ONCE AROUND THE WEEKEND

The weekend flew by much to quickly for my taste. Had a great time with the family here. We were constantly entertained by my two crazy grandkids. They have amazing personalities and I am neither partial nor exaggerating... Little JuJu staged a sell-out magic show which is now saved on video for years of enjoyment. Baby JuJu is teething and, though moderately irritable, was adorable and delightful. She's into mimicing and still loves dancing with her Nana. She seems to be liking Rod Stewart; Hot Legs and Ooh La La in particular.

On Saturday afternooon, JuJu took the kids to visit her dad and his family. Poopy was worn out and crashed for refueling. I had my kitchen ALL TO MYSELF. While that may not seem like a big deal to you, I love to cook and cooking alone and uninterrupted is a favorite pasttime of mine which happens all too infrequently these days. My original plan was just to make lasagna (sorry Jeff, leftovers are spoken for) but I ended up making pasta salad and individual cheese cakes besides.

Have you ever thought aboot what a ... sensual ... experience cooking can be??? Seriously. Think of it. First of all, I poured myself a nice white Zinfandel, put on some good music and shed my jeans and long-sleeved shirt for something, um, more comfortable. With the onions and meat browning in the pan, it was getting a tad warm in the kitchen. The sauce was bubbling in another pan. The smell of fresh mushrooms sauteing in butter is such an earthy smell, sometimes I get really into that aroma. Never really noticed, as I was breaking eggs into a bowl, just how slippy and drippy the egg whites are as they dribble into the bowl... I beat them and stirred in the creamy, white ricotta and added some chopped scallions, nutmeg and some Italian seasoning and it smelled rather yummy. By the time I had the water boiling for the noodles, the kitchen was downright steamy and the effect, coupled with a second glass of wine and some good music thumping with bass, I found myself dancing around and had to open a window for a breeze to cool me off. Whew... Julia Child must have died a happy woman.

Anyway, just let me say that I really enjoyed an afternoon in the kitchen all by myself. Dinner was almost as good ;-)