Birds often have the right attitude about their lives. Blue has a loving, caring philosophy. If you want to rub his head, chin, neck, he is grateful, endlessly. Endlessly! Rub his head, neck, eyes (oops, sorry!) ready any time!
Food-wise he is not so wise. Top picks: cheese, pasta, bananas. Nuts except no walnuts. Seeds of any kind or size. Couscous salad with celery and carrots exercises bird tongue. The little pastas, the yucky vegetables. My carefully diced bits end up in a short but sweet pile next to his dinner plate. Blue and Little Bird eat at our table but their meals don't match ours!
Little Bird DOES love the whole collection - although tonight the bananas got an indignant toss onto the table. Pasta, bread good, veggies great, anything green the BEST.
Fact about birds: birds do not eat peanut hearts. Their skills extend to purifying the peanut down to the meat - no shell, no skin, no heart. Pleh!
Nobody touched the eggplant, either. Homey don't play that, from the mister on down to the cat. I tried a variation of Fainting Imam - Recipe below!
Ingredients:
1 medium eggplant peeled and sliced into half inch slices - no salt, don't weight it down or anything.
vegetable oil - maybe a quarter cup total
olive oil - 1 tablespoon
1 can of Hunts diced tomatoes with green pepper, celery and onions
4 small garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon of chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon of chopped dill weed
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons of raisins
salt to taste
Procedure:
Heat up the grill or preheat oven to 400 deg F.
Layer two pieces of foil big enough to hold eggplant in a single layer (or one sheet of heavy duty foil). Brush eggplant lightly with vegetable oil on each side - use about 2 tablespoons altogether. In a skillet, brown each side of the eggplant. No need to cook through. Remove the eggplant to the foil. Add olive oil to skillet, heat, add garlic and saute 1 minute to soften. (I burnt some, it still came out ok.) Dump in the diced tomatoes, cilantro, dill, cinnamon, and raisins. Boil briskly for about 5 minutes until the juices reduce some. Pour the tomato mixture over half the eggplants and layer the other half on top. Fold up and seal the aluminum foil tightly. Place on the grill and heat 6 minutes on each side. Remove, plate carefully!
Ok, I love eggplant, so I loved this recipe. Dinner was eggplant, nectarine salsa, grilled tuna brushed with lime, and mesclun greens with raspberry dressing. Except everybody else had rice instead of eggplant.
The dinner was a celebration of sorts, what with me surviving Big One driving me to the supermarket and gas station and all. Lots of surging with the gas pedal but no crashes!
Meanwhile, : Little Luce, 14 going on 40, goes to camp tomorrow and there will be rejoicing! Such a torture it has been to have her pack! The packing is like a long tediuous journey with a troll - a cranky one - who can't find the other sock, or just the right shade of waterproof mascara, or flip-flops for less than $14.95. Plus she leaves a swath of trash and laundry in her wake! Such a slob for such a fashionista! Has she yearned for getting on the bus July 8? Yes. Since February. Does she have all her clothes, netting, lotions, potions, and spells packed? No.
Luckily sharp knives are cherished around here or somebody would get hurt. Probably me.
I had been waxing poetic on a forum, all about the empowerment of the Girl Scout leader, changing the world, one girl at a time, rah, rah! The driving and the packing, though, are reality biting the mom heinie. Bless their hearts!
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
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