Why the Blog was late and other Saturday stories

I slept lousy Friday night. So, I got up at 7:00 and warmed up some coffee. I'm supposed to be at Mom's around 10:30 AM and Carl's going to meet me there for lunch. I have plenty of time, so I thought I'd lay down and get a little more rest. WRONG!!!

I woke up at 10:00 AM. Aaarguh! So, I jumped in the shower and then started assembling my dish. I mixed two pounds of whole-milk ricotta cheese with 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese. I added another 1/4 cup of hand torn basil leaves and two eggs. Then I got out the eggplant and the tomato sauce.

I buttered a cake pan and began assembly. About that time, Carl called asking where the hell I was. I put a couple of ladles of the tomato sauce and then a layer of the eggplant. Then I added the ricotta mixture, more tomato sauce and one pound of grated mozzarella. I repeated the procedure (like making lasagna but with eggplant instead of noodles) until the pan was full. I topped it with more of the Parmesan cheese.

I put it in the car on the floor and got together the rest of the stuff I was taking: a bag of baby salad greens, red wine vinegar, Pillsbury bread sticks, Parmesan cheese with some garlic powder in it and a lemon. I put three quarts of frozen soups in the cooler and headed out. Then I got onto I-96 and took it to I-94 and New Baltimore.

Marla already had the oven preheated, so I took off the top and slid in the eggplant Parmesan. I remarked that I had forgotten the red onion for the salad, so Marla cut up some scallions for me while I made a simple vinaigrette with the lemon juice, red wine vinegar and some olive oil. I threw in some Parmesan cheese to make it slightly creamy.

Then I prepared the Pillsbury bread sticks. I popped open the can, separated the dough, twisted each piece and laid them on an un-greased cookie sheet. I sprinkled on the last of the Parmesan cheese mixed with a little garlic powder. Marla pointed out that the Eggplant was getting brown at the edges so we loosely covered it with some tinfoil. Finally, I pulled it out and let it rest while I baked the bread sticks.

Finally, it was time to plate. Marla did the honors. I ate at the table with Mom and Marla and Carl ate on the island. I thought the salad was good and the bread sticks were excellent. The eggplant Parmesan was good, but I thought it would have been better to use more of the spicy tomato sauce and less of the cheese.

At my mother and brother Carl's urging, I dug up some dog-tooth violets from her garden for my own wild garden. We visited for a while and then I started getting sleepy. So I made my goodbyes and headed back for home around 4:00 PM.

I did have one traffic jam to contend with on the way home on I-94 (just before I-96) but I finally got there. My daughter Melissa called to wish me a Happy Easter. We didn't talk long as I mentioned I was just about to take a nap.

But first, it was time to post the Blog, albeit 12 hours late. Sorry about that! Next I planted the dog-tooth violets and watered them. Then I took an hour long nap.

I woke up just after 7:00 PM and went out to wash up the mess from this morning's frantic food adventure. I think any recipe that calls for copious amounts of tomato sauce is just asking for trouble, especially when you are late and trying to hurry.

But, I got it mostly cleaned up. I wandered in to watch some taped TV shows and I went to bed for real after the 11:00 PM news.