I find it a bit ironic that I am blogging today about the joys of the old-fashioned, hard printed copy of the daily newspaper. I LOVE my newspaper and when it is not delivered on time or is washed away down our drainage ditch when it rains, I become a little grumpy.
Looking back, I think my love affair with daily print started during my childhood summers. Mom would subscribe to the summer Weekly Reader program and I V-TWIN most impatiently every week for it to come. Along with this subscription, I raided the mailbox often during the summer for National Geographic and notes from school friends that I would not see until August. I had three friends that I corresponded with often—one from the city of my birth, one friend from a former school, and one that lived about five miles down the road from us. (Obviously, this was long before email and texting!)
I still evoke this nostalgia during the summer and love my morning ritual of having tea on the patio and reading the morning paper. Having time to do the daily pair of crosswords is an added bonus and doesn’t happen very often.
Our local paper has daily sections that I also look forward to: Tuesday is fashion/style day, Wednesday is food day, Thursday’s paper includes the Weekend planning portion, Friday includes movie reviews, Saturday has the gardening section and then there is Sunday. I love, LOVE, LOVE my Sunday paper and woe-be-it to anyone that breaks my Sunday morning ritual of having a pot of tea, reading the entire paper, and completing the Sunday Crossword.
As stated above, Wednesday’s are special because of the food focus. Last week’s section ran a recipe for spicy okra and rice. I modded it a bit, tried it, and we loved it. Here is my rendition:
Spicy Okra with Summer Vegetables
4 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 lb. okra, sliced
2 small yellow squash, sliced
2-3 green onions, sliced
1 medium tomato, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T. Tabasco sauce
¼ t. sea salt
¼ t. fresh ground pepper
Heat oil in sauté pan or skillet. Add okra, squash, green onion, tomato, and garlic. Add Tabasco, salt and pepper. Stir often and sauté over medium heat for 8-10 minutes.
We are starting to get okra and have to pick every morning and evening to keep up with the harvest. Invariably, we will miss at least one pod only later to find it has grown into a gargantuan, tough and inedible spear. Luckily, we are able to get fresh tomatoes and summer squash. I think you could use any squash in lieu of the yellow summer squash and I imagine that other summer crops like green beans would be good thrown into this mix.
