Little Celebrations

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

1. The rains haven't completely returned. It is an Indian summer, cool mornings and nights, warm days. It's beautiful.

2. Yesterday I started to harvest apples. We have a columnar apple tree in the herb bed, what The Spouse charmingly refers to as "the apple stick". The apple stick is full of fruit this year, for a little tree. I have already baked one pie.

The above bowlful represents only about half of what is left on the tree, which doesn't include the ones which have already fallen or the ones which The Dog learned to steal from the bottom most branches. I have a hankering for applesauce cake (no raisins, eeww) and turnovers and tarte tatin.

3. Last night The Neighbor and I had our usual "cocktail hour", for about twice as long as usual. Sometimes it's just a quick check-in, "how was your day" sort of visit. Sometimes we really get going, like last night, talking about politics, personal responsibility, hope, reality tv, blogs and how much we both hate it when someone says, "Well, that's just the way it is".

Have I mentioned lately how much I love The Neighbor? Somewhere along the way she went from being a really cool neighbor who shared the proverbial cup of sugar over a fence and was fun (and convenient) to hang with to becoming one of my best friends. I heart her.

4. And while I'm handing out puffy hearts, thanks to my darling poodle, JP, again, for being just the bestest ever. I really wanted to change my profile picture but I couldn't figure out how to do it. (The Spouse has always done it for me and I never remembered to ask him to help when he had the time to help me). So I asked JP and he gave me instructions and when I got error messages he explained what I was doing wrong so I could fix it until, voilà, new picture.

Whenever I hear about how "disconnected" we're all supposedly becoming because of the Internet, I think, among others, of my Poodle. I believe very much in the strength and power of community. Seeking to build community is one of the values that guides my life. I love my blog community. I love JP.

5. I also need to give a belated snap to Renée who figured out how to insert accent marks and groovy symbols into text and generously shared that infomation when asked. And also because she is a very gifted writer who is very enjoyable to read, even though she did recently post a very icky picture of a very icky spider that she found in her basement.

6. "Gilmore girls" was good last night. Really good. That makes me so happy.

7. Ikea's frozen Swedish meatballs are the most delicious thing ever. We had them for dinner last night with lingonberry sauce. And it's a good thing I planned it that way, too, because it meant that I could spend extra time hanging with The Neighbor and still give the family a decent dinner, even though I was an hour late getting it to the table.

8. Our Jewish neighbors are preparing for Sukkot, which means that little huts are springing up in various back gardens. There will be a lot of late night feasting and laughter will come over the back fence from the Rabbi's house. The Rabbi's Wife has invited The Neighbor and I to stop in one evening and I think we will. I will have to get a bottle of kosher wine to take with us. The Rabbi's Wife is an excellent cook.

9. All my clean napkins are ironed.

10. Tonight we're having Gourmet Baffoo for dinner. A few years back, when The Child began to take a serious interest in cooking, she asked to invent a recipe. I was planning on doing something with chicken and she started to suggest how it should be prepared. It was basically a modification of my chicken and biscuits recipe, without the biscuits, and served over pasta. It was good. When I asked her what we should call the concoction she said, "Gourmet Baffoo". I don't know what the heck that's supposed to mean but that's what we call it.

Gourmet Baffoo

Brown 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into pieces. Set aside.
Dice ½ c. of carrots and cook in boiling water just until beginning to be tender.

Prepare farfalle or rotini pasta, according to package directions.

While pasta cooks:

In pan that chicken was browned in add 2 T. butter and sauté:
¼ pound crimini mushrooms, diced
½ large onion, diced

When onion is translucent, sprinkle in 2 T. flour and cook 1 minute.

Add 2 c. half & half and cook until sauce thickens. Add in 1/2 c. frozen green peas and the cooked carrots. Add ¼ c. grated Parmesan cheese and salt & pepper to taste.

Pour cooked pasta in baking dish. Lay chicken pieces on pasta and cover all with sauce. Top with bread crumbs.

Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.