Productivity

Ahhh, a little Nana Mouskouri playing right now. Fun! Lovely voice, and singing a Kate McGarrigle song to boot!

I feel as though today were my first true day back at work. Meetings and research time and coffee with FXK in the morning. Yep, feels like normal. I didn't exactly doze off in my 2:00 as I might normally, but I will confess to glazing over a little, spacing out, wool gathering. What to do for dinner. What to do for dinner. Conrad's dietary restrictions plague me. I had chicken, garlic, and basil sausage links thawed in the fridge at home. Normally I might toss together some sort of a "Thai curry". Well, I like it, at least.

Not tonight. Coconut milk, even the light stuff, is rich, and what's the point of all that sinfully good sauce if I'm cutting back on the rice to soak it up. Oh yes, I know, I can make rice and just serve him a moderate amount. I'd prefer to save his carb binge for going out for a meal later in the week, though. I might otherwise bake the sausages in the toaster oven and prepare a sweet and tangy chutney to offset them, some broccoli rabe if I had any. Nope, not those either.

It's a little ludicrous, innit, that I should be sitting in a meeting dealing with the ins and outs of our ILS and all I can think is what sides and condiments to offer for dinner.

On the way to the blue line, I had it partially figured out: sautee greenbeans in a simple vinaigrette and maybe do a bit of potato as well. Screw the carb count - I'd just serve Conrad a little less potato! But then I got home with time to spare before heading over to coach practice, and with a bit of fishing in the fridge I surfaced with a yellow summer squash, some white onion, some sweet red pepper, and a better idea.

The sausage did go into the toaster oven to bake. Prick it here and there and let it plump and bake. Easy.

I topped and tailed the beans, then blanched them to take off the edge of rawness. The vinaigrette was a whisked concoction of OJ, some crushed garlic, dry thyme, salt, pepper, sherry vinegar, and olive oil. The beans were sauteed at medium-high heat shortly before serving and laid down as a bed for the sausage.

I cut up some onion, squash (seeded), and red pepper into a large dice. Set that aside. Softened some sun dried tomatoes in hot water, squeezed the excess water from them, then chopped them up a bit and added it to the veggie mix. All of this went into a heated skillet with a bit of olive oil. Salt, pepper, dried thyme. When the veggies had softened a bit I added chicken broth and turned the heat to high to reduce the liquid. It stained nicely thanks to the tomatoes. This I held until almost serving time, then returned to a good heat before adding about a tablespoon or two of butter to finish. This all got spooned over the sausage.

In the end, it was a good mix of flavours: Some orangey sweetness and garlic on the beans, the garlicky, salty sausage, the savoury vegetables with a tang to them. A nice meal we finished off by snacking on fresh blueberries.

Plus, it's a lovely evening out. A bit cool, hence Conrad's jacket. He's still outside with a lamp now, working away on something. What I especially love is seeing the sunset reflected in the high rise across the street. Sometimes it's a remarkable orange glow. The moon, too, is bright and full (or close to it) tonight, and while the camera couldn't zoom well enough to get it as large as it appeared to us, I did get a few shots with some clouds obscuring it slightly.

I am glad, however, that I'm fairly clear on what I'm cooking tomorrow night so as not to spend any further meeting time deliberating over it this week!