Big News!!!

This past weekend, I moved out of the apartment I've been staying at since the end of January, the one with the kosher vegetarian kitchen. It was a resting place I am so enormously grateful for that I cannot fully express it!!! And it will be wonderful to have my snowbirding friend back in town soon, so I can give her a huge hug to thank her for her generosity and hospitality when I was so desperately in need of a sanctuary at which to regroup from some significant chaos in my personal life.

I had the past two days' posts ready to go beforehand, such that the hauling and schlepping in my real life wasn't apparent in cyberspace. But I'm still settling in, and have a special event to attend tonight at which a good friend is being honored (thus taking away typing time). So I'm going to take the rest of the week off from ye olde blog. I'll be back on Monday, or at least that's my plan.

The new place is a summer sublet, so there's still not a full sense of "home" but it will be more mine than anything I've had for the past 6 months. And just look at the beautiful, thoughtful hand-picked floral arrangement that my new landlady, Carol, and her daughter Tatiana left at my doorstep to greet me! Here's a close-up of the very sweet message on the notecard:


Now, since this is MY kitchen, it's neither vegetarian nor kosher; it's not raw, it's not gluten- or dairy-free ... it has no political, religious or dietary agenda. I'll be able to cook anything I want to!!!

So look forward to a fabulous Cajun sausage and rice recipe adapted from the late, great Justin Wilson ... some sort of dish prepared with handmade traditional chorizo, available at a Latin market near the new homestead ... a notion I had for a pasta dish with shrimp and fennel ... a possible attempt at a Reuben pierogi, per Jeremy's suggestion ... a Vietnamese caramelized pork dish ... budget-defying meals made with sale items and Manager's Specials (those items on the verge of passing their "sell by" date which are still good but are deeply discounted) ... and even still some traditional Jewish/kosher foods and some vegetarian options. Remember -- I'm not just a carnivore, I'm an omnivore!!!