A great babysitter, cooking together, and the Sophie saga continues

 

Jamie in the kitchen

Son Jamie arrived about noon today for his two days of babysitting Mom since the Burtons are in Mexico. I looked up from my computer one moment, and there he was. I had texted to ask about his arrival time and gotten no answer—he discovered why. My texts to him were somehow going to his junk email. So he spent a long time fixing that.

Sophie had been somewhat livelier this morning—ate a couple of spoons full of dog food when she first got up and then scarfed down the chicken and broth I made her. She did go out and chase squirrels, but she mostly slept and sometimes I would hear her wheezing. But when Jamie arrived, she was suddenly a whole new dog, jumping, tail wagging, happy as can be. I mentioned that I couldn’t get her to take her pills, and he said, “I’m usually pretty good at that. Let me try.”

Sophie has her favorites among my friends, and she greets them appropriately, but she somehow knows who’s family and saves her wildest enthusiasm for my four children. Later this week, I expect her to greet Colin and then Megan with the same enthusiasm. Truth to tell, I’m a little jealous. But I think tonight she’s still a bit uncertain about me, the wicked witch who tried to shove all those pills down her throat and then mixed them in her food.

Jame got decongestant and antibiotics down her, but it took an entire slice of processed cheese—I may end with a healthy but overweight dog. To add insult to injury, the little traitor followed him into the house and spent the entire afternoon sleeping at his feet while he worked. But when he brought her out about five, she ate her dog food and seemed quite content. I think she’s on the mend.

Jamie had suggested we cook together tonight. He wanted a family dish—green noodles. Mushrooms are essential to this dish, but Jamie doesn’t like mushrooms. So I was puzzled. He remembers the dish from childhood, but when I suggested recent elaborations on it, he wanted the purist version: spinach fettucine, butter, lemon, green onion. And the mushrooms had to be sliced really thin. No way I was doing that—I left it for him.

But I did the prep, including making, this morning, a summer squash casserole because I know he loves it. I added just a bit of sugar which was not detectable but, I think, made it really good. So I baked the casserole, assembled the ingredients for green noodles as we call it, cooked the noodles, and left him to make the sauce. We had a great collaborative dinner. I did add Pecorino to mine. Watch for the recipe in tomorrow’s Gourmet on a Hot Plate blog.

Having one of my “away” children arrive makes it a special day, but it was a good day in other ways. I wrote a thousand words plus on the new Irene book. I’m about to start asking for title suggestions: Irene Goes to Texas is pretty blah to my mind. I like the titles Saving Irene and Finding Florence and would love something snappy like that. Yes, it will be a murder mystery, with a wedding, lots of Texas atmosphere (I hope), and lots of good food. Having done that, I also wrote the one paragraph that I had in my head about Helen Corbitt, and tomorrow I’m geared to get back to the project.

Jamie has gone back to work in the house—and taken Sophie with him. I will not let him have her overnight!  But I’m going to enjoy the peace and quiet and read the book I’m almost through with. I’ve found a new (to me) mystery series—each title has the word Ghost. I am currently reading the third book, Ghost Dog. Author is Texan Helen Currie Foster.

Happy times, everyone!

Our supper tonight. So good!