22 April 2009

Happy Earth Day

En français ici.
On her blog yesterday, Kristen from Dine and Dish posted a youtube clip entitled Everything's amazing, nobody's happy, where Louis CK talks about how far we've come technologically and how little patience we have. It's hysterical, but it also made me think about how important it is to take time to wonder at the everyday miracles. For example, here I am writing this in my home in Paris, France (which I got to by flying for only 7 hours from my native country, instead of spending 3 months in a boat with scurvy), and in a few days it will have been read by people all over France, the US, Canada, England and in places I've never even been: Switzerland, Greece, Australia, and many more.


I think technology is amazing and useful, but sometimes I worry that we're getting farther and farther from the Earth, that our roots aren't planted as deep, that spending hours communicating across the world, we forget to look at what's growing in our own back yard. That's an expression of course. I don't have a back yard. But I am a five-minute walk from Montmartre where, despite all the tourists, there are some pretty peaceful patches of green where you can sit down with a simple lunch and smell the grass and flowers as your skin soaks in all that vitamin D from the sun. This week, I left off on the baguette sandwiches and decided to go for some American potato salad (I say American, but of course I put curry in it, so it's more like International Potato Salad, perfect for World Earth Day!).



Simple Curry Potato Salad

4 cups potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 small green pepper (about 3/4 cup)
1/2 medium red onion (about 3/4 cup)
3 hard boiled eggs

1/2 cup mayonnaise (store bought or homemade or your fav. substitute)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp curry powder
salt
pepper

4-5 sprigs fresh thyme

Boil the potatoes about 15 minutes, until tender. Let cool.

Dice the green pepper and red onion and add to potatoes. Separate the yolks and whites of the hard boiled eggs. Dice the whites and add them to the potatoes.

D. is slowly taking over my photo space with a 1000 piece puzzle of a Van Gogh painting. Can you tell which one yet?

Mash the egg yolks into the mayonnaise and whisk in the olive oil, vinegar, curry powder, salt and pepper. Mix the sauce into the potatoes and vegetables, and add the thyme (chopped or whole for garnish). Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Happy Earth Day!

14 comments:

Kristen said...

What a great post - and it is so amazing! Sometimes I think technology is a blessing and a curse at the same time. As much as I love the finer things, I long for more simplicity in life as well.

Jenn@slim-shoppin.com said...

I totally agree with you. I think its so important to live in the moment, and really focus on what's happening around you with friends and family, otherwise it goes by way too fast!

Your potato salad looks amazing!

Cicero Sings said...

I know this is potato salad but it made me hungry for an egg salad sandwich!

Sometimes too much technology is just TOO much!

I'm making butter curry for supper.

Hopie said...

Kristen - Thanks for your inspiration! I definitely agree. Much as I love technology for a lot of reasons, I crave simplicity too. Sometimes there's something satisfying about waiting for a letter to arrive, for example...

Jenn - Thanks! Yea living in the moment can be a hard skill to learn, but it makes life so much more wonderful.

Cicero - Well there are eggs in it, so it's sort of like the best of both worlds ;-) Mmmm, butter curry. Sounds good. I hope you're posting the recipe.

Sam said...

I absolutely agree, technology is fantastic but sometimes I like to get outside and leave it all behind.

The potato salad looks interesting, I've never seen one with curry powder or egg in it before, it looks perfect for picnics!

Apples and Butter said...

I love the thoughts on Earth Day and getting back to the earth. That potato salad isn't too shabby either! Delicious!

PG said...

I share your concern. It's neat how easy it is to communicate with people all over the world. But the reality is that there are only so many hours in a day...something has to give.

Anonymous said...

Happy Earth Day to you, too! It is getting to be potato salad season again, isn't it? I love putting curry in my egg salad... wonder why I never thought to do it with potatoes.

Hopie said...

Sam - Thanks! It's nice to finally have picnic weather.

Apples and Butter - Glad you liked it :-)

Psychgrad - Yea, sometimes it's hard to organize priorities. We want to do everything!

Camille - Yes, and speaking of potato salad... don't you think it's about time for us to go on a picnic??

Nicola said...

Hello Adopter! I love that potato salad it looks so tasty. Sorry its taken me so long to comment, work has been manic so far this week, with floods and crazy flyer printing for an event! I love that your blog is both in French and English, I did french up to the end of high school, but have forgotten most of it now, although I love going to Paris and its so easy now with the Eurostar!

Cicero Sings said...

Hi Hopie! The recipe for the Polenta with Chili on the board is up now:

http://cicerosrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/04/chili-on-polenta.html

It is kind of a fun way to have supper.

Ivy said...

The world seems so much smaller with modern technology but we are taking mother earth for granted, thinking that we will always have all the blessings given by God.

Your potato salad sounds delicious.

Anonymous said...

Yes! As soon as this rain goes away...

Hopie said...

Nic - Oh that's alright. Yeah, the eurostar was a great invention. Looking forward to trying some of your recipes :-)

Cicero - Oh yay! That looks yummy.

Ivy - You would think as the world gets smaller, we would get better organized to take care of it!

Camille - Yes please!