thank you:-))

Between your comments here and those you sent in your emails, I had lots of smiles today. Thanks!  You've encouraged me to get back to writing about nothing (or making things up) just to hear your voices (you know what I mean).

Today started rather inauspiciously, to say the least.  I got into the car at 9:00 to go to my 9:15 appointment but my car wouldn't start. Sigh... called to cancel, phoned AAA, and went inside to wait and slice onions for the spaghetti sauce I was going to make later.  Happily, it was only a dead battery and I was able to reschedule my appointment for tomorrow morning.

Mostly, I puttered around and did things like rearranging the baking shelf in my pantry, changing lightbulbs, and taking out the garbage. Which do you think was the most fun?

I also headed for the two supermarkets I hadn't been to yesterday and came home megabucks lighter and many bags heavier.  One of the items I could not resist was this elegant cauliflower.  What?? I bought one yesterday!  Yes, but THIS  one is drop-dead gorgeous, local, and weighs so much it needed its own bag.  Plus, it was a bargain. Could I leave it there?

All those greens just waiting to be sautéd and added to yesterday's batch.  .  Yesterday, courtesy of Melissa Clark, I turned on the gas grill, tossed the florets in olive oil, kosher salt, and cumin seeds, roasted them for about 30 minutes and they were heavenly. Now I need to check out the plethora of good Indian recipes - gobi aloo and more, waiting for me in my cookbooks and on the web.

The other thing I couldn't resist today was calamari. I bought 1/2 lb after Hilary told me she had grilled some that was so good the kids loved it. So I did a search for recipes and found this wonderful website. Tonight's dinner was FABULOUS!!

I spent my earliest years in an Italian neighborhood. Our landlady, Jenny Montesano, taught my mother to cook, so ma made the best spaghetti sauce (aka gravy) in the world and as a result, the best lasagne and eggplant parmesean. I have never had eggplant parm in a restaurant that was as good as my mother's (or mine, if I do say so) and my meat sauce is just as good as hers was. No recipe, just by taste you know if it is right.  I made a big pot of sauce today, which should give me a few meals. I might make a baked ziti to put in the freezer in case of unexpected guests. Or even expected guests.  

By now, you may be asking yourself whether I am doing any art. Well, no.  I have been busy updating some class materials, changing something on my website, and I have to send off a quilt tomorrow to be photographed. Oops.  Maybe I'll get to the studio tomorrow to pick up this quilt, which is sitting on the design wall waiting to be finished. (you see a slice of it on the blog's header)

I need to make sure it's sort of square (the hardest part) and then put a facing on it.  I've been working on this since early June and it still doesn't have a name -- although several have been suggested. I'm open - but so far none is ambiguous enough: you know how I am about titles. You need to have your own conversation with the piece - you don't need to know what i was thinking (if, indeed, I was).  Tell me what immediately comes to mind when you see this and maybe I'll get an idea besides Green #1 

Enough of this idle chit-chat. Time to retire for the evening. Send me your thoughts.