Tough Duck? Deck Chairs, Books,

I give up. I wrote a while back about Matt saying meat was tough. Saturday night he said the duck

was too tough to eat. Personally I thought it was delicious. What really gets me he has an almost complete set of his own teeth but finds stuff tough. Me on the other hand, short of those items but still can enjoy meat he calls tough. So, Sunday supper I ate the rest of the duck and made eggs for Matt with salad for both of us. So I guess that's the last duck we will have. I have already changed my method of cooking meat generally to ensure he finds it tender enough. I really don't know why he is having such problems. The duck, which came from the local grocery store, had an orange sauce with it, in a packet, which I decided to try, it was delicious too. I took a quick picture just before I started pulling it apart.

Saturday started with rain but by the afternoon, the weather was lovely and I stood on the balcony for a while enjoying the sunshine. Matt suggested we put the chairs back out but I felt that was a waste of time, we have some fold up camping chairs so maybe we can use those. The chairs we normally have, are really quite heavy. They are, at present, in the bedrooms. Funny we have had the folding chairs for several years and hardly ever used them.

Bob Scotney is doing an interesting series on his A to Z posts about houses in the UK. His M for Mmenabilly reminded me of a book I read, many years ago, by Daphne DuMaurier called The King's General. I have always enjoyed her books and recently re-read a few of them, I have now ordered this book from the library because, if it is the story I remember, it is a book which I really enjoyed as a young woman. Actually, I was pretty surprised the library had it. I haven't mentioned it before, but I have been reading a lot of Tanya Huff's book lately, her Confederation series. I am really enjoying them and can't wait to get the next one.

Sunday night I finished the duck and Matt had eggs. I made a salad and used a lettuce from Spain?? I haven't seen lettuce from Spain before so I googled. Apparently we buy stuff from all over the world depending on the season. I thought anything we couldn't grow came from Mexico or even further south, what do I know? So then I wondered, how is lettuce, in particular, shipped? By air would be cost prohibitive I would have thought, but how long can you keep it fresh when travelling by sea. I couldn't find out.

It's getting to that time of  year - my tastebuds are all woken up with anticipation. What for? Asparagus. It says 4 servings, not in this house. Also, if you can get farm fresh asparagus, you don't need to trim the ends of course.

Asparagus with Dijon Vinaigrette 

Skinnytaste.com 

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp Dijon Mustard
• 1 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp fresh chopped parsley
• kosher salt and pepper to taste
• 1 pound thin asparagus, tough ends trimmed off

Directions:

In a medium bowl, whisk mustard, vinegar and 1 tbsp oil. Add parsley and season with salt and pepper.

Steam or boil asparagus for 2-3 minutes until cooked and tender. Drain and run under cold water to stop the cooking.

Transfer asparagus to a serving dish and drizzle with the vinaigrette. Can be served warm or chilled.

4 servings

Have a great day