Feed the soul (again)

Something has happened to my internal clock, and to the internal clocks of my students, and my husband, and my poor children, who usually hop out of bed pretty wide awake every morning (my kids can go from asleep to awake in .2 seconds). Every day this week I've surfaced painfully from a deep sleep and every day this week I've had to drag both L. and T. out of bed. Even the dog has a hard time getting up. She follows me downstairs in the dark, but races to her second dog bed--the one in the office--to catch a little extra snooze time while I blow dry my hair. And my students are droopy, sleepy sacks. Three times this week I've had to wake up students in my 9:00 a.m. class, and I almost fell asleep while standing up yesterday during a quiz.

I still remember how painful it was to get up on those dark, cold mornings, when I was a kid; to put on scratchy school clothes, and trudge downstairs to a breakfast of oatmeal (to this day I can't eat raisins in my oatmeal--perhaps a post for another day), my body still aching to be upstairs, burrowed under some warm covers. I try to soften the blow for my kids, to keep the lights low, to let them keep their PJs on until the 11th hour, when they absolutely have no choice but to take the plunge into the day. I try to be sympathetic to my students, who are just over-grown kids really, still aching for five more minutes of sleep on a cold, dark morning.

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This weekend we're going to a potluck and L., who normally hates potlucks and never eats a bite at them, is actually excited because this is the first vegetarian potluck we've ever been invited to. Vegetarian! At potlucks we usually end up having to satisfy ourselves with not-very-filling sides, like bean salad, or cut up fruit, so I'm looking forward to the chance to sample from a wider variety of dishes.

I haven't decided what to bring yet, but I think I'll make a Greek Cheese Pie. I made this a few weeks ago, on a cold, blustery day. Before you try and make this, you'll have to buy some phyllo dough at the grocery store (in the freezer section) and get over any fears you might have about working with it.

Phyllo dough looks like this:

Don't be afraid of it, as I used to be. As long as you keep the dough covered with a damp paper towel you can work with it quite easily. I didn't know this the first time I ever tried to use it, and I think I was near tears when I tried to make my first ever spinach pie and the phyllo ripped to shreds before I could do anything with it.

I had extra phyllo dough left over after I assembled the pie, so T. and I filled some squares of phyllo with chopped apples, pecans, brown sugar, sprinkled cinnamon over it all, scrunched up the phyllo at the top, and made some delicious little phyllo purses for dessert.

The cheese pie was wonderful--definitely worth a meal in itself, but you could also serve it with lentil soup, or a substantial salad; or you could eat it simply by itself, as we used to do in Greece, standing on a street corner, phyllo flaking from our fingers, thinking about how cold mornings were so very, very far away.

Greek Cheese Pie

1 lb feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 lb ricotta cheese
4 or 5 eggs, beaten
1/2 lb melted butter
phyllo sheets

Beat eggs; add cheeses and 3 tablespoons of melted butter. Continue beating until well blended. Brush 9 X 13 pan with melted butter. Lay 9 sheets (you can be very approximate here--I didn't actually count them) of phyllo in pan, brushing the top of each sheet with butter. Add cheese mixture and spread evenly. Place remaining 9 sheets (or whatever you came up with) of phyllo on top of the mixture, again brushing the tops with melted butter. Tuck all edges. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until golden brown.

Happy Weekend!