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In relatively typical fashion, I did NOT get to Coastal Seafoods for halibut, so I substitued eggs, delicious with the fresh polenta and red pepper oil. Not bad in a pinch, but halibut is better. Either way, the meal is deceptively light, plus colorful, nutritious, easy – and rather impressive. Needed a salad, arugula with a mustard vinaigrette would have been great, but I ran out of time and energy. I also didn’t have any arugula. Oh well. John and I ate late, washed it down with a couple of glasses of Prosecco, and called it a night.

Last night, Tuesday, was Nathan’s basketball game night. Games are at 6:00, so not much time to cook. I often come up with interesting meals (I think) – and interesting outfits (as a total aside) – when I am seriously pressed for time. I knew I had some frozen spaetzle, a great product, requires no boiling water, just heat, so decided to lead off of that. Sauce, sauce, what can I do for a sauce? I have fresh sage leaves in the fridge, how about browned butter with sage? Check. Needs some protein, I have leftover pork roast (see below), but it’s very chipotle-y, not good with sage, ah, I’ll go with my old stand-by – rotisserie chicken from Byerly’s. So protein, check. Toss spaetzle and chicken (and if I had arugula, I would toss in a handful of torn up leaves, but as I mentioned above, no dice) in browned sage butter until warm, serve in bowls with freshly grated Parm and black pepper, sprinkle of sea salt, OMG it was good. Even Nathan liked it, which he was POSITIVE he wouldn’t, because he was mad at me for not letting him go to McDonald’s (!) after the game since he had a big and not-yet-completed project due at school today. Nothing tastes good to Nathan if it’s instead-of McDonald’s. Sigh. Someday, I’ll champion Pizza Hut and McDonald’s in my boy’s heart (or stomach). But not yet. Oh, and regarding the moderation part, it did not take much browned butter to get ALOT of flavor for the spaetzle. Same with the good, imported hunk of Parmesan that keeps forever in the cheese drawer. I was quite proud that I’d met my moderate epicurean goal in less than 15 minutes, including my actual thought process, ha. (I’ll put a more accurate version of what I did in the comments for this entry…)

In the home decor realm, which as another of life’s little pleasures DEFINITELY fits into my epicurean definition, I achieved major satisfaction yesterday. I accompanied Susie on a bead run – supplies for her fabulous jewelry making – and came home with…what else?…an amazing lamp. For our downstairs, which was water-damaged last spring and has been reborn, through repair, into a pretty damn cool place to hang out. As with many lower levels, ours has inherited furnishings from several family members and John’s and my previous marriages/households. Which all look somehow new and fabulous amidst new carpeting, funky paint, the stunning artwork of our friends Kathleen Day-Coen (www.galleryco.net/previous/daycoen/), Maud Bryt (www.maudbryt.com), and Cory Shubert (www.pixelagogo.com/gallery_people.html) and my sister Stacey (www.galleryco.net/previous/meyer/). It all just needed an interesting lamp…and I found THE LAMP next door to the bead store…thanks to Susie who noticed their half-off-sale sign (definitely moderate, half-off!)… The lamp looks so good, in fact, it inspired me to start putting the rooms back together (still messed up from above-mentioned carpeting and paint jobs), I really got into it. Hung pictures, arranged photos, books, rugs, I even moved a couple of large pieces of furniture by myself. And DIDN’T hurt my back! Proud of that too – my spaetzle in browned butter and my uninjured back. How good is that?

And one more note for this so-far good day, musically speaking, check out Susie’s new music samples on her website, www.warbride.net. Not only can she spot a good deal, she ROCKS! (You can also access her site from her blog, Diary of a Metal Mommy, at right under For Fun.)