friday takeout

Recipe of the Week:

We had Creamy Mushroom and Spinach Lasagna this weekend. There were even enough for leftovers - yay! I enjoyed this deviation from the standard lasagna recipe, especially because the recipe is heavy on the mushrooms. This time of year, we try and intentionally incorporate mushrooms into dishes. They are the only natural, non-animal source of vitamin D, which we are all short on due to the lack of sunshine.

Matt Simon

Science Instructor | Calmar Campus

What is your favorite movie of all time? (in a particular genre, if it’s easier to answer. e.g., comedy, drama, horror, sci fi.)

Snatch, directed by Guy Ritchie. It is hilarious, profane, violent and ridiculously entertaining. Not a great choice for family film night but so much fun.

If you could start all over again, what would be your career choice?

I think I would add engineering or law to my existing environmental background. Those are good value multipliers to a subject area that is, in my opinion, dramatically undervalued on its own so people could stay engaged in a field that is meaningful and be more financially secure.

Is there a book you’ve read that you love so much you’ve read it twice, or even multiple times?

The Hobbit. The storytelling and sense of grand adventure sucks me in every time and I don't read it often enough where I remember every detail, so there are "new" parts every time.

If you could replace all the grass in the world with something else, what would it be?

By "grass" I will assume you mean the uniform manufactured lawns of American suburbia. I would replace them with native vegetation and spaces to feed humanity. Our current managed landscape systems are dramatically destructive to the functioning of the ecosystems we are all parts of. We can do better for other human and non-human inhabitants of our planet and better for ourselves than vast monocultures of consumption.

In one sentence, how would you explain the internet?

Evidence that lack of information was not as significant a barrier to education and making the world a better place that may have been previously thought.

If you had one million dollars to build anything you wanted, what would you build and why?

I would build a rugby complex in/around Decorah. I love rugby and making something like that a reality would be a source of entertainment for young and old alike for decades!