Contrasts: Yum & Yuck

What am I having for dinner tonight? In the winter, I tend to crave pasta dishes, comfort food. Something that bakes in the oven for an hour and then fills you with cheese and carbs and protein. You sit on the couch afterward and ease open that top notch on your belt, the button on your jeans. You feel a bit like a bear ready for hibernation. Satisfied and mostly capable of not swatting the park ranger with your razor sharp claws cause you're just so happy.

Browsing my usual sources, I found this lovely recipe for pastitio-- which is kind of like a Greek lasagna, of sorts.* The other day, we went to a Greek restaurant & I thought I had ordered Pastitsio and I had actually ordered something else (that other Greek pasta, whatchamacallit, you know... with the eggplant... good too, but not what I wanted). So as soon as I saw the recipe, I knew I had to have it TONIGHT. It is baking now. The bechamel sauce smells & tastes wonderful-- I varied the recipe slightly and instead of boring old dill, I put this "Mt. Olympus Rub" Greek mix that I got at Whole Foods Market-- which includes all sorts of fab spices, even lavender. :)

While I was at the grocery store buying the ingredients I didn't have for the dinner, I was minding my own business & the man behind me came up with his groceries and started loading them on the belt. He looked like your normal average old guy in a hunter's outfit-- camouflage and a baseball cap. But as he worked, the breeze of his efforts kicked up and the smell of urine came my way. Strongly. Of the sort one usually only encounters in cranky babies and homeless people. This wasn't pee of the sort you get if you've got a bladder issue, and have accidentally lost a bit on your little adult sanitary device. This was hard core, been sitting in it for a while and liking it smell.Here I am pregnant, smells are my new "superpower" and smelly piss-guy is loading the grocery conveyer behind me. Lord Lord Lord. It made me wish for one of those frilly hankies folks used to carry around, doused in perfume, to wave in front of one's nose when the unwashed masses came near, or someone dumped a chamber pot in front of you. How could he NOT know how bad he smelled?

Sigh. I know. This blog entry is a study in contrasts. Lovely bechamel sauce and old smelly guy at the grocery store. What's a girl to do?

*If you like to cook this is a great recipe to try. Don't be scared by the idea of a Bechamel-- it was quite easy to cook. And the pre-oven time only took about thirty minutes. It'll need to sit a little while after cooking to "set" into the nice firm portion for the plate. Try it! If you've never had Pastitiso, you don't know what you're missing!