Suppah Six

This Friday, pity dinner was a custom affair.  Some good basic pastas... spaghetti, fusilli and cheese tortellini ... topped with a strong red sauce .  From there you could add  browned sausage, pinto beans, kalamata olives and cheese.  This was inspired by Bubble's Pasta Fagiole at The Grit. An Italian meal would not be complete without some bread, so i also whipped up some seasoned olive oil for dipping.  Very tasty! Dory was back to cooking again - which is good on many levels and she even brought some brownies for dessert.  C-pap was quite pleased.  A successful return to a missed tradition!

we have been traveling the past two friday nights... off to Georgia with C Pap and Frizz to celebrate my father's 80th birthday!  happy bday Dad! last friday, a not so good meal at a truck stop burger king in CT... this friday, an ok late lunch at a deli in CT.  none of it compares to a pity dinner!  we missed you Dory and Squirt. during our stay in the south, best meal was a toss up between Momma Anne's dinner (awesome meatloaf!) and lunch at The Grit .  who knew tofu could be so tasty???

  Dory is still on crutches;  C-Pap and Frizz have a work event (on a Friday!), so I think we will let someone else cook, serve and clean up for us.   Mexican food should work just fine... margarita, rocks, salt!

A cold night calls for comfort food.  Dory served in a supervisory capacity as she recovers, so I took the reins as executive chef.  Glazed Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans - all American comfort food after a long work week! It was just the right amount ... with enough left over for a meatloaf sandwich.

No PD this week. Dory had an operation on her bum fin - get well soon! – so, we gave her the week off. I think we will pressure her to return next week, as crutches are no excuse for laziness. Bubbles and I pick the menu and Dory is head chef. Every meal has a protein and starch. We generally have salad, but sometimes we add a hot veg, depends on the mood. Frizz and C-pap supply all salad and Frizz is the salad chef. It is perfect job for her as she cuts the vegetables into beautifully equal pieces and always gets the best fresh stuff. We make sure to have an assortment of dressings ("Holy Dressings!") and toppings. One new favorite they found is a yummy Caesar and we also love Paul Newman's. We set up the salad buffet and everyone gets to build their own perfect bowl. Some skip the olives, others skip the blue cheese... we allow for lots of independent expression - since the main course is decided  without an opinion survey!

Today we are traveling "up'ta" camp! Squirt's family generously allows us to visit their beautiful home near Sugarloaf. We will eat, drink, take walks, read and play some Wii. Such fun. Since we will be eating some fast food en route, there will be little worthy of description. Instead some PD basics... We live in an old house. The kitchen cabinet for dinner plates is on an exterior wall. This cabinet gets pretty chilly in winter, so we warm the plates on the radiator. Regular rotating to get them all consistently toasty helps ensure our delicious food does not get cold from immediate contact with freezing stoneware.

Dory was traveling back from (not so) Hotlanta this Friday (our hometown!), so I stepped in to feed and water... Crockpot Enchiladas from Paula Deen was the solution. Pretty simple... brown and season some ground beef, layer it in a Crockpot with tortillas, cheese and chili sauce. it certainly doesn't equal some of the amazing flavors we have enjoyed before, but Frizz opened the bar for margaritas, so we all enjoyed ourselves, despite our missing companions.