Lest anyone think that we agonize over recipes every night consider last night.

I decided to grill because while walking the dog it occurred to me that this might be the last night I might be able to grill outdoors for awhile. This ain't Redondo.

The reasons that we had flank steak were: There was no fresh salmon at the store. I like flank steak and it was on sale.

I could go on an on about marinades but I used mustard, red wine from a bottle that I had to take back from Costco because it had label damage and a bunch of stuff from little jars in the refridgerator. We have lots of condiments in little jars and any recipe where I can use up the last of something in a little jar makes room for something else. That is why the marinade had both black bean chili paste and damson plum jam. I poured all the stuff into a large zip lock bag, shook it and dropped the flank steak in.

The marinade procedure is similar to another famous DeCherney casserole recipe: empty refridgerator, mix with noodles, cover with cheese, bake.

We had butter nut squash because we had half of a giant one left and today we get our box of organic vegetables so it needed to be used. I also figured if I made squash it would postpone the inevitable day when I have to confront the kale and chard. Nancy's taste in vegetables is much more broad than mine and she likes the stuff. If it was up to me it would be either green beans, peas, carrots, asparagus and spinach day after day after day.

There was eggplant to use up and I sauteed it with capers because that eliminated another little jar and because it always reminds me of Steve Martin in "My Blue Heaven" when he is on the witness stand and talks about eggplant and capers.

Time to work...

JD