Levantine Dinner

[altivo]

Overloaded day included two shopping trips as well as lunch out with the library retirees (or at least some of us.) We met at the Stanchion (in the Starline building, Harvard Illinois) for a reasonably priced lunch and not too crowded environment.

The usual daily farm chores had to be done as well. No time for reading, and I need to do that. I need to finish about 12 more books before New Year in order to meet my 90 book pledge at Goodreads.

When dinner time rolled around, neither of us really felt like cooking, but also felt it was too soon to revisit a couple of substantial leftovers in the fridge. In the end, I pulled some unusual (for me anyway) "convenience" food out of the freezer. I had a box of falafel, precooked, reheat in the oven. Those came from ALDI a few weeks ago and I had forgotten I had them.

We combined that with whole wheat pocket pita, Greek yogurt, Gary's home made hummus, mixed chopped fresh raw veggies (sweet onion, sweet peppers, tomatoes, and snap peas.) Oh, and some pickled beets I happened to have in the fridge. Red wine and green tea for beverages. Quite a good result, and respectably vegan except for the yogurt. I like falafel anyway, but have had none for a couple of years.

Tonight's low temperature is supposed to stay in the mid-50s (F) but that may also be the high for the day as temperatures drop during the daylight hours with possible snow flurries Friday night. So much for Indian Summer, always too short anyway. Fortunately, Asher's new horse blanket arrived this afternoon, so we will try it on him in the morning and if he accepts it calmly, let him wear it tomorrow both day and night. It's blue plaid, with a waterproof shell and a medium weight insulated lining, which should be just what the vet recommended. The plaid is on the bright side for my taste, but I know he won't object to that. The other choices were a pink plaid or a solid purple, so the blue plaid is the least offensive in my opinion. Besides, his saddle blanket, halter, and lead rope are all blue. (Archie has red, Tess has green.)

Comments

[murakozi]

If Asher is like the horses I've known, the bright blue plaid blanket will soon be a dusty/muddy blue plaid blanket.

[altivo]

That was my thought too. However, there was cold rain falling this morning at turnout time, and we blanketed Asher. I wasn't sure how he'd react, since I haven't put a blanket on him in the 21 years I've had him here. He's generally a sweet old guy, though, and he made no fuss at all. As if it were perfectly normal, he walked out and started eating his hay, blanket and all. His half-brother, Archie, was perturbed though. I don't think it was the smell of the new blanket because it didn't seem to have any scent at all. The look of it bothered Arch, though, and he snorted and grumbled and complained. Like he was saying "Who is this strange blue horse you put in here with me?" He got over it after a while, and within an hour they were standing shoulder to shoulder as usual, eating. When the rain picked up a bit they started playing their usual rain and snow game of chasing each other in circles, all perfectly normal. Rain has stopped now and they are standing side by side with their butts to the wind as if everything is perfectly ordinary.

[hrrunka]

One of our occasional "can't deal with cooking right now" meals involves a frozen filo pastry and feta spiral that Lidl sells occasionally. I wonder whether our local(-ish) ALDI sells frozen falafel, as that would make a good alternative.

[altivo]

We got a frozen "stromboli" from ALDI a couple of weeks ago. That's like a pizza but rolled up like a jelly roll with the toppings and cheese inside. Baked in oven or microwave, and it was surprisingly good. I knew this was done in parts of Italy but had never tried doing it myself. Now I probably will treat my own home-made recipe in the same way some time.