Shiro the heart breaker, gets everyone to come over, to visit, and have lasagna.

Shiro is a big hit. He is so popular that my wife now thinks I’m nice, and she might even like me. Elena is so taken by the dog she is even being occasionally nice to Cassie. She even wants to take the dog to classes early in the day, on Sunday afternoon. Of course, on the day of the first class, she is going to the Bronx Zoo, with her sister, and friends. Her mother who volunteered to go with her is now looking for a second to go with her. I was drafted/volunteered to go. Got to keep the wife liking me.

For the first week, ten days Shiro was in quarantine, he had ring worm. The SPCA’s vet had started him on medicine. While Shiro was in his forced isolation he was very quiet at the right times, never a problem in his cage. He was the perfect puppy. I was amazed. He got his clean bill of health late last week. I’m sure he was clear of ring worm long before that because we weren’t very careful about touching him. It’s a miracle no one came down with the disease. Both of the girls, and Teri, who should have known better touched him, went into the room without gowns, gloves,and booties. Later into the quarantine I would walk into the room in bare feet. After he was cleared, he spent his first day investigating the house, and back yard. Shiro walked around with a leash attached to him, so according to Elena, who’d read up about this stuff, if he got into something he wasn’t supposed to, you could give it a yank. I was afraid it’d get caught, and he might get hurt. Shiro mostly didn’t interact with Cassie yet, I was told. At night, we thought about putting him back in the cage, which is what Elena wanted. He spent a mostly quiet night. The lone hiccup was when Cassie, who feels safer sleeping under the bed, tried to go under the bed. Shiro went under, and wanted to play. Maybe that was the second day.

Either way, the quiet was all about to change the following day. Shiro and Cassie find out they might like each other. They wrestle a little bit during the day. Then just before bed they go at it on Misha’s old bed. We think, just let it go, they’ll wear themselves out, yeah, right. We finally had to stop them, and yes, that was when Cassie tried to go under the bed to sleep, and Shiro went under, and wanted to play. Thank God, it was a weekend. Sunday afternoon, I get the great idea to pick some eggplants, and make either rollentine, or lasagna. Teri wants to help, so we both go out to the garden to look at the eggplants. The previous week I made a garlicky eggplant, and pasta dish. I really enjoyed going outside, and picking leaves, and eggplant for the dish. I wanted to do the same today. I show Teri the three eggplants that are ready. She says to pick all three. I want her to like me still, so I pick all three, knowing there will be a lot of sliced eggplant for lasagna. I dig out the electric slicer Teri’s parents gave me one Christmas in the distant past. I peel the eggplant, then I use the slicer to slice the eggplant the long way, at a Teri approved thickness. The slicer doesn’t go back far enough, so I know better, and quit using the guard. The slicer teaches me, I don’t know better, and it puts a nice slice at the tip of my left hand ring finger. A little further, and my finger would have been a fraction shorter. A bandage, and a new appreciation for the cutting guard in place, I go back to cutting the eggplant, at the Teri approved thickness.

It’s getting late, and we’ve invited Nastia, and Sean over to eat. I tell Teri to start making the lasagna, and I’ll take off doing the flour, the egg dip, the bread crumb work, and the frying. If there was a sharp object to cut myself on, I’d be all set. She puts together the eggplant. She starts by mixing ricotta, grated parm, mozzarella, an egg, parsley, and I believe some garlic together. A little sauce in the bottom of a glass pyrex pan, a layer of eggplant, the mixture, maybe some more sauce, then repeat until it comes up almost to the top of the dish. I’ve taken over both jobs preparing the eggplant. I’ve got a few in hot olive oil, I’m patting flour off some others. I’ve transferred the bread crumbs to a larger dish, well because bigger is better, I’ve been told, and also because Teri isn't looking. I really do use too many dishes, but I also don’t mind cleaning them up. I burn a few eggplants in the hot oil. Good thing there are no sharp objects around.

Teri finishes the eggplant, so I offer to let her have the easy job of frying, or she can make another lasagna with the extra eggplant. She looks at me, and says she didn’t buy more ricotta, so people can eat the fried eggplant which a lot of people, Nastia, and Elena prefer. I finish frying eggplant about the time the lasagna is ready. Teri has been cleaning since she finished the lasagna, we’re almost home free. Dinner was the five of us, and it was well worth the effort. Now what can I pick from the garden next to cook??