A Change in Dinner Plans

Well, the dinner plan last night was to saute small portions of good salmon for Madeleina and I. I was planning to saute them with crushed garlic in olive oil, add organic shallots and scallions and diced red pepper, then toss in some beautiful Peruvian bay scallops and a dozen smallish shrimp near the finish of the salmon. I'd pull the seafood, add a bit of toasted sesame seeds and a touch of sesame oil, a bit of good soy. Sear spinach in a separate pan with garlic and a light balsamic vinegar, then plate the spinach, arrange the seafood on the spinach with salmon in the center, scallops and shrimp around it, then top with the sauce. It was going to be pretty, and, apart from a bit of a high salt content due to the soy, healthy and light. Small portions of delectable food.
    Then Madeleina came home from a band competition. She was disconsolate. She'd blown her flute solo by a few notes and was not happy with herself at all. When Italo dropped her off she came onto the porch where I was sitting on the swing, her eyes filled with tears, and then she lay down on the concrete floor of the front porch. I didn't know about the flute solo at that minute but I knew I had to do something radical.
    So I changed dinner plans. I jumped into the trusty Ford Ranger, raced to the store, picked up supplies, and returned home to see that she'd moved to the big living room couch.
    The dinner we wound up having: Two cups each of vanilla and chocolate ice cream with dark chocolate syrup. Not nearly as light as the seafood would have been, but there are times when dinner plans need to change and this was one of them.