SOLC Day 3~ my celebrity crush

Yikes, I was eight minutes late. I leaned over, pressed the button that would turn on his voice and laid there waiting. His disarmingly sentimental, evenly journalistic, sometimes interrupted by belly laughs voice questioned the interview subject. I listened to the end of the story and then got up to brush my hair. As if he'd pop out of the radio and notice. I imagine we might much in common. Not just the joy we get from a good cup of joe.

The first time I saw Scott Simon was on the book jacket of his memoir, Home and Away, a story I remember that shared so much about two of his loves, his dad and sports. After years of hearing him on Weekend Edition, I had pictured someone else.

I've since seen him in person, sitting disarmingly on a stool, talking sentimentally, journalistically, and interrupting frequently with belly laughs, about his family, his travels, and his writing.  He looks just right now.

My husband was travelling, so I took two of my daughters with me thinking they'd appreciate how he so charmingly tells a story. I mean how he reports on the events of the day. They were mostly impressed I'd been reduced to a simpering 16 year old as I walked around the theater waiting for the doors to open, ignoring that he's married to a beautiful, funny woman from France and has two adorably bright children.

My family named it before I did. He's my celebrity crush.

setting the table- solc day 13

The Splendid Table is one of my fave NPR programs. In our area it runs on Saturdays from 2-3 pm. As the program starts I am often sitting in the car, happily waiting in the parking lot for my daughter to come out of swim practice, secretly hoping her shower will take a long time so I can hear more of the show before she opens the door. As I listen, I sit hanging on the Sterns' every word about local eateries of places I may never get to or I take notes about Josh Wesson's bargain wines or pinots to pine for with the promise of a more glamourous food life ahead. I love this show. Today's program included a couple of connections for me all in one piece. Mexican food and Nebraska. Not your typical food pairing I know. In a nutshell I am half Mexican and I lived in the Cornhusker State for three years while in middle school. I grew up knowing well about Mexican food from my father's side of the family. My grandmother had Mexican restaurants for years. So the intro about Rosita's, a restaurant in Scott's Bluff, NE intrigued me, from well, the intro. I had never considered that Mexicans would choose Nebraska as a settling place. Seems they have emigrated to the midwest since the 1920s. Farms bring workers. In this case, the workers brought incredible foods, opened incredible restaurants and have been a mainstay of culinary delights for almost 100 years.

I loved that the show focused primarily on the corn tortilla and its multiple ways of showing itself on a dinner plate. The Sterns and Lynne Rossetto Kasper (host) bubble on about the virtues of this tortilla as a chip, as a base for nachos, as a shell for delectable meats and veggies. I can relate. I knew what they meant when they said when crisped by hand it became a 3D food as opposed to the 2D chips you buy in a bag. I make those chips. Lately I like to shake Old Bay on them and dip them into hummus. Anyway, it's a tasty piece. Take a listen here.