Thursday, July 9, 2009

"No, today I'm a chicken."

I start my day between 6 and 6:30 a.m. with cement trucks, tractors, pounders (okay, I have no idea what the real name of the "pounder" is) and beeping waking me not so gently from my slumber. At 7 a.m., I stumble onto my patio with my coffee to breathe in the fresh scent of tar. At 8:30 a.m. I am at the theatre as 52 kids stumble into the dark theatre. At 8:40, an 8th grade student takes the stage and performs small plays for the students.
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"Do your Darth Vader play, Christie!" shouts a crowd of high school guys.
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"No, today I'm a chicken."
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And she was - for twenty minutes - a chicken performing in The Magic Fishbone (I knew Charles Dickens should have had a chicken in his story!). She performed as suggestions were shouted out from the sleep-eyed students and the more scarily alert ones.
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Is it a wonder I am craving "simple?"
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In May I wrote in my blog of my desire to live in a villa as Frances Mayes does and go to my terrace to pick baby lettuces. And now that it is July, I may. I transform my brain - as only a former actress can - and see my villa and my terrace.

My arugula - ready for picking.


Baby green lettuces - to be transformed into salads. But simple. After a morning with my squirrelly chickens, I have been coming home to adapt Pride and Prejudice. Twenty-seven characters (yes, I cut quite a few) and twenty two scenes - I want simple.
Arugula with shaved Parmesan. Salt and pepper and bit of oil and vinegar and done. Summer on my lips, simple, breathing in the spicy scent of the leaves - taking me to Italy.

Devoid of chickens.
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And again - simple - but a wee bit sweeter.

Roasted-honey fresh figs atop my baby lettuce with some sauteed prosciutto.

The simplicity of the dishes revives me. A glass of Pinot Grigio soothes me. And I fall into bed ready to do it all over again.





22 comments:

OhioMom said...

Your lettuce is awesome! This time of the year I crave simple salads.

Lyndas recipe box said...

What a wonderful salad to have on your Terrace outside your "villa"!
No kidding,this looks delicious! Too bad you have to listen to the heavy equipment.

Katy said...

Those salads look simply wonderful! After a hectic day I can understand the desire for simplicity.

Denise said...

Those figs and that parmesan cheese look really awesome!

Wanda..... said...

Hi Claudia...
Are you sure you didn't sneak off to a Villa in Italy without telling us...
Good food does help us eacape from the stress around us...the noise would be annoying, but you'll have sidewalks in the end, right?
Good luck in scaling down the play...I love chickens...
Take care...Wanda

Sophie said...

MMMMMM,...Your garden produce looks so good!
I especially lovre that figs salad: that one looks superb!

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM,....

Nancy said...

Fig and prosciutto, what a wonderful combination! I might be making that soon myself!

Barbara GF said...

I could live on simple, fresh salads like yours, Claudia. Yes, channeling Frances Mayes is an awesome concept!

Lady P said...

oh yes - that is the summer salad to come home to. The inclusion of the figs is making my little lips pucker in sweet anticipation
thank you for stopping by the blog
I see we have the girlichef in common
long live good food, great cars and a healthy dose of happiness

Judy said...

I have to move to Minnesota. Your greens look fantastic! This hot Carolina sun eats up everything. My lettuce gave up and so did I.

Heather S-G said...

You crack me up :D I definitely long for simpler days, as well...ah, to be living in Tuscany...reviving an old Villa...cooking for neighbors, picking olives! Ah, love your beautiful lettuces and those figs, ah :)

unconfidentialcook said...

Don't you just LOVE proscuitto and fresh figs? I just wrap the proscuitto around them and serve for hors d'oeuvres and it's always a hit...even though it took five seconds to put together and couldn't be simpler. BTW, your garden looks gorgeous.

Anonymous said...

lol! the chicken dance! ah hahaha!
And yeah, I love simplicity in foods, esp when the produce is top-notch quality!

Reeni said...

We just picked our first lettuce too. These salads look wonderfully delicious! What fun - and how interesting working with the kids sounds.

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

It must be wonderful to be able to pick your own lettuce? prosciutto and figs...heavenly!

Donna-FFW said...

Oh your lettice looks so crisp and happy. I bet it tastes so wonderful.

Pinot Grigio is one of my favorite ways to relax also.

My Little Space said...

What a lovely & healthy dish! I love fresh fig but not easy to get them over here.

Katherine Roberts Aucoin said...

You have a bounty of lettuces to harvest! They figs and prosciutto made me drool all over my keyboard!

Dewi said...

Delicious looking salad Claudia, I love the figs in there.

momgateway said...

wonderful garden, great dish!

Sara said...

I love figs - I usually eat them plain, but the idea of roasting them is great, can't wait to try it.

figtree said...

Everything tastes better right out of the garden!! Figtreeapps