Squid

Cleaning out the pantry I found a can of squid (in its own ink) that was just about at its due date. Remembered a meal dear dead Harvey used to enjoy, stewed squid, in its ink, on rice. I read squid recipes for an hour, I have a lot of them because both my daughters have always enjoyed squid dishes. What I ended up doing was cutting the squid into bite-size pieces, frying shallots and celery, adding the ink and a bit of clam juice (I always keeps a couple of those little bottles of clam juice, some canned minced clams, and a can of sliced potatoes, which allows me to make a chowder in 10 minutes), and served it up on a lovely pecan rice. It was very good, I love the mouth-feel when it's cooked correctly. This needs to cook for 35-45 minutes. It was either a late brunch or an early dinner and I realized I didn't want to go to town. I do need to go, to get cash to pay Rodney (I suspect he won't show up), and I've made a note of several other things I need for the winter larder, but I can put it off another day. It's so beautiful outside, the slanted light, the color, the activity. Some of the maples are turning a lovely translucent orange/yellow, and some of the sassafras are bright red. The color is so lovely, especially as it opens into the black and white of winter. Rodney called and said he would be here tomorrow, if only to get started. It's a fixed price job, so I don't care if it takes two or three afternoons. It's going to make a huge jump in my comfort level, last February and March were quite cold, because some of the floor was hardly insulated at all. Goddamn dogs ripped it all out. I don't know what they were thinking. The next morning, today, I did go to town, bought supplies, went to the library. It was a lovely drive through the State Forest, sunlight filtered down through yellow and orange leaves. So many leaves, Jesus Christ, the verges disappear. The hillsides are awash with color. Life through a mercurochrome bottle, and a hundred shades of red, it's overwhelming, I'd rather just hole-up and slow my heartbeat.