Even weeds produce flowers

2/24/08 - I've been cooking meals for the family every day since the Superbowl. That includes setting the table and doing the dishes. I did it out of necessity at first. My pregnant wife, has no energy after a day at the office and my stepson would just as easily settle for waffles and smoothies for dinner. So, I took control of the kitchen and I tell you, strange things are starting to happen.

Around 5 PM tonight, I started concocting some kind of meal. (Hey, Impatient One, you'll get your recipe soon enough, so just read on!) My son was at the side of the house poking around the ivy that covers the strip of clay slope - not his normal spot to cause damage. What do you know, 10 minutes later, he shows up with a handful of yellow flowers that bloomed off the unpicked weeds. He then asks me to PLEASE find a vase for him and proceeds to lay it on the dining table alongside a shell from Bora Bora that my wife and I got as a gift from a pearl dealer. Then he goes out and gets another fistful of purple flowers that burst out of another clump of future compost and makes another arrangement. In addition, he helps me set the table. Believe it or not!

We then called my daughters, who live with their mother, after dinner to tell them about the flowers. Apparently, on one of their visits to my house, the kids planted weeds in different parts of our property. Well, now those weeds are growing flowers and the kids are jazzed about it! I call this progress for a new situation in life for all of us. We are all getting used to the idea that there are some new family members to live with or at the very least, tolerate. Today, I don't look at weeds as my rival and enemy in the yard. I think that this Spring, their planted weeds will get a reprieve and be allowed to stay in the yard.

The unemployment check is running late so the shopping is postponed for a day. Taking this as a challenge, I had to come up with something that would at the very least satisfy. I call the dish PapaPasta. It fed 3 and we still have leftovers for my wife's lunch or my 2AM snack. We'll see!

• Grab that frozen chicken breast and place it in a ziplock bag with Teriyaki Sauce. I forgot to pull it out earlier, so I held the bag under warm water for an hour.
• Place the chicken in a skillet with 1/2 cup of water and some olive oil and cook at medium heat till chicken is juicy and tender and not raw inside.
• pour 1 cup of frozen peas from Trader Joe's into 2 inches deep of water in a small pot. Cook on medium until they get warm enough to eat.
• dice a fresh tomato and let it chill in the fridge
• Grab a fistfull (2 inch diameter) of spaghetti and place in boiling water till it gets tender enough for you.
• Place the pasta on each dish and top with chopped chicken chunks, peas and the diced tomatoes.
• Sprinkle each dish with parmesan cheese at the table for each person. It gives the impression of class and distinction - like at Olive Garden.

You'll be surprised at how one piece of chicken can satisfy a growing family.

Biscuit ate dogfood. But we didn't have to thanks to some clever use of the freezer food and a little love.

Visit tomorrow night when I tell you what I come up with next. Will it be canned cuisine or will that check come in and give us a night to remember? Only God knows!

Keep it Clean,

Papa Pooey