Recipe: Crab Cake

4 tbsp. mayonnaise

2 tbsp. creole mustard

1/2 tsp. creole seasoning

1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsp. finely chopped fresh parsley

1 tbsp. finely chopped green onion

2 tsp. finely minced red bell pepper, optional

1 pound crab meat

1 1/4 cup fresh fine bread crumbs, divided

Preparation:

Combine mayonnaise, mustard, parsley and seasonings, set aside.  Drain crabmeat, put in a bowl.  With a spatula fold in mayonnaise mixture and 1 cup of the bread crumbs, just until blended.  Shape into 8 crab cakes about 2 1/2 inches in diameter.  Press gently with reserved crumbs.  Cover and chill for 1 to 2 hours.

Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil over medium heat.  Fry crab cakes for about 5 minutes each side.

Song: "Happy Kid" By: Nada Surf

Poem: "Tumbling-hair" By: e. e. cummings

Tumbling-hair

picker of buttercups

violets

dandelions

And the big bullying daisies

through the field wonderful

with eyes a little sorry

Another comes

also picking flowers

Recipe: Raspberry Muffins with Cacao Nibs

4 Tbsp. butter

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 egg

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup buttermild

1 cup raspberries

Topping:

1/3 cup cacao nibs

1/4 brown sugar

Preheat oven to 4oo degrees F and grease (or line) a set of muffin tins.

Melt the butter in the microwave or in a small saucepan, and set aside to cool.  In a small bowl, combine the cacao nibs and brown sugar.  Set aside.

In a medium mixing-bowl, combine dry ingredients and stir to mix.  In another medium bowl, whisk together wet ingredients.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, pout in the wet ingredients, and stir with a spatula until just combined.  Do not overmix.  The mixture will be lumpy, that okay.  Fold in the berries.

Spoon the batter into the prepared tins, and sprinkle a bit of the cacao mixture on top.  Put into the oven to bake for 18-20 minute, until risen and golden.  Turn out on a rack to cool, and wait for 10-15 minutes before removing from the tins.

Song: "We Will Become Silhouettes" By: The Postal Service

Poem: "How Poetry Comes to Me" By: Gary Snyder

It comes blundering over the

Boulders at night, it stays

Frightened outside the

Range of my campfire

I go to meet it at the

Edge of the light

Recipe: Turkey Burger 

1 lb. ground uncooked turkey

1/4 c. bread crumbs

2 tsp. finely minced onion

1/2 tsp. ground sage

1 tsp. horseradish sauce

Mix everything together and grill!

Song: "16 Military Wives" By: Decembrists

Poem: "Speak of the North! A lonely moor" By: Charlotte Bronte

Speak of the North! A lonely moor

Silent and dark and tractless swells,

The waves of some wild streamlet pour

Hurriedly through its ferny dells.

Profoundly still the twilight air,

Lifeless the landscape; so we deem

Till like a phantom gliding near

A stag bends down to drink the stream.

And far away a mountain zone,

A cold, white waste of snow-drifts lies,

And one star, large and soft and lone,

Silently lights the unclouded skies.

Recipe: Soupe de Courge à la Vanille

2 tbs. olive oil

2 onions, peeled and sliced

4 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeds scooped out and cut in chunks

salt

freshly ground pepper

1 tbs. vanilla extract

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot.  Add in the onion and cook over medium-high hear for five minutes or until softened, stirring regularly.  Add in the squash, season with salt and pepper, and cook for ten minutes, stirring from time to time.  Pour in hot water or stock to cover the vegetables and to a simmer.  Lower the heat to medium, cover and cook for 20 minutes.  Add in the vanilla extract.  Cook for ten more minutes, or until the squash is tender.  Purèe the soup in a food processor or blender, or use an immersion blender.  Adjust the seasoning and serve hot.

Song: "The Future Freaks Me Out" By: Motion City Soundtrack

Poem: "Fire and Ice" By: Robert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I've tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if I had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

Recipe: 

1 tsp. olive oil

1 glove garlic minced

2 tbs. all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups low-fat milk

1/2 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

3/4 cup grated Parmigian0-Reggiano cheese, divided

1/4 tsp. salt

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni

cooking spray

2/3 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

2/3 cup breadcrumbs

1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add flour and garlic: cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Stir in milk; bring to a boil.  Cook 2 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly with a whisk.  Add Gorgoncola, 1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, and salt; stir until cheeses melt. 

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

3. Cook pasta in boiling water 5 minutes or until almost tender, drain well.  Add pasta to cheese mixture, stirring well.  Place past mixture into a baking dish (sprayed with cooking spray).  Sprinkle evenly with mozzarella.  Top evenly with remaining pasta mixture.  Combine remaining 1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano and breadcrumb; sprinkle evenly over past mixture.  Spray lightly with cooking spray; sprinkle with black pepper.  Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until heated.

Poem: "Where The Sidewalk Ends" By: Shel Silverstein

There is a place where the sidewalk ends

And before the street begins,

And there the grass grows soft white,

And there the sun burns crimson bright,

And there the moon-bird rests from his flight

To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black

And the dark street winds and bends.

Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow

We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,

And watch where the chalk-white arrows go

To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,

And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,

For the children, they mark, and the children, they know,

The place where the sidewalk ends.

Song: "No Phone" By: Cake

Check it out on YouTube