Crabapple Ham Glaze

1 (17 oz.) jar spiced whole crabapples

1 c. brown sugar

1 fully cooked center cut ham

sliced 1" thick (about 1 1/2 lb.)

Drain apples reserving 1/2 cup syrup. Combine syrup with brown sugar; heat until boiling. Put crabapples in foil with a little syrup drizzled over, seal and put over fire at edge of barbecue grill. Grill ham over low coals 10-15 minutes on each side. Brush with syrup. Cook 1-2 extra minutes.

Roasted Mushrooms with Spring Garlic

Serves 4

Spring yields an abundance of mushrooms, including morels and porcini. Choose an assortment for this dish, chopping them into an array of shapes. Add mild spring garlic, also known as green garlic, plucked from the ground before the bulb has a chance to develop, and chop the tops, too.

2 teaspoons olive oil, 1 bell pepper, chopped 5 stalks green garlic, chopped 1 pound mixed mushrooms, roughly chopped, salt and black pepper to taste, 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper, 1/2 cup water, 4 thick slices bread, toasted.

Set the oven at 350. In an ovenproof skillet, heat the oil over high heat. Add bell pepper, garlic, mushrooms, salt, and black pepper. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Stir in red pepper and water. Transfer the skillet to the oven. Cook for 15 minutes. Place mushrooms atop toasted bread and serve.

Tulips

BY A.E. STALLINGS

The tulips make me want to paint,

Something about the way they drop

Their petals on the tabletop

And do not wilt so much as faint,

Something about their burnt-out hearts,

Something about their pallid stems

Wearing decay like diadems,

Parading finishes like starts,

Something about the way they twist

As if to catch the last applause,

And drink the moment through long straws,

And how, tomorrow, they’ll be missed.

The way they’re somehow getting clearer,

The tulips make me want to see—

The tulips make the other me

(The backwards one who’s in the mirror,

The one who can’t tell left from right),

Glance now over the wrong shoulder

To watch them get a little older

And give themselves up to the light.

For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.

For winter's rains and ruins are over, And all the season of snows and sins; The days dividing lover and lover, The light that loses, the night that wins; And time remembered is grief forgotten, And frosts are slain and flowers begotten, And in green underwood and cover Blossom by blossom the spring begins. Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909)

Indian Egg Curry Recipe

Eggs (hard boiled)
1 onion
1/2 tomato (pureed)
3-4 flakes of garlic
1/2-inch piece of ginger
1-2 green chilies
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
Salt To Taste
Red chili powder to taste
3/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
3/4 tsp garam masala
2-3 tbsp vegetable oil / ghee
1 cup green peas or 250 gms paneer

Remove the shell of boiled eggs & keep aside. If using Paneer cut into cubes and fry till golden & set aside for later use.

Make a paste of onion, garlic, ginger and green chilies in a mixer or chopper. Heat oil in a kadhi or wok and add onion-garlic paste and fry till golden brown.

Add all the spices (salt, turmeric, coriander & chili powder) except garam masala and fry for a minute and add tomato puree. Fry till it starts leaving oil.

Add a cup of water and cook till it is dry.

Now add the fried paneer cubes or green peas (which ever using) and boiled eggs.

Add 1 cup of water and bring to boil and reduce the flame.

Simmer for 10 minutes.

Garnish egg curry with garam masala and coriander leaves and serve hot with paratha, roti or rice.

The last fling of winter is over ...

The earth, the soil itself, has a dreaming quality about it.

It is warm now to the touch; it has come alive;

it hides secrets that in a moment, in a little while, it will tell.