Naples, Italy: I promised a trip to India in my column last night, but when I boarded the Lear Jet read the recipe, realized the chicken needed to be marinated overnight. No worries. I just asked the pilot to re-route.
On my walk today (which took 75 minutes!), I was enticed onto an empty campsite by the most fragrant lure: gardenia blossoms! Simply intoxicating.
Gardenia flowers in the desert are not as large as one would find in cooler climates, but the tree was simply loaded with small, fragrant, brilliant white flowers. What a treat.
Traipsing through the no-golfers-again golf course this morning was not as ornithologically (not a word) rewarding as usual. Only geese today on the west course. On the east course, there were also geese, but I did spot an actual orange-and-white koi fish in the lake! So pretty. Very little wildlife on my walk today. Dave reported spotting a duck couple with two new ducklings! (Late bloomers?)
Much of the afternoon was devoured preparing dinner. Since the Indian meal was delayed, I switched-out Thursday's meal to tonight... which involved grilling sliced zucchini to use in a lasagna (instead of pasta). I have made this many times and wonder why I continue. So much trouble. So much smoke. So much liquid still remaining in the finished lasagna. So much trouble cleaning the stove and grill pan. So much bitching from My Driver about "soupy" lasagna.
The reward is the deliciousness of grilled zucchini! Grilled until super-limp, then placed on FOUR LAYERS of paper towels, and topped with FOUR LAYERS of paper towels, then weighted to soak-up any liquid, the grilled zucchini are just not lasagna noodles.
But, dang, isn't that just gorgeous? The taste was lovely as well - with a lamb ragu... and a 1/4-inch of liquid in the bottom of the teeny baking dish. Rat farts.
I went all-Italy with the appetizers tonight: Roasted red pepper bruschetta on toasts, rosemary almonds, brown cherry tomatoes marinated in olive oil, balsamic and fresh basil, olives, and roasted baby artichoke hearts.
Tomorrow, we are jetting-off to Delhi.
Until my next update, I remain, your low-carb correspondent.
Not sure if you have an air fryer but I find it’s great for dehydrating/roasting vegetables for pizza toppings and perhaps for the zucchini before or maybe after grilling to keep it dry. Just a thought.