Today: Lemon Curd!

Today is a lemon curd type of day. (Whatever that means ... it sounded better in my head haha) Heavy rain off and on, strange bursts of sunlight, and for some reason there's a concrete chisel being used somewhere just far enough not to be seen but certainly near enough to be perplexing and annoying. Strange neighborhood.

Julie Wolf, dear family friends from YEARS AND YEARS AND YEARS ago, makes us lemon curd every year for the holidays, but only this year did I attempt to make it. And damn it was good! So simple, but it does take some work and some time. Yay for biceps and triceps from stirring constantly!

In any case, I have elected to use Alton Brown's delicious lemon curd recipe. The only thing I would add would be a pinch of salt, but if you choose to leave that out because of the entire stick of butter that goes into it, who am I to judge. (But seriously ... after an entire stick of butter, what's one little pinch of salt?)

Here's the link!
Lemon Curd: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/lemon-curd-recipe/index.html

Some suggested uses for lemon curd are:
- Diabetic coma
- Clogged arteries

But once you get past those little negative-nancies of the culinary world, there are the following seductive uses of lemon curd:
- On toasted toast (sourdough, wheat/multigrain, french baguette), English muffins, croissants, weird healthy muffins, zucchini or banana or whatever-else you-make breads
- On sugar cookies, oatmeal cookies, bran cookies, pretty much any type of simple cookie (either on top or made into little sandwich cookies)
- In tarts
- In trifles
- On ice cream
... to name a few ...

As you can see, the possibilities go on and on! So whip yourself up a batch and see what you come up with!

Enjoy!

Nashville Flooding - Pets

When people are forced to leave their homes, they leave more than their family photos, their unfinished laundry, their entertainment systems, and the uneaten food in the freezer, they also leave their hearts: their pets. Due to a lack of space, temporary shelters not allowing animals for health and safety concerns, and not being able to locate a roaming cat, these invaluable members of the family are left behind. There is not way to convey to the unquestioning love in their eyes that you will be back as soon as you can, that you really do not want to leave them, and that you truly love them with all or your heart. And that inability to communicate is almost as devastating as leaving them behind in the first place.

In the recent Nashville, TN flooding, I am as concerned about the displaced animals as I am about their owners. Humans can fend for themselves, and so can their pets, but while humans have decades of life in which to find one another again, their animals may not even make it another year. Also, shelters and rescue centers have also be terribly affected by not only the rising waters but also the loss of power, the loss of potable water, the loss of staff members to care for them, and the loss of potential human families to come and adopt them.

Thankfully, there are many organizations stepping up, willing to help furry ones in need. Animal control is offering food and other supplies to pet owners. The Dyersburg ASPCA has sent workers to rescue domesticated and nondomesticated animals from the floods and devastation. Online news sources, blogs, and television news stations are also generously giving paper, internet, and air time to these furry hearts of many families.

More to come. But please, please, please keep the animals and their families in your thoughts and prayers.

Nashville, TN

Please keep Nashville, TN, her people, and her pets in your thoughts and prayers.

Here are some photos of some of the devastation: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/03/tennessee-flooding-photos_n_561436.html#s88270

No Strings Attached - Joel Thompson

On of my good friends, Joel Thompson, is a member of No Strings Attached, the all-male A Capella group here at Emory University. He is an incredible musician, as he sings, plays piano, composes, arranges, and promotes music. It's fair to say that music is his life, and I can't imagine him without it.

This past weekend No Strings Attached had their end of the semester, Spring 2010 concert, and it was phenomenal. Hilarious with great music - what more could you ask for?! Many of the songs in their repertoire for the night were arrangements by Joel, my favorite of which was Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me," sung by another member of the group (to be verified later when I can track him down!). It made my heart melt and my soul yearn for even a minute chance to have even a fraction of a hundredth of a percentage of the experience and emotion conveyed in the song. It's a wonderful song, it was a great arrangement, and it was phenomenal soloist.


So without further ado, here is his big solo, the only solo he has agreed to in his years with NSA. He is singing Stevie Wonder's "You and I."

Enjoy!