Perhaps it is the fact that we planted an apricot tree in our yard over the weekend (just in time to beat the snow we are getting today), but these new stamps from the U.S. Postal Service totally fit my "It is spring and time to plant things in the garden" mentality.  The stamp art features photographs of antique seed packets printed between 1910 and 1920.

Rarely do I cook a meal for myself when I'm eating alone.  Instead, I'll have a piece of cheese, a few olives, perhaps some leftovers, or maybe some frozen peas (I adore frozen peas and am known and ridiculed for bringing them to work for lunch).  I can't really be bothered with purposeful cooking when it is just me eating.

Last weekend, Rob was in Boston and I was home alone.  I'd seen Melissa Clark's recipe for Chicken Curry with Sweet Potatoes and Coconut the day we returned from Southeast Asia.  It sounded delicious, but we were coming off of 19 days of curries, coconut milk, ginger, and so much rice.  We were craving salads, spaghetti, sandwiches, and cheese.  I won't even tell you where we ate our last meal in Thailand because it is so embarrassing... but we'd reached the point at which we just wanted something familiar (and, frankly, some air conditioning).

The food really was one of the highlights of our trip.  Everything we ate was delicious (well, there was a Northern Thai speciality involving congealed chicken blood in a soup that we didn't love, but we probably would have enjoyed that, too, had the ingredients not been identified) and neither of us could get enough of the coconut and tamarind, the fresh dragon fruit and pineapple, the Vietnamese iced coffee (totally genius to put sweetened condensed milk in iced coffee), and the green papaya salad (my personal favorite).  And by last weekend, I was ready to try Melissa Clark's recipe, even if just for myself.

This dish is delicious.  It would be perfect for a dinner party because it cooks in the oven for about 40 minutes, allowing you time to prep the rice and a simple salad to serve alongside.  The aromas of ginger, coconut, and red curry will waft through your kitchen... and when you toast the coconut and the mustard seeds to sprinkle on top the dish, your kitchen will smell even more amazing and the seeds will make an electric sound as they heat up.  Don't skip making the topping as the crispy texture and the coconut-mustard flavor really complements the curry and makes all the difference in the dish.  More importantly, don't skip making this - you won't be disappointed.

Chicken Curry with Sweet Potatoes and Coconut
Recipe from Melissa Clark for the New York Times
Total Time = 1 hour 20 minutes
Yield = 4 servings 

Ingredients

Preparation

1.  Heat oven to 325 degrees. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper.

2.  Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add oil. Brown chicken pieces, in batches if necessary, until golden all over, 6 to 8 minutes per batch. Transfer chicken to a plate.

Not every participant makes it through the three-month program, but those that do are rewarded with a job at Tender Greens.  Listen to the story - the interview with Joshua, a current student in the Sustainable Life Project is inspirational and heartbreaking -- and he just graduated from the program!

Recently, I've been in a cookie slump.  It started with an attempt to bake some gluten-free cookies that were a crumbly (and odd-tasting) mess.  Next was the homemade Thin Mints during Girl Scout cookie season.  They weren't bad, but they weren't great and they didn't hold a candle to the real thing.  

But yesterday, I perused the newest issue of Bon Appétit and the recipe for Pistachio Shortbread caught my eye.  I've been looking at pistachio ice cream recipes (does anyone have a favorite?) but they all want you to use pistachio paste and while I know I can make it myself, that extra step is really dissuading me from moving forward.  

If you, like me, need a pistachio fix, look no further than these cookies.  A few pulses in your food processor, an hour in the refrigerator to chill, and 15 minutes in the oven and you'll have a delicious cookie.  These have a strong pistachio flavor, aren't too sweet, and are quite pretty with the flecks of green pistachio throughout.

Pistachio Shortbread
Bon Appétit May 2013    

Preparation
1.  Pulse pistachios in a food processor until finely ground but not a paste, about 30 seconds. Add flour, sugar, butter, salt, and vanilla; pulse until mixture is the consistency of cornmeal. With machine running, drizzle in 2 tablespoons ice water (a crumbly dough should form; do not over-process).  My dough appeared to still be too dry so I added another 1/2 tablespoon and it was fine -- before you add more water, try to get the dough to clump together because it is probably moister than you think.

2.  Transfer dough to a sheet of parchment paper and pat into a rectangle. Top with another sheet of parchment and roll out to a 12x8-inch rectangle (the neater the edges of your rectangle, the less likely you are to end up with funky-shaped edge cookies like I did - see photo above). Transfer dough (in parchment paper) to a baking sheet and chill until firm, about 1 hour.

3.  Place rack in middle of the oven; preheat to 350°. Remove top sheet of parchment paper from dough and discard. Cut dough lengthwise into 8 equal strips, then each strip crosswise into quarters, forming 32 rectangles (I think I probably ended up with about 40 cookies because of my mishapen rectangle). Place rectangles on 2 parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 1-inch apart.  Note that the cookies almost double in size during baking.  I ended up baking the cookies in two batches, two trays at a time because I made smaller cookies and spread them out.

4.  Bake shortbread until golden brown, rotating sheets halfway through, 14-18 minutes (the original recipe said 18-20 minutes, but I checked my first batch at 15 minutes and they were done). Transfer to wire racks; let cool.

Shortbread can be made 5 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.

This space is usually reserved for documenting "pretty things" or adventures in the kitchen, but today I can't fathom writing about anything but what occurred at the Boston Marathon yesterday. I lived in Boston for seven years and have run the Boston Marathon five times. Patriot's Day is a sacred day in the city, a tribute to the Battles of Lexington and Concord that is observed on a Monday, and a day that the entire city embraces to the fullest. Thousands of people line the streets of Boston and nearby suburbs to cheer on the runners as they make their way back to Boylston Street, and the city turns out to support the marathon rain or shine. Bostonians do things like use old running shoes to plant flowers in their window box (see above - I look for this display every year on Beacon Street), handout goodies along the race course (this ranges from brownies in Wellesley to beer in Chestnut Hill), and spend their entire day screaming in support of people who have trained for months and actually paid money to run 26.2 miles (check out this slideshow for pre-race and race images from yesterday). Everyone looks for Team Hoyt and you can't see Dick pushing his son Rick without it bringing tears to your eyes and inspiring you to be a more selfless person. It's a day when 500,000 people set aside their differences and unite to watch an historic event.

For the runners, you can hear the roar of the crowd on Boylston Street from Commonwealth Avenue, and as you turn onto Hereford Street you know you've made it. And when you actually make a left onto Boylston Street, you find yourself in a tunnel of screaming spectators and regardless of your pace and how you've felt for the previous 26 miles, you feel like a hero.

It sickens me that someone would attack the human spirit in such a disgusting way. I can't stop thinking about the three victims, including an 8-year-old boy who was cheering for his father and whose sister and mom were also injured, and those who are still hospitalized and fighting for their lives. It's hard not to lose faith in humanity when acts such as these occur.

But then you hear stories about how people responded yesterday, and it gives you hope that there is more good in the world than evil. What I do know is that next April, the Boston Marathon will be run for the 118th time. People will still push themselves to qualify or raise a large sum of money to benefit a worthy charity. Undoubtedly, there will be more security and the spirit of the race will change and the events of the 2013 race will be at the forefront of everyone's mind, but this horrific act won't put a stop to the running. As Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon wrote, “If you are losing faith in human nature, go out and watch a marathon." I know people will do just that.

My Mom and I after the 2012 Boston Marathon - we promised we'd be back to run again. Maybe 2014 will be our year?