Waxing nostalgic - from stem to stern

Since we're out of food (and kinda have been since having the Swede's car in late July and not going to the grocery store and stocking up on, among other things, BEANS), I stopped by the co-op last night and got some dinner inspiration (as well as a cup of free lemonade). I went in wanting tofu and stir-fry, but I left with something completely different.

large can of diced tomatoes
squash, zucchini, baby eggplant
pre-made polenta loaf
half a white onion
minced garlic
red pepper
overripe jalapeno
olive oil
red wine (that was poorly corked and thus better suited for cooking than drinking as it's taken on vinegar-y properties)
small can of sliced black olives
generous clippings of basil from the garden
garden-grown parsley for garnish

I started by cutting the leftover onion half into quarters, then thinly sliced it before adding it to a stockpot with enough olive oil to coat. As the onions cooked, I added garlic (way more than most people would use, but we like garlic), and once the onions were translucent, I added some of the liquid from the can of diced tomatoes. While that cooked down, I diced a red bell pepper and a leftover jalapeno, then adding that to the pot. I let the peppers soften and then added a generous amount of wine (a cup, maybe more). I let that cook down some more, went out back, cut the basil and the parsley, chopped the basil, and added the basil, the olives, and the rest of the can of tomatoes. I left the sauce to simmer for about 90 minutes on the back burner.

I rinsed and prepared the rest of the vegetables for oven-roasting. I sliced the yellow squash length-wise, I cut the wee eggplant into little discs, and I halved and quartered the zucchini. I threw all of them into a Pyrex casserole and coated with olive oil before over-roasting for about 45 minutes - low and slow, baby!

I then thin, diagonally sliced the polenta loaf and lightly pan-fried that. To serve, I placed several slices of warm polenta on one half of the plate, a generous portion of roasted vegetables on the other half of the plate, and then topped with a thick and hearty homemade sauce.

I'm calling it Awesome Sauce and I want to make more of it and can it. I seriously think it could bring about world peace.


* or, as puttanesca as I'll make it. No capers, no anchovies.

Dear Miss Angela,

The cookies were good. I ate them all at the Snyder Station. I walked past a German Shepherd at SPHigh and couldn't figure out why he was barking and whining at me through the fence. It wasn't until I saw the cop at the station that I got a little paranoid.

Anyways, I only ate one. They're awfully chocolate-y!

Sleep-sleep-sleepily,
Diva Sqrl.

^{(this message was typed in Word to facilitate editing)}