music

i need to listen to more music.   i've never been much of a listener, strangely enough, and these days, most of what i hear is Frog and Toad or 'iodid' (lucy's very early and inexplicable rendition of Overcome Evil With Good, from Steve Green's kid's collection).

tonight, in a (less than successful) effort to concentrate on work, i put on a pair of headphones and turned on the faure and franck sonatas.  the passion, the beauty - i almost cried.  (we've established that this doesn't take much).  i played part of the franck sonata in high school, and had aspirations of learning the rest (on piano) during my brief musical renaissance before the girls were born.  chopin nocturnes followed, quietly and piercingly melancholy.  less familiar to me, some intricately gorgeous scriabin piano works rounded out the night.

stirring up the shades of another lifetime, it seems.  one where i practiced chopin ballades till 2 in the morning, where i brought staff paper to church so i could work out compositions between services, where i somewhat naively perhaps, took up my dream instrument, the cello.

i'm not saying all of that might not be lying dormant somewhere deep down, but for now, maybe i'd better turn the music off.  as i said, it has not been a very productive evening for work =) 

culinary corner

a mandoline + two pounds of colby cheese = ?

scalloped potatoes of course!  indulging my fondness for kitchen gadgets, ben got me a mandoline for mother's day this year.  i didn't have much chance to use it in our temporary apartment, but it was time to pull it out.  it did a nice job reducing four pounds of potatoes into nice, uniform 1/4" slices, though i'm still not sold on the amount of cleanup.  add a giant chunk of cheese i bought on sale, and it was time to find a scalloped potato recipe.  this one on epicurious.com got 4 forks - Scalloped Potatoes With Three Cheeses - and was nice and easy (no cooking required before baking).  i more or less followed the recipe, except that i used colby jack instead of cheddar and blue cheese.  i think the blue cheese would have added some better depth, but the girls wouldn't have gone for it.  i'd use less butter next time too, and i only cooked it for 20 minutes uncovered.

results:  tasty, not spectacular.  after two dinners, the potatoes presented their own difficulty.  notice the four pounds of potatoes - this was a 13x9 dish, and fully half it remained.  time for a new concoction =)  i bring you

Easy Baked Potato Soup
(well, easy if you happen to have 2 pounds of scalloped potatoes handy ;-) )

2 pounds (half a 9x13 dish) scalloped potatoes
1 32 oz box of chicken broth
1-2 cups finely chopped kale or spinach
1 small bunch of cilantro, finely chopped

put the potatoes in a soup pot and add chicken broth.  mash to desired consistency with fork or potato masher.  bring to a simmer and add kale.  cook 10 minutes or less, till kale is cooked.  add cilantro and cook a few minutes more.  thin with milk or water as desired.

don't skimp on the greens and cilantro, as they add a fresh bite that complements the richness of the potatoes.

bon appetit!