Zippo. Nada. Nothing.but.squid

I am pleased to announce that we have been mouse free for several days. Only 4 mice had to be spared for the mice community to get the message that this is not a mouse haven...it's a mouse torture chamber!! I feel it is safe for us to clean out all the cabinets (again), wash all the dishes (again), and just be on high alert (is that a piece of dust or a dropping?- is all I can focus on these days). We'll still keep some traps out, especially in the basement. Just in case.

Finally, we can get to real life. And cooking real food! Tonight, I am trying out this Lenten meal :

Recipe and photo from a SELF magazine issue from several years ago

It's Tomatoes with beans, leeks, and squid. Yup, SQUID! Someone at work said my blog reminds them of that movie "Julie and Julia." Let me tell you, when I saw the nice fish guy put my slimy, gooey dinner in a bag my stomach turned a little. I'm dreading having to touch it in a few hours. It does remind me of when Julie had to boil a lobster. Or something she had to do with a chicken..or a duck. I don't know, quite frankly I was disappointed with that movie. I never did finish it. I was expecting more from the previews.

Steve went squidding (is that a word?) with my Dad back in 2008. Here's what he thought of the experience.

Now that we are mouse- free (I kept typing it praying it will ring true) and I'm VACATION as of NOW (!!!!) I can focus on somethings I've been meaning to do around the house. One is tackling my spice problem. Another is coming up with a good system for weekly menu planning for our household. I planned everything out this week and it has worked so well! Normally, we just have a few recipes or meals in mind, write down what we need, and decide the day of or day before what we are going to eat. Often my meat is not defrosted in time or we just can't decide what to make. Too often produce goes bad. This week, I looked at both our schedules and planned accordingly up through Sunday.

Please keep our dinner and my squid in your prayers today! Might end up being a pizza night!