Paying Attention to the Lyrics

Posted on July 26, 2004 by Frog

Yesterday we drove through the rain, a lot more than what I consider to be a 30% chance of rain, to Lexington. My sister had called us and said that it was beautiful in Lexington. After I hung up with her, I wondered if the weather was great or if they were just so excited about being away from home (together) since bringing home the Niece. As it turns out, as soon as we got over Afton Mountain, the rain stopped. It wasn’t beautiful but it was dry.

We found the B&B and checked-in. When we got back outside, with the innkeeper in tow (our room’s entrance was outside and upstairs), my sister and brother-in-law were sitting in rockers on the porch. The innkeeper told them we’d meet them around on our side of the connecting door. The innkeeper showed us to the room and then beat it when he realized that my sister and I should not be allowed out together. Honestly, I don’t know what happened to the guy after I couldn’t get the connecting door to open because I thought my sister was pulling on the handle and I was laughing hard. He opened the door and I think he vanished into thin air.

Continue reading →

Posted in Listening | Comments Off

You like tomato and I like tomahto

Posted on July 24, 2004 by Frog

You start with a big box of these:

25lb box #3

And you do this to them:

that's roasted garlic in there

Then you admire your work:

14 jars and some for the freezer

Posted in Eating | Comments Off

Don’t Even Start With Me, Buddy

Posted on July 23, 2004 by Frog

This morning I took the car to the oil change place and when I walked into the lounge area I noticed a 20-something woman looking like she was getting over last night and a man in his 50s wearing a pair of green chinos that really should not be worn anymore especially with a tie and wingtips. Man, those pants should only be used on the weekends when you are working around the house. I assessed the scene for a split second and greedily took a seat near the door. I say greedily because you never know when you’ll have to bolt out of there.

Continue reading →

Posted in General Spleen Venting | Comments Off

Pretty Good Things

Posted on July 22, 2004 by Frog

Yesterday I stopped by a produce stand on the way home and bought 2 ichiban eggplants, 4 ears of sweet corn and a 25lb box of #3 tomatoes. Total cost? $6. Eating canned tomatoes in the middle of winter? Really tasty. (You didn’t think I was going to throw that lame “priceless” in there, did you?)

I pulled back the husks of two ears of corn and de-silked them. Then I wrapped a slice of bacon around the ear and tied the husks back around. We grilled them and they were really good, if a little singed. We decided to try again tomorrow by soaking the ears in salted water and then wrapping the bacon around and cooking on a cooler fire.

A good thing, I guess: last night when I was throwing the corn silk in our totally and completely lame compost pile, I noticed a piece of cabbage I threw away a month or so ago has sprouted with a baby cabbage. I can’t get jack in the way of vegetables to grow in the sunniest part of the yard, but the compost pile at the edge of the woods grows cabbage. Go figure.

I’m a little food-centric lately, aren’t I?

Another good thing: mailing the reminder of our vacation rental money. We’re a month away from the beach. Weeeeeee!

Posted in Thinking | Comments Off

My Version of Heaven

Posted on July 20, 2004 by Frog

Mary Chapin Carpenter has a new song out called “My Heaven” and in it she sings about her own personal heaven. Since hearing her perform this song, I’ve been thinking about what I’d like to have in my personal heaven. Here’s an incomplete list in no particular order of importance:

-the chance to talk to my mother
-BBQ
-finding surprising music and good food (like the time we ate at the Green Mesquite and heard WST)
-flying without the aid of a plane
-driving a convertible Jaguar really fast and for a really long time
-the ability and opportunity to sing standards in a smoky bar (I wouldn’t care about second hand smoke because I’d already be dead)
-walking on the moon
-a limitless supply of vodka tonics and good solid draft beer
-a bowl of perfectly popped, buttered and salted popcorn whenever I wanted it
-the opportunity to know what sex is like for the opposite sex
-the chance to pee standing up (I want the freedom to whip it out and write my initials in the snow)
-the ability to right small wrongs on a whim (like making people say thank you when you hold the door open for them)
-snorkeling all afternoon without getting tired or too wrinkly

What does your version of heaven look like?

Posted in Thinking | 1 Comment

A Nice Game of Statues

Posted on July 20, 2004 by Frog

Did you ever play Statues when you were a kid? You know the game…everyone stand really still and then you get called home to take a bath and go to bed. Yeah a thrilling game of standing still…who thought of that lame game? Anyway, I played that last night with some foxes in the backyard.

I took out the trash and on the way back into the house I saw a fox in the woods. I froze in my tracks and watched as another one cruised up to the first. The second fox wasn’t nearly as foxy as the first because he/she didn’t even notice me. Then another smaller one came up and gave an awkward sounding bark–perhaps a teenager during the voice change period. The foxiest fox went over to the wood pile to get a better view of me. Foxy roamed all over the wood pile trying to get higher to get a good look at me. Finally, Foxy had enough and gave a bark that made me flinch a little (shocking in its intensity) and the three of them moved on. I was being chewed on by a bug so I was really happy to be able to move and kill it. And, I smashed it…I’m sure to die any minute now.

Posted in Watching | Comments Off

Salmon Days

Posted on July 20, 2004 by Frog

Sunday night we smoked about a pound of salmon in our water smoker. The night before I put a rub of dill, brown sugar and salt and pepper all over the salmon filet then let it rest in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.

We ate half of the salmon on Sunday along with basmati rice and a killer caesar salad. The better-half made the real-deal dressing with actual anchovies and I made very tasty croutons.

Continue reading →

Posted in Eating | Comments Off

One Fish, Blue Fish

Posted on July 19, 2004 by Frog

In reading this Yahoo article about sealife eating other sealife:
Cetaceans — a category of sea creatures that includes whales and dolphins — and other sea mammals like seals, consume vast quantities of food, an estimated 500 million tonnes, at least four times the annual human catch of fish. Nice try whalers, but in case you hadn’t noticed there’s a reason why whales and dophins eat so much more than humans–they are FREAKING HUGE.

Continue reading →

Posted in General Spleen Venting | Comments Off

I Spy

Posted on July 19, 2004 by Frog

Yesterday I saw a raccoon in the backyard. We don’t see it very often but when I walked out on the porch yesterday it looked straight at me and then vanished into the woods. The better-half said at least it wasn’t rabid. I guess if it were rabid it would have flipped me the bird and raced up to the porch with a toothy grin.

We took our old decrepit lawn mower to the “see it, take it” area of the landfill and by the time we looped around someone had spotted the lawn mower and was loading it into his truck. I left a note on the machine that said “runs, needs work”. If you are picking up equipment at the dump, I suppose you are prepared to fix things, but I felt it necessary to leave that note.

I talked to my mother yesterday and found out my sister in Florida is planning on driving to Portland, Oregon in 2 1/2 days. That’s approximately 3055 miles. I don’t see that trip only taking 2 1/2 days but they do like to drive so if anyone can do it, I’m sure they can.

Posted in Watching | Comments Off

Epoisses

Posted on July 17, 2004 by Frog

Last night we cut into the stinky cheese we bought last Monday morning at the Whole Foods in Vienna, Va. Every time we opened the refrigerator door this week, we’ve commented on the stink o’ the cheese.

I let the cheese come up to room temperature as I had read something about how that would help the cheese become softer. When I took the cheese out of the wooden container, I was a little skeptical about the stink. It really wasn’t stinky any more but truly stanky. We decided to go ahead and eat it since one of the descriptions we’d read was that it had a barnyard aroma. I volunteered to eat the first piece since it was my brilliant idea to buy the stinkiest cheese ever.

Continue reading →

Posted in Eating | 1 Comment