Arugula
Rice salad black japonica rice
chopped arugula
roasted beets
chopped dried apricots
vinaigrette
Hi Winnie and Steve,
I have been reading the book by John Steinbeck called "Travels With Charley." I don't know if you recall this book where Steinbeck travels all across America in a truck with a camper on top called Rocinante -- he also has his faithful dog Charley with him. The section I am reading right now is where he is driving through Maine. So, obviously it made me think of you and the small towns where you were each raised. In the far northern reaches of Maine he stumbles across an encampment of Canucks from Canada who are in Maine picking up potatoes during the harvest. Since Steinbeck is camped very near the Canucks, he invites them into his camper to drink a Cognac from France. He relates a special moment -- "And with the few divided drops of that third there came into Rocinante a triumphant human magic that can bless a house, or a truck for that matter -- nine people gathered in complete silence and the nine parts making a whole as surely as my arms and legs are part of me, separate and inseparable. Rocinante took on a glow it never quite lost."
Anyway, I only share a bit here, but it is a sweet account of those brief but touching human encounters when perhaps only the smallest of things is shared. Speaking of small -- I try to keep a little patch of arugula going in the garden most of the time. I just love the peppery taste and accent it adds to dishes. My little patch right now is full of insect holes, but it doesn't matter. It is still clean and tastes great. Arugula is one of the truly fun greens to keep going in a garden.
Thinking of you. Donna
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