Thursday, July 26, 2007

At Frayed Ends

I wish I could reach through my computer and give a good shake to a guy who is making my day HELL.

I'm trying to remain equanimous.

This matter is not important enough to rain on my Thursday parade. That's what I'm telling myself, anyway.

***

Also, I miss coffee. A LOT.

One morning, I saw my neighbors across the alley stepping out onto their backporch with coffee mugs in hand. Just sipping and looking out at the yard.

Yeah.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

At Loose Ends

Tonight is a ho-hum evening. I moved through yoga without really getting into it, and I ate my grilled cheese and tomato sandwich without much enjoyment.

I should be planning parts of our trip to Albuquerque, but doing so makes me sad. I should also be either making a grocery list or putting away some of the straggling move boxes, but these things sound as fun as driving a nail through my hand.

I'm bored. Porkchop won't be home until around 10:00, and then it will be nearly time to go to bed.

At least last night was fun. Since Porkchop was on the early shift, we met at Meskerem, the Ethiopian restaurant on Grand, at 7:30. After a tasty meal of lentil sambosas (yum!), chicken tibs, and miser wat, we went to Van Goghz for a drink. My drink was actually kind of crappy and the worst server was on shift, but it was nice to just hang out...even though Porkchop was mainly watching the Cardinals game. Leisure evenings together are already rare and will soon be limited to every six weeks or thereabouts, so I will settle for watching baseball while having a crappy drink.

ANYWAY, Kathy received the hat. Yay!

Meanwhile, my Beach Fog scarf is idling in my bag while I make an umbilical cord baby hat and while I read Up High in the Trees. This book is entirely responsible for my and Porkchop's respective recent malaises. It is that good.

I think Sebby Lane and Oskar Schell would be good friends.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Stress Relief

Right now I'm imagining myself as an animated character with steam coming out of my ears.

I get SO tired of pushing back on a particular person here and effectively saying, "NO, that's your job. I am not your handmaiden."

This is the same person who often calls me on my cell phone in the evening.

I don't answer those calls because, hello, I work 8:30 - 5:00....it's not like I'm salaried.

Jesus H.

*****PORKCHOP EDIT*****

This is what Carrie would look like as an animated character with steam coming out of her ears.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

A Good Day for Melons

Isn't this beautiful?



I picked up this little watermelon at the Tower Grove Farmer's Market, along with these items:



There's a cantaloupe, the melon, some slicers, an heirloom tomato, grape tomatoes, mocha meringues, and a mocha macaroon. I also included the squash that my co-worker gave me.

The cantaloupe was deliciously fragrant and tasty! I sliced it up along with the melon. I think the cantaloupe is honey rock, but I can't remember. The vendor had samples out, including a sample of ambrosia cantaloupe. YUM YUM YUM! They had already sold out of that variety, so I will try to get to the market at opening next week. But the melon...oh the melon. When I cut into it, I heard exactly what you want to hear....the melon ripping open on its own accord. I could have eaten the whole melon, but I'm saving some for Porkchop.

Growing up in the Bootheel proper, I've eaten A LOT of watermelons. Up until I was nine, we lived adjacent to a watermelon field and would frequently pick our own melons (the farmer was okay with this, we weren't stealing melons). I even remember the first time I had a yellow meat melon. My mom and I were driving to Jonesboro, AR, and we stopped off along the St. Francis River bridge, where a truck was selling red and yellow melons. The yellow melon I bought today definitely rivals those I ate growing up. You see, I'm a bit of a melon snob and (used) to believe that you couldn't get a good melon anywhere north of Sikeston.

Anyway...enough about melons.

While Porkchop and her niece go to Six Flags tomorrow, I'm going to look at houses in University City with one of my co-workers. I love looking at houses, so I'm pretty excited.

Porkchop is having quite the family weekend it seems. Her mom stayed the night with us last night while Porkchop's dad was in the hospital. He had been experiencing severe chest pains for the past couple of months...turns out he had two blockages and hardly any blood flow to a portion of his heart! One blockage was right by the stent inserted in February. The doctors inserted two more stents and don't seem to know what the deal is. Before the heart catheterization, the doctors were skeptical that anything was wrong beause his stress test showed no problems. Porkchop's dad had to press really really hard for the heart catheterization - the doctors didn't want to do it - WTF?? It's fortunate that he didn't have a heart attack.

SLU hospital kind of sucks.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

This is the Best Costume for Today

While doing my little grand-eyelet-on-the-bias experiment yesterday, I realized that it results in straight up-and-down and across rows and columns.

Not what I wanted.

I'm now sticking with the regular version and am pleased with it. Easy and plain, but what I want. Maybe I'll dress it up with some fringe (gasp!).

Food Last Night, or Why Porkchop Should Love Me
I caved in to Porkchop's request for Buffalo Wild Wings last night. There is no need for explanation as to why I don't enjoy visiting that franchise.

On the way back home, we listened to the end of the Cardinals game. We were turning into our street when it was officially announced that the Cards won. I did a YES motion with my arms (to humor Porkchop), and then we high-fived. The car might have stopped during this commotion. At the same, a woman was exiting her parked car. She watched us and had a bemused - maybe bewildered - expression on her face. We saw this and then started laughing so much.

Documentary Last Night
Recently, I've read a few references to Grey Gardens, so I picked it up from the library. I excitedly started watching it last night, but I couldn't make it all the way through. Big Edie and Little Edie quickly annoyed me with their yelling and bickering.

I quite enjoyed the interview with Todd Oldham, however, so I think I can best enjoy GG when viewed in clips. Anyway, I think I absorbed enough of the oddities and Little Edie's fashion sense to catch on to any future references that I see.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Communing with Yarn

Ever since finishing my Odessa hat, I've been thinking about what to do with my Dream in Color Beach Fog (see this post).

It's been difficult.

Something not too fussy, yet something with lots of openness to it. Probably a scarf because I only have one skein, and I don't want to make a sweater or anything big.

This yarn speaks of the sea (no, I'm not being overly influenced by the color name - when I first saw the yarn, I immediately thought, "sea glass") and salty smells.

I've been thinking hard and nothing I've seen has really pleased me.

Patterns have been too lacy or too heavy or too ugly.

But, I have it now.

Grand eyelet. On a bias.

Grand eyelet reminds me of fishing nets, so it's perfect. And, the bias...I *heart* knitting on the bias. [Please note that I perhaps have not seen a fishing net in real life, but I'm pretty sure nets that I've seen in movies and on television are reminiscent of grand eyelet.]

I can't find a specific pattern for this, so I'm going to have to play around a bit beforehand. If YOU know of such a pattern, do leave a comment so that I can save some of my sanity and start knitting.

Cheers!

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Keetah, the All Knowing

The past few mornings, Keetah has been extra snuggly and cute. Whereas she usually sits on the floor below my sleeping head and meows pitifully for food beginning around 5:45 am, recently she has been jumping onto the bed and insisting upon lying right next to me. Although this wakes me up each time she moves around, I find it an improvement over the insistent meowing.

With Keetah in my arms, I dream about cats and often carry Keetah around in my dreams.

I think she knows something's up. Something BIG. Something that makes me sad in a good way.

I don't have a new photo of Keetah to post, so here's one of my favorites from last year:

Yes, I am always this beautiful.

Other Things
A co-worker just gave me a squash the size of a small child. I can't wait to carry it on the train and bus this evening.

I've found a terrific blog with tons of restaurant reviews for Albuquerque. We're set.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Summer of Never-Ending Sinus Problems

For what seems the millionth time, my head and eyes are heavy with sinus pressure and my throat is tickly. Murrrr! When will it end?!

Things were the same nearly a year ago. Remember July 19? When hardly anyone in the stinking city had power? Fun times, fun times. I think there should be a power outage festival to commemorate that time. My sinus problems last year were due to sleeping outside in the un-conditioned air.

Last year at this time right now, we were at the Gay Games in Chicago. Truly fun times.

But What About Now?
As summer weekends go (read: weekends during which Porkchop works 12-13 hours shifts at Six Flags), this weekend was great.

After a leisurely wake-up on Saturday, we hit the Soulard market. But, before getting out of bed, I had a brief cry about Porkchop's upcoming trip to Albuquerque. We were looking through the New Mexico books that my mom gave us and becoming excited about tooling around the desert, taking a day trip to Santa Fe, and trying lots of New Mexican food. Then I thought about coming back to St. Louis and how I will be so sad and lonely. After my cry, I squeaked my right eye on Porkchop, which cheered me up some. (P.S. P-chop found a fully furnished (as in silverware and bed linens provided) apartment with Internet included just a block away from Tamarind.)

Porkchop became excited about the Soulard farmers' market when she realized that she could buy doughnuts AND freshly made pork rinds.

I was excited for tomatoes and cantaloupe. Here I am checking out tomatoes:


We also bought rosemary-olive bread by the Black Bear Bakery (hey, support your local anarchist bakery!) and avocados (from Mexico).

Upon returning home, Porkchop left for the park, and I started making crostini toppings for the Boob-Ha-Ha event. Both toppings were goat cheese based (Goatsbeard Farm = best goat cheese ever). One topping used roasted beets, while the other used avocado, tomatoes, and basil. I don't think the other Boob-Ha-Ha attendees were too keen on the beet one, but I love it. So, here's the recipe:

ROASTED BEET AND GOAT CHEESE CROSTINI

Trim 3-4 medium beets of their greens (also, washing is important). Put on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Toss with cut up rosemary and thyme (4 or so sprigs of each) and pepper (around 15 grinds). Roast in 400 F oven for 40 minutes or until tender. Shake the pan every so often.

Let beets rest for 15 minutes. Remove the skins and quarter. Pulse the quarters in a blender or food processor. Don't overdo it - you want chunks.

Crumble in 4 oz of goat cheese (I used goat cheese that had been rolled in pepper - yum!). Also put in juice of half a lemon.

Serve on crostini. Yum! Also, pretty!

For the rest of Saturday afternoon, I knitted:

Grumperina's Odessa, if you don't already know. I'm using that luscious Debbie Bliss Rialto stuff.

So, Saturday night was the Boob-Ha-Ha party and live auction. It was enjoyable and nice to meet other bloggers in real-live person. Of course, I was also suffering from a sinus headache and felt a bit blechy. But, lots of money was raised. There will be hair dying and possibly some head shaving going on later.

Porkchop and I slept late late late (well, at least until 9:30) on Sunday. After finally getting up, I made brunch using leftover crostini toppings. Scrambled eggs with the avocado and tomato one and a big piece of olive bread smeared with the beet topping. Yum!

Porkchop also found this:


Our first tomato!! AWESOME! I've found another pea-sized tomato on the same plant, which should result in yellow Roma tomatoes. Grow, tomatoes, grow!

The rest of Sunday was cleaning, knitting, yoga, and grocery shopping. I finished the Odessa hat at 11:30 last night. Porkchop made tons of fun of it because it looks little, but it seriously stretches out to fit a regular-sized head. Hopefully the recipient has a regular-sized head. If not, we're in trouble.

And Today
The financial director at work stopped by my office and asked me if I was okay. I realized that I must have been grimacing the whole morning. Stupid travel reimbursements. Hate them so much.

We're (read: me) also starting to clean up our contacts database because our school is switching to a CRM system. This means we have to figure out which of our 6,000 records we want to import and clean up those records. Another major pain.

On the plus side, I am still SO GLAD to be at my center. Whenever I hear the crazy racist and classist comments that the general public makes, I realize that I work with some freaking terrific people.

Friday, July 13, 2007

I Love Optimus Prime

Porkchop and I went to see the Transformers movie last night with her brother.

I should add that I kind of begrudgingly went. Yeah, I know you probably wouldn't guess it, but I am so not a fan of movies like Spiderman, Superman, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and so forth.

So, surprisingly, I really enjoyed Transformers. Yeah, it was a tad long and could have used another round in the cutting room, but I didn't find myself bored or thinking about other things at all.

Because, you know, it's cars and trucks turning into giant autobot things and defending Earth! What is there to not love about that?

Also, I *heart* Optimus Prime. My brother had Optimus Prime when we were kids, and he would never let me play with it. I would beg my brother to take Optimus Prime off the bookshelf from which he stood guard over my brother's room and PLEASE turn Optimus Prime into a truck (or the reverse).

So...a surprise endorsement of the movie from me. Crazy!

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Local Celebrity Sighting

On the train home today, I sat across the aisle from the guy who has a parrot as a service animal! See here and here.

It was the highlight of my day, and almost made up for the fact that my bus seatmate reeked of peppermint Schnapps.

Good for a Chuckle

The longer you have a blog, the more people find you through weird searches. My recent favorites:
  • cavity filling numbness

  • cat eating ribbon

  • Trader Joe's Irish Breakfast Tea

  • group interviews at H&M (Note: I have no idea why this pulled up my blog)

  • Luna bars Shop-n-Save (From St. Louis, no less)

  • is doing yoga at night good (Is it ever bad??)

  • numb in right foot for 3 days (Hmmm...you might consider visiting a doctor...just a thought.)


And then, there are the bug searches. This must be high bug time for everyone. We've got:
  • house centipede st. louis (I feel you, buddy!)

  • new bedroom centipede like bug but not a house centipede (Sounds scary!)

  • bugs in basement, basement bugs, and other variations

  • bugs, house, bathtub


What, am I the only person who writes about house centipedes and other such bugs?

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

It's Before Noon and I Need a Stiff Drink

Or at least a decaf latté.

I spent my morning playing Mean Money Person and telling people that we will NOT reimburse them for the ginger ale and barbeque chips that they enjoyed at an airport on the way to the symposium. Furthermore, we will not reimburse incidental hotel charges, including $100 in fees for Internet access.

After sending out a string of polite, yet firm, emails, I've moved onto my next task. Our center's director often edits papers written by research assocites while he's on planes or other such places. These are hard copy edits, which means someone has to migrate the changes into the Word files. I usually give these items to students and then carefully check their work. But there's a paper sitting on my desk that is startlingly horrendous.

I haven't read the actual text yet, I'm just judging by the number of pen marks strewn about the pages. I believe every sentence has at least one change.

And, the hand writing is nearly undecipherable.

In cases like this, once you count in questions and review time and correcting the corrections, it would be more work to give it to a student. So, I must get into the director's head and figure out just what the hell this chicken scratching means.

*Sigh*

Monday, July 09, 2007

Off the Needles!

The Chevron Scarf has been liberated! Yay! Bid on it at Boob-Ha-Ha.



Okay, I still have to weave in the loose ends and block it, but the knitting is done. This my second time to make this scarf...I really need to make one for myself now.

Thanks!
For all of the birthday wishes!

It was a great day full of fun things. My parents and Porkchop gave me a lot of birthday presents...so many, I felt spoiled and guilty. Here's a quick rundown: kitchen tools (including nice metal measuring spoons and cups from Crate and Barrel, an old-timey jar opener, and a ginger grater), pretty ice cream bowls, the newest Get Fuzzy book, two yoga DVDs, the Gossip's newest CD, Fitted Knits, Whole Grains Every Day Every Way, Whole Grain Baking, a Cardinals hat (so that I'll stop borrowing Porkchop's for breakfast bagel runs), a great little necklace from KT and BD.

Here's Porkchop fixing my hat for me:



Porkchop also took me to Knitorious after lunch, and I came away with this:



One perfect little cake of Dream in Color Beach Fog. So pretty it makes me cry.

Next to the Beach Fog is two balls of Debbie Bliss Rialto. This soft merino will be made into a hat for an unsuspecting reader!

After yarn browsing, we went to the Galleria and picked up some Lush things. I think the last time I spent a solid chunk of change on bath things was the last time I went to Lush, which was in 1998. We're currently enjoying the Figs and Leaves soap.

Later in the afternoon, KT arrived! Yay! Much rejoicing!

We went to dinner at Niche. Here's me and KT (KT has mad photo skills and knows all the secrets of taking pretty pictures):



Although our server was a bit of an ass, the food was delightful. My dinner included the following courses:
  • Blue Crab Salad. A mound of crab served over avocado, topped with grapefruit and a sesame cracker. SO GOOD! So glad I decided to get the same small plate as Porkchop. KT had the gingered beet salad with goat cheese.

  • Wild Mushroom Gnocchi. The gnocchi was tasty, however, I wished for something a bit more...the dish just didn't feel complete for some reason. Porkchop had the bistro steak and KT had a risotto with some sort of carrot puree and some other toppings (can't remember).

  • Fresh Mint Panna Cotta with chilled Rhubarb-Lime Soup. SO GOOD and so refreshing. Yum yum yum. KT had the apricot buckle with cream cheese ice cream and Porkchop had the toasted almond semifreddo with toffee-nut popcorn and glazed bing cherries. We were all please with our dessert selections.

We started the whole thing with a cheese plate. I can't remember the name of the cheese, but it was a triple cream. Also, I had a glass of riesling and KT had a cosmo that was light pink and full of vodka.

After dinner, we went to Absolutli Goosed. I had the "Flicking the Bean," which is my favorite (of the 4 or 5 that I've tried). KT had a French cosmo and it was only so-so. Porkchop had a Boulevard Wheat, which offered no surprises.

A great birthday!

What Else...
We were supposed to have breakfast at the Shangri-La Diner, but they weren't open! So, we went over to Lafayette Square and enjoyed omelettes and French toast at the Soda Fountain Square (only after trying Square One Brewery and Sqwires first...this town isn't cut out for Saturday brunch, I guess).

After KT and I did some shopping things and hung out at Mokabe's, KT had to leave. Murrr! I hadn't had enough sitting around apparently, so I went to Murdoch Perk (at Murdoch and Macklind). It's a nice neighborhood space and the decaf turtle latté was just fine, but I really didn't enjoy my Nutella creme crepe. I realized the description read "Nutella and mascarpone," but I didn't know the Nutella flavor would totally be ruined by the mascarpone. I really just wanted a fresh crepe with some Nutella slathered on it and slightly melty; instead I had what tasted like a pre-made dessert (as in made there and then refrigerated, perhaps) with tons of filling that tasted nothing like Nutella. Other than that, I enjoyed sitting and knitting.

On Sunday, I sat more at home and knitted, finishing the scarf in the evening. Yay!

It was really rough going back to work today. I had quite a bit of mail (conference travel reimbursements) and some annoying emails and voicemails. Blech. This travel reimbursement stuff is going to be a pain in the ass. So much.

Tonight we had grilled cheeses for the second night in the row. With the kitchen being hot hot hot, I don't want to turn on the oven. Our little George Foreman grill makes awesome grilled cheeses...so why make the kitchen even hotter. It sucks to plan cooking around the weather. We might be able to have baked tofu Wednesday night - I think it's just supposed to be in the low 80s then.

Anyway, have a great week! Bid on things at Boob-Ha-Ha!

Thursday, July 05, 2007

Not Even 30 and my Brain is Mush

Okay, first, before I forget, thanks to all for your kind compliments on my scarf. Remember, you will soon be able to bid on it at the Boob-Ha-Ha site. I promise to finish it before any money changes hands. Promise!

The pattern is from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Although I haven't seen anyone posting the pattern online, it might be out there (it's a very easy pattern of increases and decreases). Oh, there's also an entire knitalong blog devoted to the scarf pattern (here).

Speaking of forgetting things, it seems that I woke up today, the eve of my 29th birthday, with a head full of porridge.

Porkchop and I are joking that I've suddenly turned into her, but it's not funny, kids, not funny at all.

After a few chores this morning, I visited Porkchop at the UPS Store with lunch in hand. I would have arrived earlier, but I couldn't quite remember how to get to the shopping center. The old Carrie would have either looked it up on Google maps before heading out or would have called Porkchop early in the trip. The nearly-30 Carrie instead called Porkchop frantically yelling, "Am I supposed to take this exit that I am now passing!!? Crap!!"

At the UPS Store, Porkchop asked me if I had read the article that she had emailed earlier that day. I said, somewhat blankly, "Yes."

"Yes, I read an article this morning that you sent. It was interesting.....but I can't remember what it was about. It was relevant to something....hmmmm...."

This surprised Porkchop, as I am usually like, "Yes, I read that. And also, did you read this or hear about this as well? So-and-so says this, but I think this. blah blah blah."

After the UPS Store, I went to the bank and then drove straight home. When I was recounting the rest of my afternoon to Porkchop, I was able to remember the bank, but I couldn't recall if I had made any other stops on the way home. Scary.

Finally, tonight, I asked Porkchop if she knew where the tape measure was. Not only did I mumble my question (classic Porkchop), but the tape measure was right in front of me!

What's happening??!!

Maybe it was the Fireworks
Maybe I inhaled too many firework fumes last night at Porkchop's parents. We drove to their house yesterday afternoon and picked up a few fun fireworks on the way.

In between eating two ginormous meals, I knitted. Here is my Country Living shot:



Porkchop's parents recently acquired a puppy. He's half chihuahua-half papillon, weighs two pounds, and is named Oliver. Here he is with Porkchop:





Before we left on our trip, we worked some more on getting the apartment in order. Porkchop put up our sculptures by Ryan Meyers and some framed things. The living room is a more welcoming space now.



OH, ALSO, this is quite exciting:



Other Excitement
I have quite a few presents to open tomorrow. I don't know what all of the packages could possibly be.

After present-opening and other leisure activities, we will be dining at Niche. I can't wait!

Our friend KT is going to stop over on her way back to Chicago. I haven't spent a birthday with KT in a LONG time, so there is extra excitement.

Hmmm....I'm sure that, with my mushy brain, I forgot something important in this post.

OH YEAH, this is my 200th post! Yay!

Have a great Friday!

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Tomorrow Must be Independence Day...

...because of the boatload of fireworks going off outside! Jesus H.!

Besides the massive explosions outside our window, things are going pretty well. I made a batch of brownies tonight and I just finished enjoying a bowl of brownie and vanilla ice cream with a bit of kahlua.

Knitting things are also going well. Here's the progress of my scarf:



And here's a close-up:



I'm using Jitterbug Florentina and Fire. And, I'm making it for this.

Other artsy things are afoot...or on the wall.

If you've read Porkchop's lj, you know that, for my birthday, all I asked for was for Porkchop to frame some prints. At a printmaking conference last year, Porkchop *finally* obtained a print from Meredith Setser for me. Meredith was a year ahead of Porkchop in the UW MFA program and I always had a crush on Meredith's work.

So, here's the print, framed and installed (apologies for the glare!):



Here's a close-up:



Also, here's another example of her work. Beside lithography and etchings, Meredith is quite the fiber artist. Her MFA show involved a huge mound of felted sheep skins on which she had printed some of her images.

Here's another newly framed piece:



Yeah, you can't see it, can you? Here's a close-up of one image:



It's a series that our friend Sabrina made a year or so after the September 11 events. There's a plane, the New York City skyline, a pentagon, the outline of Pennsylvania, an envelope (Anthrax), a bomb (WMD/war), and an open box (Pandora's Box/Future War). I like all of Sabrina's work, but this is definitely one of my favorites. Simple and effective, as is all of her work.

On that note (and not to be flippant), have a great 4th of July! DO NOT set off your bottle rockets in glass bottles!

The Enforcer

Kids in our neighborhood play in the alley a lot. This play extends to neighbors' yards, and I find their sense of geography quite interesting. When I was a kid, we played in the farm field behind our backyard and traipsed throughout the neighborhood, but we never cut through yards, especially fenced ones. Maybe it's city living that gives these kids the agency to run through whatever yard they like.

I've seen them cut through our yard. I don't mind this as long as they close the gates behind them. I HATE open gates. Yes, this is most likely part of my OCD complex; for example, slightly ajar cabinet doors and partially open utensil drawers drive me absolutely bonkers and has been a point of contention between me and Porkchop.

So, kids running through the yard...no big deal as long as they are polite and close the gates behind them. It's a simple request.

As I was making dinner last night, I saw two of the kids standing at our gate, obviously waiting for someone who was chasing them. They opened the gate and took a couple of steps into the yard. I was waiting at the window, about to yell out "shut the gate!" when they retreated back through the gate, shutting it.

Good!

But, one of the kids stuck around and started to CLIMB the gate in an attempt to scale the garage!

So, I instead yelled out, "what are you doing?!" And the kid froze. I don't know if he could see me, or if I was a disembodied voice (the voice of reason, too).

Then I said, "I don't think you want to climb up that." The kid eeked out, "no..." and then scurried off to the neighbors' garage and tried his luck at climbing that building.

Kids!

Monday, July 02, 2007

Two Recipes

Dear BD,

The following is my recipe for tofu salad, along with a tomato-basil dressing recipe that I thought you might like. I made the dressing tonight, and it is terrific! Porkchop even enjoyed it.

TOFU SALAD
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
8 oz firm tofu (pressed), crumbled
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 tablespoon chopped onion

Directions: Mix everything together.
Variations: Adjust mayonnaise/mustard ratio to your liking. Broccoli would be a great add-in. Also, I usually use the entire block of tofu and just up everything a bit.

TOMATO BASIL DRESSING
6 sun-dried tomatoes (NOT packed in oil)
1 large tomato, coarsely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup coarsely chopped basil
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions: Place sun-dried tomatoes in a small bowl, cover with boiling water, and set aside for 15 minutes. Put everything in a blender (including drained sun-dried tomatoes) and purée until smooth. Dressing should keep for a week in a closed container in the refrigerator.

I like the tofu salad in sandwich form, but I'm sure it could have many other uses. Making the dressing made me think of how you used to make a terrific green goddess dressing with your basil. Furthermore, the other day, Porkchop asked, "Remember when BD had so much basil?" Oh my goodness, you had SO MUCH basil! If (when?) I have a kid, I want to name it Basil.

Enjoy!

Love,
Carrie

What I Want Right Now

Blackberry cobbler...warm with vanilla ice cream.

When I was growing up, one of the librarians from the Campbell library (my dad was head of the local county library system) would make blackberry cobblers for us. She would also give us peach cobblers made using local peaches (maybe even her own). Best cobblers ever!

I haven't had cobbler in ages...how sad.

The Weekend
Not much excitement. I was exhausted on Saturday, so I had a 2-hour midday nap which made me groggy for the rest of the day. On Sunday, I went to 3 grocery stores, including Local Harvest. Finally! It's a great little shop for local and organic goods. Now that I know what they have, I'll stop there last so that I can pick up truffles and Serendipity ice cream without the melting risk.

When I wasn't at the grocery store or Target or Home Depot, I knitted.

Knit, knit, knit on my chevron scarf.

I've been knitting so much, my fingers are getting fiber burn.

I have nearly 30 inches done, which is close to halfway. Whew.

Oh, but I also made a couple of food things this weekend. Last night we had chicken with an awesome lemon-basil-garlic sauce served with orzo. I also made a tofu salad (tofu, carrots, mayonnaise, mustard, onions, curry powder, turmeric) for sandwiches. Yum!

After dinner last night, we heard the ice cream truck making what must have been its final round, which seemed kind of late. 9:00 on a Sunday night...who knew ice cream trucks still run at that time. I herded us out for chocolate dipped cones. Although soft serve, it was a nice way to end the weekend. [Side note: the name of this ice cream truck company is apparently Mister Soft. So wrong, so wrong.]

Monday-Friday
At lunch today, one of my co-workers noted that I have a Monday-Friday week. You see, with July 4 on Wednesday and my birthday on Friday, I decided to also take off Thursday. So, a 2-day week.

Feels weird.

And exciting.

Have a great week!