Well I’m going to admit it.  Sometimes I use leftovers to create something new and fresh.  It’s not that I’m lazy or can’t be bothered to start from scratch.  There are occasions though,  when I have some great options just waiting for  creative ideas.

This was the case last week when I had a couple of get togethers in my home.  One on Sunday and the other on Tuesday.  I tend to go a bit overboard on amounts because I don’t like having just two spoonfuls left on a plate.  Especially if the plate is sitting on a table surrounded by special guests.  Nobody wants to take the last piece of meat or the final spoonful of potatoes.  So where does that leave me?  With leftovers sitting in my fridge.

On that Sunday night I had barbecued a large beef tenderloin for 8 people.  I ended up, after everyone had helped themselves to seconds, with a piece about 8 inches long and the same around.  I wrapped it up and put it away, wondering what in the world I would do with it.  Rob was going to be away and in two days I was hosting yet another dinner.  This one would bring 10 ladies to my table and the atmosphere would be completely different.  Whereas the Sunday event was pleasant and a few laughs were had, the second one would be loud and laughter would fill that room.  We are friends, comfortable with each other. Conversation would be easy and pleasantries would  be replaced with the fun of  being together.  Around that dining room table.  It wasn’t about the table mind you.  It was about those who sat in the chairs down the sides and at the ends.  It was about the conversation . The hospitality shared.  Delightful!

Someone asked me the week before what I planned to serve that night.  It was a birthday celebration and the meal needed to be special.    I answered that I had no idea at all but would decide at some point before the evening of,  since I would need to buy groceries and pull it together.

That Tuesday morning I got out of bed early and took myself to market.  St. Lawrence market, which is quickly becoming a favorite destination for grocery shopping .  I walked into that building and went straight to the meat counter.  It had come to me sometime during the course of the night before that I would make a pasta dish with chicken and sauteed mushrooms and a few other ingredients (recipe to follow.  Maybe tomorrow)  I would also do a tossed salad with strawberries and mango and fig dressing and…

I needed a third dish because we all know three food platters on a table or sideboard look better than two, don’t we?  It dawned on me as I paid for the chicken that there was some delicious tenderloin in the fridge from Sunday night and then I spotted the fresh asparagus and a recipe was born.  Just like that.  Tenderloin with asparagus and tossed in a lemon dressing.  Now, you can call me crazy but  I basically make things up as I go along.   Although this recipe I’m sharing is extremely simple, you could be creative with it.  It could be served hot or cold.  You could serve it with sauteed mushrooms.  You could add diced sweet onion or green onion.  However, the meat is so delicious on it’s own that I didn’t want to cover the flavor or make it too complicated.  On the day of the barbecuing I had made a rub for that tenderloin.

I should also ensure you of this.  On that Tuesday evening I told those ladies exactly what I had done.  Full disclosure!  I chuckled and they looked at me as if I was a bit kooky.  But they already know I am,  so this came as no surprise.  They liked it a lot and it was pretty good considering it was created on the fly and from leftover meat.  Why not?  Waste not want not!

It was a rip roaring fun evening and our guest of honor knew she was loved by the time she had helped clean up the dishes and left for home.  I think pretty much everyone at that table knew they were loved, including me.  Oh yes, we all worked on cleanup together and it was a blast and it was amazing and it was a great way to end.

The talk was uplifting and the chairs were full.

It was a good party.

The best kind of party.  Where everyone goes home with a smile and can’t get to sleep because they are too busy remembering.

Here we are, in a corner of the World far from our own.

 The money is an interesting shape and the values of that money are different from ours.   The language is the same.  It requires a more listening ear and a certain caution when asking questions.  Even where words are similar there can be differences in meaning.  

There are coffee shops, pastry and bakery cafes, Every block has one or more eating establishments where you can get your fill or just a few bites.

So many flaky, delicious temptations that I choose to savor, while the chance to do so is right in front of me.  

Beauty for the senses is in front and behind.

I walked along one of the three streets designed for shopping and eating and meandering and looking.  Suddenly, on the breeze I smelled the sea and remembered I was but a stone wall or two away.

There are gardens behind wrought iron gates and surrounded by stone walls.  The pathways are dotted with benches meant for resting just a moment, as you stroll.

There are churches.  Many.  They have their own gardens and grass that is rich and green.  So it is in this land where rain is more frequent than sunshine.

Back here, at this place called Aslar House, we are hosted by Stan and Mary and made to feel at home.

I wind my way to the third floor.  To the turret suite.  It is not fancy but clean and comfortable.  I prefer this to large hotels where there is air conditioning blowing all over and the ambiance is almost as cold.  The views from this guest house are not of the sea but of old rooftops and backyard gardens.  Quaint and lovely.

There are seagulls outside this window and they are calling and crying and I can’t tell if they are happy or annoyed. Perhaps they are unaware of how they sound. Quite rude and disrespectful of the beauty.   From here I can see no less than 12 chimneys and picture these buildings as homes three hundred years ago.  Smoke from fireplaces rolling from the stacks. This is one reason why I am so taken with this place.  The history.  There are church bells ringing and then again.

The beauty is great.  Old meeting new.  Idyllic really.  A remembrance of decades, no, centuries past.