My Life Seems Doomed to Plagues of Flies

When I was first married, we lived out in the country and the people behind us raised horses and chickens. Step out our back door, and you’d be engulfed by a huge cloud of flies. We lived there eight months.

When we came to Memphis, we rented a home from a friend who was renovating in preparation to sell. My first son was born in this home. Unfortunately, the place was infested with cluster flies … great huge flies the size of bumblebees that buzzed round the windows and frequently strafed anyone who came within ten feet. We lived there three months.

Now here we are in the house that my youngest was born in, and we’ve been invaded by these ruddy little tiny flies that flirt about your nose and eyes, get into the food, and just generally make perfect nuisances of themselves. We’ve been swatting them and snatching them out of the air for four days now. I caught some of them mating in the bathroom. Smashed the living heck out of them. No idea where they came from … they don’t look like the fruit flies that show up with old bananas or onions. Oh well. Maybe I will turn the air conditioner down to 60 tomorrow and see if I can “freeze” them out.

On another note, the children ate every scrap of the meat I fixed for dinner. These two children refuse every meat known to man except hot dogs and chicken nuggets, but tonight they ate a really exotic chicken dish and went back for thirds! It was very simple — tossed some chevre (goat cheese), basil, salt, pepper, and cinnamon in the food processor and whirled it smooth. Put a layer of frozen chicken tenderloins in a casserole dish, topped it with the chevre, and covered that with another layer of chicken tenders. Poured a half-cup of white wine into the casserole and baked, covered, at 375 for 45 minutes.

I simply don’t understand why the kids will eat chicken fixed that way, but won’t eat fried tenders. Anyway, it was a nice end to an otherwise pest-infested day.

Tags: cooking, Family Life, flies, food, True Stories