Note: Make 2011 something lofty and astonishing.

 clipped from writersalmanac.publicradio.org

After Our Wedding

by Yehoshua November


When you forgot the address of our hotel

in your suitcase,
the driver had to pull over

in front of the restaurant.

Men and women dining beneath the August sun

looked up from their salads
to clap for you,
a young, slender woman
in a wedding dress and tiara,
retrieving a slip of paper
from the trunk of a cab

in the middle of the street.

And since that day,
many of the guests at our wedding have divorced
or are gone,
and the restaurant has closed
to become a tattoo parlor.
And we have misplaced and found
many more papers,

but no one was clapping.

And the motion of the lives around us
has been like a great bus
slowly turning onto a crowded street.
And some of the passengers

have fallen asleep in their seats,

*



While others anxiously search
their jacket pockets
for the notes that might wed
their ordinary lives
to something lofty and astonishing. 

"After Our Wedding" by Yehoshua November, from God's Optimism. © Main Street Rag, 2010.

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Another home in the snow

This card is from friends who retired to Door County, WI.  The photo features one of the sculptures in their collection.

A helping hand

 clipped from writersalmanac.publicradio.org

Sam Levenson said, "It was on my fifth birthday that Papa put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Remember, my son, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.'" 

A soup for the season

 clipped from www.npr.org

Recipe: 'Red Pepper Soup With Ginger And Fennel'

by Madhur Jaffrey

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At Home with Madhur Jaffrey: Simple, Delectable Dishes from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka
By Madhur Jaffrey
Hardcover, 320 pages
Knopf

List Price: $35

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This has always been a favorite soup of mine. I made it very recently with the last of the bell peppers on my plants. The leaves had shriveled already, but the peppers were still hanging on. It was such a cold, damp day that I decided to add some warming ginger to the soup for added comfort.

Serves 6

2 pounds sweet red bell peppers
4 tablespoons olive or canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium potato (about 4 ounces), peeled and chopped
One 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1/2 teaspoon whole fennel seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
5-5 1/2 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock
1 teaspoon salt
5-6 tablespoons heavy cream

Chop the peppers coarsely after discarding all the seeds. Pour the oil into a large, wide pan and set over medium-high heat. 

When hot, put in the peppers, onions, potatoes, ginger, fennel seeds, turmeric, cumin, and cayenne. Stir and fry until all the vegetables just start to brown. 

Add 2 cups of the stock and the salt. Stir and bring to a simmer. Cover, turn heat to low, and simmer gently for 25 minutes. 

Ladle the soup in batches into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour the blended soup into a clean pot. Add the remaining stock, thinning the soup out as much as you like. Add the cream and mix it in. Adjust salt, as needed. Heat through before serving.

From At Home with Madhur Jaffrey: Simple, Delectable Dishes from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka by Madhur Jaffrey. Copyright 2010 Madhur Jaffrey. 

December 26

 clipped from writersalmanac.publicradio.org

A BB gun.
A model plane.
A basketball.
A 'lectric train.
A bicycle.
A cowboy hat.
A comic book.
A baseball bat.
A deck of cards.
A science kit.
A racing car.
A catcher's mitt.
So that's my list
of everything
that Santa Claus
forgot to bring. 

"December 26" by Kenn Nesbitt, from The Aliens Have Landed at Our School! © Meadowbrook Press, 2006.