Solstice

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Pesto Lasagna

Boil 10 lasagna noodles in salted water. Extra al-dente. Run under cold water, pat dry and set aside. (this is for an 8x8 baking dish - perfect for 2 with leftovers, make more for a 9x13)

Next, in a blender add:

• 4 oz fresh basil leaves
• 1 pint milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/4 medium onion

Frappe until it looks like a McDonald's St. Patrick's day milk shake gone bad. It will be minty green with small flecks of basil leaves. I know this seems gross - just stick with me.

In a sauce pan add:

• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Stir together and heat until bubbly. The add the milk mixture from the blender and bring the mixture to a boil. It should get fairly thick. Remove from the heat. Add:

• 1/2 cup of grated parmesean cheese - please use cheese from Parma, not the stuff in the green can.

Stir in the cheese until melted

Now taste it. It should be really good - cheesey, pestoey, and yummy. Add salt and pepper to taste.

In a separate bowl, mix

• 10 oz whole milk ricotta cheese (not that skim, part skim, or low fat, or reduced fat stuff - trust me, it makes a difference)
• 1 egg
• salt and pepper

Now, assemble the lasagna. I use an 8x8 ceramic baking dish. Layer noodles, ricotta mixture, basil cheese sauce, then shredded mozzarella (whole milk - not the part skim stuff) and fontina cheese. Repeat until you run out of noodles. Top with grated mozzarella, fontina, and parmesean cheese.

Bake at 350 covered for 30 minutes, then for 20 minutes uncovered. The top should get bubbly and golden brown and delicious.

Let set for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Pair with a good chianti

I'm Buff - and kinda healthy

I went for a physical yesterday. Yeah, you need to do that when you get old.

It turned out that I needed a tetanus shot. The nurse came to administer it. I took off my shirt. She put rubbing alcohol on my shoulder. Then she took the syringe and tried to pinch an inch or so of muscle on my shoulder to stab me. She couldn't grab the muscle. She told me "you need to relax your shoulder muscle."

"It is."

"Oh! Nice muscle tone." she raised her eyebrows.

In other medical related news, my LDL number is 168. Yup, that's dangerous - and I'm only 35. Anyway, my doctor has given me 3 months to clean up my diet and get the number down, or he's putting me on statins. He asked me if I regularly exercise, and then withdrew the question - he said I'm obviously getting a lot of exercise. I'm not fat, in fact he'd like to see me put on some weight. But he says I should not be eating so much saturated fat.

Well, sorry doc, I'm going to keep eating the fat. Give me drugs - I wanted to tell him to not bother with the 3 months. I'm not going to stop eating really good food. A daily dose of lipitor should keep my LDLs under 100, with very few side effects. And I get to keep eating bacon and hollandaise. This is a great country.

My doc says that in 5 years or so there should be a drug that will clean out all the plaque in the arteries. You'll take it once every 5 or 10 years and you'll have the arteries of an olympic athlete - even if you eat half a pound of bacon every morning. I can't wait.

Awkward

So Lynn has invited me to a Christmas party. The company Christmas party where she works. Where Tim and Heidi work, too.

Awkward.

For new readers, Lynn is my new girl buddy, who was my old girl buddy, until she started sleeping with Tim. While she was doing that I started dating Heidi -and eventually we ended up sleeping together. How's that for a soap opera. Lynn, Tim, and Heidi all work in the same office - so I guess Lynn has overcome the awkwardness.

You know, it wouldn't surprise me if Heidi and Tim have dated in the past. There's something about them together.

Uh, yeah, how tangled.

Contented Bliss

Hello, peeps. Yes, I've been actually having a life and not blogging about one. Lynn and I have been in a serious state of canoodling for the past week. Yes, a week. About 1/3 of the time of our last romantic encounter. And I must say it is probably the happiest I can remember being. We have been inseparable. Doing everything together - including showering. And the sex is amazing. OK, this is probably TMI and will gross you out, but I so love the taste of a woman. Heidi was fun. But she was very conservative when in comes to sex. Her idea of getting wild was doing it with a candle lit. Nothing but the missionary position for her. And seriously - nothing oral, at all. She said she didn't like it. I told her that was probably because she never had it done well. She agreed, but was never adventurous enough to try it with me. I really missed it. Lynn is - well - amazing and adventurous and - wow.

Tonight we parted, briefly, so I could go home - wash clothes and get another weeks worth. Later (after the last dryer load) I'll be headed back to her apartment in Los Gatos.

I have the key to her apartment again.

Maybe I'll get a drawer or two.

Sigh. (of contentment)

I did go paddling with paddle girl on Sunday morning. This was the only time I paddled in the last week. And I simply cannot keep up with her if I don't some extra mileage in during the week. Need to do something about that.

Anyway, she asked about my love life and I gave her the reader's digest version as we shared a thermos of french roast on the dock after our paddle. College buddy, to drinking buddy, to bed buddy, to cheating bitch, back to bed buddy again (new readers, go read here, here, and here, that's the gist of it).

"Do you trust her?" she asked

"Naw." I replied. "But I lover her."

"She's a lucky girl." She shook her head, "Men are weird."