Dreams of Lasagna Primavera Come Tumbling Down

I am driving up Interstate 15 to Escondido and dreaming of Janet Sutherland’s lasagna primavera.

She cooks it with fresh broccoli, zucchini, crookneck squash and a blend of ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Plus Newman’s Own Marinara Sauce With Mushrooms, one of a line of products put out by actor Paul.

Sutherland’s been making her lasagna primavera for years.

A couple of months ago she entered a recipe contest sponsored by Newman’s Own and Good Housekeeping magazine. All the profits from Newman’s Own go to charity, and likewise the prize money from the contest.

Sutherland, 57, won the big one: the $50,000 first prize, which she earmarked for the building fund of the Assistance League of Escondido Valley. The league does good deeds for the needy of inland North County.

I arranged to interview Sutherland around 4 p.m., that is, around dinner time. Am I a smart columnist or what?

I’m traveling up I-15 and thinking of the gentle layers of noodles, the blanched veggies, the bubbling cheeses, the mushrooms lovingly sprinkled, all baked at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Maybe with a green salad and a bottle of red wine.

Sutherland and 50 others in the Escondido league entered the contest. Sutherland also entered her pescado Escondido and her Mexican lasagna.

She went to New York knowing only that she was a finalist among 6,000 entries.

Newman picked her as the top winner; he kissed her; she appeared on the CBS “This Morning” show with Harry Smith.

I get to Sutherland’s home and she’s gracious and delightful and one of those (increasingly rare) people who really worries about the less fortunate.

She wants the league to continue doing things like tutoring, running a thrift shop and helping the disabled.

All very nice but she’s been too busy to cook her lasagna primavera! Too busy working on league business, volunteering as an art docent for local schools, and helping her husband, who’s had some health problems!!

Too busy to cook for a freeloading columnist!!!

I’ll just never understand some people’s values.

And More About Food

Attention to the outside world: David Marmon is eating again.

And suffering a bit of political remorse and more than a little bit of heartburn.

You remember Marmon (or maybe you don’t). He’s the 52-year-old attorney who lives in Dulzura and decided to be a write-in candidate for the 52nd Congressional District and decided to back it up with a four-week fast to protest the $4-trillion national debt.

He broke his fast the day after Election Day. He had hoped it would be a Ross Perot victory breakfast.

It was a tough four weeks. He lost 25 to 30 pounds (down from a normal 160) and suffered food crazies.

There were times he felt he’d lose it all if someone mentioned curried chicken with mango chutney (one of his favorites from his days in Calcutta). Then there were the dessert hallucinations.

“I would dream of butterscotch topping with macadamia nuts over chocolate and vanilla ice cream,” he says. “It got tough sometimes.”

He’s sorry he didn’t get more votes or more press attention. He’s sorry Perot bombed out.

He’s regained 12 pounds but is suffering industrial strength heartburn at night. He’s popping Alka Seltzer like M&Ms.;

“You’ve got to wake your stomach up slowly,” he says.

Nobody Did It

Picture this.

There was naturally some grumbling in the ranks at the Sheriff’s Department when Dennis Kenneally, a civilian employee, was appointed to a coveted spot as a chief deputy sheriff (just below assistant sheriff).

There was even more grumbling when his picture was put prominently on the wall at the Kearny Mesa headquarters, along with other departmental honchos, sworn-officers all.

Now Kenneally’s picture has mysteriously disappeared.

Nobody saw nothin’. Nobody heard nothin’. Nobody knows nothin’.