how vermont are you?

My displaced, yet e'er Vermonter sister Hanushka made a fabulous post yesterday about a ridiculous quiz that is supposed to tell you how Vermont you are. Her analysis is spot on--and we NEK'ers were certainly miffed at all of the Chittenden-centric questions. I'm guessing that the quiz was designed by flatlanders themselves. Who on earth would create a quiz called "How Vermont are you" that pertains only to the city of Burlington? (In fact, most NEK'ers don't even consider Burlington part of Vermont).

We had our other sister and her husband over for dinner last night and the four of us had a hoot taking the quiz (we scored 95% Vermont, but then, we do live in Burlington) and coming up with our own NEK version questions.

Got any more? Take the quiz and add your own! Hanushka is compiling them for her true Vermont version.


This picture is also from last night. That's Emmo with candy corn in her teeth mimicking a Northeast Kingdom accent. She's really quite good.

Thursday morning

I love Thursday mornings. The amped anticipation of Monday has ridden its course. The stress of mid-week deliverables has passed. Today might just as well be Friday. Or Saturday even. It's so chill.

caught in a storm

Yesterday, we got caught in a huge downpour on our drive home from Newport. So bad even that we had to stop on the side of the road three times over the course of an hour, because the rain was so thick we couldn't see a thing. Lightning was flashing, thunder was crashing everywhere.

While we were waiting for the worst of it to pass, I looked out to the clearing sky ahead and saw the bright sun appear through black stormy clouds. It was still pouring.

"There's going to be a rainbow!" I exclaimed and immediately saw it--so close to us, we could almost reach out and grab the pot of gold--right across the street. "There it is!"

We thought that meant the worst was over. But really it was just the beginning. Luckily we made it home in one piece and now have a pretty memory as a result.

eat your colors, etc.

I just realized that the only time I've mentioned work on this blog was when I was crying. Not fair really, because for the most part, I'm really happy there.

Maybe you're curious, maybe you're not, but I'm gonna tell you anyhow. I get to do a lot of cool things at EatingWell, like create weekly newsletters, build health topic modules (I'm working on diabetes and bone health right now), work with partners like MSN and WebMD to syndicate our recipes and articles, and think of neat ways to feature content from the magazine on EatingWell.com. That requires some re-purposing and we get to rewrite some of the content to make it search engine friendly (SEO). This is definitely a challenge--no hyphens allowed, "healthy" instead of "healthful," "recipes" instead of "recipe," h1 and h3 tags--but fun to see our website climb up the ranks in Google search results.

This week, I created an antioxidant-rich recipes collection (I had to take out the hyphen for SEO though). I had a lot of fun doing this, because rather than organizing the recipes by course or ingredient, I arranged them by color! That's because every color represents a different antioxidant, which is a powerful plant-based nutrient that can protect against diseases and some types of cancer. My boss called this approach "thinking out of the box" and she was pleased. Actually, the color-coding idea came from Carolyn, our Associate Food Editor, but I had the pleasure of putting it to action.

Thus inspired, I had a short day today (Summer Fridays) and so went home and made myself a huge antioxidant-rich salad for lunch on my porch--lettuce, tomatoes, blue potatoes, basil, mint, ginger, garlic... Finished it off with a fresh-and-in-season peach for dessert for a full rainbow of health benefits.

Geez, I guess I am a dork. But at least now you know that I'm a happy and a healthy dork.

10 things you can do with mint

I love mint. How could you not? Such a versatile and tasty plant--and it's so easy to grow. In fact, my mother deems it a weed. Her 3 or 4 varieties have taken over the herb garden. Still, we should not take it for granted.

I haven't always loved mint, however, because of a traumatic childhood memory that involved fluorescent green mint jelly. And so it wasn't until this summer that I rediscovered mint as a wonderful addition to any meal, sweet or savory. Mint truly is versatile and abundant. And it's in season! So why not freshen up your palate with some new ideas?

1. Rub it under your nose to awaken the senses
2. Substitute for basil in a tomato and mozzarella salad (or any salad for that matter)
   
3. Mince and sprinkle over honey and plain yogurt for a simple but stunning Romanesque snack
4. Infuse in your favorite drink for a summer refresher
5. Chop with other herbs--rosemary, lemon thyme, basil, sage, parsley--and mix with sour cream and cream cheese for a yummy veggie dip
6. Simmer with blueberries, maple syrup, and Grand Marnier to make a delicious berry topping for ice cream, pancakes or yogurt
7. Chop and combine with steamed new potatoes and olive oil, then chill for a healthy potato salad
8. Mince and sprinkle over berry sorbet or vanilla ice cream
9. Grow it in a pot and let it flower--so pretty
   
10. Freeze into your ice cubes for a pretty cocktail topper