It's Real Cheese-y!

A trial run at a Jamie Oliver recipe ~ and it felt like I’d run a mile - ending with crossing the finish line #1! There was lots of chopping - fennel, leeks, garlic. Having never worked with either fresh fennel or leeks, I had to run back and forth from kitchen to you-tube, from kitchen to table to find all the details that a recipe doesn’t necessarily provide. Like how to clean leeks, and how to cut up fennel (Martha Stewart was my teacher on that last one), when to put in the various cheeses and how much - grated or pinched off in pieces - better known as flavour bombs. My son, Jason backed me up when I needed the pasta drained or when I needed a missing ingredient. The final taste testing was our supper - it was superbly delicious. The next test will be to see how it tastes in the morning - cold from the refrigerator; and secondly, how will it freeze with all the dairy in it. 

From:  Jamie Cooks Italy

            Lasagna ~ Leeks and Fennel

    Cheeses:  Parmeson, 

            Teleggio, (substituted with Havarti)

                            Gorgonzola, (substituted with Blue Cheese)

                            Ball of Mozzerella 

“Good food is a global thing and I find that there is always 

something new and amazing to learn ~ I love it!

~ Jamie Oliver

Onward and Upward

Excitement for onward movement,

like a brightly coloured hot air balloon, carries us over mountains, forests and prairies, above oceans, rivers and valleys

Excitement for onward movement

feels like a delicious bite of cinnamon, 

a wildflower taste of honey, 

the flavour of a warm peach in summer sun,

a burst of sunshine bright and blinding.

Excitement for onward movement,

tempered with awe and determination,

carries us forward into a bright future

as long as the fire inside burns hot.

“You can get a lot of work done if you stay with it 
and are excited and it’s play instead of work.”

~ Joseph Campbell, The Hero’s Journey: 
Joseph Campbell on His Life & Work

Author's note: Edited January 27, 2024

"Just for Me"

Chicken Cacciatore?
No recipe - but delicious memories
Just tomato sauce from
Last night’s recipe for spaghetti
Lovely chicken thighs from the freezer
And carrots, potatoes, onions…….

In the days of raising kids and a busy life
There would have been little thought
Throw them together and set the table.
Sit down, eat and get on to the next part of life.

In these days of singleness and career
when confidence in creative cooking
sometimes wanes 
‘cooking just for me?!’
Taste ‘just for me?!’
comes calling ‘Just for Me.’

“No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook 

in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice

 and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers.”

~ Laurie Colwin