Not quite buried alive…yet

I have legitimate reasons for not faithfully maintaining my blog for the past while. Yesterday, I handed four chapters of my dissertation Food That Matters to my advisor for some light reading while in Ireland. Now, I have to pound out another chapter in the next ten days she'll be gone, oops, nine days. On a related note, I've had friends badgering me to start a Facebook account for years and recently that has stepped up; however, I have successfully resisted and as of now I don't even remotely see it on my horizon.

My camera's been giving me "the look" lately and I'm starting to think it suspects something, or someone, or another camera may be coming between us. I guess I need to shoot some flower pics with it, or take it out to dinner and satisfy it with some food pics, or simply spend some quality time with it again. This blog looks oddly unadorned without visuals, so I'm going to post a picture of some American chestnuts I found at Zingerman's Deli in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

If you've never had roasted chestnuts, they are very easy to prepare. The best way to roast chestnuts is over an open flame, but since 2008-2009 has been a bitter cold winter in Ohio, my gas oven roasts like a charm. Preheat your oven to 350. While your oven is warming, score an X with a sharp knife on the flat side of the chestnut and place on a baking tray. When the oven is warm, insert the tray of chestnuts. They should take approximately 30 minutes or so until the semi-soft shell peels back. Let stand until cool enough to handle, yet warm enough to enjoy.

They have a subtle sweetness and a somewhat grainy mouth feel to them, but if you down them with a warm beverage...it's like heaven, only with chestnuts.

NC