Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Dot thinks she's the hottest chick at the ranch, but have we seen an egg from her? (That's Dot, the black hen, always the first to pose for photos)

This is Henna, with the impressive comb. She's given unmistakable indications that either egg production has already begun (I found a slightly wrinkled egg the other day which is a strong hint that it came from a new layer) or she's going to pop one out any day now. I will confess that I had worries that she was going to turn out to be a rooster. I now know this is not possible as she's started doing the "ready for rooster attention" pose.

This butternut that I grew turned out to be the best one we've ever eaten. I love it when that happens. Next year I will grow enough to hoard them. I baked it and served it with a very modest pat of butter and salt and pepper. The small ones didn't develop the deeper orange and the flavor that this one did. I'm having a hard time moving on from this picture because it's just so pretty.

In spite of the arctic breezes floating around town, the dahlias are still blooming and this one is new to me. I like it.

I used to think white flowers were so pretentious. The kind of thing only dedicated Shabby Chic girls would like. I guess I was guilty of a little reverse snobbery. So it serves me right that I am now a big fan of white flowers. They charmed me with their elegance against my will. My all time favorite white flowers are white calla lillies. I had a really sweet neighbor from my old neighborhood dig me up some of hers and I must report in complete shame that I have yet to plant them and I'm actually scared to see if they've stayed alive all these months in the bag they're in. I wonder if she'd let me dig up more of them? I need to have a huge bank of them in my yard. The ones we had in our old yard (a magnificent bank of them against our pink garage) all came from my neighbor Jeannie. To tell the truth, I'm suspicious of all the ones you can buy because I just don't think they'll be as good as Jeannie's (I hope she doesn't mind me mentioning her name here). They won't be as vigorous nor as meaningful. I want a piece of my old neighborhood with me. I sound so sentimental. I'm not really.

I can't help it, let's look at the squash again. This little one was really good but not as good as the larger one. But it baked up so beautifully. Isn't it gorgeous? Aren't you hungry now?

The fork is just to give an impression of the scale of the squash. OK, I was maybe having a little food stylist moment. I often get carried away in my kitchen. I don't really see a new career opening up for me. But I can have fun anyway.

I'm not going to lie to you, this dinner was superb and there aren't any leftovers to share with you. So I've mentioned the whole Weight Watchers business...well, I am trying to come up with food that is super good, has a little bit of cheese, and doesn't shove me into a points purgatory where I can never emerge because I am still holding onto my very own butter churn... I'm not a fan of fake sweeteners, non-fat anything, or trying to fool myself in any way about my food. At the end of the day, if I want to lose weight I have to eat less fat and get more exercise. But I want to do it with honest healthy food. So this is one super fine meal that is (to me) as good as eating lasagne, but only cost me (by my reckoning) six points.

So what the hell is it besides totally photogenic? It's polenta with a layer of low fat ricotta with a simple marinara sauce over it, served with summer sqash sauteed with a sparing amount of olive oil.

Whenever I make polenta I always make extra, so I poured it into ramekins and let it set (over night this time, though a couple of hours may be plenty) then I cut each puck shaped polenta in half, put the bottom half back in the ramekin, put a quarter cup of low fat ricotta (with an egg mixed in, and salt and pepper) on the first layer of polenta, then put the top half of the polenta on top, put them ramekins in the oven at 350 degrees for about twenty minutes. After they cooled I carefully unmolded them onto plates, put about a half a cup of marinara sauce over them with one to two (always choose two!) table spoons of parmesean on top. This is not a hearty meal, it will not sustain you for an exploration of the south pole, but for a really tasty light lunch, this is the ticket!

I feel I ought to mention that the marinara plays a pretty big role in this meal. You shouldn't use anything that isn't your best. Classico will not do the trick. I like to make a really quick sauce using "Sugo Di Pomodoro" tomato sauce which I find at Trader Joe's, I sautee an onion, when it's soft I add the sauce, about two cloves of garlic (I press mine), salt, pepper, and at the very end (in about ten minutes) I add a shit-load of fresh basil or fresh oregano (depending on which is available at the moment). That's it. Very good. Very fresh.