.canoe americana?

tom is legally off the cleanse. yesterday was his last day, officially, but he gave in a couple of days early. i guess the thought of eating another salad pushed him over the edge. this time around i think i learned more from the cleanse, and i think more of that knowledge will be transformed into my cooking. we went to the store today and instead of russets i bought red potatoes. a small change, but i think the smaller potatoes mean we will eat less of them. also, due to huge pregnancy cravings i bought a lot of fruit: oranges, grapes, cantaloupe, things that were affordable. also, susan brought some cantaloupe over the other night and it was delicious. wyatt actually identified the cantaloup in the cart, "like aunt susan?" should be yummy.

also this week, i perfected the oven-baked french fry. yummo, people. i made them for the burgers we had for sabbath supper (those were another story) and sam said they were the best fries he'd ever had. now, for those of you who know sam, you'll quickly recognize he's exaggerating. for those of you who don't know sam, he's exaggerating. he's like tom, he tends to do that. but i have to admit, having sam over for dinner is one of my favorite things because it seems like no matter what i put on the table he loves it. maybe it's just because he's a starving college kid. either way, it boosts my cooking esteem by miles.

so the fries: simple. i tried them the other week for sunday night group dinner and due to the issue of baking several things in the oven at once the potatoes suffered. the recipe: line a cookie sheet with foil (a susan simon tip), put some olive oil on it, slice up some taters into wedges (with the skin on, that makes them really yummy), drizzle them with more olive oil and then sprinkle them with seasoning, like kc masterpiece or some other delicious rub. bake at 450' for 25 minutes, flip them and bake for antoher 25 minutes, then for the last couple of minutes broil them. like i said, easy and yummy. (as long as you're not trying to bake something else at 350'). everyone enjoyed them, except baby cass who just wanted more burger.

also, i must say, sam said kiddush this week before dinner and it was fantastic. he has been saying it the last couple of times he has come to dinner and this week tom and i noticed how comfortable he seemed with his hebrew. cassie has been lighting the candles, too, and i think pretty soon she'll be singing the blessing. in a few months their home will be a wonderful place to be on sabbath.