Vegie of the Day: Mizuna

Mizuna appeared in the coop vegetables this week, and it was a wonderful surprise. The leaves are tender and tasty, and make a delicious and different salad. I used olive oil and rice vinegar for a dressing.

I am not a huge fan of salads. It is almost heresy to say that in public in 2008, but it's the truth. I enjoy a salad every now and then, and if I'm eating salad, I would like different greens every day. Therefore, the mizuna was a welcome change. I searched the grocery store for mizuna, and didn't find a sprig of it, so it's probably one of those greens that you have to look for at the Farmer's Market.

Playing for Pizza: a Book Review

Those who know me know that I am not a John Grisham fan. However, I make an exception for Painted House, which was not a lawyer book and was well-written. I recommend The Painted House. So, I thought maybe Playing for Pizza might be another keeper of a book.

It's about a failed NFL player whose last chance to play football is with a team in Italy. In Parma. I think I missed the point of a lot of the book because, I must confess, I don't know anything about football. This guy was a quarterback. He talked a lot about what quarterbacks do and don't do. That was all meaningless to me.

However, I think John Grisham must have taken a trip to Italy and wrote this book so he could write it off for tax purposes. That's just a theory, but there was a lot of talk of Italy, and most of it rang true. Food, little cars, no parking, small apartments... This was what I enjoyed about this book. I want to go visit Parma now.

I would only recommend this book to my friends who are obsessing about Italy. Otherwise, it's a cute story, the character development reminds me of 'the lawyer books', the plot is moderately simplistic, and then there's the football. I just really didn't care about any of it.