Why am I so passionate about something that many people (wrongly) feel ashamed to talk about? Because I would rather talk about this disease and pay attention to this disease than die of it, which is what my mother did just about 30 years ago at the ripe old age of only 47. So, listen up, people.

If caught early, colon cancer is a curable disease. If not caught early, it will kill you. Sometimes very quickly. My mother had months not years, and not very good months considering what they did to try to save her. So, for your health, for your family, for anyone who cares about you, go get a colonoscopy as soon as you can if you are over 50 and have never had one, or if you are under 50 but have a family history of colon cancer or any diseases of the colon. It is not as bad as you would imagine. Really. I’ve had four so far and the advances they’ve made in the prep work that needs to be done is remarkable. The first two experiences were like night and day, and I can honestly say that I no longer fear the next one, which, I am happy to say, has been moved out from every two-to-three years to every five years, thanks to my sterling record.

In addition to getting a test to makes sure you don’t already have colon cancer or the polyps that can lead to cancer, you can also take some steps to try to prevent colon cancer. Increase fiber, decrease meat. Yes, that’s right. Cut down on meat. It’s something I need to remember. There was a time I was a vegetarian precisely for this reason, but now I’ve gotten lazy and complacent and pile on the animal fat with abandon. Not good. Red meat, especially, is no friend to the colon. Cut it out or at least cut it down. High fat diets aren’t so great either. Click HERE to read about dietary suggestions for colon health.

If you want more information on the signs and symptoms of colon cancer, testing, prevention and more, go to the American Cancer Society by clicking HERE. Now, go call your doctor and make an appointment before I put up photos of someone’s unhealthy colon just to scare you.

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Menu: We prepared for Lent with Fat Tuesday pancakes at the kids’ request. There’s something especially fun about breakfast for dinner. We added in some bacon since Noah said he was going vegetarian for all of Lent except Sundays. The rest of us decided to join him in that endeavor. Well, Olivia was already there, but Dennis, Chiara and I signed on for that sacrifice as well. Chiara did it under duress and was given permission to eat meat at school when she buys lunch. I think eating school cafeteria meat ranks as a sacrifice all on its own.

Here are our yummy Mardi Gras pancakes, made with Kate’s Real Buttermilk, our favorite for pancakes and Irish soda bread:

We followed that up on Ash Wednesday by breaking our fast with loads of veggies over linguini, and we rounded out the week with vegetarian split pea soup, mushroom and onion quesadillas, and vegetarian penne a la vodka for the kids on Saturday while Dennis and I had sole Francaise at Milestone Restaurant for our weekly date night.

Bookshelf: This week I’ve got a few books going at once, which is never good because it means I’ll remember nothing. I’m simultaneously reading Home-Based Business for Dummies because I’m trying to expand my reach, as well as Adult Faith: Growing in Wisdom and Understanding because I’m taking a class at my parish during Lent. In between I’m looking at guidebooks to Italy because I’m thinking about leading another pilgrimage next year.

However, because I never seem to finish any book, I recently purchased Read More Books Now by Brandon Vogt, a 10-video course with bonus materials to help me read faster and retain more. Just started that, so check back in a couple of days for more on how that’s going. But, if you’re interested in checking it out right now, click HERE. If you purchase it by Thursday of this week, you’ll get it on sale with the bonus material, so don’t wait.

Viewfinder: Lots of fun things going on this week thanks to my children. Here’s Chiara attempting to snowboard using a regular sled. (We’ve promised to get her real snowboard lessons, if not this winter then next.) She’s pretty good, and she’s a daredevil, so I think she’ll be a natural.

And here’s my little snow bunny up close. Too cute:

As you know from earlier this week (if you stop by NSS regularly), Olivia is leaving positive post-its in random places as part of her Lenten practice. Yesterday morning we came down to the kitchen to find the one below. We also spied her leaving a “You are wonderful” note inside a worship aid at church. I love these kids.

We capped off our weekend with a winter martini in our Oval Office glasses that we found in an antique store on South Congress in Austin years ago. Austin — where it’s warm right now, or at least not -11 degrees. Did I mention that I’m not sure why we ever left? Sigh.

GPS: We head back out to SUNY Oneonta this week with Noah for a Scholars’ Day event. It’s on his short list of possible college choices along with Siena, Le Moyne, and possibly SUNY Geneseo, if they ever get to sending those acceptances out (March, we hear).

Soundtrack: Heard this on The Coffeehouse on SiriusXM this week and went directly to iTunes to buy it. Check it out:

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The bar/restaurant is also known as a music venue. The bar side has quite a different feel from the restaurant side and apparently gets quite crowded on music nights. Both times we have visited on a Wednesday, when it’s fairly quiet, with just a few tables occupied inside and — because it was a lovely night — out front at the sidewalk tables. I prefer the inside tables no matter what the weather because I love the warm-toned brick interior with the mason-jar light fixtures and, on this particular night, fresh sunflowers on every table.

I went ahead and ordered the eggplant stack, as planned, with a half-order of the signature gnocchi. Dennis ordered the tuna special, which was served over homemade gnocchi with arugula and heirloom tomatoes. While we waited, I ordered a flight of wine and Dennis ordered a flight of craft beer. Our waiter was incredibly helpful in helping us pick out just the right selections from the very long craft beer list and the shorter but excellent wine list.

And then our food arrived. I took one bite of my fried + roasted eggplant stack and — cue angels singing — knew there was something different going on there. “I can’t believe it, but this is even better than the first time I had it,” I told Dennis. There were breadcrumbs involved this time, although I wasn’t quite sure how. We’re talking about layers and layers of seasonal vegetables, tomatoes, mozzarella, pesto. You can see it down there on the left, but the photo doesn’t do it justice. Just go order it. Today. This weekend. Soon.

To top it off, the signature gnocchi was so incredible, soft little pillows of dough tossed with truffle oil, brown butter, arugula, shitake mushrooms and shaved asiago. I have vowed to make the gnocchi dish my main meal the next time I visit. Which will be very soon. And let me just tell you that ordering both the eggplant and a half-order of gnocchi is gluttonous. I mean, you will see these plates coming out and wonder what army you’ll be feeding. I took home at least half of each dish. The gnocchi reheated perfectly for lunch yesterday, and the eggplant is on the menu at home today. Dennis’ tuna special was equally delicious, he said. The last time we were there he had the surf and turf burger, which he loved. So The Hollow is batting 1.000 in our book.

About halfway through our meal, chef Henry Ciccone (who was nominated in the “Rising Star Chef” category for the 5th Annual Albany Chefs’ Food & Wine Festival, came out to talk to us and ask if we liked our meals. I told him the eggplant was even better than before and his face lit up. Panko. That was the secret. Some fresh panko from somewhere in the local region (I can’t remember where he said). He decided to give it a try in the eggplant and now was considering making the change permanent. Henry came out a second time to talk a little more. That’s when we found out his father works at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, Ma., and that Henry had just been there on retreat. I am a big fan of Kripalu, having been there on retreat myself a couple of years ago. Cosmic connections. Always.

I’m heading back to The Hollow soon so I can give Henry a copy of my book Cravings, since Kripalu actually makes it into that book. And maybe to get a full order of his signature gnocchi.

Here’s a link to the menu so you can start dreaming about what you’ll order.

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Ingredients

1 Tbs plus 2 tsp EVOO

1 medium-large sweet potato, peeled and diced

1 large onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbs chili powder

4 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground chipotle chili

1/4 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups water

2 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed

1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes

4 tsp fresh lime juice

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add sweet potato and onion; cook, stirring often, until the onion begins to soften (about four minutes). Add garlic, chili powder, cumin, chipotle and salt; stir constantly for 30 seconds. Add water and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook until the sweet potato is tender, about 10 to 12 minutes. Add beans, tomatoes, and lime juice; increase heat to high and return to simmer until slightly reduced, about five minutes. (I lowered the heat at this point and left it on  a low simmer for a little bit longer so the flavors could marry.) Remove from heat and stir in cilantro. Serves four.

Cook’s note: I didn’t have chipotle powder the day I made this. I just threw in a few dashes of hot sauce and it was fine. Also, I like to top this with a dollop of sour cream or plain Greek yogurt and a little diced avocado. Another option is to serve it over yellow rice, which is a favorite at our house. Click HERE for a yellow rice recipe by Mark Bittman. His calls for saffron threads. I didn’t have any, so I substituted turmeric (and made a few other personalizations) and it came out great.

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Ingredients

• 1 pound lentils, rinsed and picked over
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 small onions, chopped
• 2 large carrots, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 bay leafs
• ½ teaspoon thyme
• 8 cups water (or vegetable broth, in which case you can drop bouillon cube)
• 1 vegetable boullion cube
• salt, to taste
• fresh ground pepper, to taste
• dash soy sauce
• splash of red wine (optional)
• 1 cup acini pepe pasta (or other small pasta — orzo, ditalini — or cooked rice)
• fresh baby spinach, a few handfuls (optional)

Preparation

1. Saute onions, garlic, celery, carrots in olive oil until soft.

2. Add lentils, water, bay leaves, thyme, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for about 15 minutes so lentils start to soften.

3. Add boullion, salt and pepper, soy sauce, and wine, if using.

4. Simmer for 90 minutes. Add uncooked small pasta (or cooked rice) eight minutes before serving. (If I want a slightly smoother soup, I will zap this with a handheld immersion blender for a few seconds before I add the pasta or rice. Be careful not to burn yourself!) If you’re using spinach, dump it into the soup at this point and allow it to wilt before serving.

5. Serve with bread and salad.

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When I went to Rome almost three years, I wandered from restaurant to restaurant, desperately asking (in my pathetic version of Italian): “Fiori di zucca fritta?” Fried zucchini blossoms? And the answer was a resounding: “No, not in season.” Argh.

At that point, I had never had fried zucchini blossoms and had never made fried zucchini blossoms, but my grandmother always talked about making them back in the day. So this had been my quest: to find them, to make them, to eat them.

Then I spied a bushel of blossoms at the Delmar Farmer’s Market one Saturday morning, although I was completely put off by the price – $1 a blossom – and knew my grandmother would be totally outraged if I paid that price. So I walked on by and then I walked back, and looked longingly. My friend Dorothy finally said, “Just buy them!” So I asked if I could get a deal if I bought a bunch. I ended up with 18 blossoms for $8, which is not bad at all. That’s them in the photo above. Aren’t they pretty?

Now to figure out what to do with the delicate blossoms. So I looked through a Rome book Dennis bought me for Christmas and found a recipe I could adapt, which means I was planning to leave out the anchovies. I don’t care how much flavor they have. Blech.

I washed the blossoms and patted them dry. Then I took goat cheese and switched up the plain recipe by adding some chopped fresh basil, some chopped scallions, a scoop of cream cheese and a splash of half and half and mashed it all together. I carefully stuffed a little of the cheese mixture into each flower, wrapping the petals around it. Next I dipped the stuffed blossoms in a flour batter made with flour, water, a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of white vinegar. Finally, they went into the frying pan, where I cooked them in oil for about five minutes. All that was left to do was to put them on a warm platter, sprinkle with coarse salt, and devour.

The result: Squisito! I fully expected to get at least four of the blossoms, but my girls liked them so much I got only two. I’m making another round tonight and may try tweaking the goat cheese filling by blending in some garlic or other flavoring. We’ll see.

I reported all this to my grandmother with pride. When she made them, she didn’t stuff them, just battered and fried them up. I may try that another day, if I happen upon a bushel of blossoms for a good price before the season is over.

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Ingredients

2 cups farro (or barley, but we like farro)

2 tablespoons EVOO

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups cherry tomatoes (In a pinch I have also used small regular tomatoes quartered. Worked fine.)

12 ounces baby spinach, washed well

Salt and freshly ground pepper

3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

Cook farro in salted boiling water until tender, about 10 to 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat EVOO in larges skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until onions begin to soften, about five minutes. Add garlic and cherry tomatoes and saute just until tomato skins start to burst, about three minutes.

When farro is cooked, drain and stir into tomato mixture along with the spinach. Stir to combine. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand for about one minute, or until spinach is wilted. Season with salt and pepper. Serve sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

Serves five really hungry Pousts as a side dish, or eight normal people.

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Here you go…

Ingredients: 

9 ounces soba noodles

1 cucumber

10 radishes

1/2 pound snap peas

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons soy sauce

4 tablespoons lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Cook noodles as directed. Drain and cool in fridge for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, thinly slice cucumber and radishes. Microwave snap peas with a dash of water for three minutes and then submerge in ice water bath. Drain and cut snap peas in half.

Combine noodles, cucumber, radishes, snap peas in bowl. Whisk together remaining ingredients and pour over noodles. Toss and serve.

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Here’s what I did last night:

1 pound pasta, any type. Sometimes we’re in the mood for linguini, sometimes penne, sometimes rotelle. All very different experiences.

2 orange bell peppers, sliced

1 container of organic baby spinach

1 large container of sliced baby bella mushrooms

1 can diced tomatoes, since the real deal is not yet in season

Garlic, lots, thinly sliced

Walnuts pieces, lightly toasted

2 TBSP EVOO

Salt and pepper to taste

Any type of Italian herbs — oregano, basil, a nice mixture. Whatever you prefer. Maybe even some herbs de Provence.

Some reserved pasta water

Grated romano cheese, for serving

Preparation:

Put the pasta water on, with a generous dose of salt. Meanwhile, heat EVOO in large saute pan. Toss in garlic and then, 30 seconds later, mushrooms (and any Italian type seasonings, if using). When the mushrooms have cooked down a bit, add peppers and tomatoes. When pasta water boils, toss pasta into pot. (Well, you don’t have to “toss,” but that makes it more fun.) Add spinach to saute pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

When pasta is al dente, drain and add to veggie mixture. If mixture looks too dry, add a little pasta water to loosen it up. Serve it up, and pass the cheese. We had this last night with a big salad of mixed greens topped with an EVOO and balsamic dressing.

The beauty of this dish is that you can change it up in oh, so many ways, especially as things come into season as we get later into spring and then into summer. Use zucchini instead of peppers, Vidalia onion instead of garlic, escarole instead of spinach, or snap peas, or all of it at once if you really want to go crazy. Substitute toasted pine nuts for the walnuts. Add fresh parsley or fresh basil at the end. Experiment. It’s almost impossible to screw this up. Oh, and mangia!

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