August 29, 2013

White Dog crashed through the dog door and came zooming into the kitchen. "Are those lamb shanks I smell?" she demanded to know.They were browning nicely with the spices and were almost ready to go into the roaster for a long slow stewing. "Really, we're having LAMB SHANKS," she danced around the kitchen sniffing before running off to tell the others...who were already heading into the room to verify what their sniffers told them.

"You DO know these will need to braise all afternoon," I told them, all sitting politely, tails wagging, letting me clearly know that they did not need anything further done...that they would be very delicious right now at this very minute.

"Anyone want to help with the squash stuffed with feta and mint?" I questioned as I slid the roaster into the oven. The White Dog Army, except for my ever faithful veggie lover, YoYoMa, drifted off to rest and drink in the aroma of roasting lamb. For his loyalty Yet Another White Dog was rewarded with tastes of the ingredients as we made the vegetables and a promise that every pup would get some couscous and gravy for dinner.

From behind the chair, White Dog called out a reminder, "AND we get lamb shank bones, too, right?" "AFTER we eat," I made clear since WD can be quite lawyerly in finding loopholes and I feared a scene where she demanded the food off our plates.

I got a bit more interest from WD and Oso, along with Yo, when I mixed the marscapone cheese with pistachios and stuffed the mixture into figs for our dessert. All three loved the cheese but only YoYoMa ate the fig pieces with gusto.

"Now what," WD asked. "Now we wait." "For what? Let's eat!" "Firstly, dad isn't even home. Secondly NancyTurtle, our friend who we met through the blog won't be here until six-thirty." "That is HOURS away!" she moaned.

"Half of the fun in life, Sweet One, is anticipation."