Charlotte Drops Off Dinner



This evening, I stopped by my neighbor Charlotte's house to talk with her a moment. It wasn't important, just a chat between neighbors. I came to her back door and she beckoned me to "Come in, come in, COME IN! You don't have to knock, just come in! COME ON IN!"
"OK OK!" I exclaimed laughing.

She was standing there in her kitchen, all 5'3" 90 pounds of her, making mini lasagnas at the table. Charlotte is my 76 year old divorcee' neighbor. She absolutely loves cooking and is great at it. Charlotte also likes gardening, her wine, and BBC's (Banana liquer, Bailey's, and Coco-lopez). John and I joke that Charlotte must think we do not know how to cook because she is always bringing us food. But we love her for that and certainly don't mind.

After we had chatted, I made my exit. It was a long day and I just wanted to change out of work clothes, make myself a martini, and relax before dinner. I didn't know what I was going to make. Probably a veggie stir-fry as I had picked up some bok-choy and portabellas.

About 30 minutes later, my door bell rang and it was Charlotte carrying one of the mini lasagnas!
"I brought you dinner!" she said smiling.
"Charlotte, you didn't have to!" I replied but so happy I didn't have to cook. Anyway, I was secretly hoping she would!
"You'd better let me come in because this is getting hot!" She was carrying it with a little dish towel.
"Oh sure, sorry! Come on in," I said opening the door. Just then, Max the Cat tried to bolt. I blocked him but also inadvertantly blocked Charlotte from entering.
"Sorry, Max tried to bolt."
"WOW this is really getting hot! I need to put it down now!!!"

I quickly grabbled Max and let her pass. She went up the stairs to the kitchen, saying, "Ow! Ow! Ow!" But suddenly she made a left and made a beeline into the living room!
"Where are you going?! The kitchen was straight ahead!"
"I don't know! THIS IS HOT!" She turned around heading for the kitchen with me carrying Max trailing after her.
"Put it down!" I said.
"I DON'T KNOW WHERE!" she turned to play hot potato and hand it to me!
"Don't give it to ME!!!" I exclaimed backing up with Max still in my arms out of her reach. Max was meowing in fear. "Put it on the counter! The counter Charlotte! THE COUNTER!!!"
"AAAAAAAHHH!!! OWIE!!!!!!"

She went to put the lasagna on a bunch of old photos on our breakfast table.
"Not there Charlotte!!!"
"THIS IS HOT!!!!" she yelled.
"Put it on the stove! THE STOVE!"

Charlotte finally put down the lasagna, wincing. "Ouch, that was hot."
"Are you alright? I'm sorry! Are you burned?" I exclaimed.
"Oh no no, I'm fine. Takes more than that to bother me."
"Okaaaay."
"OK, I gotta go, lemme know how you boys like the lasagna!" Before I knew it, she had already left the house and bolted across the yard towards her kitchen.

Crap, I thought, that is gonna be the LAST lasagna I get for awhile.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

AP Cake, A PA Dutch Recipe

Image
"AP Cake" A couple of years back, I had a blog project named “Cooking Through Family”. You can check out the recipes I made on the labels tab of the same name on the front of my blog page. I made about 85% of my Mom’s, Dad’s family, and Mom’s family recipes learning about my family as I went through each recipe, remembering our fun time, etc. The only ones I did not make were the baking ones which included the cakes, cookies, bars and pies.  The Clutzy Baker I don't know why but I've always had an unnatural fear of baking but it  always seemed so scientific. Now I am not talking about the Betty Crocker box cakes, brownie mixes, or chocolate chip cookie dough "rolls". I am talking about baking from scratch. Almost anyone can spoon out cookie dough and shove it in the oven for 30 minutes.  In school, I’ve always been better with the arts, literary and history classes rather than sciences or mathematics. I always meant to get back to the baking recipes and I th...
Read more

A Monster Allergic Reaction: Erythritol

Image
Marc with Hives (Cabbage Patch link) By chance, I completed this blog post on Mother's Day so I guess I will put it up dedicated to my dear Mother Abby. Not a day goes by where I don't think about you, miss you, and love you. And I guess I will thank my Mother for passing on a whole mess of allergies to me, LOL. It's not so bad, I live with them. Sometimes as you will see below, a new allergy will crop up and be added to my list. As my Mom once said to me, "Your allergies? Well you can thank your Mother for that one!" A couple years ago, my doctor recommended I stop drinking so much coffee as well as those energy drinks. I drank the energy drinks fairly often like at least once every couple days. It didn't matter the brand, just whatever was on sale or available. He had stated that he thought there was nothing beneficial to them from a nutritional standpoint and he'd rather have me drink my coffee instead. I did not completely give up my coffee bu...
Read more

Favorite Kitchen Tools

Image
"Voile" Pasta Measurer by Alessi Throughout the years, I have acquired several favorite cooking tools as gifts or through my own discoveries. I am always on the lookout for cool kitchen gadgets. Mom's favorite kitchen tool was the wooden spoon. When we stepped out of line, she would grab it and threaten to paddle us with it. She was kidding/half serious most of the time but I think I remember once or twice when I got the spoon to my butt for being a bad kid. Mom swore by wooden kitchen tools and to this day, I have plenty in my kitchen as well. The first favorite kitchen tool is the "Voile" Alessi Pasta Measurer. Alessi is an incredible Italian design company. Check out more of their wares at www.alessi.com . It was a gift from my father and stepmom Martha. Each circle in the pasta measurer is for a different amount of pasta. It was truly a perfect gift from the two of them as it encompassed Martha's passion for the kitchen and cooking, and ...
Read more