When a Vegetable is No Longer a Vegetable

Today: a lesson in turning vegetables into treats. The following are in no way original recipes--a thousand slight variations on both can easily be found online, but damn if they aren't insanely delicious ways to "eat your vegetables." It's always nice when a slice of cake covers a quarter of your recommended daily intake of veggies.

Here sit the keys to Stevie's happy heart! Zucchini and baby Yukon gold latkes spiked with parsley, basil and lemon zest, crisping up in olive oil before being smothered in mascarpone cheese and devoured. I am not sure if fried zucchini and sweet cheese count as dinner, or just a first-course dessert.

Then, of course, I made zucchini bread. I had just made a fresh batch of walnut butter, so I was fresh out of walnuts to add to the batter... but why not smear walnut butter all over a fat piece? Yes, yes that is good.

My Potes are Burning

There are 15 minutes left in the very intense Spain v. Paraguay World Cup match. I am sweating and preoccupied and antsy for Spain to score already.

For a few minutes around the time of the two penalty kicks, I thought, "What is that lovely smell! Which neighbor is cooking something delicious right now? How nice!"

Then after I stopped sweating so desperately, I thought, "Hmm, my neighbor is letting something burn."

"Wow, it's really burning..."

Then it got really potent, and I thought, "Did I not put a pot of pretty little red new potatoes on the stove on extra-high heat to salt-boil about an hour ago?"

What a shame.