Dear Reader,

I’m Milly and I love to cook.  I just love it so much.  I love it, I love it, I love it.  I love the time-consuming process of getting fresh ingredients everyday and planning a fine feast.  The hours just fly by and my mind is all a flutter with thoughts of shallots, port wine reductions and caramelized onions.  No time to think about this big empty house, broken promises and sacrificed dreams.  Just time to focus on getting dinner ready for my hubby Fred,  who will be home late from work tonight, again. I love to cook! Sorry to sound redundant, but I just screamed that 20 times while standing alone in my perfect kitchen.  I love it!  Anyway, it’s time to talk food. And today’s recipe is roasted veggies. Mmmmmmm!

When it comes to ingredients I always go with fresh and there’s no better place than you local farmer’s market.  I just love all of that fresh produce and all the sights and sounds of the market. So many wonderful distractions.  I always get help from the stock boy Bill who only looks slightly uncomfortable when I leave my hand on his a little too long after he hands me a fennel bulb from the top shelf so I can remember, if only briefly, what it feels like to be touched by a man before my body and soul were ravaged by the birthing and raising of 3 children who now only call on holidays or to ask for money and taking care of an adulterous emotionally abusive hubby.  I love fresh produce! I love it!  After you get all the veggies you need it’s time to head back to your cold empty house and step into the overwhelming void of your meaningless existence.

Wow, I think it’s time to cook, all this thinking is giving me quite a headache.  First let’s get that full bottle of aspirin down from the cabinet and grab some wine.  No need to dirty a glass, you can just drink straight from the bottle.  There’s only two other things I love as much as cooking and that’s wine and the poetry of Sylvia Plath.  Now for the veggies.  A rough chop is fine, it doesn’t have to be perfect and nothing ever is.  Be careful when chopping with a sharp knife.  You can accidentally cut yourself and finally feel something for the first time in years.  After you finish chopping your veggies it’s time for the marinade.  I like to use a simple extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar combo for my roasted veggies.  I have several types of both.  I don’t know why i just keep buying olive oils and vinegars, I just do. Every time I see one I buy it.  I feel like I have to. I guess I just love to cook!  After combining the oil and vinegar, mix it in to your veggies, not need for salt, the steady stream of tears pouring down my face onto the veggies will do. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

All this shopping and cooking can really tire you out so let’s just blow out the pilot light in the oven, turn it up to 425, sit on the kitchen floor and rest our head on that comfy oven door while the veggies marinate.  I love to cook! I love it!

- Craig Carilli