Ras el ha-not a chance

Discovery: not only does our cadaver's cystic artery branch really early off the hepatic artery proper (rather than from the right hepatic artery, as Frank Netter tells me is usual), he also has this weird second common bile duct. And his cystic duct winds around to join the hepatic bile duct from the posterior side. Cool, huh? No? Disgusting, you say? On to food, then.



These are a sort of expansive interpretation of crostini, which I'm pretty sure are't supposed to be this hearty. There's roasted eggplant, roasted tomato, mozzarella, and kale ribbons in these bad boys. I wanted fresh basil, but the dried I had on hand had to do (first-world problems much?). The bread is a whole wheat baguette that I made over yesterday and today. To get the slices crispy on both sides, I brushed them with olive oil and baked them for about five minutes at 450, then flipped them over, put on the toppings, and baked them for another 5 minutes or so.



And now, on to my Procrastinatory Investigation Into Future Food Preparation. I really want to make eggnog over winter break, and so I was tickled to read a recipe from New York Times writer Melissa Clark, whose writing annoys me but whose food ideas are great. And then I was even more tickled to read a Frank Bruni entry in "The Tipsy Diaries" that called for the creation of lighter, spicier versions of eggnog, particularly because one of the versions called for ras el hanout. Ras el hanout! I love that stuff! Actually, I love most African spice blends, but whatever. Anyway, I looked at the recipe, and among other things, it calls for squash juice. Yeah, right. I'd make the home-mulled cider that the recipe also requires, but squash juice? But now I'm determined to use ras el hanout in an eggnog derivative. You are forewarned.