From the L.A. Times
In Italy's Piedmont region, where polenta may be better loved than
anywhere else on Earth, the cornmeal mush is a food of the fall. When
the air turns crisp with the first frost and people await the arrival
of snow, housewives labor over their cooking pots, stirring, stirring
as coarse meal slurried in water gradually thickens and becomes sticky
and delicious. To serve, it's poured out onto a wooden board in a rich
golden puddle like a harvest moon.
Cesare Pavese wrote about
it in "The Moon and the Bonfires," a nostalgic novel about a
Piedmontese expatriate's return home: "These are the best days of the
year. Picking grapes, stripping vines, squeezing the fruit, are no kind
of work; the heat has gone and it's not cold yet; under a few light
clouds you eat rabbit with your polenta and go after mushrooms."
We
do things differently in Southern California. In the first place, fall
can be even hotter than summer. Here polenta belongs to these damp
chilly days of winter.
Remember I told you there was going to be lots of leftover ham from the gorgeous Carlton Farms 
I don’t know who creates these things, but apparently April is National Grilled Cheese Month. Holiday or not, grilled cheese sandwiches seem to appeal to everyone. It’s one of my favorite lunchtime treats –especially when there almost nothing left in the refrigerator – there’s always cheese and bread. Comté cheese, with its complex, nutty, caramelized flavor pairs perfectly with the sharp cheddar. If you can’t find it, you can use all cheddar. Choose high quality sandwich bread – white, wheat or sourdough all work well. Serve on its own, with mixed greens, or my favorite – creamy tomato soup.
I am a morning person. Regardless if one is a morning person or not, getting 5 people ready in the morning and out of the house on time can be a bit chaotic. Thank goodness I am organized. By the time my eldest wakes at 6:00 a.m., lunches are packed, I have read the latest news on the Huffington, and have had my first and only cup of coffee.
If ginger is your thing, this is most definitely for you. I sit here writing and contemplating if I should go get another piece...it would be my fourth. There is something about 10 degree weather that makes you want to bake and eat. So I did.