Friday night's dinner on Monday

Back to work on Monday and it's already stifling. It's not the heat (yet - supposed to get to 92 degrees F.), it's the humidity - 98% or some crazy thing. And, still no rain in the forecast until "possibly" Wednesday night.

So, when I got home, I had to water the front flower beds (I'd done the raised bed garden on the weekend.

Back inside and in the air conditioning I sat and relaxed until I stopped sweating. Speaking of the A/C. it ran most of the evening until I manually adjusted it upwards to 78 degrees. Yeah, it wasn't as comfortable, but I was afraid the old girl would burn up or something.

Between the water and electrical usage, next month's bills ain't gonna be pretty!

I was inspired by a dish Jake said Carla made a couple weekends back: Linguine with clam sauce. I love that stuff and it's been a long while since I made it.

I put on a pot of salted water to boil for the linguini. Meanwhile, I added about a 1/4 cup of olive oil to my biggest skillet and turned it to medium heat. Next I minced four big cloves of garlic and chopped four fillets of anchovies

I added the anchovies and garlic, plus a teaspoon each of dried thyme and some red pepper flakes to the oil. I added the dried linguine to the water and cooked it just BEFORE it was al dente (it will continue to cook in the sauce, you see). I waited until the anchovies melted (and, they do) and then deglazed the pan with 1/2 cup of white wine (I used a mini-bottle of Sauvignon Blanc) or you can also use dry Vermouth.

Then I added one can of chopped clams with the juice and two cans of chopped clams, drained. I drained the linguini and added it to the skillet. I tossed and coated the pasta until the pasta absorbed the sauce (about 2-3 minutes). I removed it from the heat and tasted-tested it (perfect!) and then added a handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley from the patio. I plated it and topped it with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

I watched taped TV until 10:00 PM when Bourdain's "No Reservations" came on. I watched that, putting away the leftovers (and there were LOTS) during commercials. I went to bed at 11:00.