It wansees du lasanya

Ya nat stop Clovi wit deeshtowl. Me heer. Howlooo, me eet all dat nastee lasanya fur yuu. Howlooooooo?

Before I die

I have always thought of Brittany and Normandy as cold, windswept, slightly damp and very forbidding places. Picture centuries of shepherdesses in soggy woolen frocks dying of pneumonia at 25 while their craggy, fishermen husbands are smashed to bits against rocky cliffs leaving their 7 anemic children to wilt away into the same short lives their parents had. Cheerful, 'ey?

But, thank you Mum for taking me as a child and making sure I saw it for the beautiful place it is...a land with a delicious Pâtisserie around every other corner! Seriously brain, couldn't you recall other things like Mont Saint-Michel or the Bayeux tapestry. Okay, I do vaguely remember that stuff (sort of like the little and somewhat redundant chocolate glaze over the tops of the eclairs!)

Anyhow, catching up on Bourdain's show (thank you Netflix) and I realized that if you were super loaded (not just rich, but riiiiich) and went at the right time of year, it could be just about the best place in the world. Sort of the original of what coastal New England is always pretending at.
For us mere mortals though, it'd probably be a once in a lifetime deal with time and money wasted on ugly hotels, bad restaurants and chintzy tourist shops.

Even if we ever end up wealthier than sin, I probably still won't get there again. However, it is something to dream of and sometimes that may be better than the reality? After all, in my mind I eat those eclairs for breakfast every day and that has gotten me thru many bland bowls of cereal.

A few days in luxury

Five layers of pillows on the bed. You cannot beat that! Don't even try.

Also, what could be better time spent than with 2 of my favorite gals...

Two does not a plague make

 Although, a bit of froggy cannibalism does look like a distinct possibility here...

Do frogs even come in 'plagues?' No, they do not - they are an army. Well, here's an army of 2, maybe soon to be 1.

Fellow countrymen

An interesting and somewhat flattering perspective.
Rather nice in a time when so many acquaintances seem cynical and downtrodden.

We fairy-tale princesses

Cinderella may have those little, dainty feet and glass slippers and such. Bet she doesn't have awesome purple toenails like this though. Thanks for the fun girl-time Deb!

Won't somebody please help the children

Soooooo, this is where I ask for help dear friends. Not for the children, but for myself (yes, I know that this is backwards, but that's kind of fitting considering the mememememememe source, right?)

Heading to Atlanta for the Labor Day weekend. This is a busy travel time aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand it's Atlanta. Thinking there's going to be some traffic issues. Any driving suggestions (other than straight into a brick wall) would be appreciated.

Another, totally unrelated, bit of help - what is your favorite winter fruit/veg dish? Looking for something beyond spinach salad and apple slices.
Really enjoying the produce we have right now so much - it would be great to feel this good all year long! Last year I tried freezing a bunch of blueberries - fine, but not the same when defrosted months later (surprise, surprise).

In any case, get a bit sick of all the heavy potato/bean/squash casseroles that come later on. So, trying to think up some meals in advance that will not just sit like lead in the gut. 

Okay, thanks in advance. I need all the help I can get. Especially when Sally Struthers sues my sorry arse.

Little love on the rebound

So Clo had begun the same hacking as Erns had. We knew there was a heart murmur & figured it was just a matter of time. But, he keeps on a tickin'. Since he seemed determined, we figured to get the swamp rats out of his mouth with a final dental cleaning.

Sure enough, in the x-rays he has an enlarged heart, possibly a mass there as well, plus a bit of gunk in the lungs. There are lots of expensive options to nail this down, but how does knowing exact details help him or us?

So, our vet (who is totally awesome), started him on some heart medicines. Are there side-effects? Yeah, but it's worth a few extra trips to the yard. He still sleeps a lot and hacks a little here and there, but overall he is much more bouncy and enthusiastic. He even plays again - yay!

Guess we're well past middle-age, but so happy that he can feel comfortable and good. Hope it lasts a while. Here's little bud giving me a morning bath and napping with Mr after a play session...

You know that it must have been good exercise

when you stink like a mule afterwards. P-U! Thanks for the walk Dad & Chico.

Ooooh, I want one

So, all this free time away from work is getting me a bit loopy. I know, I know, there are plenty of domestic chores that are waaaay past due. But seriously, who cares about filing old bills or washing windows when one can while away a perfectly good morning looking for the best deal on sofas we can't afford or blogging about it all in ridiculous detail?

Speaking of things we can't afford, how about a treadmill? Loopy Loulou keeps coming back to wanting a treadmill. This unspoken yearning is getting out of control. For the sake of full disclosure, I should admit that years ago we had a treadmill which we finally unloaded on some poor Craigslist sucker. It kept having issues (funny enough, coinciding with a period of days submerged when our old basement flooded). I also do have a great elliptical given by dear friends. Right, dear friends? I actually use it a fair amount during the 3 months of 'winter' weather that we get here.

Yet, I am convinced that I want, nay, NEED, a treadmill. I even have a potential candidate after looking at the Amazon site. It is but a mere $1k (ha! HA! I says). Besides, clearly I will so totally look like this girl the moment I start to use it. So will Mr - nice buns blondie...

Okay, time for some tea, a cookie and knitting (stalling, who's stalling? Those filthy windows will be there tomorrow, but there's still room in the sink for more dirty dishes today)

Ragoût, potage, whatever*

*Usually, this indicates a footnote, right? Well, this is a foot over head note because I think it's sort of important to read before following the recipe. So, really it should be ** because there are two points.

The first foot - what follows is something that I have made with success multiple times. However, it can be messed around with to be very different. Maybe you don't like so much garlic or are allergic to tomatoes  (humpherumphseanieumph). Go ahead, alter it and own it. I did - one of the most useful lessons that Read ever taught me - don't have much ca-ching? Lentils go a looooooooooooong way! They can be wonderful little flavor absorbers which give texture and heft to an otherwise watery gruel.

The second foot - Do not be afraid of the germs. Go ahead and taste your food as you are making it. I don't add salt per se (although the andouille is riddled with the stuff I am certain), but that doesn't mean you don't. Even sans salt, there are flavors to be had and textures to strive for, yeah?

Okay, enough with my feet in the pot. Here's the friggin recipe already...

Ingredients:
- olive oil
- 1 tbsp white pepper
- 1 tsp herbs de provence
- 2 links andouille sausage: cut into 1/2" cubes
- 2 large cloves garlic: rough chopped
- 1 small vidalia onion: cut into 1/2" chunks
- 5 ribs celery: chopped into 1/4" slices across their grain
- 2 large carrots: peeled and cut into 1/2-1/4" discs
- 1 bag lentils: rinsed & drained
- 1 16 oz can of san marzano tomatoes
- 2 bottles pale beer (because if it tastes good to drink, it tastes good in the zuppa - so if (ick) Guinness is your thing, then maybe try that)
- water
- 2 small bunches of lacinato (aka dino) kale: cut into 1-2" sections across the grain
- 1 lemon: cut into quarters
- 4 cayenne peppers: tops cut off, otherwise unmolested
- branches of basil, parsley & thyme from the garden
- 1/2 cup spinach

Head - So, get all your ingredients ready to go and start heating up (I usually go for mid-range 3-4.5 outta 10 on our stupid glass top) a little splash of olive oil in a big stockpot. When you know it will give a little sizzle, chuck in the sausage and stir it around a little (thank you again Aunt Patty for our long-handled wooden spoons - I am convinced that soups always taste better when stirred with wooden spoons - hey, we all have our ridiculous beliefs. This is a fairly innocent one).

When the sausage starts sticking (don't worry here as there's enough liquid coming later to break up any scum that's stuck to the bottom), mix in the onions and celery. Get them going so everything is cooking and add in the pepper, herbs dp, the garlic and the carrots. Give this base a couple of minutes to really get hot.

Add in the liquids now - the beer and the tomatoes. Scratch up all that fatty flavor from the bottom of the pot. Add the lentils, kale and enough water so that all the solids are submerged with at least 1/2-1" of liquid covering em (the kale will float at the top for a few minutes, just ignore this rude behaviour, eventually it will drown). Get that puppy back up to a good simmer (sputtering, but not hard boiling).

Add in the lemon, cayenne's and garden herbs to flavor and let cook for 20 minutes. Lentils should still be firm, but edible. Turn off heat, pull out the lemon, cayenne's and fresh herbage. Add in the spinach and drizzle a little olive oil over the top. Move to a cool burner, cover and let sit until cool enough to comfortably pour into a bowl.

You can eat some now, but it's best after having cooled and melded in the fridge overnight. Just nuke some up for lunch the next day. Yummy accompaniments are a bit of grated Parmesan and crusty bread for mopping. A nice glass of booze never hurts either. Not a lush or anything, just sayin'