remains of the day.

for me, saturday began at 3:19 when my eyes opened and refused to close. i lay there in darkness until 4, at which time i rose, donned my robe and slippers and specs, and padding down the hall to the kitchen i pressed the brew button. ahhh sweet mercy ... soon the scent of liquid life permeated the still quiet and i admit to swOoning. just a bit. sometimes i go to bed with delight in anticipation of morning coffee so strong a spoon stands upright.

home projects were the focus of the day .. with a visit to that big store to buy necessary supplies. afterward i convinced the hubs we should next visit chik-fil-a for a grilled chicken burger before heading home to complete our list of to-do's. yUm.

one project was to make meat sauce - using most of the heirloom tomatoes my dear friend jAn.R. gifted me last week. it was always my way to blanch the maters in boiling water to remove the skin but jAn.R. shared a different approach - an approach by which i didn't sweat over a hot stove on a hotter day! freeze the maters whole. then fill the bowl with tap water and the skins will peel off with hardly a pull. aMaZiNg how it worked!!!

about 4 in the afternoon i cooked up some sausage along with garlic, dried basil and oregano, a good pinch of red pepper flakes, and chunks of yellow and red bell pepper along with a large onion. while that was cooking i put all the tomatoes in my crockpot and added about a cup of cabernet and half cup water and set the pot to low. i added 3/4 cup sundried tomatoes (packaged..no oil). it was then that i plugged in my immersion blender to cut through the larger pieces - but not all. once the sausage mixture was cooked through i spooned it into the crock pot, gave it a good stir then covered the lid. all evening and into the next morning it melded flavors and turned a gorgeous tone of burgundy red.

today i'm taking some to my fun friend linda and her hubs (her hubs very recently underwent a serious knee surgery and the recuperation is anything but enjoyable...). that along with pasta and a good salad will hopefully please their taste buds and bellies.

hoping your mOnday includes gentleness..
for yourselves.. and others..
the person(s) in front of you is your timely ministry.

love,
me ♥

p.s. linda and brian received dinner as pictured below. ♥