Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the natural things of the world that has been brought to the greatest perfection, and it offers a greater range for enjoyment and appreciation than, possibly, any other purely sensory thing.-Death in the Afternoon, Ernest Hemingway, 1932.

Today I went to the Greek Food Festival at Saint John the Baptist Orthodox Greek Church in Las Vegas. The music was great, the food was fabulous (I had a gyro, with a cucumber type sauce and greek fries), but it was 110 F in the sun and I couldn't stay longer than an hour. I don't usually eat lamb, but this was seasoned and sliced very thin.

I just finished a cookbook mystery called Bread On Arrival by Lou Jane Temple. It was very good and will now be listed on my EBay website-Valerie2901. The mystery was based on bread bakers in Kansas. I'm going to include a recipe from the book. Most were about baking breads, but I quite enjoyed this one:

Vegetable Root Bake

1 lb. each turnips, parsnips, sweet potatoes, new potatoes. Other options are "Granny Smith" apples, rutabagas, butternut squash & acorn squash. Apple cider. Heavy cream. Parmesan cheese. Kosher salt and white pepper.

Slice the root vegetables and layer them in a non-stick sprayed casserole with the apples somewhere in the middle. Season with salt and pepper on each layer and cover roots with apple cider. Cover with foil and bake for 60 minutes at 350 F. Remove from the oven, uncover and add enough heavy cream to cover the vegetables. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and cook to tender, uncovered, about 30 minutes.

Cookbook Val