(Jamie Ford, on my Kindle). A poignant story about a Chinese-American, growing up in Seattle at the beginning of World War II. Henry falls in love with a young Japanese girl before her family is interned in a relocation camp. It a very secretive relationship because his parents would highly disapprove. The story goes back to the 40’s and forward to the 1980’s when Henry is in his 50’s and his wife (not the Japanese woman) has just died of cancer. The story pulls you in from the first page, especially when some artifacts are found in the basement of an old hotel which contain personal belongings from several Japanese families who were suddenly taken away back in 1942. You can see where it’s going, can’t you? I heard criticism of this book that it was just a little bit contrived. Halfway through I’m enjoying it very much.
(Kathryn Stockett on my Kindle); if you haven’t heard about this book, you should! It’s a novel written from the voice of the black servants and some of the people they work for, all residents of Jackson, Mississippi. In the 1950’s. The maids generally are disrespected, still have to ride in the back of the bus, and some are prevented from using the bathroom in the houses where they work. The story is about a young woman (daughter of one of the society ladies) who decides to write a book about the stories of the maids. Anonymously. But not quite, of course. So it’s not only the stories themselves, but about the society-ladies’ relationships, and about the stealth required to interview the maids and write the book. And the repercussions when it’s published. A fantastic read.
by Jetta Carleton (Kindle edition); 
by Susan Richards (Kindle edition); 
by Sally Gunning (Kindle edition)
; 
; 
(Mario Batali & Gweneth Paltrow); 
; 
.
Every time our family gets together for a big confab, there are always logistics – the date, the time, who can bring what, and what’s convenient for which family, depending on soccer games, and traveling requirements. Originally our daughter Sara and her family were going to bring salad, but with the heat and a two hour drive, she thought that likely wasn’t a good idea, so we switched – she bought a big fancy sheet birthday cake (and tried to keep it out of the sun in the back of their car) and I made the salad, but used her recipe.
Although we eat at Soup Plantation now and then (their salad bar is par excellence), I’d never had their summer lemon salad. Sara had raved about it last summer, but somehow we missed the window of opportunity and it was gone by the time we went there. Sara had the recipe in her head: spring mix (“you know, Mom, that big bag from Costco” she said), pecans (“I make your recipe, Mom, for the peppered pecans instead), dried cranberries and gorgonzola and this lemonade dressing. She said 1 ½ cups mayo, 1 cup of lemonade concentrate, sugar and Dijon. That’s it. She didn’t give me specifics on the sugar and Dijon, so she added more mustard once she tasted it. I added too much sugar, I think, but it was fine. I found the recipe today on the ‘net, and it has more specific quantities and uses a spicy candied pecan. It’s a “copycat” recipe, so we don’t know for sure if it’s Soup Plantation’s version, although on the ‘net it indicates the recipe came from an institutional restaurant magazine.
It was easy enough to put together. The dressing took about 2 minutes to mix up. I did make my peppered pecans (took about 10-12 minutes, I’d suppose). After crumbling the blue cheese (I had that on hand, so didn’t buy Gorgonzola) it was a simple matter of tossing it together just before serving. It’s a delicious salad – everybody loved it – there was none left. We had friends over for dinner the next night and served it again, with the leftovers from the big family dinner. I still have dressing, and will make this salad again in the next few days. I’ll add some regular head lettuce to it, though. The spring mix is so fragile – I think the dressing could stand to have some more sturdy lettuces. After 5 minutes the salad is wilted, so really do toss it the very last thing before dishing it up. It’s tart and sweet and crunchy. A lovely side for a summer’s evening.
Summer Lemony Green Salad
Recipe By: Supposedly a Soup Plantation recipe, served only in the summer months.
Servings: 10
8 cups lettuce leaves — fancy spring mix, or a mixture
1/2 cup pecans — “peppered pecans”
1/2 cup Gorgonzola cheese — crumbled, or blue cheese
1/4 cup dried cranberries
SUMMER LEMONADE DRESSING:
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
1 cup frozen lemonade concentrate — thawed
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon sugar
1. In a bowl combine the dressing ingredients and whisk (wire whisk) until completely mixed. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
2. In a large salad bowl combine the lettuces and crumbled cheese, then pour on some dressing. Sprinkle the pecans on top. Don’t add too much dressing – try less and taste as you go. Serve immediately!
I’m not including the nutrition on this one – it’s not bad, but it assumes you use all of the dressing on a small salad, so it’s waaaay off.
printer-friendly pdf
Ellie Balsley
said on August 1st, 2008:
Hi there! Happy to hear that the earthq. was not a bad one … never experienced one, don’t think I want to, either.
Okay, how do I re-create a “peppered pecan?” That dressing sounds wonderful and we have a garden full of greens, so I’d like to duplicate.