Interesting day yesterday. My ex stopped by to pick up some fresh sweet potatoes and to drop off a bag of eggplants given to him by a co-worker who has a garden. They were starting to get a little soft, so needed using soon.

Meanwhile, I've been trying to get him to head over to that discount grocery I've mentioned here and I was headed over myself, so he rode along to see the Saturday morning chaos when one day a week the warehouse (lots of produce) is opened next to the regular store. We headed from there to Home Depot, where I had to return something and he was going to order a new front door and frame to have his contractor replace for him. Thing is, he lives about 3 miles from the store, but we didn't have a pickup and he was going to pay $80 to have it delivered, so I told him about their trucks for rent. Since I was driving and my ex's insurance card was back at my house in the car, I ended up driving the truck, rented for $19.99 for 75 minutes, to take the door to his house. It was good timing, we just walked in, got the truck, and were turning it back in 15 minutes later just as someone else buying a door needed it.

At home I had those eggplants, and decided the neighbors needed breaded eggplant. My elderly across-the-street neighbor used to take my produce and cook up a storm, but she barely microwaves dinner now. So I called when I had a plate of them nearly ready and told her I'd be over in 10 minutes. We sat and talked and she ate several - she loves these and I need to take them over more often. My next door neighbors on either side like them, so to one I delivered another plate, and to the other, who just recently discovered that she likes eggplant parm, she walked over and I showed her the breading and frying process. She never ate eggplant at all until I gave her samples of my babaghanouj, and after making it together a couple of times, she makes it herself. And so it will go with eggplant Parmesan.

My house will smell like frying for several days, but those eggplants went to a lot of goodwill around this end of the neighborhood. I kept a few fried slices - even though I'm mostly avoiding wheat right now, I had a small plate of those topped with provolone and spaghetti sauce - they were fabulous!

It's a weekend of doing things for others. Last Friday at work we pooled a few dollars and when I was buying my cast iron pot I also picked up a toaster for our office; our old one burns on all settings. I'm going to make a loaf of bread and take it in with the new toaster so they can christen it properly. A jar of my homemade jelly will be the perfect finish.