MB, the pink frock may or may not fit well on my troll-like
body, assuming I can find someone to clip my toe-nails!



But I do love the color!

It matches your pink cake, silly...

Yanno, we can overlook the nasty oozing sores and the obvious hidden clefts and warts, coz dangit NG, we just luv ya.

But the nose-picking thing just does not work for us. ICK. NO.

But the nose-picking thing just does not work for us.

Yeah, it didn't work when I submitted the picture for my passport renewal, either!

This might be a stretch to post this on this thread, but today bride and I went to a Garlic Festival in Saugerties, NY. (Google it.)

Oh, my!

Look, garlic is not for everybody, but from the sampling of what was being demonstrated/displayed, it could be. The obvious garlic-infused items were there for sampling - pestos (yes, Mel!), chutneys, salsas, pasta sauces, barbecue sauces and rubs - but then the options REALLY started to go outside the box.

Roasted garlic chowder? WOW! Garlic-and-maple cheddar cheese? A winner! Garlic-flavored fries and sweet-potato fries? Matched with heavily garlic'ed pulled pork, they were a treat! And for dessert? (Wait for it!) Garlic-infused vanilla ice cream!

The only problem is the, uhhhhh, residual oral aroma of the "stinking rose". Brushing of one's teeth does nothing! Brushing one's gum's, tongue, mouth and larynx seems to have dulled the power slightly.

UA time was exceptional today. IC and A might be a bit impacted, and anything else........

Garlic is awesome for the blood.

I am a wus when it comes to hot sauce, but garlic, home-made horseradish, and most spices I really like.

I am not surprised with the dishes NG, Glad you had a stinking great time! (Couldn't resist)

There is odorless garlic pills for those who take garlic as a health suppliment, but what fun is that? Plus no vampire inferances for converstaion starters.

In recognition of Columbus Day (an Italian mariner, so seafood would be appropriate) and since someone mentioned we need more pasta, try this one for a change:

Spaghetti with Tuna and Green Olive Pesto

Ingredients

� Coarse sea salt
� 3/4 cup firmly packed medium-sized pitted green olives
� 1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
� 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
� 1/4 cup broken walnut pieces
� 1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
� 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
� 1 pound spaghetti
� 1 lemon
� 1 (5-ounce) can imported tuna in oil, drained and flaked
� Freshly ground black pepper
� Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for serving

Directions

� Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
� Meanwhile, in the bowl of a food processor, combine olives, basil, parsley, walnuts, garlic and pinch salt; blend until finely chopped. With machine running, add 3 tablespoons oil in a slow stream. Blend, scraping down sides once, until smooth and well combined. Set pesto aside.
� Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente. Reserving 3/4 cup pasta cooking water, drain pasta, transfer to a large serving bowl and immediately toss with remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Add pesto and half of the pasta cooking liquid to bowl; toss to combine. Zest lemon over pasta, add tuna and toss to combine. Add more pasta cooking liquid to moisten pasta, if desired.
� Season pasta with salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately with cheese for sprinkling

brb...gotta go get a towel to wipe the drool off my keyboard...

You can never have too much pasta!

You know what I really like about this recipe, NG? (Other than the pasta, of course )
One of mine and H's favorite activities is to try new recipes. But it's not nearly as much fun if the recipe has, say, two or three ingredients and takes 10 minutes from stove to table.

We like the looong recipes. The involved ones with plenty of ingredients. The ones that require examining fresh ingredients to select the best quality. Sometimes we have to go out of the area to little shops in the nearest big town to find the really good ingredients.

We like recipes that require chopping, dicing and tending. Marinating, overnighting, and seasoning. The more complicated and time-consuming the better.

We love to debate over a pinch vs. a dash. I love to feign offense when H tries to sneak beer into the chili recipe we've got simmering. He loves to taste-test the recipe and try to 'bastardize' it by throwing in a different ingredient.

Can you say "Splendid UA time"?

Thanks for giving us a recipe for some splendid UA time, NG!

Son of a *** edit ***! (I'll save you the trouble, Mods!)

Almost two-and-a half years after d-night, and your kitchen-UA comment triggers me about a long-forgotten (never connected?) indicator of my wife's pre-discovery detachment from our marriage!

I'll be back, but right now I need to compose and re-orient myself.

NG, I hope you're not saying I triggered you! I'll be very upset if I did!

MB, it was the comment about UA time while cooking together.

It was a Sunday, and I was slated to prepare dinner. My bride was finishing the baking of a cake as I entered the kitchen, and basically forbid me to intrude on her "space" until it was done. She finished up, and sat in the living room reading, while I began my efforts. I remember now thinking how "odd" her behavior was, but put the thoughts aside as just "one of those things".

The date was 14 June, 2009, less than two weeks before d-night. She had already so "checked-out" of our marriage that she could not endure being in extended close proximity to me.

I had never made the connection, or truly calibrated the extent of her detachment, until your note. As doctrinal as I now know it is that WWs have to stop loving BHs as an element of falling in love with their OMs, I had never acknowledged that my FWW was no exception. It took me all of this past week to devise a way to discuss it with her.

Anyway, this recipe is for neophyte chefs. (Are you printing this for FWH, SDIT?)

NEVERGUESSED'S CHICKEN-PASTA BAKE

INGREDIENTS
� 1 lb boneless chicken breasts
� 1 26oz can commercial Zesty and Spicy Pasta Sauce
� 1 16oz package Celantani pasta
� 8(?) oz shredded mozzarella
� 3 Tbsp olive oil
� 2 cloves minced garlic
� Red pepper flakes to taste
DIRECTIONS
Heat oil in pan, saut� garlic. Slice breasts to create cutlets. Cut cutlets into � inch-wide strips. Add chicken strips to garlic, and brown lightly (5 min). Remove chicken, add pasta sauce to garlic in pan, add pepper to taste. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to directions.
Pre-heat oven to 350. Pour cooked pasta into baking dish of sufficient size to leave pasta 1.5 inches deep. Pour most of sauce onto pasta, stirring to distribute evenly. Lay chicken strips over pasta, and spread cheese over chicken/pasta. Bake 25 minutes.
Serve with retained sauce.

For those who are interested, I blogged about another extravagant recipe: Polenta-Crusted Pompano Salad with Saut�ed Spicy Peppers, Chicory, and Tomato Oil.

I'm not so sure this is something I'd recommend to others (the blog post explains why), but perhaps some part of it will be useful. And, I must say that the tomato oil made a terrific sauce for the stuffed peppers I made the next night. The peppers were the remaining Italian Frying Peppers (I think they're the same as Banana Peppers?). Stuffing with ground turkey, chopped onion, parmesan, pine nuts, salt and pepper.

Wow, curious! That looks great! AND time-consuming! (H and I are not afraid of time-consuming recipes )

I can see other uses for the tomato oil, as well.

Thanks for posting this!

BUMP for GJM

This is a family favorite. If you don't believe how delish it is, just READ THE REVIEWS! Really...

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/late-night-bacon-recipe/index.html

My daughter made us Jaeger Schnitzel and Spaetzle... It is to die for.

Here's the recipe (one of them at least, she's modified hers a bit I think)

http://www.food.com/recipe/wiener-or-jaeger-schnitzel-424543

Tonight's surprise for Markos: Strawberry Shortcake Cookies.

Oh, yum! I love jaeger schnitzel mit spaetzle! There is a restaurant in Munich that serves such a heavenly version of it that it's on my list of places to visit if and when I get a chance to go.