Frog and Goat

We finally saw the second Matrix movie. We planned to see it in the theater but one thing led to another and it was gone. PPV finally started showing it this weekend. I wasn’t as displeased as I’d been led to believe but I have to wonder if some of the scenes got mixed up with the video game. I’m OK with CGI if it is clever enough to fool my eye. I thought I was watching a poor man’s Final Fantasy (the movie–I’ve never seen the game) during some of the fight scenes. We may actually get out of the house today and see the final installment.

As if you haven’t had enough food in your life, I’m going to tell you what feasting we’ve done over the past two days. Yeah! Food!

Wednesday night we went to The Ironhorse in Ashland. It is so named because it sits a sidewalk away from the railroad track. The train actually stopped and let folks off while we were having dinner. The food was bueno as usual. Here’s what we ate: Tapas for an appetizer-hummus, olive tapenade, smoked trout, 2 cherry pepper halves with cream cheese filling, blue cheese, sautéed mushroom slices (portabella), NY flatbread, pita wedges, roasted garlic cloves–lots of them. Then we each had a salad–the better half had a caesar and I had a mixed green. For entrees he had the Duck confit (the duck fell off the bone) with thick sweet potato slices and spinach and oyster mushrooms with a reduction sauce. I had something I rarely get to enjoy- Venison with a currant and onion sauce on fried polenta with some tiny green beans. For dessert we each had a Crème Brulee and it was some of the best I’ve ever had. He had coffee with dessert and I had tea. Stuffed but happy.

Yesterday for Thanksgiving we cooked the following:
Pureed Spinach and Potato Soup (yukon gold potatoes)–the recipe from an old MSL. Sausage, Pine Nut and Oyster Stuffing (we shucked the oysters ourselves)–the recipe from a recent F&W. Sea Bass and Scallops poached in Champagne with a fennel and shallot cream sauce served with white asparagus (we couldn’t get the grouper). My oh My. And, for dessert Poached Pears with meringue and sabayon sauce–from the Mastering the Art of French Cooking cookbook. The better-half outdid himself on that one.

Here’s the long awaited Thanksgiving Flash movie.

Happy T-Day.

Today is the day before Thanksgiving and in Frog & Goat land that means dinner out because 11 years ago we went on our first date. Join me now for a trip down memory lane.

I worked at Hell and in the afternoons the better-half would come in to do a little computer work for the owner. He usually showed up around 5 and at 5 I clocked out and ran to my car. There was no working one more second there so it was very hard for him to make any time with me. Plus I thought he was married when we first met so I didn’t really give him much thought (which he knows so there won’t be any gasping). During the first weeks of working at Hell we had a re-open party since Hell had burned nearly down. At that party the better-half and I hit it off and really enjoyed talking to each other…which I considered very significant since I’m the world’s worst at small talk–I see no point in it. Then the better-half’s girlfriend came up and they left. There was something about her manner that really made me think they were married. Turns out they were on the verge of breaking up.

Months later, I was watching STNG and got a phone call from the better-half. He wanted to take me out on the Wednesday of Thanksgiving week to see Evita (the play not that Madonna movie) and grab a bite to eat. I said yes. I figured if he was asking me out then he wasn’t married–yes, the contrary to that thought happens all the time–but he’s a stand-up guy. My sister and I went shopping toot-sweet and I got something I felt was appropriate for seeing Evita. I told the better-half that I’d meet him at his apartment and we could go from there. Even though I thought he was a good guy there was no way I wanted him to know where I lived. I mean we met at Hell and a girl has to be careful.

The apartment he lived in when we met was a Hole. I passed his pot smoking neighbors (I mention that only because there was a cloud of smoke on the deck—they turned out to be very cool and, sadly, they moved out west) and climbed the spiral staircase. He opened the door and I kept my game face on because he had NO furniture–a scary plaid wingback chair, a computer table and nothing else. His TV and stereo sat on the floor. He did have a kitchen table and chairs and a bed but I didn’t see those things immediately. I said I’d drive and off we went.

The play was great and at intermission we stood in the grand hallway and tooled on people. Then when he asked me about dinner, I said I’d like some french fries. We ended up at Joe’s Inn and we talked for way longer than the waitress wanted us to and then we went back to his apartment parking lot. He got out of the car and we said our good-byes. I told him “Happy T-Day” and then I roared off down the lane in the car affectionately known as the Turbo Hyundai. He gets all googly-eyed whenever he says Happy T-Day and likes to tell the story of the Turbo Hyundai going off in a cloud of blue smoke. I think he knew then. It took me a little longer but I came to the same conclusion–he’s a keeper.

Remember the good old days when Christmas ornamentation didn’t happen until December?

Our next door neighbors have lit their house and oddly enough they have a Christmas tree in their upstairs closet…their house was built about 7 years ago so naturally we walked through it in all stages of the build…that’s a big master bedroom closet with a big window and it now has a brightly lit Christmas tree in it.

They aren’t the only ones who have decided that November is a perfectly great time to decorate for Christmas. I’m not talking about the day after Thanksgiving which I have reluctantly conceded.

The interesting thing about the neighbors is this—last night I got home after dark and as I was getting out of my car I thought great I didn’t leave the light on. It didn’t matter. The neighbors had so many of their outside lights on that I could see the front door lock easily. This is no small feat since our houses are not close to each other. I don’t think Sammy Sosa could launch a baseball from my front porch to their back deck.

I can’t come up with anything today for the blog so you’ll be treated to random unconnected thoughts…lucky you.

While the ‘rents are out of town I told my mother that I’d update her anti-virus on her computer. I did that yesterday and then found out there have been no updates to Windows 98 (that’s right Win98) since the dawn of time. I brought the PC to the office where we could get a fast connection and update. The machine has been consuming files all morning and is now defragging. The big question we’ve been pondering is should we install another hard drive since the small one she has now is nearly full or do we take the approach of why should we do any more than we have to because of the whole “shaft” I’ve gotten this year in the family arena. I think we’ve pretty much decided to do the software updates available and then I’ll tell her about her options. Let her decide what she wants to do.

This morning the tow trucks were out in force yanking SUVs and cars alike from around the building. Since last week signs have been posted that yesterday and today street cleaning would happen. I guess folks who work and live in the area can’t read. Maybe they’ll be able to read the whopping bill they’ll get to get the car out of impound. I’m feeling absolutely no charity…I park on the street every day and I’m sick of people in this town not following posted signs, general highway rules, etc.

I was feeling slightly guilty about reporting a buyer of one of my books to Ebay for non-payment but now I’m over that. Don’t bid on something if you can’t/won’t pay for it. I know that something terrible could have happened to the buyer and that’s why he hasn’t come up with the payment, but I doubt it. I clearly stated that I only accept PayPal and then the buyer sent me an email after winning the bid about sending me a cashier’s check. I felt weird about it but agreed. That was more than 10 days ago. I’ve tried to correspond but his AO”satan”L account is blocking hotmail accounts. So, I’ve sent a new invoice 3 times. Loser….you are getting negative feedback. Once again random people have shown me how marvelous they are.

So I decided to figure out how much a Hummer costs and this is the error message I got…

While getting my haircut on Saturday (ah, shorn again!), I was reading Town and Country–the one with Courtney Cox on it. I think it was the September issue. Does anyone get that magazine? I shoulda/woulda/coulda written down the names of the other musicians mentioned in the same article as Diana Krall, but I didn’t and now I’m kicking myself. Town and Country’s website is no help–if I can’t find it in 5 seconds then the site is deemed no help. If you have that copy laying around and you have a few minutes would you mind telling me the names? Norah Jones was listed but I can’t remember the other names. Thanks.

I should mention that if you enter something in my comments you don’t have to put in your email…if you do, I’ll remove it to protect you from the spider crawl.

I was just reading midwestgrrl and she reports snow in Cleveland. I know it is early for snow, but it is almost 70 today here in Richmond. I’ll split the difference. I’m sick of pawing through the drawer for short sleeves.

We went to the John Mayer concert last night at the Coliseum so that I could see The Thorns open. Yes, it was interesting and fun to see John but that was not why we shelled out the $89. Even though the acoustics in the 24oz Miller Lite can I was holding were better than the Coliseum’s, The Thorns rocked. Matthew Sweet played a gazillion different stringed instruments. They were jaded and funny about it. All that flew over everyone’s heads–there’s nothing like Gen X funny especially when Gen Y just doesn’t get it. I think I was one of 5 fans in the audience.

I’ve decided that I don’t like teens in large groups. I’m officially an old lady now. And the people I like even less are their parents. The Capital D, Capital I, Capital C, Capital K father I sat next to hogged the arm rest and if I got more skin time with him hogging both his seat and mine then I was ready to ask him to introduce himself. I can only believe he has a very lower case p-e-n-i-s. And, to his daughter rolling her eyes everytime she had to get the freak out of my way, I have this to say–No matter what kind of loser I was in high school there was no way in HELL that I would have consented to seeing a concert with my parents. They didn’t even let her have a soda. They sat there the whole time with their arms crossed, except when they munched on their bag of peanuts. Who can eat peanuts and not drink something?

Thoughts on seeing John Mayer last summer vs seeing him last night: The John Mayer machine is in full gear. He’s gonna be a big star. He had those girls eating out of his hand.