You're Doing It Wrong

Every article on the front page of today’s issue of Dining In (food section, NYT) made me roll my eyes. (Okay, so everything makes me roll my eyes.)

There’s an article here letting us know that in the world of catered finger foods, pigs in a blanket (sometimes called franks in jackets) are “back with a vengeance!” (Exclamation point in original.) Yahoo. I’d been mourning the lack of baby hot dogs wrapped in pastry in my life and according to this article, pastry’s a good blotter for alcohol. If only I’d known that last Friday. (Sadly, I won’t be sharing the story of how drunk I was last weekend. At my age it isn’t funny. Just sad.)

Here’s another handy article about this woman helping her friend, set the table for a dinner party: “knife, water glass and wineglass on the right; espresso spoon horizontally above the dinner plate; espresso on top of the dinner plate.”

Espresso Cup?

I know, that’s what the author and I were thinking. But it’s not for coffee. It’s for the amuse-bouche.

Apparently you can puree an intense amount of something (vegetable, animal, mineral) and dollop it in the cup and your guests will feel special. Just putting some nuts in a dish doesn’t cut it these days. You’ve got to have some delicious bite before the meal. Another idea: arranging “lovely tidbits” of fish or meat on a saucer. This is the time for the chef’s artistry.

My next party everyone is going to get a pig in a blanket on an index card with a smiley face on it. Drawn by me.

The third article isn’t really so bad. It’s about this chef and his wife. Or maybe they’re both chefs, I’m not clear, and 1 or both of them is from Australia. I guess I should read the article before I roll my eyes and then write about it. The thing that scared me is something they serve called Moreton Bay bugs and the article says it’s some kind of small lobster but it sounds too Fear Factor for me.

And while we’re talking about fear factor let me tell you about my thermos yesterday. I like taking my lunch but I’ve resisted the thermos because it always ends up smelling like ass. And in this case when I say smells-like-ass I mean smells-like-something-died-in-it.

I finally bought one and I wash it immediately after use. I let soapy water stand in it overnight. I make sure it is completely dry before I put it away. And every time I take it back out: ass. So I put a few drops of bleach in it and more hot water, rinse some more and go off. Yesterday I did this routine but I could still smell a whiff of ass as I ate my soup. Not optimal for lunch enjoyment.

My tip of that day is that when I got home I immersed the entire ensemble in warm water and white vinegar. I think I’ve conquered the ass. At least for now.

SHADOW!
Alright! I got my new card reader and got the photos off the camera. Many more to come.

10 YEARS TODAY, BABY!

Travel Journal Probably around 1979 or 1980

(Original punctuation and spelling kept intact.)

This morning we had a late breakfast and then went on the U-bahn subway to Saint Michel. St. Michel is a church that was destroyed several times. It took about 10 years to build the Church and 10 more years to build the tower. This was in the 1800's. In 1906 the tower was destroyed by fire but it was rebuilt. During World War II, I think, the whole church was destroyed almost completely and it since has been rebuilt. Before it was destroyed the second time my dad was babtised and confirmed there and Oma and Opa were married there. We could visit it now and go up into the tower.

That night we visted Oma's sister, Norma and her son, (dad's cousin), Adolf. They spoke only german but it was a nice evening.

Nobody Rides For Free
I’ve been having a tough time getting my photos off the memory cards. I thought maybe a card was fried and bought a new one. I took a zillion photos and still couldn’t get them off.

While I was at the camera store, I asked about a new cable that goes from the camera to the computer. My old one is frayed and dangerous looking but previous attempts to replace it have failed and since I could make the icky one work, I just kept using it. Until the current problem developed. The person suggested that I get a cardreader which is a USB gadget that you plug the card into instead of the camera. This thing is genius. It’s fast and wonderful. One problem solved.

The commute home in summer is ruthless. On Monday is was 1 hr. 10 minutes. I’ve been doing 2 yoga classes a week to avoid it. Today was usual. Do you like the busy carpool lane? Who thought that was a good idea?

The car behind me was some guy who apparently didn’t want one breath of air between his bumper and mine. I tried to get a picture but didn’t turn around so you can’t see his tense face. He rode my bumper all the way from the Rose Garden to the place where the carpool ends.

I don’t think you should be able to ride my ass that long without at least buying me dinner.

It’s Just Clothes
This afternoon I was at a department store, trying on a few things.

I’ve been trying to find something new to wear for yoga which is the topic for a longer post which I’m not in the mood for right now.

Also I’ve been looking for some light, comfortable things to wear when it’s warm.

I tried on a simple black tank top. Probably too light to wear by itself but would be okay under things or perhaps around the house. It wasn’t really what I was looking for but the material was so soft and it was so comfortable I hung it back up thinking a definite maybe.

I grabbed the price tag and almost passed out when I saw: $118. For a little tank top.

I quickly smoothed it out, checked to be sure I hadn’t accidentally snagged it or hurt it in any way. I wouldn’t have even tried it on had I checked the price first.

How could a little tank top be $118? I carefully put it back on the rack. At least I have good taste.

Bob came in my room the other night and said: “This webpage stuff is a major time suck.”

Yeah. I know.

Since I had so much success redoing my main pages, this morning I decided to tackle a few fixes on my last 2 xmas newsletters. The 04 version is a major mess.

05 was pretty easy to fix, I figured out how to center a few things and tweak a few others.

Thinking I now understood how it all works, at first I thought I’d just re-engineer the whole 04 layout since I can’t figure out what I did in the first place. But then I’d have to redo photos and I didn’t want to get that deep into it. That probably would have been faster.

The point being I spent most of my day trying to unravel my page layout and had little success and very little satisfaction. All for a page that no one ever looks at.

Oh well. I am learning a lot. Maybe the 06 version will be a snap.

My Tomato Farm
Today was my biggest harvest day. This is what I got.

Try not to be underwhelmed. It’s almost mid-August. I should be groaning under the weight of my harvest. There are 4 plants out there plus another 4 volunteers.

That’s it.

I can eat them as fast as I can pick them. How am I going to make sauce and soup with this pitiful crop?

I’m already tired of the garden and it’s barely started to do anything.

My theory is that the heirlooms don’t pump out the results like the .69¢ Fred Meyer variety. Normally I buy a few cheapies and a few heirlooms but this year I went all heirloom. One of the plants hasn’t even given me one ripe one and the green ones look all tiny and deformed.

This is not what I’d hoped for.