Okay, this is a cop-out. I put the parsnip in a beef stew. But it was the best-cooked of all the root veggies I put in there! Very sweet and enjoyable.

So my last Christmas Break is drawing to a close--it was really not nearly as frustratingly unproductive as some previous ones were, although I didn't do as much as I could have.

And I'm completely serious when I say that. This little gem is a video from the music collective N.A.S.A. (North America South America). The song's a strange and wonderful collaboration between Tom Waits and Kool Keith. The video is a visual feast by Fluorescent Hill. Give it a watch and sit back in awe.

I've been absent from this blog for two weeks now. I would apologize except for the fact that I was VERY BUSY and full of important things to do (Gargtober and laying out the Fall issue), and thus I feel justified. But also guilty. Okay?

This week I went for my mystery root vegetable, something I grabbed at the store because it looked interesting.

Later, I realized I had no idea what it was. So that's a dilemma, right? Once I finally got around to using it, I decided that since it was obviously a root of some sort, it could be sliced and made into chips. So I whipped out my mom's old mandoline and a knife and went at it.

First things first: Mystery root vegetable was TOUGH. Once I finally managed to hack it in half and cut off its skin, I discovered that the root was too tough to be cut into thin slices using that less-than-perfect mandoline. So I ended up with some fairly thick chunks. I shrugged and carried out this general recipe:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover baking sheet evenly with:

• 1/2 mysterious root vegetable, sliced thinly
• 1 Tblsp. olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Bake for 30 min, turning chips every 10.

The chips turned out...well...alright. Maybe not how I'd hoped. On the plus side, they turned a lovely deep yellow and they tasted fairly sweet and pleasant. Unfortunately, they were pretty tough and not very crispy. I can easily see it as an ingredient in something good, or a nice counterpoint to a main dish. Again, I can't really see this being the star of any meal.

So the end of the story is that I combed through Wikipedia's Root Vegetables entry and realized that it was rutabaga. I guess that's an anticlimactic way to end. Hm.

This week I decided to tackle a vegetable that's always been an enemy of mine: the zucchini. And, unfortunately, I will admit that my chosen approach to it was a little bit of a cop-out. After browsing recipes for awhile, I didn't really find anything that appealed to me, so I decided to use some other veggies I had on hand to make zucchini-potato-corn pancakes. A little bit haphazard, a little bit weird, but they turned out decent. Here's a rough version of the recipe I devised:

• 1 medium zucchini
• 2 Idaho potatoes
• 1/2 cup frozen corn
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 Tblsp oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Grate the potatoes and zucchini. Heat up the corn. Combine all ingredients. Heat an oiled skillet to medium-high. Scoop the pancake batter onto the skillet by heaping tablespoonfuls. Flatten it out with a spatula. Cook on both sides until browned.

I put some apple slices on mine, since I didn't have any apple sauce. I have to say, these were not bad. I might not make them quite the same way if I made them again, but they were fairly tasty. The zucchini and the potato were both present, although the corn was a little distracting. They were a bit dense. If I made them again, I'd probably add an egg and some baking powder to fluff them up a little. They'd probably be a good side dish.

As for enhancing my appreciation for the zucchini, I don't know how much this accomplished. The zucchini wasn't quite the focus of the dish, and the pancakes might have just been a way for me to drown it out. I still have one zucchini left, so you might see a sequel to this in the coming few days.