We expected a hot day, so just after the daybreak, we hit the yard, emphasizing repopulating the vertical towers, fine-tuning the drip watering system on the patio, and planting some of the flowers and veggies from Thursday!
I got my marching orders from the boss, “STAY OUT OF THE SUN!” I moved from shady spot to shady spot with the agility of a pregnant ninja elephant.
When the Sun came out, I was ordered to work only under the patio cover!
At 10:30 am, we were both inside, and I heard a horrible sound. It was Mary who had just been bitten by the “cooking bug.” Without missing a beat the kitchen was transformed from a calm restful place to sit into a hub of clattering dishes, rattling pots and pans, and the swishing of knives. That meant it was time to cook!
My life is blessed with Dr. Mary, who takes a house and makes it into a home and wants to cook creative and delicious dishes for the old man to feast upon!
First, she made stuffed jalapeno peppers that we had just picked from the garden. She stuffed them with cream cheese and wrapped them in turkey bacon, and after a while in the oven, the entire neighborhood knew Mary was in the kitchen.
Double yummy!! The turkey bacon is an excellent substiti=ute for regular bacon!
The Anaheim Chilis were split in half. Below is just the smaller group; the others are in the microwave getting steamed/softened.
Cleaned and ready to go!
Meanwhile, Mary prepared the filling. It included the eye of a newt, the toe of a frog, the wool of a bat, a blind worm, and the tongue of a dog. (When Mary starts cooking Scout hides under the bed!) The aroma was overwhelming! This gets spooned into the Anaheim chilis and then baked with cheese!
The filling is ready!
Then Mary sent me to the store (she was having a bad hair day). I returned with everything she needed, plus some other goodies, including flowers for the lady!
I could not resist!
Mary was so excited about making tomato pie that she declared, “These little guys are so fresh, I had to slap them…with a seasoning, of course!”
Did I say fresh ingredients?
Today, I learned the hard way that my curiosity should come with a warning label. It turns out that ordering plastic knives on Amazon can lead to an unexpected career as a chef. I guess my curiosity leads to new discoveries. Those knives were as sharp as razors. The only downside is that they have to be hand-washed, but that is easy!
$9.49 from Amazon!
- Powerful But Light-Weight Workhorse in Your Kitchen: With extra sharpness and precision, the Gourmetop paring knife set of 4 is designed to help streamline kitchen prep and optimize the efficiency of smaller tasks in the kitchen—like peeling kiwis, coring apples, hulling strawberries, deveining shrimp, trimming celery, mincing and dicing garlic and so on.
- Top-grade Stainless Steel with Food-grade Nonstick Coating: Gourmetop paring knives specially adopt premium stainless steel for its exceptional hardness and toughness. Covered by food-grade nonstick coating, the Gourmetop paring knife set gets extreme surface smoothness. No more dragging while cutting.
- Prominent Double-bevel 15° Knife Edge for Impressive Sharpness and Edge Retention: Easily slides through veggies, fruits, and other smaller ingredients, the Gourmetop paring knife has a pointy knife tip and remains the ultra-sharpness from heel to the tip of the knife blade. Compared to most blade angles, the 15° blade angle is finer and more accurate, which produces an exceptionally sharp edge, perfect for precise tasks like deveining a shrimp or peeling a tomato.
What is impressive is that they worked exceptionally well!!!
Fresh! Oh yeah!!
Once chopped, Mary arranges them onto a pie crust, making several layers of the same, and finally covers the top with cheese. Into the oven, and an hour later, fresh tomato pie! I know tomato pie may sound odd, but it is delicious, hot or cold!
Pie in the making.
Then, on top of all that, she made homemade bruschetta. My shopping trip to the market provided the baguettes, and our garden did the rest! Even the garlic was from the garden!
The results! L to R: Bruschetta, tomato pie, stuffed Anaheim chilis! After we were done and went to Jeff’s, only one stuffed jalapeno remained!
After marveling at Chef Mary’s work, we finally took a seat, only to realize that a hurricane had swept through the kitchen while we weren’t paying attention. It was as if every surface had been designated a landing spot for Chef Mary’s culinary creations! It’s a good thing her cooking is better than her tidying skills!
It was obvious: it was time for Super Paul and his cleanup skills! I was watching TV and not paying any attention, and ten minutes later, the kitchen was spotless. Hurricane Mary was a five on the hurricane scale!
We did make a mess! I was afraid to look at the ceiling.
We went to Jeff’s at 6:30 pm and visited him for a good hour before returning home and watching TV.
We talked to Robin and decided to join her for lunch at the Huntington Beach Pier because her and Bob were going to the beach and they asked us to join them. I am steering clear of the sun because we found two additional squamous cell cancers on my face and they are scheduled for removal this next week.
Today was amazing. Just puttering around the house with my best friend is a beautiful experience.
