Odds and ends including prayer

Midnight has come and gone so it is Bastille Day. Allons, enfants....!

This means it is also my niece Paula's birthday. She is off in Vegas for a few days, so what happens on her birthday stays in Vegas. Happy Birthday, Paula!

I ask your prayers for France and her people (especially those who made me feel so welcome there decades ago).

I ask your prayers for Evelyn Rose, mother of a classmate in my Italian class. May her suffering end and may she pass peacefully into larger life.

At Facebook Jane R noted that she was thinking of France. I am thinking of Italy. As in maybe going there next year. Finally. I have never been. Strike while the language classes are hot, no? For many years we said we were going there "year after next." This put it off forever, of course, until we stopped saying it. Well now....

I came home from Italian class tonight and heated up the water. I went into the yard and harvested one yellow squash, five cherry tomatoes, and a sprig of thyme. Boiled the egg pasta that I made last night. Then I made a truly wicked sauce, cholesterol heaven.

Two cloves of minced garlic sauteed in butter. Flour added to make a roux. Heavy cream. Yes, you heard me, the stuff you whip. Blue cheese. Slices of squash and bits of thyme. Freshly ground black pepper and freshly grated nutmeg. It wanted salt and I added some in the leftovers (which should provide lunch for days to come). Served with split cherry tomatoes on top for color and sweetness and tang. Grated parmigiano. A glass of red wine. The second half of Law and Order: Criminal Intent. La dolce vita, I tell ya.

I had been thinking about this for weeks and I certainly enjoyed it tonight. (Yes, there is a reason I take a fish oil tablet and pravastatin every day.)

Next time: thicker noodles, olive oil, garlic, whichever squash is ripe, fresh basil from the herb pots, more cherry tomatoes, and peperoncini (not hot sausage; pepper flakes).

And I have lots of sage for sage and brown butter another time. Lovely on pasta.

Buona notte a tutti.

--the BB