The other night we watched a show on OPB about Death Valley. I've been to Death Valley. It was part of my family's Great American West Tour in 1960.
Two weeks in the back of a Chevy station wagon with my little brother. That was some kind of fun, let me tell you.
We got our kicks on Route 66. We stopped at the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert, swung down to Scottsdale, Arizona, to see friends, with a side trip to the Superstition Mountains to indulge my father's fascination with the Lost Dutchman Mine. It was hot in Scottsdale.
The trip included a visit to Hoover Dam, which scared the beejeebers out of me, then Las Vegas and the giant horseshoe at the Golden Nugget Casino. It was hot in Las Vegas, too.
Up to Salt Lake City to see the Mormon Tabernacle and to swim in the great Salt Lake. Why we thought that would be fun I can't figure out. It wasn't, and it was hot in Salt Lake City, too.
We wound up the trip in California, stopping at Knott's Berry Farm, Universal Studios and Disneyland, where my brother had a slight altercation with one of the Seven Dwarfs. Gary kicked the dwarf, who must have had his fill of precocious children that day because he kicked Gary back.
Somewhere in amongst all that driving we went through Death Valley. This was 1960. Cars didn't come equipped with air conditioning in those days, and it was summertime. Need I say more?
I remember coming in to the green oasis of San Bernadino and thinking that it must be heaven because I'd just been through the other place.
My father captured the whole trip in somewhat living color on 8mm home movies. Several years ago my brother found the film and had it transferred to VHS, and gave me a copy.
Yep, there was Gary climbing all over an ancient petrified tree, whacking at rocks with a pick in the Superstitions looking for gold, and kicking that dwarf.
My birthday is tomorrow. I think I'll watch the movie again and celebrate my childhood. Maybe I'll bake myself a pink-frosted cake and fix a lobster-tail dinner, like my mother used to do for my birthdays.
I can eat it on a TV tray in front of the television (color instead of black and white, and a Toshiba instead of an RCA), and it will be 1960 all over again.
During the snow we experienced recently, I badly wanted to recreate summer, so we grilled some zucchini. We grill year-round, and lucky for us, we can buy zucchini year-round, too. This really is a quick, easy and delicious way to eat your veggies.
Stuffed Grilled Zucchini
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained and chopped, plus 2 teaspoons oil from the jar
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup soft bread crumbs
4 small (5-6 inches) zucchini
Salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese
Combine sun-dried tomatoes, ricotta, mozzarella and bread crumbs in a small bowl. Set aside.
Cut zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out the centers, leaving a tunnel down the middle. Discard the scooped-out part. Brush both sides of zucchini with the sun-dried tomato oil from the jar, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Grill zucchini, cut side down, for about 5 minutes. Turn and grill lightly on the other side, for a couple of minutes.
Remove from the grill.
Place the zucchini on a piece of aluminum foil big enough to wrap around all four. Fill each zucchini half with the stuffing mixture. It's OK if some of it slops over onto the aluminum foil. Wrap the foil around the zucchini, folding it over at the top to seal.
Grill for another 15 minutes, until the zucchini is softened and the filling is hot. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese before serving.
Makes 4 servings
Adapted from "The 5:30 Challenge," by Jeanne Besser and Susan Puckett, Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, copyright 2005.
Sharon Vail lives in Powell Butte. She likes this quote from actress Billie Burke, The Good Witch in the Wizard of Oz, "Age is something that doesn't matter, unless you're a cheese." Readers may contact her at svail3@netzero.net.
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