Monday Night Dinner

Signs that you need to reevaluate your life choices – you realize you’re buying your cat cans of lamb & rice cat food because you’re really craving lamb chops. On the plus side, the cat seems to enjoy the lamb & rice dish. On the other hand, it’s not doing much to quell my craving for lamb.

My usual solution to a craving for lamb is to take myself off to our local Turkish restaurant which offers a plethora of lamb dishes; the dilemma is which lamb dish to order. While you ponder this weighty decision you attempt not to spoil your dinner with too much of their addictive hummus, or with the spicy mashed vegetable dip that is not acili ezme, or with too many hunks of the warm bread they bring you when you sit down.

The real quandary when it comes to ordering is whether you get the completely indulgent iskender kebab which involves piles of shaved slices of spit roasted lamb layered over toasted pita, and then drowned in yogurt and chili sauces. Or, do you get the lamb kebabs with their perfectly grilled hunks of lamb served over tomato infused bulgur. Read the rest of this entry »

For reasons that escape me, and baffle everyone – myself included – I managed to pass out of teen-hood without having ever read a Diana Gabaldon novel.  This is shocking and bewildering because the Outlander series is exactly the kind of epic historical sprawl that I devoured in high school.  My best guess as to how this situation came to pass is that I read the cover flap, decided that they were all about the Highland Uprising of 1745, and dismissed them out of hand.  Despite the fact that I romanticize the Scots as much as the next girl, I find the Highland Uprising wildly depressing because Bonnie Prince Charlie was such an enormous tool, and not even remotely worth the loyalty he demanded and achieved. Read the rest of this entry »

I am feeling press ganged by Fall. First it was the early appearance of pumpkin spice flavored specialty items. It used to be you had to wait until September or October to get your hands on something apple caramel flavored, or spiced with pumpkin pie. This year they started appearing in July.

Then on the last Sunday in August, I walked into the grocery store and was confronted with serried ranks of Halloween candy on display a precise 60 days before All Hallows Eve. Read the rest of this entry »

Dinner – July 29th . . . . Or Are You Going to Scarborough Fair?
Buttermilk Roasted Chicken
Corn Chowder Potato Salad
Tomatoes with Balsamic Drizzle & Basil
Salad
Watermelon Read the rest of this entry »