As I mentioned in my last post, I’m scaling back my writing for this blog as I move towards developing my music blog, where there’s a fair amount going on. I hope you’ll take a look over there and subscribe if you haven’t done so already and if what you see interests you. I’ve also done a couple of posts recently over at my Intentional Conservative blog, so if you’re interested in politics you can head on over there. (You can also follow me on my personal Facebook page, which has nothing personal on it at all—it’s composed entirely of political articles, mostly by conservative writers, some by conservative Christian writers. Good stuff, I have to say.)
But I’ve been meaning to post something here about this whole let’s-slow-down-food-prep-and-consumption idea. If you’re homebound and looking for something to do, of course you’re all in on the slow-food idea. If you’re holding down a deemed-essential job and maybe also juggling child care, my hat is off to you and I fully recognize that you may have less time these days for nourishing yourself and your family. I don’t have any magic answers for those of you in that situation, I’m afraid.
I have a subscription to the New York Times mainly because of Melissa Clark, a cookbook author and food writer who is absolutely the most charming, delightful, quirky, quirkily delightful, delightfully quirky . . . well, you get the picture. I periodically go onto 
Holding the whole pepper on a fork over a gas flame, turning it until all sides are blackened. Putting the peppers directly on an electric burner, again monitoring it and turning it until done. Putting the peppers under the broiler. Putting the roasted peppers into a paper bag to steam. Rinsing every bit of blackened skin off under running water. On and on. While these peppers are a great addition to salads, they sometimes can seem more trouble than they’re worth. But they’re very expensive if you buy them at the grocery store, and I don’t think they taste as good as the freshly-made ones. So here’s my take on them, which is still finicky but easier than the run-of-the-mill procedures.
This is another sort-of-fiddly item that I make because I can’t stand the thought of buying them pre-made. They’re really not all that hard. This is more of a procedure than a recipe. I’ve made them with Italian flavors since that fits with my usual homemade salad dressing, creamy Italian. Other spices could include cumin or smoked paprika. Fresh herbs wouldn’t work as they’d tend to burn.