Per Sunny’s question, watercress looks like parsley, cilantro, etc. and is sold in the same area of the produce section. It has a neat taste which I will try to describe. It has a nice “green” taste; a light peppery taste, but not hot or spicy; fresh; clean.

I have seen a lot of recipes for watercress soup. At my employee cafeteria they use it sometimes in place of lettuce for prepared salads, and that is what I bought it for, to eat fresh with a little dressing. Sheri thought it would also taste good on a sandwich instead of lettuce. The first time I had it was at a wedding of a friend of the family’s (Jody?) in Avon, OH. They had pettifore(is that the right word, or is that small pieces of cake?) sandwiches. It was just little squares of bread with a sprig of watercress rolled up in it. I was probably only in the sixth grade, but I remember asking what it was and that I kept going back for more.

You can pinch off a leaf from the bunch in the produce section to try it before you buy. Let me know what you think.

Eggplant is like a sponge with the cooking oil. When you put the chopped up eggplant into the pan with the cooking oil, it will literally sop it all up in a minute or two, so go light on the oil. I was reading a recipe in the cookbook last night that Lisa got for me for Christmas, and it said after you are done frying the eggplant, to press the eggplant against the side of the pan with a spoon to squeeze out excess oil. Just like a sponge. I don’t know if that is necessary if you go easy on the oil, and if you use a healthy oil like olive or peanut. Also, for that particular recipe they were going to continue cooking other things in the same pan, so the squeezing out was probably more to leave the eggplant juices to flavor the rest of the ingredients.

The sponge quality makes it neat to work with because it blends well with anything you want to cook. It doesn’t really have too much taste; maybe bland like bread. Buy smaller ones rather than the large ones.

I cooked a batch of the seven whole grain cereal we got last night and then put it in the refrigerator. This morning Sheri put some in a bowl and microwaved it for a car ride to the station. I put a little milk in it and two packets of Equal. Very good. You have to chew it much more than regular oat meal. All of the grains are whole and are not split or rolled. You can feel each individual grain pop in your mouth. We both really liked it.

With rolled oats the steam the whole oat kernels and then smash them with a big roller. This exposes the inner part of the grain that has all of the carbohydrates. From a diabetics’ point of view this is bad. It allows the carbs to be absorbed into your blood stream quicker and spikes your sugar level quickly. If you keep the grains whole, it takes longer to digest, and the carbs are absorbed over slower and over a longer period of time. This keeps you sugar level more even. It should also keep you from getting snack urges for a longer time too. The fiber will make you feel fuller.

We had a red plum last night and a black plum this morning. They were very tart. I guess you don’t buy plums in the winter time.

I also think I forgot to say I got an acorn squash last night. I used to hate squash, but the employee cafeteria will serve it occasionally and I have grown to like it now.