Eat like a peasant

Eastside Road, December 1, 2012—

EAT LIKE A PEASANT; be healthy and happy. We have been dealing with bad colds for the last week — a rare occurrence in this family; Lindsey especially virtually never gets a cold. But there you are: we have colds. We haven't had an appetite for days.

This morning I got up, said White Rabbit (it being the first of the month), and made our coffee and toast. Some hours later, after a morning of reading in front of the stove, Lindsey made toast, which she spread with peanut butter.

Tonight, quite a few hours later, stirrings of something like hunger. I'd thought of making a risotto today, but L's heart wasn't in it. Not yet. So I made a vinaigrette for a green salad: but I made it a new way for me. Usually it's crush the garlic into a stainless-steel mixing bowl; crush it further with salt, using a dinner fork; add olive oil and let it stand; add vinegar at the last minute, lettuce, and toss.

Tonight I used a mortar and pestle, crushing the garlic with the pestle, crushing it further with the salt, then "crushing" the olive oil into it. Instead of whisking things together with a dinner fork I worked things together with marble on marble.

I like my Martini stirred, not shaken; I've learned this makes a smoother drink, less agitated, more resolved. I reasoned a vinaigrette would respond similarly — and it did. I added some of that good Maille French mustard tonight; it's good for a head cold.

With the salad, more toast: this time with slices of local Portuguese-inherited St. Andre and imported Gruyère. I prefer the latter, but not by all that much. A bit of chocolate for dessert.

Vermentino, Epicuro (Lazio), 2010 (commercial, fragrant, pleasant)