Stuffed Peppers and New Relationships

The best part of finding and making new recipes is learning from them and adjusting them, making them my own. Last Wednesday, I make orzo-stuffed peppers with pecorino cheese, mint, tomatoes and zucchini. They were good, but the mint was little much. Next time, no mint, more cheese, and more seasoning. They were fun to make, although they took forever. I had neglected to read the recipe before I started and so I did not realize that it would take over an hour to make the peppers. By the time they were ready, I was no longer hungry (whether that was because it took too long or because I ate too much pecorino cheese in the process, I don't know). They came out better than I expected. The peppers had to bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. The entire 45 minutes I was nervous that they would burn or overcook. My anxiety was unnecessary. Giada knows what she's talking about. The best part of this recipe is that it makes an entire meal. Next time I know to leave more time for eating.

On my nightstand:

Last week, I read a new manuscript for a book coming out in the Spring of 2011. I loved it, so I'll try to make sure to remind you to pick it up when it comes out. It is a young adult novel about a girl in a dystopian alternate past. It takes place in the 1930s or 1940s, but history has changed. The entire world runs on steam and is ruled by reason, no magic or imagination is allowed. The book was so good and I was so into it, that I couldn't bring myself to start the next book I had. Every time I finish a book I loved, I become somewhat depressed that it's over. I tell myself that no other book could ever compare. Each time, I pick up magazine after magazine, thinking articles about fashion and weddings will bring me out of my funk. I could best compare this experience to a difficult breakup. The manuscript I had just finished became a meaningful long-term relationship that had just ended, the magazines meaningless flings, rebounds, aimed at helping me move on. Finally, tired of thoughtless articles and pictures of stick-thin models, I decided to move on, and started my new book, my new relationship.

I picked up Lucky by Alice Sebold. It's the newest selection in my book club. At first, I was more hesitant than usual to pick this one up. It's the author's memoir and describes her life after being raped and beaten in a park while attending college. Stories like these in books, on TV, or in movies, are hard for me, and I assume all women, to hear. They stay with me, weighing me down, disturbing me to the core. And yet, I can't stop reading once I've started. I'm riveted, if sick to my stomach. This book, so far, is amazing, and yes, disturbing. It starts out with her rape, so the hardest part to read is in the beginning. It then moves on to how she and her family dealt with it, how she healed and moved on. This glimpse into an event that -thankfully- many people will never experience, is a beautiful, moving portrait of a broken woman, making herself whole again.