Star Salad and Kite Soup

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Recipes from a poet

I live in the hamlet of Phoenicia, in the Catskill Mountains of New York state. Here I write for my local newspaper, the Phoenicia Times. My column, "Heard by a Bird," is composed of local gossip -- but I invent it all. (This way, no one is offended.)

As part of my column, I create recipes for "rural food." For example:

Star Salad
On a clear, moonless night make this salad:
4 leaves romaine lettuce,torn
1 leaf escarole, chopped
2 grape tomatoes, halved

Place the bowl of salad under the stars for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve.
Submitted by Ellen Kermes.*

Tonic Paste
This recipe comes from Bonnie Fenman.*
Take it once a week, to improve health.

1 tsp lime juice
1/4 tsp pine sap
1 tbsp almond powder

*These names are imaginary.

Another recipe was Kite Soup:

Kite Soup
Mary Nepp grew up in a windy section of Oliverea, where her mother often prepared kite soup: "We had a fire pit in the back, and my mom would make soup in a little cauldron. My job was to fly a kite, loop the string around a tree, and tie the end to a wooden spoon. Believe it or not, the kite would stir the soup."

What kind of soup was it? Mary says it varied from week to week, but here is a sample recipe:

1 parsnip
1 cauliflower
2 onions
2 fish heads
1 strip hickory bark
black pepper
1 pinch cinnamon

Some of my recipes for the Phoenicia Times could be eaten in the city as well as the countryside:

Toast Crumbs
Here's how to make toast crumbs:

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