One More Night Of Cooking-Then I Am Going To Fall Over Dead

Over the past five days I have prepared:

Lamb Dolmas
Roasted Sweet Potatoes/Peppers
Rustic Wheat Bread
2 Loaves of Struan Bread
Granola with Raisins and Dried Cherries
Graham Crackers
Anisette Biscotti
Carrot/Sage Loaf
Cornmeal Coated Fried Fish
Challah
Apple/Rhubarb Pie
Apricot Chutney
Grilled Bread For Canapes/Cheese Selection (Double Cream Brie was a big hit)
Birthday Cake
Kasha Varnishkas (that one was a request)
Spinach Calzones With Five Cheeses (Racalet, Parmesan, Pecorino Romano, Mozzarella, Gruyere)
Sugar Cookies
Rice
Beans
Peas
Squash
Oatmeal
Too Many Pots of Coffee To Count
...and tonight, a chicken cooked in oil and warm spices with potatoes fried in goose fat (another request). Then, when they leave I'm going to promptly drop dead from exhaustion. After I do the dishes, of course.

I did really enjoy doing all this cooking-in many ways it is easier than trying to dine away from home with all of Danny's special dietary restrictions. It also draws less attention to the fact that I'm personally subsisting on tea and saltines lately. I must say that my little boy has been remarkably well behaved while they've been visiting.

Yesterday, we went to a festival being sponsored by the local slow-food community. Obviously, as anyone that reads this blog can observe, my food comes from much further afield than Nebraska-yet I do like the idea, whether I adhere strictly to it or not. We met a local dairy farmer/cheese maker and were able to talk cheese (and organic milk) which is great. There's a great deal of knowledge to share and she actually holds cheesemaking classes at the farm. I had no idea there were organic producers just down our road. How organic, I have to wonder as there must be contamination from the other pesticide/herbicide/hybrid laced fields. At any rate, the dairy cows are being given organic feed and they aren't using antibiotics-something important for cheesemaking (antibiotics/residue in the milk can contaminate a batch and cause it to fail).

They had hay rides, folklorists and music, but Danny wouldn't go inside the barn. So we stayed outside watching the kids press cider. My in-laws stayed for the entire afternoon and even took a hay ride on a mule-cart. We purchased a wheel of locally produced Gouda for them to take home as a gift.

Although I am utterly exhausted beyond words, it has been great fun visiting with relatives we never get to see (at least not all together). Danny is going to be awfully bored once they leave and he only has Mama and Papa to give him attention. He's getting to be such a little attention seeker. Now, whenever someone asks "What's your name?" my little ham replies;
"My mama calls me Handsome Dan."

Oh, brother.