Good thing I'm not catholic. I had steak.

I don't need another reason to go to hell.

I forgot all about it being Ash Wednesday until I was watching the news and thought, "Why does the Governor have dirt on his forehead"?

Duh!!

Sounds like a great dinner, SB.

It was, although I cheated and used canned clams in the chowder. I told the girls that I would be going to hell for them because I gave them meat in their sandwiches.

The whole idea of giving up meat arises from the fact that once upon a time fish was considered food for poor people and second rate food. Now that we al pay a fortune for things like wild salmon, swordfish and sea bass, I think we should be giving up fish for lent and eating meat. Accordingly I had a giant porterhouse for Ash Wednesday.

Did you order it rare???

of course

A man of taste.

Did it moo?

DT, you have me craving a steak, but I can't eat meat tomorrow night either! And I had made chicken soup for tonight. DAMN!!

How long do you have to go without meat?

Ash Wednesday, and then every Friday until Easter Sunday.

This year the Catholic church is asking that those who are healthy and between the ages of 18 - 70, in addition to abstaining from meat on fridays during Lent, also eat only ONE main big meal a day on both Wed and Fri during Lent.

Well, that makes a lot of sense. The whole idea of eating fish is because it was always cheaper than meat. Not so, anymore. We always try to eat things like fritatta or pasta fagioli or escarole and beans, in keeping with that idea. However, on Good Friday, we usually make something like shrimp fra diavlo, which is probably not what Jesus had in mind.

Friday's lunch is usually tuna or yogurt, and then Friday dinner is usually pizza. I refuse to cook on Friday nights, so we usually get takeout. The take-out options for fish are pretty limited, unless you go with Chinese.

Just curious - anyone giving anything up for Lent???

I gave up having a great body for Lent 30 years ago.

I never got it back.

If you find yours, look around for mine. Maybe they're together.

Spicy pepperoni pizzas!

How does eating one meal a day on both of those days make a lot of sense?

This year, Don Cardi is asking that the Catholic church, in addition to abstaining from eating meat on fridays, also abstain from making a collection on each Sunday during Lent.

Now that makes sense!

Actually, I'll rephrase. It makes NO sense to eat loster, salmon, shrimp or any other expensive fish on a "fast" day, although, as I admitted in my earlier post, I'm often guilty of doing just that.

As far as abstaining from meat, so far so good. Last night I had pasta with peas.

I love pasta with peas, however peas happen to be one of the few vegetables that Mr. Babe can't stand. He hates peas and artichokes, which happen to be two that I love. We ordered a pizza.

Tonight we're going to a Chinese/Japanese restaurant with friends. The food's excellent. When we go to this place, Mr. Babe always makes me share a Scorpion with him before dinner. They serve it with a lake of flaming 151 in the middle. It's quite exciting.

I love peas, too, Babe.

When I make them as a side dish, I saute them with pancetta and onions. Simple and delicious.

That sounds so good. However, Mr. Babe won't even eat fried rice if they add peas to it, and he loves Chinese. Simply can't stand peas.

Here's the menu to the place we're going to tonight. I always get either the Grand Marnier Prawns or the Jade Village Steak. I wish I could get a little of both, because they're so delicious. They have a Japanese side and a Chinese side. You can order Japanese on the Chinese side, but not the other way around, so we always sit on the Chinese side.

Chinese Menu
Japanese Menu

Place sounds good.

I don't see why that wouldn't make a combo dish for you upon request. It don't hurt to ask. And if you are somewhat of a regular there, I'll bet that they do it for you.

We go to an Italian Restaurant here, basically we are regulars there. They make a realy delicious Shrimp Francese dish. They also make a really delicious Veal Francese dish. They've accomadated my request for a combo dish of both anytime that I've asked them to.

Tonight we are going to a Valentines day dinner and dance. We booked a whole table with some other firends of ours. Should be a good time.

Oh, that has more to do with me than them. I don't like different foods on the same plate, because they might touch each other.

Sounds like a fun night, DC. Enjoy!!!

Did I ever tell you about the time Mr. Babe and I went to a Valentine dinner/dance thing? During dinner, a woman came over with a basket of long-stemmed red roses and said, "For the lady?", so he said yes. Then she said, "$5." He looked at me and said, "Give it back."

OMG! That's funny SB. Well, it's funny now, I'm sure it wasn't then.

At least he didn't tell you to pay the lady. I once had someone buy a rose for me. I found out later he took the money out of my wallet to pay for it.

Was she wearing a boustier?

I made my own sausage and peppers again tonight. Now that I know how to make it, I treated myself to a covered frying pan. Came out really good!

Did you have good bread, SC?? You have to have nice fresh Italian bread.

Well, dinner was pretty good last night, although I must admit that I didn't eat much. After sharing a good amount of the Scorpion with Mr. Babe, I got fairly drunk fairly quick. I sort of got to the point where I was afraid to eat my entree because I was very unsteady. However, I did bring it home and plan to enjoy it later today.

I did have a Philadelphia Roll as an appetizer, which was fresh salmon, cream cheese and scallion. I went with the prawns, and the one I had was delicious.

A nice Semolina bread.

Saturday night my daughter was at a party, and my wife went to a "girl's night" at a friend's house. i told my sons that we could go out anywhere we wanted. I suggested a nice Chineses restaurant that we love, the local pub where they love to devour wings and steak sandwiches, and some other places. They decided that they wanted Pizza Hut takeout. We have quite a few good pizza shops nearby, but they were attracted to PH by a commercial for a new pizza.

Anyway, I left the money for them, picked up my daughter and dropped heroff. I got text messages from two of the inebriated young ladies at my wife's party to come over, so I did. I ended up having a Menage a Trois with my wife and one of the other ladies. I didn't have dinner Saturday nigh, but it was memorable.

Oh, by the way, Menage a Trois was the name of the bottle of white wine that the other woman gave my wife and me as a gift.