Delightful Falafel

No pictures of tonight's special--falafel. We ate it up too fast. But I am happy to have found another great boat meal. One that is healthy, reasonably well-balanced and made from ingredients that we can easily store long-term.

I can't link to the recipe either because I looked at 4 or 5 and then did my own thing. That's another plus for for boat meals, as we only have space for a couple of cookbooks.
But since we joined the CSA a few years ago, I've gotten more and more comfortable with making meals without a recipe; even baking like Grandma, with a pinch of this and a handful of that until everything looks right.

Now if I can only figure out how to make artisan bread in a propane oven!

Bryan is on his way home from a very good trip to the boat. He changed the spark plugs (and the engine fired right up--yay!), fitted the new sail (and it fits--yay!), and fixed the wobbly faucet. The leaks we sealed last time aren't dripping. And the girls and I enjoyed a low-key couple of days on our own. All in all, a low-cost, high-success weekend.

Tonight's Specials

Tonight, blessed with a little extra energy--from whence, I know not, since I have a cold and worked hard all day--and a lot of extra vegetables, I cooked. Boy howdy, did I cook. I made a roasted vegetable gratin with 4 different root veggies and a some greens and sausage with 3 different kinds of greens. Did you catch that? Seven kinds of vegetables in one meal. I think that's a Lee family record. Oh, and somewhere in the middle of all the pot juggling, I managed to whip up some biscuits with some fresh whole-wheat flour from the new (to-me) grain mill I was given yesterday. And (here anyone who knows me will begin to doubt my story) I even washed the dishes after dinner. (must have been all this melted gruyere. Mmmm, melty cheese)

Of course, I would be in bed currently if it wasn't for this little "Lost" addiction at my house. We may need an intervention.

Bryan's heading up to the boat tomorrow evening and planning to try working from the boat on Friday. If all goes well, the girls and I will join him in a few weeks for a family attempt at a normal day aboard with school and work and little girl energy all pressurized into 200 square feet. We may need more melty cheese.

Listen

If you stopped by my house this month, you might have heard...

A Mama tirade dissolving into laughter:
"SOMEDAY! YOU! WILL! LEARN! To pick up as you go and then you won't have to do such a hard job all at once." (at this point, I realized my ridiculousness and we all stepped over to the kitchen, which was--OK is--piled high with dirty dishes) "Someday you will learn this. But when you do, it won't be from me!"

An attempt at comfort dissolving into laughter:
"Great-Grandma's sick, I already hurt my shoulder and now I twisted my ankle. This is the LAST THING I need this week."
"No, Mama, the last thing you need is to twist the other one too."

Well-intentioned pronunciation dissolving into...private snickers:
"This horse looks just like the one in The Black Stallion, so I will call mine Satan (pronounced "Seh-TAN") after him."
(And that's how we ended up with a children's choir notebook decorated carefully with a horse and clearly labeled, "Satan.")

Laughter most days, rarely tears. Constant chatter with music beneath. A teapot's whistle, a fat cat purring. This is the soundtrack of life right now.