No, I’m not ready for it. But Jim has been offered and has accepted a full-time job in Utah, effective immediately. We don’t yet know where we’ll be living but are definitely here until at least October 15 if not longer.
We have a special guest staying this weekend and it’s been fun to cook and tour a bit and do some Park Silly shopping. I had to throw away one of Jim’s four year-old “Utah formal” shirts last week so we bought him another and I got a couple of belts.
Last night I made: ribeye steaks on the grill, simply rubbed with cut garlic, rubbed with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper; roasted red potatoes with garlic and rosemary; and sauteed zucchini with a few panko crumbs tossed in at the end. We followed with Whole Foods raspberry sorbet with fresh berries and herbal tea.
Breakfast was a mini-feast from our organic sources out here with eggs, toast, maple breakfast sausages and applewood smoked bacon. With organic orange juice or fresh-squeezed apple juice.
A chicken is in the oven tonight stuffed with rosemary and clementines. I’m making risotto with chanterelle mushrooms, and will saute a few red and yellow cherry tomatoes for color on the plate. Our guest “checks out” tomorrow and I’m tasked with getting ready for Jim’s folks to arrive on Wednesday. I’m going to try to pack up my desk and make it livable as what it was intended to be, a dining table. I also have to come up with menus for a week and place an appropriate order for organic items that doesn’t overwhelm frig or freezer.
So, it’s back to work tomorrow but the weekend has been fun. I saw one of the cranes flying early this morning, that’s an unusual and precious sight as their wingspan is so great and they do land gracefully unlike the ducks who splash-land in the creeks when they’re flowing.
Hope y’all had a great weekend and are enjoying some time now that the kiddos are back in school. Cheers! Dee
Cooking with Dee 
Clementines in the chicken? Do tell!
I seasoned the cavity of the chicken with salt, pepper and thyme and inserted a rosemary sprig. Placed the juice from about three small clementines inside and just put them in, tied up the chicken and put it on a bed of rosemary branches and after I buttered it, sliced up a few more clementines and poured the juice over, seasoned with s, p and thyme and roasted. I had to turn the oven down to 325 because even though I added water and a little wine the juices were burning. I did not make a sauce this time because we were having risotto with chanterelle mushrooms finished with butter and parmesan which was a very rich side dish.
Oh, Juni’s recording a new album in October and will have it available on her site http://www.junifisher.net. If you go there now and stay on her home site she’s playing Whipporwill, one of my favorites that’s up for an award this year. She played it for us last December and I cried throughout, having just lost my mother. Of course my mom didn’t whistle, she honked the horn which meant “leave the creek this instant, climb up the 150′ rope home, wash your hands and be at the dinner table in 15 minutes!” Dee