Bookended by a fresh vegetable salad and a bowl of grapes, the rice/spinach/cheese casserole we had for dinner last night made for a very good meal, full of flavours and interesting texture. It's the kind of meal I enjoy preparing for days when you feel tired and just a little bit lazy. Put it all together, stick the resulting casserole into the oven and forget about it. Until the savoury aroma travels from kitchen to family room to inform that dinner is ready to be served.

I pre-cooked a half-cup of long-grain rice and let it cool. Then slipped a few tablespoons of butter along with a chopped garlic cove into a frypan, added four cups of fresh baby spinach and it was soon considerably reduced in volume, in preparation for inclusion with the rice. Added to that, 1/4 cup of chopped green onion, a half-cup of parsley sprigs from the garden, 2/3 cup grated old Cheddar, then beat a half-cup milk into two large eggs, and added that.

Ready to go ... the resulting mixture was ladled into a waiting buttered casserole dish and into the oven it went. After 40 minutes at 350F, it was good and ready, crisped brown around the edges top and bottom, and awaiting plating for the table. With meals like this it behooves one to take one's time and just enjoy it, and we did just that. The combination of ingredients turned out perfectly.

Speaking of ingredients...we've really missed the presence of Florida and California oranges the past few years. They used to highlight our breakfasts. It seems that the importation of citrus fruits from our near neighbour has taken a downturn of late. Partially as a result of climatic issues; untimely frosts in the spring, droughts in the summer months and serving the domestic market. Instead most of our citrus; navel oranges and clementines among them, have been sourced from further afield: Spain, Portugal and mostly South Africa.

If the fruits were coming from Israel they'd be peerless. Spain, Morocco and Portugal grow good citrus. But the South African oranges tend to be unfailingly disappointing. They're hard, difficult to slice and section, they're not as sweet, and the membranes are actually inedible. We were accustomed to alternating oranges with  melons for breakfasts. The melons rarely disappoint, especially the Canary melons, the Santa Claus melons and the honeydews and cantaloupes. 

We've been avoiding oranges, though. And we are unable to eat grapefruits any longer since they interfere with some medications. Yesterday we thought the oranges looked especially appealing, even at $1.80 per pound, so we bought a half-dozen. This morning we re-discovered our dissatisfaction with them and once again vowed never to buy the South African derived cultivars again.

It's another cold day, but beautifully bright, and absent the blustery winds of the past week. We went off to the ravine with Jackie and Jillie as usual. Neither ate breakfast this morning. Jackie does this kind of thing, going off his food to miss breakfast at least every other week for a day before recovering his appetite. Jillie has been going through a few days of diarrhea, caused, we're certain, by her penchant for sniffing out rank dog droppings ripening on the forest floor.

She's been reduced to pumpkin pulp and rice and boiled chicken, but hasn't firmed up yet. We've been cleaning up vomit and wet feces for days. Her appetite isn't diminished, she seems fine, but her stomach is obviously off. We've sprinkled those little packets from the vet that are meant to improve her gut microbiome. Getting up in the middle of the night to take her out to the backyard isn't fun. Nor is cleaning up after her when she doesn't make it to the backyard.

Oops, one great big gripe! But our tramp through the ravine was beautiful. Jillie was kept on leash because she won't listen when we scold her over her penchant of returning to where she had discovered some dog feces the day before. So the leash gives us better control and in fact she doesn't seem to mind. The fresh, cold air and the challenges to our limbs and lungs does us all well, and we feel the better for it. Even when we don't particularly feel like going out any particular day, once we're out and on the trails we feel refreshed, more relaxed and motivated and better off for it.

And for Jackie and Jillie, their customary vegetable salad served them after our walk was withheld today. Instead they each had a bowl of pumpkin mash. Which they didn't seem to mind. And which is meant to help firm up their gut and give them and us some relief from sick bay.