Veal Piccata with Lemon, Capers, and Parsley-Butter Sauce *Recipe #37 - page 93*

It's been a busy week. I want to take this time to share some things that happened this week. I do realize that this is a food blog, but I am also a mother and cannot help but share these two stories. This week I was reminded of what can happen in a couple of seconds.

I was at the mall on Saturday afternoon. Despite the economy, the mall was packed. People were out in droves. I was lucky enough to be shopping without my children and took the time to go to Macy's. I worked for LUSH at Macy's this past Christmas and still know some people up there. I was chatting away when a voice came over the intercom, "CODE ADAM". Never in my life has there been a voice over the intercom at the mall. "CODE ADAM - two missing caucasian children. One 5 year old girl, blond hair, pigtails, blue eyes, red dress. One 3 year old boy, brown hair, blue eyes, green shirt. Call xxx if you see them. CODE ADAM. The voice asked all employees to abandon their stations and cover the doorways. I cannot tell you how very, very quiet that huge store became. No one talked and everyone froze. You could look around and tell who was a mother and who wasn't. It seemed like forever but it was probably only five minutes. The children were found and a message came on to tell us they were with their mother again. I was so happy and thankful. I made a mental note to keep a closer eye on my own children.

A couple days later one of my neighbors was knocking on my door. When I came to the door she was crying. This neighbor has seven children. Most of them are teenagers or preteens. The youngest are two girls, ages 4 and 6. It was around 3:30 or 4pm and not time for husbands to be home from work yet. My neighbor was consoling her preteen who was upset about something that had happened at school. While consoling her preteen, the two youngest slipped out of the house. At first she figured they were right out front. When they weren't, she gathered her other five children and they all went looking. They had been looking for over 30 minutes when they came to my house. She told me later that my house was her last resort. When I opened the door and she didn't see them she really started crying. My daughter and I ran out to help her search and I gotta tell you I was really scared. We live in a quiet and rural small town in Kentucky but you never know. Our homes are in the middle of new construction and there are so many people in and out of here during the day.

After what seemed like forever we saw two empty bikes by the roadside. I watched my neighbor fall to the ground. In my mind I thought the empty bikes were good news. I thought we finally had a clue of where to look. In her mind she thought someone had taken her two girls. There were a lot of people outside at this point and quite a bit of commotion going on. I bent down to talk to my neighbor and when we looked up we saw them!! Two little girls walking towards us. They were walking right out of that field by our homes! Apparently, they thought it was a great idea to walk through that field. You never know what ideas children will come up with. That poor mom had taken just a couple minutes to console an older child. I made a mental note to have all available eyes and ears on my children at all times.

Things are starting to slow down just in time for the weekend and I sure am glad!! I am so excited to have a long holiday weekend!! I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday. Hope you enjoy lots of good food and picnics : )

Tonight I made Tyler's Veal Piccata from Stirring the Pot. I finally was able to locate some good looking veal at the local Kroger. I have never bought veal before and was surprised to see it was rather inexpensive. I think I paid about $3.00 for four thin cutlets. Not too bad!! I was so thankful that this was a fast and quick recipe!! It was a matter of cooking spaghetti and sauteing up the veal and dinner was served. The whole thing took less than 30 minutes. The sauce was rather piquant and bright and the veal was very tender and surprisingly flavorful. I used Marsala wine in the sauce because it is my favorite wine to cook with. I would recommend this dish if you are looking for something quick, affordable, and somewhat sophisticated. You can find another Tyler version of this recipe here. This is my weekly post for Tyler Florence Fridays. Head on over to this site every Friday night to see what we have made. Or better yet, join us, and make a Tyler recipe of your own chosing each week.