A Hot Dish!

...and I don't mean Pamela Anderson (or Mario Cipollini), both of whose names come to *MY* mind when I think of the term "Hot Dish". (Or maybe it's Danilo Di Luca---I do love the satellite Live Giro I get to watch---who needs OLN, I just need to learn Italian!), Anyway...

Earlier this week, my Minnesota sister emailed me a recipe for the crock-pot. A tortellini slow cooking dish. It sounded easy enough and so I high-tailed it to Hy-Vee (Marshall's Safeway...or grocery super-store), and picked up some ingredients. I added three whole cloves of garlic to the recipe, (only in Minnesota would an Italian recipe NOT have garlic in it!), plus added a bunch of other spices.

The recipe is simple. Had I actually grown up in Minnesota, I most certainly would not have been amazed by it's elegant mix of ingredients; basically vegetables, fruit(are tomatoes fruit?), some grain (sort of), and protein. It's like a complete well-balanced meal that you can pretty much cook anywhere. How perfect is that?

Anyway, that night at dinner, I was pleased when it all turned out pretty well. Mike looked at me after taking a bite and said, "Hey, you made a hot dish!" He was still chewing and so I thought he said, "Hey, you're a hot dish!" So I said "Thanks, you're a pretty hot dish yourself!" Ha! He laughed and then explained "Hot Dish" to me.

And like I said, had I grown up in Minnesota, I probably would have realized that "Hot Dish" wasn't some clever name Mike had come up with for a the dinner, but rather that it was the ubiquitous name for an infinite number of variations of the noodle/meat/vegetable casseroles that are served at potlucks and church socials and company picnics all across The Land of 10,000 Lakes.

The things you learn that you weren't even trying to learn! Come to think of it, I can't tell you how often I've been hearing things like, "hot dish", "egg dish", etc., since I've been here. (Everything is called a "dish".) Now I am beginning to understand. All I need to remember when I get the recipes though, is to add some spices... Because the other thing that comes to my mind when I hear "hot dish", (when referring to food, not Cipo), is Spicy Hot. Burning your lips hot! Jalapeno-peppers and Thai-spicy-hot-garlic hot! Mike and I picked up some "Super spicy burn your lips hot" sauce and it tasted sorta like a Heinz ketchup.

Sigh...I'll tell you what's NOT hot though---the weather. NOT hot! I've been informed that I should enjoy the NOT hot while I can, because once it warms up, the bugs will arrive. Bugs? What bugs? I'm afraid to ask. For whatever reason I've been plopped down on the Prairie so I am making the most of all this new stuff as it comes my way---and what is definitely coming my way is warmer weather, according to the weather guy. We're back in the 70's for the weekend and beyond! Woo hoo!!

In fact, right now it's sort looking cloudy, but warmer than yesterday with no wind so to speak. In California we call this coastal morning fog---or overcast. In California this generally burns off around 9 am or 10 am and then the day is lovely. So even if it doesn't burn off (there is only a coast here in my dreams---or near Lake Superior!), I can imagine that it will (burn off) and ride in the very familiar "fog" today. Outside!

What bugs?