Anniversary and A Cure

It's my blog's anniverary month! We're four years old. I started this blog back in November, 2008, back when it was deemed essential for an emerging writer to have one, but I was afraid that nobody would want to read about my bulky manuscripts and fledgling attempts at publication, so I wrote my first post about beets.

Pretty funny, eh?  Let me explain. When I'm not writing, I'm gardening, and I know that everyone loves good food. (As George Bernard Shaw said,  "There is no love sincerer than the love of food.") So I thought I would begin by writing about something we can all agree on. My first post was about the tremendous beet harvest of 2008 with a recipe for Rosy Beet Risoto from my sister, Bett. And then I shared my mother's homemade spaghetti sauce recipe, memories of the season triggered by a November gale and gunshots on opening day as I carried a bowl of sauce down the road to her place.

Back when pheasants were plentiful, opening day of hunting season was a main event. We always made friedcakes, using my grandma's deep ol' fryer and an ancient recipe. It was an all-day process, at the end of which the counter would be full of warm friedcakes dripping glaze or coated in sugar and cinnamon. The hunters would report in at the back door, eat friedcakes, and discuss the hunt.

But back to blogging. I moved beyond food, and suddenly one day I had a follower and more than one comment. Who would've guessed? I didn't know there would be such a thing as followers and feedback. Did I say I knew anything about blogging? I knew nothing, but I got braver and posted an excerpt of my writing and a poem or two.  I met other writers and artists, editors and interns. I started to get more than a couple of comments on a post, I dared to offer advice, wrote about writer do's and don'ts, and posted a book review. I shared experience and fessed up to rejections. I received a few blog awards (remember when those things were all the rage?) and passed them on. I had fun. 

Of late, many have questioned bogging and wonder if the pheonomon has run it's course. But I think that as long as people hunger to share ideas, receive advice and get feedback, there will be a reason to blog and interesting people who will do it. Blogging opens lines of communication between people who would never have otherwise met. I love getting a comment from Australia or Europe or Asia, or from someone in the next county. Some months I may only get up 2-3 posts but that's OK.

I began by singing beet praises, so let me end this post with a story about beets. When my grandmother was a young woman (my father just a boy), she because very ill with what was then called Quincy. We now know it as acute tonsillitis. She became so sick, she could barely breathe. Grandfather sent for her sisters to come and help. The distance was great with nothing but a team of horses to ease their journey, but they made the trip and arrived on a blustery winter night and started chopping up beets. They made a beet poultice and wrapped it around her neck in a cheesecloth. They didn't cook the beets; they simply chopped them in a food grinder and wrapped them in cheesecloth. They changed the poultice several times during the night. In the morning she was better.

In closing, I'd like to thank all of you for reading what I write and thank you especially for all your encouraging words. Even if you only drop in ocassionally, that's all any writer could ask. I remember each and every one of you. I thank you for making blogging fun.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Beets for Good Health

I'm awash in beets...baby beets, adult beets, deformed beets, and perfectly round beets. Two two-hundred foot rows of Detroit Dark Red, planted thickly and thinned and sold from June 1st through November, the gift that keeps on giving, and giving and giving...

ROSY BEET RISOTTO

2 medium beets
3 T. olive oil
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 ½ cups Arborio or short-grain rice
2 T. snipped fresh basil
2 14-oz cans chicken broth
½ cup crumbled blue cheese
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Fresh basil leaves for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place beets in the center of 18-in square of heavy foil. Drizzle with 1 T olive oil and fold , allowing room for steam to build. Roast 1hr and 15 min or until tender. Cool 30 minutes. Remove beets, transfer liquid to measuring cup, add water to equal ½ cup. Pour liquid in medium saucepan. Peel and cut beets in wedges. In 3-qt saucepan cook onion in remaining oil until tender; add rice. Cook and stir 5 minutes. Meanwhile, add broth to beet liquid in saucepan. Bring to boil. Recue heat and simmer. Carefully stir 1 cup of hot broth into rice mixture. Cook, stirring frequently over med heat until liquid is absorbed. Then add ½ cup broth at a time, stirring until absorbed before adding more (about 20 min). Stir in any remaining broth. Cook and stir just until rice is tender and creamy. Add beets, heat through. Remove rice from heat, stir in half of cheese, snipped basil and salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle remaining cheese and basil leaves and serve. Makes 8 side-dish servings.

*Recipe from the kitchen of Bette Linck-Nikodemski