Potatoes: Pleasant. Mir: Pleasant. Fillings and Scopes: Not so.

I felt well enough today to avoid a $25 fee and keep a dentist’s appointment that I’d scheduled back in January. Not so pleasant (I love my dentist, lurve him, but still). Today was exciting, though. I lay there in the chair, getting my semi-annual dose of morning TV. And I’m lying there, stretched back, watching Kathy Lee Gifford, lights on me, and fingers (not mine) in my mouth. And I’m wondering, “how old is that woman? Why has she nary a wrinkle?”

But then who should I see before me but my cyber-buddy Mir, from Woulda Coulda Shoulda, who was featured in a Today Show program about blogging moms. Which was fun and quite exciting, because I got to say, “hey, I know her!”

Which came out sounding like, “huh uh eugh uh!”

Then my dentist and his assistant both said that they do not ‘get’ the blogging thing and they definitely don’t approve of people putting their kids’ photos online, not in this crazy society, and I must agree with them, right? And I had to kind of shrug and say sheepishly (fingers no longer in my mouth). “I blog. Sometimes I post the kids’ pictures.” And they looked at me, totally silent, and I tried to fill the awkward silence by talking about how there are like, tens of millions of blogs, and how Flickr hosts, like, two and a half billion photos and really what are the chances of something happening to one of my kids from this, and how I don’t want to live my life in fear and so on and so forth and my voice got higher and higher and I started talking fasterandfasterandfaster.

And my dentist said simply, “you don’t watch Dateline.”

But that’s an aside, and it’s not even what I came here to talk about. I actually came here to talk about potatoes.

I’m eating again, mostly. I’m getting ’scoped — one of those tests where they stick a camera down your throat and into your tum-tum to see what they can see (like part of my stomach lining eroded due to some virus that I never noticed having in the first place?) — tomorrow morning. Which sounds like not so much fun, although I did get to wake up this morning singing twenny twenny twenny-four hours to go…I wanna’ be sedated, and the truth is I’m curious to see the pictures.

At this point, I must note that all this being sick stuff makes me feel so much more connected to this body of mine. It’s easy to take it for granted when you’re well. And then you get sick, and it’s like — whammo! — look how well this all works most of the time! For 37 years, this body of mine has been pumping blood and digesting food and filtering toxins and making glycoproteins and producing cells (100 billion red blood cells an hour? Seriously?) non-stop. It’s remarkable, really. It’s more than remarkable; excuse my French, but the whole thing is a frickin’ miracle.

But again, that’s not what I’m here to talk about. I’m a little rusty on the blog posting, so forgive me my meandering style. I really am here to talk about the potato.

I’ve been eating plenty of potatoes lately — it’s an easy first food back — and am grateful not only to have a body that works well most of the time, but also to have potatoes that I can feed to this body of mine.

I know, some of you (hi, Anna!) can’t do potatoes. And I apologize for talking about foods that not everyone can have. I’ll get back to general-interest vegetables soon. But this is, in fact, the Year of the Potato as declared by the UN, and these tubers have paved my way back toward other foods, like split pea soup and miso soup and bananas and non-dairy ice cream. (and it’s all workin’ for me, knock wood. All of it). I just had to take a moment to celebrate them.

If you can eat them, you should. Yes, they’ve got carbs, which makes them a pariah food among South Beach types. But they’re no Wonder bread; they actually rival broccoli and Brussels sprouts in health-boosting phytochemicals. From World’s Healthiest Foods (with my emphasis):

Roy Navarre has identified 60 different kinds of phytochemicals and vitamins in the skins and flesh of 100 wild and commercially grown potatoes. Analysis of Red and Norkotah potatoes revealed that these spuds’ phenolic content rivals that of broccoli, spinach and Brussels sprouts, and includes flavonoids with protective activity against cardiovascular disease, respiratory problems and certain cancers. These last compounds, which have blood pressure lowering potential, have only been found in one other plant, Lycium chinense (a.k.a., wolfberry/gogi berry).

(and have you seen the price of gogi berries, friends? They’re about 15-20 times the cost of a potato).

Yeah, potatoes are super-cheap, even with all their vitamin C and B-vitamins and potassium and copper and fiber, and even as the prices for wheat and rice skyrocket. They are a low-cost, high-fiber, free-radical-destroyin’, heart-helpin’, amino acid-synthesizin’ wonder-food.

And? My microwave has a baked potato setting.

I think that baked potatoes are simple little packages of perfection. But if you’re looking to do more, they are also wildly versatile.

Try some rustic potato chowder from the truly fabulous Heidi Swanson. Oh, heck – let’s stay with Heidi for a moment (she’s that good) and try her kale and olive oil mashed Potatoes, or her potato croutons.

Even though we’re no longer in the holiday season, you can still whip up some lattkes (think tater-tots, but larger and with more of a tradition around them). There’s the traditional route, or the Asian kind with soy dipping sauce (by way of Velveteen Rabbi — hi, Rachel!). B’teavon.

Or try some potato-parsnip puree. Or three-ingredient mustard roasted potatoes. Or gourmet potatoes with white wine, thyme, and olives. Really, the possibilities go on and on. I’ve even see people make healthy nachos, using potato wedges instead of chips.

See? You know I’m feeling a little better if I can even think about these recipes.

As for types of potatoes. I prefer russet for baking, Yukon gold for soups or pancakes or other cooking. If I’m roasting, I always love red new potatoes or little fingerlings, otherwise I’ll use Yukon gold. If I’m mashing, I’ll use any or all of the above.

Just a few tips: Cut away the eyes (they’re toxic), store potatoes in the dark, always unrefrigerated, and don’t eat any part of the potato that’s turned green. This is one food where green does not equal healthier.

Me? I’m just grateful for them. This week more than most.