AN EMBARRASSING UPDATE

It's about the last post - The Mono.

SWMBO just read it and came in to tell me that's not it's name.

She informed me that it is Monja.

Guess what that translates to in English.

Nun.

SWMBO then said, "You could have asked me."

And that's why she's called She Who Must Be Obeyed.

(I did get her t.v. set running correctly last night, though.)

THE MONO

We (SWMBO and I) have been making some changes in what we laughingly call our "back yard".

We moved the monk to a new location.

It seems like a position of honor and quite by accident I discovered that it is just that.

In the morning, if the sun is shining and it usually is, a beam of light is reflected from my window directly to the monk.

And in the late afternoon he seems to have an unearthly light coming from the setting sun.

Now he (or she) looks like a monk to me.

I bought him, or her, years ago when we were living in Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico.

A tag said it was a "mono".

Now the nearest translation from that Spanish word to English comes out as "monkey"!

Now he, or she, is definitely not a monkey but it just occurred to me that the first four letters of that spell "monk".

Which he, or she, looks like, wrapped in that robe with only the face showing.

Incidentally, SWMBO has insisted on keeping he, or she, outside and the elements have had an effect on that face.

From time to time I have suggested touching he, or she, up a bit but SWMBO says she prefers the aging process the weather is providing.

Which doesn't provide a solution to the mystery of the name.

But I've always called it "the monk" and I guess I'll continue with that.

If y'all have any better ideas, the comment section below is wide open.

I always welcome a meeting of the minds.

HOORAY FOR OLD GLORY

Y'all may remember my post recently about one of my neighbors on the next street over flying his flag upside down.

I noted that that's a correct way to fly the flag if the flag-raiser is in distress.

I suggested that, in this case, it might be his way of protesting the government shutdown.

The government went back to work today and, lo and behold, when I stepped outside a few minutes ago I noticed once more his flag flying.

But now it is right side up so I'm guessing it was a protest.

I just can't tell whose side he's on.

AW, RATS!

SHE CAN BAKE

You may have noticed yours truly bragging on his blueberry flaugnarde the other day.

You remember.

I started out calling it a clafoutis until I read that it only goes by that name if it's made with cherries.

But I didn't use all of the blueberries and they were going bad fast.

So today while I was out running an errand, the real cook in the house took the bull by the horns.

Actually she took the blueberries by the stems and showed me what baking is all about.

These are her candied-ginger blueberry turnovers.

They came out of the oven as I was compelling her to sit and watch yet another cooking show on t.v.

I haven't tasted them yet.

But I did get to munch on a few tiny cinnamon sugar bon bons that she made out of her pastry scraps.

Yummy.

But these will be better, I'm sure.

And the beat goes on.

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

Today's news: the government is still shut down, Roger Stone has been indicted and arrested, a Connecticut woman charged with D.U.I. was drunk on vanilla extract, and A.J. Pollock has signed a four year contract - - - with the LOS ANGELES DODGERS!  😖  Sheesh!

I think it's time to think about what day this is.

For those of you who detest puns, well I guess this just wasn't your week.

Now pun-hater or pun-lover, put your personal perfect professionalism to good use, place pusillanousness to the rear and plunge precipitously into a pleasant weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(ewww, and I just cleaned the kitchen floor.)

KITCHEN PRODUCTION

The other day I was chatting with my soon-to-be really old friend, Baseball Steve, and he asked me if I ever do anything in the kitchen other than the random loaf of bread.

Well, of course, I said.

Every Friday night I make dinner.

But he began to laugh when I told him that consists of buying a frozen pizza from the grocery store and . . .

But wait, I said, I make it my OWN by adding more pepperoni and mozzarella and parmesan and peppers and, when we had a container garden, fresh Italian parsley and basil and so on.

I should have mentioned that I just made eggplant parmesan the other day.

And I have mastered a Chinese-style breakfast egg wrap known as Jian Bing, which is really easy and quick and pretty darned tasty.

And I did try a recipe . . . just a small portion for myself to see what it was like . . . of spaghetti with mint.

That sounded strange but I liked it.

Judy just gives me the side-eye when I mention it.

So I do cook in spurts, meaning that I'll be fairly active for a few days and then turn those chores back to the real cook in the house.

But speaking of SWMBO, she said to me this morning that she knew what I could make.

I gave her a bit of the side-eye until she said "a blueberry clafoutis."

She came home from the store one day with a fairly large carton of the berries and I had just been thinking about them yesterday and imagining one of my favorites, a blueberry banana bread or maybe some blueberry muffins.

But a clafoutis, which I discovered last year on a blog from Paris by David Lebovitz that I read, is simpler than simple.

It's just fruit in a single layer in a buttered dish, topped with a simple batter and baked in an oven.

It should be topped with a dusting of powdered sugar before serving.

But you could use instead some whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream, I suppose.

The first one I made was with cherries, then I made one with blueberries and red raspberries for a dessert at our Christmas Eve brunch with the BRD and her Beau Jack.

Incidentally, I just learned while doing some research for this post that when the dessert is made with anything but cherries it is more properly known as a flaugnarde.

So here then is the product of my kitchen labor today: a blueberry flaugnarde.

The best part of all this?

It will be as we attack it after finishing off the left-over eggplant parmesan in sandwiches with some of Judy's freshly cooked pepper bacon this evening.

Bon appetit!