson
had struggled but ultimately failed in their efforts—
inarticulate wretches that they were,
biting their pens and staring out the window for a clue.

Yes, it seems that Whitman, Amy Lowell
and the rest could only try and fail
but we in Mrs. Parker's third-period English class
here at Springfield High will succeed

with the help of these study questions
in saying what the poor poet could not,
and we will get all this done before
that orgy of egg salad and tuna fish known as lunch.

Tonight, however, I am the one trying
to say what it is this absence means,
the two of us sleeping and waking under different roofs.
The image of this vase of cut flowers,

not from our garden, is no help.
And the same goes for the single plate,
the solitary lamp, and the weather that presses its face
against these new windows--the drizzle and the
morning frost.

So I will leave it up to Mrs. Parker,
who is tapping a piece of chalk against the blackboard,
and her students—a few with their hands up,
others slouching with their caps on backwards—

to figure out what it is I am trying to say
about this place where I find myself
and to do it before the noon bell rings
and that whirlwind of meatloaf is unleashed.

by Billy Collins from Ballistics

Ginger Baked Salmon

Serves 4

The marinade for this salmon is great used as a dressing for other recipes or poured over any kind of grain.

INGREDIENTS:
1/3 cup tamari or soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons sesame oil or toasted sesame oil
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 1-inch piece of ginger, grated with a microplane
2 scallions, white and green parts thinly sliced
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons packed dark brown sugar
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 1 1/2 pound fillet of salmon, skin-on and cut into 4 equal pieces

DIRECTIONS:
1. Combine all ingredients except salmon in a small bowl or liquid measuring cup. You will have a little over 3/4 cup of marinade. Set salmon, skin side down, in a rimmed dish and pour marinade over fish. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. You may marinate the fish in the refrigerator for up to 6 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 500 degrees and set a rimmed baking sheet on the lowest rack.
3. When the oven comes up to temperature, remove the baking sheet and turn the oven down to 275 degrees. Place the salmon, skin side down, on the baking sheet. Pour the marinade over the salmon. Bake for 9 - 13 minutes. The salmon will have a tender interior with nice crispy exterior. Serve and pour liquid over fish.

**Nearly all salmon are anadromous; this is just a fancyway of saying that they are born in fresh water, migrate to the ocean, then return to fresh water to have salmon babies. Salmon are believed to return to the exact spot where they were born to spawn and studies have corroborated this belief. We still aren't sure exactly how these creatures do it though.
* I had to add this little tidbit of information since it's summer: salmon, and other fish that are high in antioxidants and omega 3 oils, can reduce chances of skin damage and inflammation resulting from sunburn and potentially reduce the risk of skin cancers! Kind of cool. You shouldn't abandon the sunscreen but having a fillet of salmon after a day in the sun will seem doubly delightful and salubrious.

Questions

If on a summer afternoon a man should find himself
in love with only one woman
in a sea of women, all the others mere half-naked
swimmers and floaters, and if that one woman
therefore is clad in radiance
while the mere others are burdened by their bikinis,
then what does he do with a world
suddenly so small, the once unbiased sun
shining solely on her? And if that afternoon
turns dark, fat clouds like critics dampening
the already wet sea, does the man run—
he normally would—for cover, or does he dive
deeper in, get so wet he is beyond wetness
in all underworld utterly hers? And when
he comes up for air, as he must,
when he dries off and dresses up, as he must,
how will the pedestrian streets feel?
What will the street lamps illuminate? How exactly
will he hold her so that everyone can see
she doesn't belong to him, and he won't let go?

By Stephen Dunn from Local Visitations

Summer Roast with Mint

If you aren't afraid to turn on the oven in the summer... this recipe serves 4




INGREDIENTS:
2 small summer squash (about 12 ounces)
4 medium carrots (about 8 ounces)
1 1/2 cups chopped fennel bulb (about 1 small bulb)
1 medium onion, chopped into 1-inch pieces
4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup freshly chopped mint

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Quarter squash lengthwise, then cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces. Cut carrots into 1/4-inch thick rounds. Combine squash, carrots, fennel, onion, oil, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Spread mixture evenly in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Roast for 10 minutes and stir vegetables. Roast the vegetables for 6 – 10 more minutes until the vegetables are tender and the fennel begins to brown. Stir in the mint and serve.

**Summer squash are harvested when they are immature, so their rind is still tender and edible. Summer squashes are actually fruits (they’ve got seeds!) of the species Cucurbita pepo, but they are considered vegetables in terms of culinary use. They are dubbed “summer squash" due to their short storage life.

Recipe by Cristina Paul

Blah-Blah-Blahg: Food For Nought

During a recent potluck/screening with friends, I was just informed of the origins of this word and event. The potlatch is a ceremony that has been practiced among Native people of the Pacific Northwest. Families would host guests in order to re-distribute and/or destroy wealth. Often, the host would give away his/her most cherished possessions, as would the guests. Sometimes the offerings would be burned and other times the offering would be accepted by guests. Potlatching was practiced more in the winter seasons because the warmer months were typically a better time for accruing wealth. Hierarchical relations within and between clans, villages, and nations, were observed and reinforced through the distribution or destruction of wealth and dance performances involved in a potlach. The purpose of a potlatch was not to get the most but to give the most resources.

I've a lways been a bit of a control freak and greatly feared the non-sensical food combinations that are the inevitable result of a potluck. The historical context of the potlatch, however, has given me a smiling perspective of this ritual and a gratitude for it's abiding existence - even if it means eating off of paper with plastic (YIKES!)

What I Believe

I believe there is no justice,
but that cottongrass and bunchberry
grow on the mountain.

I believe that a scorpion's sting
will kill a man,
but that his wife will remarry.

I believe that, the older we get,
the weaker the body,
but the stronger the soul.

I believe that if you roll over at night
in an empty bed,
the air consoles you.

I believe that no one is spared
the darkness,
and no one gets all of it.

I believe we all drown eventually
in a sea of our making,
but that the land belongs to someone else.

I believe in destiny.
And I believe in free will.

I believe that, when all
the clocks break,
time goes on without them.

And I believe that whatever
pulls us under,
will do so gently.

so as not to disturb anyone,
so as not to interfere
with what we believe in.

by Michael Blumenthal from Days We Would Rather Know

Amazing Balsamic Caesar Dressing (ABC Dressing)

Yields about 1/2 cup but can easily be doubled, tripled, or quadrupled

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons good quality balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon freshly grated parmesan or pecorino romano cheese
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 anchovy fillets
1 minced garlic clove

DIRECTIONS:
Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the dressing has a homogeneous consistency. This dressing is very nice with chopped romaine and home-made croutons.

**Original and traditional balsamic vinegars are made from a reduction of cooked grape juice. They aren't vinegars in the usual sense, but they have been made in Modena and Reggio Emilia since the Middle Ages. Balsamic vinegar of Modena is actually an inexpensive modern imitation of the traditional product. We use this kind for salad dresings and, together with olive oil, to dip bread in.

*There are three types of Balsamic vinegar:

1. Authentic traditional artisan balsamic vinegar, also known as Balsamico Tradizionale

2. Commercial grade Balsamic vinegars which are mass-produced

3. Condimento grade products, which are usually a mix of the two above