T.M. came yesterday to interview me for the local newspaper and even though the bread dough was pretending to be soup, we had a wonderful time.T. is a homeschool graduate who began writing for local papers when she was fourteen. She now writes a weekly column and regular articles for the paper. Her weekly column is about women and cooking. T. herself said she can't cook, but she's so much fun to have around, I think I'll forgive that. :-)
Yesterday, Bard and I arose early (early for us is usually before 8:00) and ate breakfast and then started cleaning the house. I made granola (it didn't turn out, Irene! I don't know what happened, but I only cooked it 3/4 of the time at the right temp, and it got too brown. It's edible, but not big and chunky, like I'd hoped). Houdin got up and cleaned the porch. Really! He scrubbed off the chicken poop and cleaned up the Christmas tree (yes, there was STILL a Christmas tree on my porch) and basically did a wonderful job. Bard did laundry (we're almost caught up!) and helped clean everywhere. Monet took care of the trash (complaining the whole time) while Sweetheart and The Baby put all the shoes and coats away. By the time T. arrived, the house was clean, the meal was just about ready (Bard and I had made our dishes the night before) and we were relaxed.
The only problem was that the bread dough, for whatever reason, came out soupy, so instead of trying to fix it, I just decided to make biscuits instead. Since I was freaked about the bread dough, I tampered with the biscuits, and, as a result, they weren't as good as they usually are. But the manicotti that Bard made was excellent, and the cheesecake was divine, as usual. And we discovered that every dish we provided contained dairy products; even the salad had cheddar and bleu cheese toppings! Both the cheesecake and the biscuits contained sour cream, and the manicotti was stuffed with ricotta, parmesan and mozzarella.
The best part about the whole meal, though, was the company. T. was kind, personable, intelligent and real. We had good conversations about life, learning, dating and even cooking. T. took Taylor's and my picture for the paper. Can't wait to see how that turns out. And through the whole meal, Sweetheart only dumped her plate on the floor twice and spilled her ice water on the table once. T. stayed long enough that her mother called to see where she was.
Thanks, T., if you ever happen to read this. Our famiy enjoyed your presence in our home.
