weekend update, November 18, 2012

Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.”
A.A. Milne

 Have you ever noticed that sometimes, a word is repeated until it sort of loses its meaning?  
Like, for instance, the word gratitude? In November?
Because not long ago, I was thinking.... "Gratitude. I know what it feels like, but what does it mean?"
So, today I looked it up.
And this is what I learned: that the word gratitude comes from the word grace, which in turn comes from the latin word for pleasing.
This is so cool that I think my brain may overheat and explode from trying to keep up with all the word-nerdy wonder. 
Because no matter what else our lives may hold, they hold at least some pleasure- in love, beauty, food,art, work, play....
And these deep pleasures, rare or commonplace, are manifestations of grace.
 And it's an awarness of grace that makes us grateful.
An awarness of grace in a world that's much, much bigger than our Very Small Selves.
So, my heart, like piglet's, though it may be a Very Small Heart, may also be able to hold a great deal of gratitude; a great deal of grace; a great deal of.....

Oops. Sorry.
My brain just popped.
Normal service will resume
as soon as possible.

Hmmm. Let me see if I can get my inner word vultures to stop circling around the word gratitude long enough to tell you a few more discoveries that I'm grateful for.

First, the lesson I am NOT ENTIRELY grateful for:
There are many, many things one can set on the stove to cook and walk away from. One can, for instance, put the heat under a pot of soup or a pan of simmering chicken and allow oneself to be distracted by, say, a discussion of politics, or the status of one's DIY bathroom remodel.
One cannot do this with a skillet full of pancetta.
Well....one can, in fact, this one did. This one also ended up scraping salty little charcoal bits from her favorite skillet, while the (very patient) home audience opened  doors and windows (and not because it was an oh-so-pleasant-night outside).

sigh. where's there's smoke....
there's often dinner.

And that's what happened to the tortellini with pancetta and butternut squash, and it was rescued to the point of edibility, but still. Who knows how good it could've been?
So- if you've got a deep frying something, or custard, or rissotto, or especially pancetta on the stove, try to put a leash the distractibility and stay tethered to the kitchen until the job is done, okay?
Because it's getting too cold to leave doors and windows open.

Next, a discovery for which I am very greatful indeed:
Chicken chilaquiles !!! I was wondering if there might be a  way to make a nice-ish weekend breakfast and use up the last of the cooked chicken. Chicken with gravy on biscuits sounded great, but so much work... and then I found this little gem of a recipe. I happened to have, in addition to the chicken, half a bag of stale tortilla chips, some tomatillo salsa, and some plain greek yogurt- and in 5 minutes prep time and 20 minutes in the oven, we had one of the nicest breakfasts in recent memory.

look at my pretty new/old plates!
Thanks mom!

I nestled a fried egg on top, because sometimes chilaquiles have eggs on top, and because it was breakfast, and wow!  The egg and the avocado...wow...
As if I needed another reason to indulge my fondness for tortilla chips. Now I'll be buying bags of them, eating half the bag, and letting the rest go stale for chilaquiles.

And, two daughter-discovered discoveries, that I'm assured we'll all be sampling this week, because, you may remember, she and her brothers and a wonderful girlfriend arrive soon.
Oh, I wish there was a font called happy dance! since there's not....


we interrupt this program for
a message from the department
of spontaneous jubilation

She says she's found the holy grail of French Toast recipes in Alton Brown's french toast . My love of French toast extends back into the dim mists of my childhood, so I'm really looking forward to this. And she learned today that  Pioneer woman's apple tart is one of those recipes that combines ease of preparation with beautiful presentation and amazing taste. Can't wait!

And, another little thing, for which I am directly grateful to you who are reading.
This little blog hit a pageview milestone this week which, although small to some, was a very shiny big deal to me.
And I want you to know that believing that there may be an audience who thinks that one has something worth saying is part of what gives one a voice. So, for that- for the pleasures of words, and food, and friends with whom to share them, I am more grateful to you dear ones than I can say.
I hope that you too carry with you an awarness of the light,mercy, beauty, love, healing, joy,compassion,humor,adventure- the graces- that are being breathed into and out of your life.
And I hope the awarness of graces recieved and given rests easy on you, and fills your Very Small Self with enough gratitude to fill your whole Very Big World.



menus for the rest of this crazy week (not Thursday) on Wednesday!