Salt and Pepper Grissini (Page 604)

• Date: Thursday, September 14, 2006 - 8pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Alex
• Recipe Rating: A-

Alex and I picked this recipe because the "Breads and Crackers" section is now the one I am most behind on. I thought these grissini were quite good. They were crispy and tasty and very salty! I used fleur de sel as the surface salt, which was excellent. Alex didn't like them as well as I did. He wasn't a fan of the slight grittiness that came from the rye flour. I liked it though -- it gave the breadsticks a bit of interesting texture. These breadsticks are very quick and would go well with a soup or salad, as well as with a variety of entrees.

When we were all in college, some guy proposed to Emilee's friend Lissa. I guess Lissa and the guy weren't dating at the time, so he thought (correctly) that she might say no. So, he proposed with a fake diamond ring. Lissa said no, but kept the ring. A couple years later, she got engaged for real to someone else. When she did, she gave the fake ring to Emilee, and said "You can have this. I don't need it any more." Emilee and I laughed pretty hard about that. When Emilee and Brian got engaged, Emilee passed the fake ring on to me since clearly she didn't need it any more! I have had it for more than 4 years now, and sometimes it comes in handy! It always reminds me of being in college , hanging out with Emilee. One summer Emilee was living in Seattle and I went up there to visit her. She put on the fake ring and we went wedding dress shopping! She tried on horribly ugly wedding dresses and I tried on terrible bridesmaid dresses and we laughed in the dressing room until we cried. I put the ring on tonight and it was the perfect cure for my emotional hangover!