The O-town Scene

March 03, 2011

The O-town Scene - Oneonta, NY

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Gloriously Green Kale Salad As everyone in O-Town knows from the piles of snow outside, winter is hardly over. When the cold weather feels like it’s stretching into infinity, I begin daydreaming about ripe tomatoes, summer walks and ditching snow boots for sandals. My husband and son are tired of soup, but the lettuce in the grocery stores tastes like it’s never seen a sunny day. The other day I tried to make a compromise by creating a salad that was vibrant and green, yet contained ingredients that weren’t dependent on tropical weather. When I lived in Idaho, a co-op there made a delicious kale slaw that was addictive. The recipe below was inspired by the vibrant green slaw, yet is more in tune with the season. _ Hope Von Stengel INGREDIENTS 1/2 lb. firm tofu small-med sized bunch of kale, chopped in thin ribbons 2 large carrots, grated olive oil 4 radishes, thinly sliced (optional) 2 T spring greens, thinly sliced (optional) ALMOND BUTTER DRESSING 3 T almond butter (I use raw) 1 tsp. soy sauce 1 T rice vinegar water, as needed 1 T honey 1 T grated ginger 1 tsp. minced garlic, or more to taste A few drops sesame oil (optional) DIRECTIONS Drain tofu and wrap in dish towel for 5 minutes to absorb some of the water. Cut into small 1/2-inch cubes. Add 1 T olive oil to frying pan (I use cast iron) set on med-high heat and stir fry for 5-10 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove from heat. Mix together all of the ingredients for almond butter dressing. Add more soy sauce to taste. Add enough water so the dressing is a little thinner than ranch dressing, and stir well. In a large bowl, mix together dressing, carrots, kale and tofu. If mixture is lacking flavor, add a little bit more almond butter and rice vinegar. Considering how large your bunch of kale is, it’s better to play with it a bit. Let sit for 2 hours, and stir well before serving. Keeps well in refrigerator for several days. E-mail Cassandra at editor@otownscene. com March 3, 2011 O-Town Scene 13 Have an idea for a column? Gone Running by Danielle Tonner Don’t spray us with slush or drive us over I thought the groundhog didn’t see his shadow. Weren’t we supposed to get an early spring? Years ago, when I first starting paying attention to the whole groundhog prediction thing, I remembered when that little bugger did see his shadow, and when someone said there would be six more weeks of winter, I got excited. Only six more weeks? That means spring will come in mid March! —What a treat! So here we are, about four weeks after the groundhog predicted an early spring, standing up to our eyeballs in snow. Why the rant about the poor, defenseless (unreliable and should lose his job) groundhog? Well, I’m a runner, and this snow is putting a damper on my ability to run outside. It’s not even because of the cold weather. I acclimated to running in freezing tempera- tures with the help of a running friend (you’ll often find me running with her if you catch me around town), who insists you can run in anything with the right gear. This morning, I met another running friend for a “long” run. We started out going down Chestnut Street, and after about 2 minutes I realized it wasn’t going to happen. I couldn’t run because the walkways were not shoveled in many areas. Running on snow is like running on unpacked sand, only more slippery. After feeling like my knee was going to dislocate, I decided to walk, which was difficult enough (and quite the workout, actually). This leads me to a request for homeowners — I and other pedestrians would really appre- ciate it if you shoveled your walkway, all the way to the sidewalk, please. Another heads up for those who aren’t running — if you’re not sure whether a runner sees your car, assume he or she doesn’t. Also, driving next to a runner when roads are slushy means all that nastiness will spray in the runner’s face. Sure, it might be funny, but I have one word — Karma. Also, we’re people, not cars. Give us a little room, better yet, get out and run with us! I’ll bet if everyone ran now and then the world would be a better place. _ Danielle Tonner Danielle Tonner is a professional in higher education in addition to being a wife, mother and runner.

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