Three Beautiful Things 06/29/20: Hours of Recipes, Shakshuka, *Monk* and Two Martinis BONUS A Limerick by Stu

1. Frequently, the good people at Food and Wine send me an email packed with recipes, always with a theme. They might be baked pasta or Mediterranean or vegetarian brunch recipes -- the variety is impressive. I don't delete these emails. I always tell myself I'll get to them later and decide which ones to save to my different Pinterest boards. Well, today, I spent hours doing just that and I didn't finish. No problem. I had a ton of fun reading recipes, imagining meals I might prepare, and even pretending I'd be the primary cook for parties featuring food bars -- like a chicken wing bar with a variety of wings prepared a variety of ways: hot wings, Thai green curry wings, Old Bay wings, etc. I've done this with soups before when I cooked for family gatherings back in Maryland and it's a fun way to prepare food.

2. I was happy to expand the number of Greek food, Mediterranean food, and baked pasta recipes I have in my keeping. I'll probably never prepare a majority of them, but I love imaging cooking these foods and eating them. I also picked up some new ideas about another favorite of mine: shakshuka. I'll be forever in our niece Danielle's debt. She introduced me to shakshuka when she prepared it for a family brunch during her Memorial Day visit to Maryland back in 2016. I love cooking it and, even more, I love eating it.

3. Two dry martinis on the rocks (never tried rocks before), each with three green almond stuffed olives, and an episode of Monk combined to provide welcome relief and relaxation this evening after Debbie and I watched two hours of news programming. In the episode, Monk, Sharona, and Benji went on vacation to a beach resort and, wouldn't you know it, Benji witnesses a murder and Monk doggedly solves the mystery of who killed the victim.



He was born in 1966. Today is his birthday. Stu would like you to guess whom he commemorates in today's limerick:


If there’s a river to cross then you span it.
To eat fruit later on then you can it.
But to see boxing fury,
Don’t take it to jury.
Just watch the “baddest man on the planet!”