Teddy ! ! !

I got this picture today of Teddy...there he is...isn't he adorable? Look at his tail. Curled all the way up. I still have not seen him in person, Valerie sent me the picture this morning...The other lady there is adopting the little girl she named Frenchie. That's Teddy's sister. Look at that sweet face..can you take it? I can't stop looking at him. I am IN LOVE. What a little love bug.
Only 10 days to go. Who me? Counting the days. Really?

I Still Have Ham

I'm still going over here on that ham. It is almost over. I am just about down to the bone. Finally. I won't be buying a ham again for a very long time. Maybe never. But, since I am trying to make the best of it and I don't want to waste food...I thought, now what. So it was pasta.

Simple. I sauteed some mushrooms, added some peas and spinach till it wilted down. Then I added some heavy cream ( I know ) and salt and pepper.Diced the HAM and added it in. Boiled up some pasta. Cooked it and added to the skillet along with a nice splash of cooking water. Then I just finished it off with some good parmesan. And it was good. But we are really tired of HAM. Wish I could mail some out.

2 Weeks Till Adoption Of Teddy

Today marks 2 weeks to the day that we go and adopt Teddy. And it is a bittersweet anniversary, because today also marks 5 weeks that I lost my precious, sweet and adored Buddy. What a long 5 weeks this has been. It just about did me in. The beautiful blue sweet peas I picked in my garden this morning and sat them in my kitchen window for Buddy. They smell so sweet. Just like him.

My sweet peas just picked.

There is the Dandegirl in that baby gate box. That is a big hit around here. Dande just loves it. Sometimes she hangs out on the roof, but this morning she wanted inside the kitty condo.

My sweet peas before I picked them this morning.

The first bloom today on my berries and cream rose I am trying to get to grow over the trellis by the picnic table.I have images of us sitting under there this summer with little you-know-who having a bbq.

My black and orange Halloween kitty I named Pixiegirl. She showed up on Labor Day 2008. John and I were sitting at the picnic table eating bbqed chicken...and she must have been one very hungry little cat, because she came up to me..and she was so skittish. I gave her some chicken and next morning there she was at the kitchen door. Been there ever since.Took me over one year to let me pet her.Someone had abused her. I think it was the neighbor across the way that told me she was getting her 2 year old a kitten. How perfect is that? You know the little girl was rough on the kitty, then they moved back to L.A. and look who I got.Why do people move away and leave their pets behind? ARG ! But we're best buddies now. And her favorite thing in the whole world. To be petted. Good girl, Pixie.

Redemption Night

Do you see it there? That big piece of rib eye on the bone. Got to make up for last night. OMG. Those ham croquettes were a LOSER. Not good. I even made the white sauce to go with them. I think I made things worse. So this morning I am at Scolari's Market by 7 ... I went for bread..but as I passed the meat case this little beauty caught my eye. I just couldn't pass it up.

So I just went to the garden and picked some rosemary, chopped it and rubbed the meat with the rosemary , olive oil and my pink sea salt. I will roast it in the cast iron skillet, take it out when it is done and put some Yorkshire pudding batter back into the skillet to bake. Using the recipes out of my beloved and adored Mary and Vincent Price cookbook. Serving fresh spring peas on the side. Dessert is the leftover shortcakes that I made for Easter with blackberries and cream.

In the picture of the pink tulips...do you see the box on the floor? That's the box that the baby gate that I got for Teddy came in. Whiskey and Dande love it. So it's theirs for now.

What Was I Thinking ?

It seemed like a good idea at the time. I was trying to get out of my 5 week slump and into the Easter Spirit. So I bought a HUGE ham. Huge. And no one but me and John for Easter dinner. I thought it would be nice for leftovers. Easter was yesterday and I am already tired of ham. What am I going to do with all that ham? My sister-in-law and best friend, Julie made pasta with meat sauce for Easter. I wondered about that move at the time. In the morning light..it looks like it was a good way to go. I never really liked having to deal with an enormous amount of leftover holiday meat. On Thanksgiving, I am tired of turkey before the day is over. So here I am faced with a HUGE ham...and I don't really even like ham.

I am still in that "licking my wounds phase". So I got our Betty Crocker for some comfort. Ham crouquettes with white sauce. Huh? Really? Should I do it? I remember an episode on" All In The Family" where Edith made ham crouquettes...and it did not go over very good there with Archie either.Are they really that bad? Can't it be a case of " everything old is new again?"

So I made them. I don't know how they will be. I just Cusinarted (is that a word) some ham with parsley from my garden, a little pepper and dijon and an egg...formed them into little circles and dipped them in panko bread crumbs. It said to let them sit a couple of hours before frying. How can anything fried be bad? We'll see.

Teddy Update: Made our room reservations today for Tuesday, April 20th. John and I are driving to Riverside, Ca ( NOT a vacation destination)...going to dinner and spending the night. Then we will get up Wednesday morning and travel the rest of the hour and a half into the desert to a town called Anza...kinda by Palm Springs. We are a LONG way from home. We will get Teddy and make the 7 or 8 hour ride home. We are so excited. I'll keep you updated. 2 weeks to go !

Old Fashion Easter Egg Hunt

I went with my family today to breakfast across the street at The Del Monte Cafe. After the breakfast we all loaded up and headed over to Meadow Park here in San Luis Obispo for an old fashion Easter Egg Hunt. They had popcorn and cupcakes and bbq hot dogs and face painting and balloons...and an Easter Egg Hunt..along with getting your picture taken with the Easter Bunny. The Easter Bunny scared me to death as a kid...but nobody was crying here today. Seemed like they all loved it.

John and I are having a quiet Easter here at home alone this year. After the past few weeks, I just wasn't in the mood for a big deal kind of Easter. I told John this morning that I have planned an old fashion dinner. Nothing "Martha" here this year. Not one thing. I have a Farmer John ham...it even has a little package on the side that has a brown sugar sauce to put on it. And I am doing it. Making scalloped potatoes and some asparagus. I got rolls..Oh yes I did..the kind that comes in the round blue tube. You know the ones. The Pillsbury cresent rolls. I am opening a can of mandarin oranges and dessert is strawberry shortcake. I'll make the shortcakes with Bisquick. I love Bisquick. Especially when I am in one of those "comfort me" kinda moods like I am this year. Actually, I am pretending I am in a Farmhouse in Vermont. Wood floors, bouquets of sweet peas from the garden, a small fire smoldering in the woodstove,cats sleeping curled up in wing back chairs,the smell of ham coming from the Wedgewood stove, strawberries sliced and sprinkled with sugar,shortcakes cooling on the windowsill,mandarin oranges in pretty sprigware cups....the only thing missing is.....Teddy !

Happy Easter, my friends

Stuffed Shells For Supper

I put away the pet loss books this morning and went to the grocery store. We have been living on junk food and I was getting tired of it. Needless to say John must have been too, although he never said a word. It is cold here on the Central Coast of California for April, so I decided to make some stuffed shells for supper tonight. Super simple. I just made a light marinara sauce adding in some turkey sausage and herbs. I cooked some pasta shells and filled them with s stuffing of ricotta, eggs, grated parmesan, parsley from my garden, a little nutmeg, and some salt and pepper. That was it. I stuffed the shells, covered them with sauce and popped them in the fridge. Come suppertime I will top them off with some grated mozarella and pop them in the oven to bake for about an hour. Serve with a salad and some toasted bread. A nice change for tonight. To be sure.