alarms and a casserole

This is Jesse trying to get at me while I was working on my dissertation a few years back now -but it seems like days ago. Maybe because I escape no more easily now. Night before last I was dreaming that I turned to write something on the board and turned back and all but three students had left the class and then I heard this distant sound and I realized it was my mom crying out in pain -so I lept up and grabbed Bernie shouting we were coming (not a dream now). And he ran ahead of me and found mom awake but fine (I give him a head start so I don't have to find the body) so then I checked Jesse -awake but probably from our yelling. So it was ALL a dream -it was probably one of my students yelling in pain. Naturally Jesse soon joined us in bed so after a bit of that I went to his bed and was awakened to the actual non dream cry of, "Mommy, I peed in your bed."

I won't even go into the episode later in the day when I heard mom yell (feebly), "help, help" when I knew she had been taking a shower and I hadn't gone back to check her. After I finished searching the bathroom for her (did I think if she fell I might not see her behind the glass door to the not so big shower?) I found her in bed joking with the bank because she couldn't read her account number ("help, help" indeed). I cried for 1/2 an hour.

So the casserole. les than 10 minute prep (with fast chopping)

• About 1/2 to 3/4 inch of rice in the bottom of a deep dish casserole with cover.
• Enough water and white wine to just cover the rice
• A layer of sliced eggplant sprinkled with olive oil, chopped garlic, pitted calamata olives
• A layer of boneless, skinlees chicken thighs
• A layer of canned tomatoes -diced was all I had, stewed might have been better
• A thinner layer of finely chopped zuchini sprinkled with olive oil (again!) , dried rosemary and salt (actually I used sea salt but that sounds so snobby)
• BAKE at 350, covered for 1 and 1/4 hours
• uncover and put on shredded swiss and some grated whatever that grating cheese was I had
• Put under broiler until brown (or at least before more that the edges are black)
• Serve and grate on more parmesan (this step I'm sure what it was)

Practically Perfect. Worked with a dry pinot grigio if you want to be really snobby