Summer Vegetable Bake and other Stories

Hello everyone! I have started teaching finally, part time, but it's taking more of my time and effort than I ever thought it would...hence, fewer posts. This dish is an imitation of one which Antonio's mother made one evening for supper, and the combination of thinly sliced eggplant, zucchini, potatoes and onions with some olive oil, salt, pepper & oregano and some pomodori pelati (tomato pieces) between the layers creates something more delicious than one would imagine! It makes a good light supper dish along with some peasant bread, cheese and olives, and is tasty even lukewarm. Start with a large oven proof pan with some olive oil in the bottom and build layers of the vegetables, spreading the tomatoes, oil and seasonings in between. The only "down side" is that it takes rather long to get nice and 'roasty'--our huge baking pan was in the oven at 450 degrees for almost two hours last night! It made a great lunch today however...

One of the only other things of note I have made recently is pistachio ice cream--it turned out a very light green colour and the flavour is spectacular! I even went out and bought a package of sugar cones and I must confess a little container of organic cream in a somewhat pathetic attempt to re-create my Italian ice cream experience of a cone with "panna" and a passeggiata. This turns out to be impossible for many reasons and the alternative, a cone at La Paloma, is frankly a little too expensive to be enjoyable. Who would have ever thought two decent sized ice cream cones (small size) would set you back almost $10? Here's to the ice cream machine Antonio bought me last year for my birthday!