Artichoke

I love artichokes!  Yesterday I drove all the way to South Elgin to shop at Caputos.  Large arti's were on sale 2 for 1.09 so guess what I bought.  Yep and I made them for my dinner last night.  As I was making them I remembered the book, "Alone in the kitchen with an eggplant".  It is an anthology of stories about what you eat when your are alone, either by choice or design.  The stories are fun and my arti's were what I was alone with.  Doug had a Union meeting to go to and so I was on my own for dinner.  They are so easy to make!

2 large artichokes trimmed rubbed with lemon 

squeeze 1/2 lemon into large pot of water, enough to cover the artichokes. Throw the lemon in the water!

3 cloves of garlic, smashed, added to water with a splash of olive oil

Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.  Cook about 45 minutes. 

Drain and serve with lemon butter

Squeeze 1/2 lemon into small dish and microwave for 1 minute

Add 1/2 stick of butter in pieces and stir until melted

If you have never eaten artichoke before you just peel the leaves off one at a time and dip the soft end in the butter and scrape off with your teeth. Ummmm.  When you get to the center where the choke is, use a spoon to scrape off the choke and cut the heart into pieces and eat with the left over butter.

I ate one last night with a fresh baguette, sopressata, fontinella cheese and blackberries for desert.  I was in heaven.  And I get to do it all over again for lunch today.  

And I forgot to tell you that I quit smoking.

Elections

The elections are finally over.  It is always disappointing to me EVERY election how few people vote and then complain.  I have been an election judge since 2001.  After Bush was appointed to office, I needed to do something.  So I became a judge and Doug became a Precinct Committeeman.  I have not seen the kind of horror stories that are reported about the elections so I guess I am lucky.  I am sure that they happen but just not to me yet .  It is a long day and it takes me severals days to recover.  Showing my age!  The money is secondary for me but every one of the judges I have worked with in the last couple of cycles are in it for the money.  Period.  No civic duty involved.  That's okay by me because it blurs the political lines.  The student judges are great.  When I first started, all of the judges were at least 20 years older than me and they have all since retired and many of them have past away.  They all did it to do their civic duty.  I don't see that too much any more.  Most of the judges I worked with this time were around my age.  This is a good thing because maybe they will continue to work the elections.  Or when they are better off financially, they will quit.  I hope not because I have worked with some real nice people.

Doug and I campaigned for our local candidates, going to door to door, putting out signs, mailing campaign literature to voters in our precinct and talking to friends and neighbors to vote for our guys.  More often than not people were not interested.  "I don't know any of these people" "This election is not going to do anything for me" "I am tired of elections"  were just some of the things people were saying to me.  I have thought about this and the election in November and I have decided that burnout with party politics is part of the problem. They were all willing to participate for the November election, thank you Obama, but now they were done. It did not matter that I could tell them all they needed to know about the candidates, they weren't interested.  Sigh.

Party politics is a whole other blog.  Oh the things I can tell but probably won't.  

Marla is coming in 2 weeks to visit for the weekend.  Woooooo!!!  It is a very short visit and she will have a very busy and I will have dinner with her and Tony.  I was able to get the day off so I will be able to spend a few more hours with her.  Nice.