Tuesday Night: Star Anise

Mouthwatering Anise seed dinner rolls, you need nothing else.

Add 1 packet yeast, 1 T sugar and 1/2 C water just hot enough to tolerate on your inner wrist. Set aside until it is topped with a thick frothy foam.

Heat 1 T anise seed in 1/4 c oil.

Sift 4 c flour with yeast mixture and oil mixture, add 1/4 c milk/soy or rice milk.

Mix until it no longer stick to spoon. Knead until springs back.

Raise for 2 hours. Punch down, form into 2 inch balls and place in oiled baking pan. Raise for 1/2 hour. Bake for 1/2 hour or until the faint hint of sweet licorice fills the air.

For a breadeater like me maybe this will be enough, but just in case it isn’t:

Add some baked chicken thighs rubbed down gently with a little salt, garlic and oil. Include some rice and spring smelling red leaf lettuce tossed with oranges, Kalamata olives and a light vinaigrette dressing.

Add your heart and soul and your meal is complete.

Monday Night: Lazy Bubbe

Dinner at La Mestiza Mexican restaurant. The chips are warm in our mouths and crispy as the near zero snow crunching underneath our feet coming in. Who could find something so deep and richly green as the avocados in our guacamole, the scent of spring shoots in an early spring walk in the woods. The scent of cinnamon precedes the thick sweet coffee that slowly thaws us. Tender chicken in moist tamales wraps up the meal, and we go back out into the frigid night.