German Potato Salad; Bats in the Bath; Weekly Menu

I may have mentioned that our Alsatian, Sedi, is getting old.

Part of the whole ‘old dog’ routine is peeing a lot.

To be honest, I probably want her to pee more than she wants to, but I’m the one that has to mop the floor or wash the doggie bed if we miscalculate.

During the day, no problem: the doors are open, both dogs wander in and out at will.

At night I have to get up to let her out.

Which I do, four or five times a night.

Every night.

I usually wander around in the dark.

Last night, just as we were turning the lights off, I realized I’d left my robe in the bathroom.  It’s been cold at night, and, as I don’t bother with pajamas, robes come in handy for said nocturnal wanderings.

I flicked on the light, opened the bathroom door and a huge bat flew at my head.

At least, that’s what I decided it was after promptly screaming and slamming the door.

I opened the door again, just a crack, to verify my assumptions.

Yep, it was a bat.

My, but they have wide wingspans for such little creatures…..

If I just opened the door a tiny bit I could see the whole bathroom in the mirror…. And watch the bat fly madly around the ceiling in circles.

Fortunately, we have 10′ ceilings.

I figured I could do one of three things:

Nothing – and have the bathroom off limits for the rest of my life.

Open the bathroom door – thus letting the bat into the rest of the house and, hopefully, spur mon mari to act on it.

Suck it up, dash in and pull the window open which would take less than a nanosecond.

I keep telling myself that it’s time to grow up and stop being such a wimp (I should mention that I rarely listen to me)….

I sucked it up, dashed in, yanked the window open and dashed out.

I expected the bat, with it’s superior echo-locating abilities, to immediately notice the open window and fly off to freedom.

There I go with false expectations again….

He continued to fly madly about the ceiling.

I turned the outside lights on and the bathroom lights off – thinking maybe he also had some moth-like tendencies and would fly towards the light.

Once again, wrong.

After a few minutes, when I checked the bathroom, he was contentedly hanging from the ceiling.

By this time mon mari was up…. he went outside and opened the other bathroom window, creating a nice wide space for our little friend. (And why didn’t I think to go outside to open the window? Oh, yeah, right…. no pajamas…. robe being guarded by bat.)

Then we flicked all of the lights on and off, in hopes of just irritating him into leaving.

We did.

He left.

I only wish I knew where he came from…..

Last year, I had the episode of Things that go Squish in the Night.  Now, a bat.

We really need to make this house more secure from critters.

On the other hand, one episode a year is not all that bad…..

This, on the other hand is very, very good: a hot potato salad, perfect for cool weather.

Hot German Potato Salad

4 medium potatoes, (20oz, 600gr)
3 slices bacon
1 medium onion
3 ribs celery, about 2/3 cup chopped
2 large dill pickles or 4 small, about 1/3 cup chopped
1/4 cup (2oz, 60ml) cider vinegar
1/4 cup (2oz, 60ml) beef stock
2 tsp cornstarch (maizena)
1 tsp sugar
1 tbs olive oil

Slice potatoes – the long way, first in half, then in half again. Now slice (the short way) about 1/4 inch thick. We are aiming for bite size so if you have a huge potato, adjust accordingly. Put in a steamer basket over an inch of water and steam over medium heat for 15 minutes or until done.
Chop onion, celery and pickle. Sauté bacon in oil in medium skillet. When done remove and set on paper towels to drain. Remove all but 1 tbs oil from pan. Add onions and celery to pan and sauté until tender, 10 – 15 minutes. Add sugar, stock and vinegar, stirring and scraping up any brown bits on bottom of pan. Dissolve cornstarch in stock and add to pan stirring constantly to thicken. Add pickles and potatoes and stir gently to combine. Remove from heat. Crumble bacon and add to potatoes. Stir to mix and serve.

In addition to this, for the week of September 10 we have Barbecued Salmon, Grilled Steaks, Pizza Margerhita, Grilled Chicken Piccata….

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