Roasted Carrots and Parsnips with Herbs (Page 529)

• Date: Thursday, November 23, 2006 - 6pm - THANKSGIVING!
• Location: Southboro, MA
• Kitchen: Richard and Anita's House
• Fellow Chefs: Chris, Michael, and Ana
• Dining Companions: Richard, Anita, Ephraim, Richard H, Renato, Teri and Terry
• Recipe Rating: B

Michael and I chose this dish to go with Thanksgiving dinner because my original menu was in need of another vegetable dish. Opinions of this recipe (as with most of the recipes for the meal) were mixed. The main objection was that several people didn't like parsnips. Renato had never had a parsnip before and he said he thought he needed more time to "get used to them." Other people just didn't enjoy them. The vegetables were nicely cooked though and the rosemary flavor was lovely. The dish wasn't anything too exciting (Ana: "Not as good as the Cauliflower"), but it was pretty good.

I am giving a talk at Wesleyan on Wednesday. I wrote my talk yesterday, and this morning I practiced it for Chris. At the end, I said, "So, how was it?" His response: "Well, I have a few suggestions..." Now that I have eaten lunch I am about to embark on the task of rewriting my talk. On the one hand, when you practice a talk you always want to hear that it is perfect the way it is! But on the other hand, Chris' comments, although harsh, were really helpful, and it will be a better talk once I adopt his suggestions. I firmly believe in practicing every talk in front of a trusted friend before giving it for a seminar -- it really helps identify which areas are unclear. Chris, Mike, and Vigleik have always been really fantastic about listening to practice talks, which I appreciate tremendously! At Wesleyan I am speaking about my research and I have several such talks written. This one is for a more general audience than I am used to speaking for though, so the tricky part is making it understandable without cutting all the real content.

Ok, time to get back to it!