Who Else We Saw at RadioLab's Live Show

This was the first time I had heard of Reggie Watts. His improvised songs about our damp climate and obsession with fine coffee, had the crowd laughing. But with RadioLab we were already laughing.

On Being Respectful

{Really?! It was two years ago? Link to previous post}

I like Christmas and all of the other end of the year holidays. But, and I don't talk about this often, I'm not religious. Never was. My mother tried, bless her heart, but it didn't take. I suppose it didn't help matters that I asked too many questions that the people around me couldn't answer.

Strangely enough, my own lack of religion didn't stop me from promoting Christmas with the students at school. Until last fall-- something clicked for me during a school holiday discussion with @SalemRebekah. I realized that by reading Christmas stories to the wee folk that I was being disrespectful of the different beliefs of the children and their families. That I was promoting the mindset that "my way is the only way". Thanks to @SalemRebekah I began a search for children's books about sharing, caring and giving, because that is the central core at the heart of the holiday season. Plus, sharing, caring and giving, are cross cultural and (hopefully) not offensive to anyone's beliefs.

Here I am, another holiday season and yet another new-to-me teacher to work with. I'm struggling with whether to share my year old epiphany with her, or to just roll with it. I tried to discuss it with another friend/coworker last year, but ended up running head long into the attitude that some people are trying to destroy Christmas. {sigh}

Is it wrong to roll with it or does it make me complicit with the very attitudes I'm trying to escape?
{sigh}
Oh, and are gingerbread men generic enough for all?

Book list I have to date:
One Smile
Ordinary Mary's Extraordinary Deed
The Mitten Tree
Ribbon Rescue
A Circle of Friends
My Most Favorite Thing
The Giant Hug
Nico and Lola
The Carpenter's Gift

Taco Tuesday!

I was looking for dinner inspiration, after hearing a story about a cookbook that embraces the kids for family dinner night. During my search for the book, I ended up stumbling across a blog called, "Once Upon a Chef", and their recipe for chicken tacos. The recipe reminded me of how Franny cooks, so of course I decided that would be the next day's dinner. Those were some of the best tacos I've ever had.

We only made a few changes:

1. ground turkey, instead of chicken
2. only red pepper--we rarely use green
3. soft artisan shells, not hard

http://www.onceuponachef.com/2011/02/chicken-tacos.

Chicken Tacos
Makes 12 tacos

Ingredients

For Filling
¼ cup olive oil
¾ cup diced red bell pepper (you'll need one small pepper)
¾ cup diced green bell pepper (you'll need one small pepper)
2 medium yellow onions, diced (about 2 cups)
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 pounds ground chicken (not extra-lean all breast meat)
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons ancho chili powder
1-1/2 teaspoons cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more if you like it spicy)
1-3/4 teaspoons salt
1 cup canned tomato sauce
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (you'll need one small bunch)
12 hard taco shells (I like Old El Paso Stand 'n Stuff)

Suggestions for Garnish
Shredded lettuce or purple cabbage
Shredded Mexican blend cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Heat olive oil in large saute pan over medium heat. Add onions, red peppers and green peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and just starting to brown, about 10-12 minutes. Add garlic and cook a few minutes more. Add ground chicken, paprika, ancho chili powder, cumin, oregano, cayenne, and salt. Turn heat to high; use wooden spoon to stir and break chicken into small clumps until chicken is partially cooked, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomato sauce, then turn heat down to low. Simmer, stirring occasionally and breaking chicken into smaller clumps, for 10-15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Sprinkle with fresh chopped cilantro. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

3. Meanwhile, remove taco shells from package and lay sideways on baking sheet. Pull stack apart, overlapping edges slighly. Bake 6 to 7 minutes, or until crisp. Spoon chicken into shells and serve with suggested toppings.

. . . Devour A Pumpkin

My mouth was watering while listening to this story with Dorie Greenspan on NPR yesterday.  I'm going to check, but I'm pretty sure my Cinderella Pumpkin is too big for this recipe.

"Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Good
by Dorie Greenspan
(click here to read the entire story and see the picture)
Makes 2 very generous servings

1 pumpkin, about 3 pounds

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1/4 pound stale bread, thinly sliced and cut into 1/2-inch chunks

1/4 pound cheese, such as Gruyere, Emmenthal, cheddar, or a combination, cut into 1/2-inch chunks

2–4 garlic cloves (to taste), split, germ removed, and coarsely chopped

4 strips bacon, cooked until crisp, drained, and chopped

About 1/4 cup snipped fresh chives or sliced scallions

1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme

About 1/3 cup heavy cream

Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment, or find a Dutch oven with a diameter that's just a tiny bit larger than your pumpkin. If you bake the pumpkin in a casserole, it will keep its shape, but it might stick to the casserole, so you'll have to serve it from the pot — which is an appealingly homey way to serve it. If you bake it on a baking sheet, you can present it freestanding, but maneuvering a heavy stuffed pumpkin with a softened shell isn't so easy. However, since I love the way the unencumbered pumpkin looks in the center of the table, I've always taken my chances with the baked-on-a-sheet method, and so far, I've been lucky.

Using a very sturdy knife — and caution — cut a cap out of the top of the pumpkin (think Halloween jack-o'-lantern). It's easiest to work your knife around the top of the pumpkin at a 45-degree angle. You want to cut off enough of the top to make it easy for you to work inside the pumpkin. Clear away the seeds and strings from the cap and from inside the pumpkin. Season the inside of the pumpkin generously with salt and pepper, and put it on the baking sheet or in the pot. Toss the bread, cheese, garlic, bacon, and herbs together in a bowl. Season with pepper — you probably have enough salt from the bacon and cheese, but taste to be sure — and pack the mix into the pumpkin. The pumpkin should be well filled — you might have a little too much filling, or you might need to add to it. Stir the cream with the nutmeg and some salt and pepper and pour it into the pumpkin. Again, you might have too much or too little — you don't want the ingredients to swim in cream, but you do want them nicely moistened. (But it's hard to go wrong here.)

Put the cap in place and bake the pumpkin for about 2 hours — check after 90 minutes — or until everything inside the pumpkin is bubbling and the flesh of the pumpkin is tender enough to be pierced easily with the tip of a knife. Because the pumpkin will have exuded liquid, I like to remove the cap during the last 20 minutes or so, so that the liquid can bake away and the top of the stuffing can brown a little.

When the pumpkin is ready, carefully, very carefully — it's heavy, hot, and wobbly — bring it to the table or transfer it to a platter that you'll bring to the table.

Serving

You have choices: you can cut wedges of the pumpkin and filling; you can spoon out portions of the filling, making sure to get a generous amount of pumpkin into the spoonful; or you can dig into the pumpkin with a big spoon, pull the pumpkin meat into the filling, and then mix everything up. I'm a fan of the pull-and-mix option. Served in hearty portions followed by a salad, the pumpkin is a perfect cold-weather main course; served in generous spoonfuls or wedges, it's just right alongside the Thanksgiving turkey.

Storing

It's really best to eat this as soon as it's ready. However, if you've got leftovers, you can scoop them out of the pumpkin, mix them up, cover, and chill them; reheat them the next day.

Greenspan's Stuffing Ideas

There are many ways to vary this arts-and-crafts project. Instead of bread, I've filled the pumpkin with cooked rice — when it's baked, it's almost risotto-like. And, with either bread or rice, on different occasions I've added cooked spinach, kale, chard, or peas (the peas came straight from the freezer). I've made it without bacon, and I've also made and loved, loved, loved it with cooked sausage meat; cubes of ham are another good idea. Nuts are a great addition, as are chunks of apple or pear or pieces of chestnut."

Bill Nye's "Last Dance"