Is It Bigger Than a Bread Box?

Pottery Barn offers Caterer In a Box

Here at Chez Dana we offer Havanese In a Box

This old plastic shoebox left on the table  has become Rico's new favorite place to hang out to spy on the cat next door.  My tiny baby dozes in that box all afternoon.  He loves when the sun streams in.

Back and Forth

Last Wednesday we drove three hours across this penninsula of a state of ours to return to our house, our home for the past ten years.  We haven't been there since the end of December when our renters arrived.  Gladys was there finishing up the cleaning when we arrived.  The dogs were thrilled to be back in such a large inside space and especially happy to have their fenced side yard back. 

Every time we go away for a while and return, I reconnect with who I am.  The interior of the house is my creation and it truly does accurately reflect who I am.  Husband had the house before I met him.  He bought it furnished.  The furniture was early eighties south Florida, all bleached wood and colors of pink, blue and light green.  I always felt uncomfortable with those colors.  I felt like I had no depth.  I felt ungrounded.  So, over the course of ten years I changed everything. Everyone who knows me knows that. 

I got so much pleasure from doing the redecorating.  I have no creative hobbies.  But, the redecorating gave me a way to express myself visually.  I realized this when I saw the video the realtor had made.  I am attaching a link to it.  If you watch the video, first click on the square thing in the bottom right to go full screen.  Then click on HD and Stretch.  When  the video timer thingie (green) gets to about 1:52, you will see this guy's head as he swims across the lake.  Look at the bottom left of the video to see a small black thing moving along.  That's Gus.  The video guy got all excited and came running in to say  "Do you know there's a gator in your lake?" I replied, "Oh that must be Gus."  He said, "Cool!"   Here is Gus as he looks when he suns on the bank behind our lanai.

The Cat, The Bag, The Story

I've been waiting since February 11th to write this here.  I've tried to be patient.  I am glad the wait is over.  We have bought a new home.  I didn't want to share the news until our offer was accepted.  The home was a short sale meaning, in  this country, that it is pre-forclosure and that the bank must approve a sale amount less than what is owed on the house.  In this particular case, the bank agreed to accept three hundred thousand dollars less than is owed on the mortgage.  Bad for them, good for us.  Because we are dealing with a bank, the whole process is sloooooooooowwwwwwww. 

We have been house hunting since December. We saw zillions of homes. Finally we decided on the neighborhood above. It is about 3/4 completed. The houses were first built in late 2006. There were no resales. We met with the developer's staff, chose a model, a lot and options and were going to build once we sold our house. There were no resales as the homes are too new. A few nights after we did all of this, I stumbled across the county courthouse list for upcoming forclosures. I saw a home in THE development. The next morning I called a realtor who advertised as specializing in short sales and forecloures. We looked at the house the same day and made the offer. The offer was the same as the price of the new build. It is 1500 sq ft larger, has a pool and is on the best lot in the development. It seemed a no brainer to us. Time will tell.... I took some photos of the house the day we looked at it. They appear below. They aren't very good, but they are what I've got. It is sad to see a house abandoned. I wish the house could talk.

Fresh Pasta European Style Lasagna

Months and months ago I promised to write up this recipe. I got distracted and forgot. This is a recipe for a very different type of lasagna than the type of lasagna most Americans make. I generically refer to it as a European Lasagna. The huge difference, in my mind, between European style and American style lasagnas is that American lasagnas, as I know them, use ricotta cheese blended with eggs, parsley, basil, salt, pepper, a bit of parmesan and a tige of sugar as a main ingredient. European Lasagna uses a scrumptious Bechamel sauce in place of the ricotta mixture. The substitution of the Bechamel for ricotta renders a less heavy, solid lasagna. When cut, the lasagna is slippery rather than chunky and blocky. Or, to quote my daugher-in-law when I served it last night at dinner, "Oh, it's silky and wonderful."

There is one further twist to this lasagna. The noodles are made with fresh pasta. WAIT!!! Don't panic. There is a cheat here, a fabulous work around. While my younger self might have slaved away rolling dough into paper thin lasagna noodle ribbons., I don't have the hands for it any more. I have, in the past, used Ronzoni no-boil lasagna noodles. They're good. They are not as rubbery as the lasagna noodles that must be boiled. But still, neither are fresh, certainly neither are paper thin. I have now discovered fresh Egg Roll Wrappers. Yes, you read that correctly. I find them in the fresh produce section of the grocery. They are sheets of fresh pasta, thin and lovely

There are only four basic components to the lasagna...the ragu (red sauce), the bechamel (white sauce), the pasta, the cheeses, the meat. OK...that's five, but except for my process in the case of this particular lasagna, the meat is really part of the ragu in most cases.

The Ragu

Listen, even though I make my sauce from scratch because it's so easy, if you have a jar sauce that you like, use it. I mean, I wouldn't, but you do what you conscience dictates. If you want to try my sauce recipe, it's easy.

2 cans San Marzano Crushed Tomatoes. I use these because I prefer a sweet sauce.

1 medium onion, diced

2 large cloves garlic, diced

some bay leaf (Laurel)

Fresh Basil (I keep Basil plants and usually grab 2 big branches)

salt and pepper

a glug of a deep red wine

about 3/4 cup of a good parmesan cheese (I use shredded grana padano and I throw in a rind of parmigana reggiano that I buy at Publix. They sell the rinds that would normally be waste. They're terrific for sauces and soups).

1 Tablespoon sugar

I sautee the onion and garlic in olive oil until onion is translucent, not browned.  Add everything else and simmer for a few hours.  I don't chop the Basil.  I just add it whole and then remove it at the end.

Bechamel Sauce

4 T unsalted butter (1/2 stick)

4 T flour

3 cups whole milk

salt

pepper

nutmeg

Melt butter, stir in flour, cook a bit.  Add milk and spices, stir until thick and bubbly.

I added browned ground round to my sauce and I also browned up some Italian sausage.  We're carnivores.

Process

Lightly spray bottom of lasagna pan with oil.  Spread a thin layer of ragu.  Top with a layer of egg roll sheets.  Trim to fit if necessary.  Spread with a very thin layer of Bechamel.  Sprinkle with shredded Mozzarella and shreadded quality parmesan cheeses.  Sprinkle with the sausage pieces.  Top with a thin layer of ragu.  Keep repeating layers ending with ragu and more cheese on top.

Cover tightly with foil.  Do not allow foil to touch the lasagna.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  Uncover and bake 10 minutes longer.  Shut oven off and leave lasagna 10 more minutes with door ajar.

My Husband Must Be a Bigamist

I recently saw this elsewhere and decided to share it with my friends. For my UK readers...this woman is VERY Southern.