In less than 24 hours, Erik and I will be ‘hitching up’ to drive to his sister Holly’s house for Thanksgiving. We are all super excited for the actual visit, though I’ll admit I’ve been dreading the 10-hour trip almost as much as my lower back.

In those instances when I find myself resisting some part of life reality that’s not particularly appealing, I try to focus on what I can control.

Well, I can’t control that every family member of ours lives at least 9 hours away. Can’t do it.

I also can’t control that after Erik and I exhaust every possible topic of conversation (including what we would do if we won $100 million in the Georgia lottery), we will be at the mercy of listening to Barbie movie dialogue emanating from the back seat of our not-speedy-enough but undeniably cute RAV4.

Come to think of it, I will also not be able to control those boredom-induced hunger pangs. And they WILL come. Certainly by the 6^th hour.

I am much better at continuing to focus on what I can’t control apparently.

Hmmmm….

I know!

I can control not being at the mercy of every uninspiring fast food joint dotting the highway between our house and Ft. Lauderdale!

A smile sneaks up on me all of a sudden. I can handle hours of listlessness if accompanied by tasty morsels. Clearly. I headed to my refrigerator and realized I had all the fixings to make a tasty frittata…except that I’d already had a tasty frittata earlier this week and a repeat wasn’t exactly titillating.

Then I remembered frittata’s posh, French cousin…the quiche, and suddenly everything started falling into place.

And here we are. In addition to some breaded chicken cutlets, an onion and thyme focaccia, and deliciously sweet grapes, Erik and the girls and I will also be knoshing on this. Weee!

Ok. Who am I kidding? Ten hours in a car still stinks. Thank goodness for us that Aunt Holly and cousin Mikela are totally worth it. It’ll keep us going.

making leek & emmental cheese quiche

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Prep 3 large leeks by slicing them into ¼-inch medallions and wash them thoroughly in a large bowl filled with water. Click here for a visual tutorial on how to clean leeks and prep them for cooking.

Melt 3 TBSPs unsalted butter in a 10- or 12- inch skillet on medium high heat. Add the leeks, along with the water and 2 generous pinches of sea salt and cook uncovered, lowering the flame to medium, until it the liquid has evaporated but the leeks are still moist.

This will take about 15 minutes or so because you want them nice and soft. Set them aside to cool.

While the leeks are cooking, combine 5 beaten eggs, 1 cup of whipping cream and salt and pepper to taste in a medium-large bowl and mix thoroughly. Arrange 4 -6 oz. of thinly sliced Emmental cheese on the bottom of 1 savory pie crust recipe.

Cover with the cooked and cooled leeks.

Cover with the egg and cream mixture.

Arrange strips of aluminum foil around just the crust of the quiche. Doing this will prevent the crust from burning before the quiche is fully cooked.

Place quiche dish in oven and lower the temperature to 375°F. Bake for 30 minutes. Then remove the aluminum foil protecting the crust and bake until the crust is nice and golden and the egg mixture has completely set. This will usually require an additional 15 minutes or so. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 mintues before cutting. Makes 6 servings.