I love pickles but they must be the tart, tangy variety. I’ll eat bread and butter pickles to be sure, but the tangy variety is what I crave. Crave? Yes.
I like barbeque a little more than I probably should and I really don’t care what style of barbeque it is. Texas, Kansas City, North Carolina, Memphis. Is it pig or cow and does it have sauce? Fine by me.
Vanilla ice cream is underrated. Sometimes you don’t need all that extra stuff crammed into a cone.
Popcorn with Lawry’s seasoned salt is pretty awesome.
I'm over my muppet look. Thank goodness because today I'm grumpy and there's only room for one grumpy muppet and Oscar has that covered.
Here's the list (and it's only 10:15 am):
I'm sick of people using our bathroom as a dumping ground. The occasional dropping the kids off at the pool is fine; everyone has an unfortunately timed crap. Every damn day is ridiculous. I'm sick of smelling it.
If I go out of my way to do something for you and provide the result in a timely manner, don't come back and ask me for more. I gave you the document in the only way that I could--with a watermark and as a secure PDF. If you don't like it, too bad. If I gave it to in any other way, we'd both be breaking copyright law so shut up.
Don't drink my drinks out of the refrigerator without asking me. I wouldn't deny your request to bum a green tea but now that I know you steal, I'm pissed off. You telling me I can have some of your drinks really doesn't make up for the fact that you stole mine.
Updated 2:02pm:
Talking loudly on your cell phone only makes you sound like an idiot and, frankly, a shrew--your poor husband. You don't conduct work-related calls in this loud manner so why do you use your cell phone like a megaphone?
I look like a muppet today. The left side of my upper lip is at least twice as big as the right side. I'm not sure why one side is looking like a bad experiment with a lip implant. I have no idea how it happened, one minute I was fine and the next I turned into a freak show.
I was evidently bitten by a bug while we took a quick swim or I've suddenly become allergic to something. I did blow water out of a noodle a couple of times but as with most things involving my lips, I used all parts of my lips so I don't think it came off the noodle.
I'll be having lunch in today and hiding at my desk. Mah-Na Mah-Na.
We took off Friday and went to Newport News to the Trader Joe's and then to La Tienda in Williamsburg. We went with two friends who also like to food shop. We ate at The Trellis and I believe the Potato, Leek and Ham soup cured me of whatever funky intestinal thing I had going on. So, not only is it a recommended tasty food item it has restorative properties. I'm sure The Trellis will be happy to know that.
After our travels, our friends came over to swim, hang out and eat Beef with Cabrales (we found the cabrales at Fresh Market), Frijoles A La Charra from the Diana Kennedy book, The Essential Cuisines of Mexico, and caesar salad. Our friends wanted to try the better-half's rendition of caesar dressing which is really pretty awesome, if I may brag. I made a blueberry pie and it was gooey and delicious and full of blueberry flavor.
They left pretty late and just as we were finishing our clean up, the phone rang and it was my brother-in-law from Florida. His sleeping arrangements for the night fell through and he was looking for a place to sleep. He apologized for calling late (11:45) and thanked us for being cool about letting him show up unexpectedly and crashing. We stayed up until about 2 listening to punk rock (Me First and the Gimme Gimmes-Have a Ball) and his travel story.
Yesterday morning I helped my sister put down some rugs in her classroom and when we walked into the school I had to marvel at how much has changed since I went to school there (well, duh). When we walked into her classroom I asked if it was Mrs. Hathaway's old room. It is and then I joked about showing a filmstrip. Mrs. Hathaway was an older woman who taught science and liked to show filmstrips and slides. She frequently dozed off and would awaken when the beep indicated she needed to advance the picture. She'd fall back to sleep until the next beep. My sister says sometimes when she's sleepy she thinks about Mrs. Hathaway. It's funny how much smaller that classroom seems now that I'm not so small.
Last night we went to a party hosted by the professor who runs the adult learner program at my university. Lovely. I was glad to have the better-half finally get to see some of the people I talk about. On the way home, the better-half wanted some tacos so we stopped by Mexico in Mechanicsville. He got his taco fix and I tried the nachos con chorizo and my faith in nachos has been restored. I've been seriously disappointed in most of the nachos I've had over the past year or so but these were a normal portion with chorizo, no beans, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, guacamole, and jalapeños.
Class starts for me on Wednesday. I've finally organized all past course handouts and I've fished out my school bag and will start carrying that instead of my regular briefcase. I don't have any new pencils or anything but I'm ready for school to start.
We cured another pork belly. The sample piece we were forced to eat just after taking the belly off the smoker was a little saltier than the others we've done but still delicious.
I have four magazines on my desk and I hope to read all of them today. I have two Harper's, one Atlantic Monthly and one Paste. I just finished the Smithsonian I started yesterday afternoon.
I walked down to the coffee store a little while ago to get two pounds of coffee and spent extra time there chatting with the owner about the lack of eateries in the area. She calls our lunch group the lunch posse--she sees us walking past her shop. She made a suggestion for a steak and egg wrap at one of the places down the street--the good place down the street. I'll have to try that next time around.
Two co-workers left around 10am this morning to go to a downtown diner (one that I don't particularly like) for breakfast. They both claimed that grits and hash would help fill out their work-related conversation. I'm not sure what was wrong with having the conversation at work. Whatever. I think we've jumped the shark here.
The porch is officially complete and the building permit has finally been taken down from the kitchen window (a protected location where everyone could see it--not a particularly attractive feature).
The inspector was here on the 15th:
There are very strict guidelines in what needs to occupy the lower portion of the porch so small children don't tumble off the porch or get their heads stuck or whatever. When we built the porch at the other house we didn't have to abide by those rules except on the steps. We put up very attractive lattice. I think it was up for two days.
This is actually what the porch looks like:
We still need to caulk and put a final coat of paint on and stain the wood but all those things can wait until after the heat and humidity leave us. Of course, there will be lattice under the porch but as you may be able to tell we store the canoe under there right now and so need to start the next project: a shed. Because a garage just ain't big enough...actually, that's where the better-half has all his wood-working tools.
We also have plans for the grass area between the porch and the house--hostas, herb garden, a brick landing at the bottom of the stairs and a stepping stone path to connect the pool, porch, back steps, garage door and driveway. All those hardscape supplies are on pallets in the driveway. We'll tackle that project soon.
We had a friend over for swimming, hanging out and dinner last night. We spent a lot of time in the pool trying to balance on noodles--the noodles being under our feet. I ended up putting my foot through one of our floats--ooops, the float is now in the trash.
I woke up yesterday morning and started my hausfrau routine and part of the routine included making a pie crust from scratch. I can count on one hand the times I've done this but the crust turned out pretty well. Unfortunately, I found out too late that the extra all-purpose flour we keep in the pantry in a ziploc bag was infested with whatever those little bugs are called that infest flour. YEEECH. So, I had to substitute a cup of whole wheat, bug-free, flour. The crust was a little tanner than it was supposed to be but flaky and delicious. The filling was cherries and I mixed cans of sweet and tart cherries so, technically, it was a sweet tart pie.
We also made Tri-Tip Steak on the grill. The fine folks at Belmont Butchery sold us the steak and I should have had faith that they could come through. The better-half knew better than to accept my suggestion of using a flank steak from a grocery store. The dish was delightful and we descended on the plate like jackals and nearly finished it off.
We also served caprese (I didn't realize my friend doesn't like raw tomatoes but she does like cheese so she had a tomato and two slices of cheese), a tossed salad with a blue cheese dressing the better-half whipped up, and roasted potatoes.
Our street is being resurfaced. I was behind a car today and we were both going slow, which a rarity since everyone speeds past the 25 MPH sign and I hate that but it will be their kids who are run over and who will die terrible deaths and not mine so I say go for it you effing morons. I know this will be a surprise for you but I do abide by that particular speed limit because there are lots of people who walk, run, ride bikes, etc.
Anyway, the car in front of me came to a stop right in front of our driveway as the highly skilled road crew person indicated he/she should stop. Which is fine if you live down the road. It wasn't so fine for me. So, I drove off the road, across my grass--the grass I cut and pay taxes on--and up my driveway. The highly skilled road crew guy gave me lots of arm waving like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Believe.
He was still standing at the end of my driveway staring at me when I got of the car. I just looked at him and walked into the house. I guess he's never seen a Honda go 4-wheelin' before, but that's how we roll out here in Mechanicsville.
I just saw the clip of Green Day rocking out The Simpson's theme song and then whipping out violins as their stage barge went down like the Titanic. It feels a bit like we're rearranging the deck chairs here at the place of employment. While we wait for the end of September, when all those laid off leave, we're stuck in a holding pattern of nothingness. The work I have to do is sporadic and short-lived. As impossible as it seems, there just isn't enough interesting stuff on the internet to occupy my time for eight hours. I read a magazine, albeit one related to my work, yesterday and a co-worker said she brought in a book to read. A Tom Clancy. Another person prepared for an interview. The most exciting discussion is what to do for lunch. And, that was a failure yesterday.
Yesterday's discussion about lunch had us going to Beauregard's Thai Room and then suddenly it veered to the 3rd Street Diner. The diner was recently refurbished but all the glossy paint in the world won't fix a lackadaisical waitstaff and an inattentive kitchen. I've already banished the restaurant next door from my list of possible lunch spots (seriously how many times can you screw up a sandwich and fries and think I'll keep spending money there) and I think the 3rd Street diner is now on the list. I used to work across the street from the diner when I worked in a little place I like to refer to as Hell. They would make cherry cokes with actual cherries--this was before Coke took all the fun out of it by bottling a facsimile of the taste. The better-half used to meet folks there for beer and fries. But, now, the fries aren't even all that great. We get better results throwing a bag of Ore-Ida in the oven for 15 minutes at 475.
Update: the man in charge used the word dissimilate in writing and in speaking when he meant disseminate. Any wonder we'd like to kick him in the crotch?
After record-breaking heat last week, yesterday was amazing. The humidity was low and the sky was crisply blue. I finished painting the bathroom and the better-half finished building the steps for the porch. We were able to eat dinner on the porch again and then hung out until it got good and dark.
We got a jump start on the Perseid meteor shower, which is supposed to be very visible tonight at 10pm EST, by sitting out on the pool patio craning our necks to see meteors. We saw several but they were very spaced out and I gave up around 10:30 and went to bed. Hopefully the sky will be clear again tonight and we'll be able to see the big show.
I got an email from a friend from college the other day. We haven't seen each other in 11 years. She was at our wedding and then she and her boyfriend (now husband) moved to Florida shortly after that time. She occasionally emails, mostly pictures of her daughter. The emails are usually a group package meaning lots of people are on her list. I have responded to those pictures with actual conversation. She doesn't respond.
So, the email I received the other day pissed me off. She is switching her email software and wants everyone in her contact list to email her so it will be easier to add people to her new contact list. She doesn't want to spend the time typing in everyone's email address into the new software package. My response was no response unless you consider using the Delete button a response. I haven't seen her in 11 years and she can't be bothered to respond to my conversational emails. And, she wants me to do her work for her? Not bloody likely.
We had a grand time with The Niece spending the night. We swam in the pool for most of the afternoon and then she helped the better-half make pizza. It was pretty good pizza: fresh basil, mushrooms, pepperoni, fresh mozzarella and Don Pepino pizza sauce. The better-half and I took advantage of the mozzarella and I sliced up some tomatoes to fix caprese. The Niece walked by the communal plate a couple of times but she never asked to have a bite. Her loss.
She brought over The Brady Bunch: Season Four and we watched many of those shows last night. Lucky for us season four includes when the bunch goes to Hawaii and the episode where the kids try to scare each other and Alice ends up breaking Mr. Brady's bust. Good times.
This afternoon The Niece's family came over for lunch and a dip in the pool. Lil Elvis (The Niece's sister) has really taken to the water and that makes me happy. Unfortunately a thunderstorm threatened but never amounted to much but we were in and out of the pool twice to wait for a storm that never really materialized. The Niece scarfed down a gazillion slices of watermelon because her stomach kept telling her she needed to eat it. It was one out of our garden and I hope they all taste as good or better than that one.
Truth be told, when we picked the watermelon Friday night, the better-half and I stood in the back yard spitting seeds and let the juice run down our chins. Hot times on a Friday night for us.
We recently purchased two bone-in pork chops from the Belmont Butchery. They were about 1 1/4 inches thick with a nice amount of fat. We decided to prepare them using the Pork Chops with Dijon Sauce recipe from Simply Recipes. We don't typically have heavy cream around the house so we substituted half and half.
Because of the size of the chops, the better-half and I had both front burners of the stove going so that we could each use a large saute pan. We both followed the recipe until the very end when the better-half decided to freestyle. I stuck with the recipe. He added some sherry at the end and used extra mustard.
The chops were like no pork chop we've ever tasted--they were the best we've ever had. The pork chops themselves were porky and tender (Where were chops like these when we were kids? No one would have ever thought up shake and bake and I helped if these chops had been around). The sauce was very good. We agreed that the better-half's rendition was the heavier flavor of the two sauces. We used the words brighter flavors to describe my version of the recipe.
We served with green beans and corn from our garden.
So, it's been awhile since I posted and there are really no excuses as to why I've been so lame. All week long I thought it was Thursday even when it was only Tuesday and now that it is finally Thursday, I just want it to be Friday.
I finally decided to clean the shower when I got home today and cleaning the shower does not give me any satisfaction because the nitwits who owned the house before us or the nitwits the nitwits hired before we bought the house to fix things caulked over mold/mildew in the shower and so I can never get it all that clean. I put the super-mojo-nixon cleaner on the stains today and they are a little less gross but there is no amount of elbow or grease that will make those stains go away. We'll eventually cut the caulk out and start over or nuke the entire bathroom and start over.
I am about to paint the bathroom as it is possibly the whitest, white bread room in the house. Seriously who picks stuff like this?
In other disappointing news, I created the bare bones of a spreadsheet at work after all the layoffs were announced so I could plot out how quickly people left. I am beginning to think that I'll have nothing but a bunch of points on or around September 28th. It may be a weird thing to do but I'm really interested in how long it takes people to leave. Especially a few people in my office who before they were laid off couldn't understand why the boss was keeping certain people until the last possible day. These certain people hold jobs that really don't make sense...like we don't do special projects so why do we have someone in charge of special projects. MMMMM, so I've been thinking about at least one person in my office who ranted about these "special" jobs and how she thought those people should be let go immediately to start saving the organization money. Now she's taking the tack of I don't feel like doing anything so I'm riding out my time until the last day. Isn't that the same thing as having a meaningless job and being kept? Just wondering.
The Niece is spending Saturday night with us. I predict a serious amount of pool time.