A rare event: I cooked!

Tonight, we had a nice dinner at the priests' house in Piqua.

It has become a bit of a joke that I never cook, and in the main, that's true. Going back some years, I got out of the habit of cooking.

But I do know how.

A bit of background. As those of you who spend way too much time online know, I moved recently to the priests' house at St. Mary; meaning, now the vicar and I are sharing quarters. (For the prior year-and-a-half, I lived by myself.) Also, since Mothers' Day, we have had two seminarians staying here. So, that means four men--a full house (very different from living alone).

So...more emphasis, all of a sudden, on common meals, and that sort of thing.

Well, the seminarians happen to be handy in the kitchen, and they have turned out nice meals. So, of course, the pastor wants to do his part (the vicar, who is a few years older than I, is smart enough not to care either way, so he is happy when anyone cooks).

So I said, last week: "I'll cook dinner next Tuesday." And, I said, I would cook rabbit.

I've never cooked rabbit, but a family that raises them, gave me one, and I promptly popped it in the freezer (it was already dead, have no fear, and skinned). And I have been wanting to fix it.

Well...turns out Tuesday wouldn't work; we had a Mass for the 8th graders. Wednesday wouldn't work, because of confessions-Mass-Bible-study. Normally Thursday wouldn't work, because Thursday is normally meeting night...

Ah, but this month, it was the fifth Thursday! (That means, no meeting! Eureka!)

So, tonight, I cooked dinner:

Rabbit braised and baked with onion and butter
Rabbit gravy (no one else touched it, but it was good!)
Peas and carrots
Baked potatoes
Chardonnay*

(And, in the event anyone didn't like rabbit, I also cooked some pork chops, that looked really good, but we never touched!)

Well, it was rather good; only two little legs of poor Bugs is left, but all four pork chops are, as I say, untouched. The vicar, who is a fine man and priest, and the two seminarians and I, had a nice discussion around the table, which is always so nice, too.

We finished off with some dessert: we had a pie someone gave us, some of us had that; I had ice cream, and one of the seminarians -- a dedicated fellow -- went for a run.

This is the blessing of the fifth week of a month: no meetings! Deo gratias!

* I know what you're thinking--shouldn't it have been red or rose? Well, I rather thought so, too; but that is what we had.