Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Random Tuesday Thoughts

My head feels like it's a gonna explode, so, nothing coherent today, folks.
Why? ALLERGIES. It's the freakin' wind that causes them to get out of control. And, it's been windy, very, very windy, for the past two days. It blows all that nasty pollen all about and right up into my nose and head; after which, I am reduced to a stuffed-up, unmotivated, tired, bleary-eyed and otherwise non-useful person.
Thank God I don't have to go anywhere today or do much of anything (except gradually get the kitchen cleaned up from hosting last night's book club meeting).
ALL of the food I'd prepared was eaten, as was the four bottles of wine I'd purchased from the farmers market Saturday. I think folks were in fine form and having a grand time sitting around our big kitchen table (although three of us had to use "midget" chairs from the dining room), eating, drinking wine and talking (sometimes about the book!) There were 9 of us in total, plus, Pete and Lily romping around upstairs and Lucy in our bedroom dropping her Kong on the floor trying to get the cookies out of it which resulted in loud "thump thump" noises heard from all of us below in the kitchen. I eventually let her out (most of the ladies being dog lovers) whereby Lucy was in her element getting lots of hugs and giving lots of kisses. At one point I looked over to see her SITTING in one guest's lap (who had encouraged her up). Auntie Shannon, sitting next to said guest, was doing her best to keep Lucy minding her Ps and Qs.
So, what did I end up serving?
The farmhouse cheese was a big hit. It went FAST (there was still a lot of Italian bread and crackers left so I scrambled to put out some boring slices of cheddar and jack cheese after the good stuff was gone). I also had out dipping bowls full of olive oil and spices and black olive tapenade.
I used the lettuce and radishes from the farmers marker to make a big tossed green salad to which I added toasted walnuts.
I used the kale from the farmers market in a soup (that turned into more of a stew) that I sorta made up (using a recipe from one of my cookbooks as a guide) which I called "White Bean, Prosciutto and Kale Soup". THIS was a huge hit and I wished I'd made a double batch of it because it went down well sitting in the cozy kitchen with the wind shrieking outside bringing with it a chilly evening.
However, one of the reasons I DID NOT make a larger batch was that I'd originally planned on another course; "Green Garlic Gnocchi", which would have been a nice way to use the green garlic from the farmer market AND a few of the fresh eggs.
Alas, it was not meant to be. Although I followed the recipe to the letter, the gnocchi tasted only so-so and looked absolutely disgusting. No way was I gonna put that in front of guests! So, about 5 minutes before the first group arrived, I put the baking dish out in the garage.
Thankfully, there was enough of everything else; plus, a yummy cranberry nut bread (from the farmers market) and my stashes of mixed nuts and York Peppermint Patties to make everyone happy.
On to other topics (more random than the first, I suppose!)
A few days ago, I saw two of the most ridiculous things. First, a lady (who I'd seen before walking her two rat terrier looking yapping undisciplined dogs) coming up the street towards me and Lucy pushing a stroller and walking just one of the yappy dogs. As she neared, I realized she had the OTHER yappy rat dog in the stroller (which wasn't really a stroller per se but a closed dog carrier on wheels). As she passed, she waved and said, "I just can't walk them at the same time!" Hello! So, why don't you go out on two separate walks (she could use the exercise).
This caused me to remember how I used to run into a lady at the nail salon in Hermosa Beach who would routinely bring her FIVE poodles (all groomed with different colored hair bows) to the salon in a regular baby stroller. Lorian, the gal who used to do my nails, would paint their nails. For a price, of course.
The other dumb thing I saw was involving the guy across the street. Mr. Cadillac Man. I swear to God, that man washes his car at least three times a week, if not more. It had poured down rain during the night and was, in fact, still drizzling when I happened to look out the upstairs bedroom window to see Mr. Cadillac Man outside. Washing his car. In the rain. You'd think someone who is that concerned about how their car looks would park said car in their damn driveway and not leave it on the street (whereby making it difficult for yours truly to back out of HER driveway).
8 1/2 more days of busy season to go. Mr. B showed up last night after 10 (a few of the book club gals were still here) looking extremely tired. I feel for him, I really, really do.
I've been keeping myself occupied and relatively busy. I'm happy to report that I've lost 8 pounds! Yey! Actually, it's not too hard to do when Mr. B is not around, we'll see if I can manage to keep it off when he's home again.
All of the pets are doing fine. Pete and Lily are not exactly social (with people they don't know). So, along with attempting to get them used to being groomed, I am going to start bringing them downstairs when people are around and let other people hold and pet them (for a little bit) so they'll hopefully adapt. They really ARE perfectly happy to play together, though. I told my Father this morning that they will accept me into their playing session if I insert myself, but, if I didn't, they could care less. Pete is now playing with Lucy from time to time as well; however, just when Lucy figures out he's playing with her and gets into it, he loses interest and walks away, leaving her with a "what happened?" look on her face.
Billy, the guy from Clegg's Pest Control, was by yesterday to do his quarterly spraying. It's always Billy; they never send anyone else. He's a nice older man but, God, I can barely understand a word he says, his NC accent is SO strong. He said something about it getting cold for Easter and I thought to myself, "What is he talking about?", then, went inside to find an email warning about a hard freeze tonight. He obviously knew what he was talking about.
Our new tenants move into the townhouse this Thursday (I know, a weird day to move in). We're happy, they're happy; hopefully after their 18 month lease is up, they'll either renew or want to buy the place. I stopped by Sunday to check the townhouse out; it looked really good. Our former tenant took much better care of it than those yahoo idiots that broke their lease.
Okie dokie, time to sign off because I am TIRED.
Mrs. B

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