Linky Round-up

Things have been a little crazy — work is work, life is good and I’m sort of just enjoying living it without the self-consciousness of blogging. But there are a few things I’ve been meaning to link to —

First off — my friend Craig Arnold, who I went to grad school with at Utah, is missing in Japan. He was researching volcanoes and went missing last week. He’s an award-winning poet (author of Shells and Made Flesh, teaches at the University of Wyoming, and has a teenaged son. It’s all very upsetting — if any of you would like to help out, there’s a Facebook group called Find Craig Arnold with info about how to help.

Sad news yesterday about Dom Deluise, author of one of my all-time favorite cookbooks: Eat This! You’ll Feel Better! I’ve blogged about my love for this book before, and in his honor, I think I’m going to have to go make his grandmother’s cake, the one I make for every occasion. It’s the perfect cake — spongy yellow genoise, split in half and filled with fruit and custard, then “frosted” with sweetened whipped cream and topped with more fruit. I’ve had men propose marriage over this cake at potlucks. It’s fabulous. So thanks Dom for making us all giggle a lot, and for giving me my favorite cake recipe.

The NY Times has a long article on how the American company Smithfield is inflitrating eastern Europe and building industrial hog farms in areas with lax legislation …

I picked up a copy of a cool new magazine about cheese called culture. I really liked it, especially as there were a couple of articles about cheesemaking, and it wasn’t entirely focussed on buying and eating cheese. It’s a terrible time to start a new magazine, so if you’re at all interested, go pick up a copy so it’ll stay in circulation.

Again at the NY Times, Mark Bittman writes about how the freezer is your friend. I am a huge proponent of home-frozen food, and was just noting the other day about how one of the first things you learn when you move to Montana is that you need to buy a separate freezer. My own take on Montana freezer culture is here, at Ethicurean.

I’ll be back later this week with cheese news, photos of the baby rooster (yes! there is a rooster) and garden news. It’s still cold and while it hasn’t snowed in three or four days, it’s still barely spring here. So not much happening outdoors yet.