Meatless March

I swear that no one gets called for jury duty more than me. When I lived in Washington, DC, I used to get called back even before I was eligible again after my last service, and I would have to phone the court and explain their error.  I'm as willing as the next person to honor my civic responsibilities, and jury duty is usually interesting (although often depressing). But the best benefit it has ever given me was during the first trial on which I served. One of the other jurors, Colleen, became my friend for life.  We have had some great times together through the years. Through Colleen, I have made several other friends, and one of them introduced me to my husband. Colleen and I traveled to Kenya and Tanzania together, and I couldn't decide which photo of the two of us on that trip was best: Colleen and I in Zanzibar The black lumps in the river are hippos Zanzibar. All photos taken by Michelle, another cool person I met via Colleen! The trial during which we met as jurors w...

Just a quick one today - a friend had leeks that she didn't want, so she gave them to me. Meanwhile, I had baked bread a few days ago, and had a little left. I found this recipe for " Leek Bread Pudding " on NYT Cooking, but was missing a lot of ingredients - cream, herbs, etc - so I winged it, and it turned out remarkably well, especially for me! I had about two thick slices of bread left on the loaf, and three leeks - I used about two of those. I shredded some cheddar into the bottom of three mini-ramekins (a church sale find that I continue to treasure), then a layer of toast cubes and leeks, then more cheddar, more toast cubes, and then I poured one beaten egg and about 3/4 cup milk into them,* then more cheese. Baked it all for about 50 minutes in the ramekins. I LOVED it. It was so rich and elegant. My small backup dancer did not like the leeks, which was a pleasure for me, because I finished hers off in a heartbeat. Backup dancer's leftover...