Killer Lasagna . . . really

Tonight my husband made a vegetable lasagna that knocked my socks off.  I just hope I didn't overdo it.  I went back for seconds (a half portion) and then a nipped one more bite before he put the leftovers in the fridge.  Really I practiced great restraint considering that what I wanted to do was submerge my entire face in it.

The lasagna had zucchini in it - not my favorite because it lacks substance and character.  By that I mean that zucchini tend to fall apart and they have little flavor.  So when I saw the zucchini in the lasagna pan I was immediately suspicious, but the amazing smell and my intense hunger were enough to keep me from turning up my nose.  And once I took the first bite, I was hooked.  I spent the next twenty minutes in veggie heaven.  My apologies to the zucchini of the world - I have misjudged you.

So, at this time you will be expecting me to share the recipe.  My hubby found it over at Family Circle, but we cannot get recipes from there to link.  They redirect to a dead page telling you that you are logged in already (or that you are not).  Try this: Vegetarian Lasagna.   If that link doesn't work, go to the Family Circle website and search for "Vegetarian Lasagna."  It will be the first link on the list.  However, be warned!  Hubby says it was a real pain to put together - labor and time intensive.  In fact, he said it had a pain-in-the-butt rating of 5/5.

And on the Portuguese front today, I looked up the history of the names of the days of the week in Portuguese.  Because it is so intriguing when you look at how other languages are so similar and Portuguese is a complete outlier.  There had to be a story to explain that!  And indeed there is . . . .

It seems that in the 6th century Martinho de Dume, a bishop in what is modern day Portugal, decided that the names of the days of the week were too pagan and did not reflect the Christian values of the people, so he moved to change them. 

Patricia Ribeiro at About.com explains it this way:

Portuguese is the only romanic language in which all the days of the week have their origin in the Catholic liturgy. According to a widely accepted explanation, the change from pagan names to the current terms was initiated by Martinho de Dume, a sixth-century bishop of Braga, in what is Portugal today, and based on full observance of an Easter week.

Domingo (Sunday) has its origin in the Latin expression for the Day of the Lord. Saturday was named for the Hebrew word Shabbat. The other days, which mean second to sixth fair literally, would come from the Latin terms for “second day in which one shouldn’t work” (in observance of Easter week). Compare to the Portuguese word for vacation – férias.

I still find it odd.  Maybe during the 6th century it made perfect sense to call Monday "second fair," but to my modern mind that seems very peculiar.  To make matters worse, the modern speakers of Portuguese often omit the feira part of the phrase and just say segunda, terça, etc.  That might make perfect sense to them, but I can see myself easily getting lost when this is used.  Wait . . .  Segunda?  Are we meeting on Monday or on the second of the month? 

Ah well, I'll worry about that if and when it comes up.  It's not as though there are never any ambiguities in English, after all.

Next time you'll see less of me!

--AnneK