Monday dinner for four

We cook for the love of friends and family. Grandpa Andy cooks and I am the great booster and the one who runs out to the garden for the vegetables. I am the washer of the greens and the after dinner kitchen cleaner - and who could mind this chore, considering?

For family tonight we had baked salmon, brown rice, quick cooked kale, and a salad of yellow peppers, avocado and cucumbers in a vinagret dressing. For dessert tonight, though we normally don't have it, we had a lemon pudding with local strawberries.

The only thing about this meal that couldn't be done in a standing start in less than 45 minutes was the pudding. Andy had made it earlier in the afternoon.

To begin, we had four small salmon fillets, about 1 and1/3 pounds in all. He baked them in a 350 degree oven on an oiled cookie sheet for 15 minutes. Before he put the salmon on to bake he cooked the brown rice for 35 minutes or so, according to the directions on the package. While that was cooking, and before the fish had to go in, he chopped the cukes, orange peppers, scallions and avacado slices and dressed this with a dash of rice wine vinegar, a splash of olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper and let this salad meld. Then he chopped the fresh kale and put it into a pan with a bit of water, popped the top on and put the fish into the oven. By the time we'd had half a glass of some great New Zealand wine (and I had knitted another three rows of the baby blanket I am making), it was time to light the candles and sit down to dinner.

With a dinner like this, talk flows. Then, we serve the lemon pudding and strawberries. This lemon pudding is a recipe we got from a dinner guest several weeks ago, who brought it! Once in a while you get a recipe from friends that is so amazing, it immediately goes into one's lexicon of great food. And so it is with Vivian's lemon pudding.( I will share this recipe with you when I get security clearance from Vivian.)

Our dinners are pretty easy to make, not time consuming, and rarely involve recipes. They are about good whole food, and good whole love too.

The first thing about great home cooking is the desire to cook for the ones you love. The next thing is to use wonderful fresh ingredients, and the best thing is to enjoy these meals with congenial people.

Food is life!