Weekend Round-Up

Some Weekend Favorites 

Ravioli with Roasted Asparagus, Tomatoes Garlic and Herbs

Cook's Notes:

Four cheese ravioli is paired with roasted asparagus and tomatoes, garlic and herbs topped with dark balsamic vinegar, Parmesan cheese and a drizzle of prepared marinara sauce. Toast walnuts for a nice crunch and toasted flavor.  It's an amazing dinner that is company worthy and quite delicious. The presentation may dazzle your guests.

Recipe serves 4 and ingredients can easily be increased to serve more.

Ingredients:

• 1 package refrigerated four cheese ravioli
• 1 bunch of thin asparagus, woody ends trimmed
• 1 small container grape tomatoes
• 3 garlic cloves, minced 
• 1-2 TB. olive oil 
• 1 -2 TB. dark balsamic vinegar (good quality) 
• 1/2 cup  toasted walnuts 
• Fresh basil and parsley
• 1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 container prepared marinara sauce (refrigerated section)   

Directions:

• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone pad. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
• Place asparagus spears on baking sheet. Arrange garlic around spears. Drizzle with a olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Roast for 10 minutes.  
• Add tomatoes and add olive oil and balsamic vinegar if needed and roast 10 minutes more.
• Cook ravioli according to manufacturer's directions and drain.
• Arrange on a serving plate with ravioli on bottom, then add asparagus spears and tomatoes on top. Drizzle with some of the marinara sauce, grate Parmesan cheese over sauce,top with toasted walnuts. and fresh parsley and basil.     

The Minnesota State Fair boasts more things on a stick than anywhere in the world. Every year at the Fair you can find an abundance of things on a stick ranging from walleye, to corned beef and cabbage, fried fruit, alligator sausage, frozen key lime pie and many more offerings. But nowhere on the list have I seen Poetry on the Stick. This unique non-edible item certainly is noteworthy.

David Bengtson, a MN poet and his wife Marilyn came up with this creative idea to promote poetry. In 2012 I posted his story on my blog during April Poetry month. 
http://sockfairies.blogspot.com/2012/04/poetry-on-stick.html
At that time I wrote him asking permission to post his story and he surprised me by sending a dozen of his poems-on-sticks in the mail. Several months after that I had an opportunity to meet him at a writer's conference. I am one of his biggest fans. He was quite generous with his poem gift. Now I only have these four left in the above photo which I am saving.
The following is David's story. 
In 2003, I was one of the seven poets who read poems on the Mississippi River Stage at the Minnesota State Fair. This event was sponsored by the Department of Natural Resources and the National Park Service.

Since so many things at the fair are served on a stick, my wife Marilyn suggested that I glue some postcard-sized poem/photo combinations to sticks, sign them, and bring them along to hand out after the reading. I brought 50 and they went quickly.

I still remember one little guy, maybe around 10, who took a poem, stepped away, read it, turned and looked at me. He then walked back, holding the poem as though he wanted me to take it, and said, “Ya gotta another one?” Not easily discouraged, I have, since then, made and given away more than 8300 “Poems-on-Sticks” at various presentations, readings, workshops, bookstores, and coffee shops.

A new edition of 36 “Poems-on-Sticks” features photographs by Mike Hazard, a documentary filmmaker, photographer, and writer from St. Paul. The design is by Peg Churchwell of Lady Dog Design in Long Prairie.

To view David's poems go to the website http://poemsonsticks.tumblr.com/
This site is a collaborative effort. Mike Hazard has posted his photographs to accompany David's poems. Peg Churchwell has facilitated the design process.

To keep David's idea flowing I have adopted his Poem on a Stick and continue to pass them out for different events I am involved in during April Poetry Month.  

Here's the how to 

Ingredients:
Printed poems
Large craft sticks (from the Dollar store)
Double stick tape
Directions:
Choose a variety of poems on different topics written by your favorite poets.
Tape each poem on a stick.Be creative how you display the poem on a stick e.g. flower pots, vases or at each place settings for a lunch or dinner.
Encourage recipients to read their poem stick out loud and then share their poem stick with a friend at the table. 

A favorite poem

Hungry for Poetry By Ralph Fletcher 

First I saw him chew
a tender Japanese haiku.

He ate a foot-long sonnet
with mustard seed spread upon it.

He downed a bag of ripe cinquains
while walking in the pouring rain.

He gulped an epic, chomped an ode,
wolfed a couplet to cure his cold.

He munched so many limericks,
they made him absolutely sick.

He tried a plate of fresh free verse;
but all that did was make things worse.

He took some onomatopoeia
to cure a case of diarrhea.

He ate a poem of sixteen lines,
and after that he felt just fine.