Wild onions!

Wild onions are a local phenomenon; they grow in open fields, constitute a staple of the traditional Cherokee diet, and are the namesake of at least one basketball team. I did not know anything about them until moving here, when Shirley at the rec center asked if Eric and I have ever eaten "wiiiiiild UNyins." I wasn't sure what she was saying at first, but eventually I figured it out. Sherman Alexie has said he is puzzled by native people with Southern accents, and I still haven't gotten used to it. I guess I could have just gone out foraging for wild onions but I wasn't exactly sure what to look for, so I jumped at the chance to buy a few bunches at a fruit stand in Muskogee. They look more like ramps than scallions, but they are smaller.

I used one bunch in a Greek omelet last week. It was amazing. They have a fresher, more delicate flavor than regular onions or even scallions. Here is said omelet, which also contains spinach, Kalamata olives, and feta, along with a side of zucchini sauteed in a quick garlicky tomato sauce.

I used the other bunch of wild onions yesterday in a quinoa tabbouli inspired by the Mediterranean plate appetizer at the Greenhouse Grille in Fayetteville. Said appetizer comes with pita, hummus, feta, olives, tzatziki sauce, falafel, and quinoa tabbouli. I have never been a huge tabbouli fan, but this stuff was good. Improvised a recipe using 1 cup of quinoa, 1 cup water, and 1 cup of broth, which I tossed with a lemon juice-olive oil dressing. Threw in traditional and non-traditional ingredients including cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, parsley (not enough to turn the tabbouli green) and, of course, wild onions.

Speaking of hummus, the local grocery store can't spell it. Check out my receipt for HUMMAS. Not going to say anything about the unnecessary apostrophe in Athenos. Oh wait, I just did.

Next week is the last week of class. Can you believe the drop deadline was ten days ago? Giving students up to week 13 to drop a course is something I will never understand about this school. And a lot of them wait until the deadline to drop. So many lower-division students begged me to give them a "W" after the deadline passed last semester -- which I do not have the power to do -- that I tried to be proactive this time and e-mailed reminders to each class about the impending drop deadline. And I still had students asking for a "W" after the deadline passed. In week 14! With only a week and a half of class left! Le sigh. This semester wasn't as rough as fall, but I fear I somehow managed to be less productive. Hopefully summer will offer more opportunity for research and writing.

In other news, I am taking bets on whether or not my fingernail will fall off. Where do you stand on this pressing issue? I dropped a dumbbell on it in January and it has been growing out slowly. I thought all was well until about a month ago, when I noticed a horizontal ridge in the center of the nail right above the bruise. Don't worry, it doesn't hurt.