A Morning at the Markets

This morning I was slowly coming out of my slumber when I realized that today is Saturday. The Last Full Day with Porkchop for Nearly 50 Days.

My eyes flew open.

Market Going
We left the house before 9:00 this morning. Our first stop was a small farmer's market where we purchased local honey (delicious flower honey!!), tomatoes, and plums. So many plums! The plums were grown in Los Lunas and sold to us by a couple of cowboys.

Here's a picture of our goods:



The honey was $3.75 per bear, the tomatoes were $1 a pound, and all of those plums were only $2. What great prices! I hope the growers are actually making a bit of a profit!

The plums are SO GOOD! The best I've ever had. Ever. Look at them:



The farmer's market was right by Talin Market, so we went inside to look around.

Oh my gosh, Talin puts Jay International Foods to shame! I am so envious that Porkchop is just a short bus ride away from such a great market. Talin is like 10 times bigger than JIF, quite a bit cleaner, and they have a super fantastic deli area. *SIGH* Talin also sells a crazy variety of fruit, including things like durian, which I've only read about. Maybe I can purchase one next time.

Anyway, this is my favorite purchase from Talin:



These rice cakes are one of my favorites things ever.

After Talin, we drove down the street to go to the weekly flea market. Besides the plants that we bought for Porkchop's place, the only thing that caught my eye was the aguas frescas stand. It's obviously popular...see:



I wanted to try all of the flavors, but I stuck with cantaloupe. SO FREAKING GOOD. The drink was thick with macerated cantaloupe, so it became even better as the ice melted. Yum, yum, yum.

Also, at the farmer's market and the flea market, people were roasting green chiles. Mmmmm! The smell was wonderful. I wish I had had reason to buy a bag of roasted chiles.

Yesterday
Since we had an exciting trip to Santa Fe and Taos the day before, we slept in a bit and then did things like go to Target, play rummy, draw each other, and cry (okay, I was the only one crying. I cried enough for both of us). OH, we also went to see Superbad, which was amusing. Since it was opening day, the theatre was giving away Superbad hats and t-shirts.

The highlight of my day yesterday was picking up a chicken-rice-bean-green chile-cheese burrito from The Burrito Lady. Fantastic! And spicy! Oh my gosh, the spiciest green chiles I've had here. If you're ever in ABQ, you should definitely put The Burrito Lady on your list.

The little shop proves that looks are deceiving - it's tucked in a shabby strip mall between an auto parts store and a pet store. But the food is amazing. Also, the owner is totally awesome. She's great. Read this review for pictures and more info on Consuelo (the owner, who again, is so great).

Tonight
I need to do some research on where we should eat tonight. I want more sopaipillas before I leave!

Random Picture
This is my favorite motel on Central (part of Route 66):



The photo doesn't capture the craziness of the Aztec Motel. Scroll down this website for more info - turns out the motel is on the National Register of Historic Places!

High Road from Taos

After all of the excitement of our Tuesday, Wednesday started as a bit of a letdown.

We slept late...I didn't get up and out of bed until after 10:30. And, in Albuquerque, if you haven't taken care of errands or gone places by early afternoon, you're screwed because the sun starts to reach out and beat you down.

After a slow start, we went to the Golden Crown Panaderia, where we picked up a loaf of green chile bread (spicy!!), a sweet potato empanada (for me), and a few cappucino biscochitos (also for me). Biscochitos are the official cookies of New Mexico...how many states have official cookies? Here's a shot of the bakery:



Although the bakery trip was exciting, it wasn't enough to keep our spirits up. The afternoon kind of sucked. I sat on the futon and finished a baby burp cloth (I'm making a set of 3 for a co-worker). After that, I kind of just walked around the apartment and became depressed as the sun beat down mercilessly outside and the apartment became warmer. Just as I was settling in the hot bedroom alcove, Porkchop suggested that we drive up to Santa Fe and spend the night, instead of just a day trip on Thursday.

It didn't take much to convince me.

Thanks to Hotwire, we got a room in a little bed and breakfast located just a couple of blocks off the Plaza. Even though the bed would prove problematic later (I learned that I absolutely hate pillowtop mattresses), the place was great.

After putting our things away in our room, we went to eat at the Plaza Cafe. So good! In my opinion, the best meal of the trip so far. I had the cashew mole enchilada, which came with sopaipillas. The sopaipillas....oh my gosh, SO GOOD!!!! After the basket was set down on our table, I tore into mine before Porkchop could take a picture. So here I am chewing on one:



I only wish we had saved room for a Mexican hot chocolate and a sopaipilla sundae. Next time!

After dinner, we walked around the plaza and looked in the windows of expensive touristy places. We also sat on a bench, enjoying the cool breeze and the live music. After a little bit, we retreated to our room and settled in for a night of...CABLE TV! The Daily Show, the Colbert Report, HGTV! Jon Stewart is my favorite, and the only thing I miss about cable TV. Well, I guess I would miss all of the home buying/selling/renovating shows on HGTV, but I've never had that station before.

Unfortunately, the night was restless and uncomfortable for both of us and we received little sleep. So, the continental breakfast came mighty early. At breakfast, I picked up what I thought was guava juice, but of course it turned out to be grapefruit juice (ack, the horror!). Porkchop poured a glass of what looked like cranberry juice, but it tasted more like sangria.

Despite our beverage mistakes, we made it to the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum before they opened. The Norval Morrisseau exhibition was pretty neat. Here I am outside of the museum:



Our other touristy stop was the Loretto Chapel to see the crazy staircase.



We enjoyed lunch made by street vendors on the plaza and then decided to head up to Taos. On the road there, we enjoyed scenery like this:



Okay, so we actually decided to skip Taos and head directly to Arroyo Seco, about 4 miles north of Taos. What a great little town! And I do mean little. And not crowded with tourists (we might have been the only ones).

We stopped at Taos Sunflower, a yarn shop with a selection that definitely rivaled, if not outdid, my LYS. I so wanted to buy some of their handspun stuff, shown here:



But it was a little bit too crazy for me. I really couldn't imagine making anything with it. So, instead, I bought two skeins of Malabrigo lace weight in Stonechat.

The yarn shop was across the street from Taos Cow. You know I can't pass up locally made ice cream, so we went in for a waffle cone. I thought I might try a scoop of lavender with some chocolate, but the lavender was too flowery for me, so we shared a scoop of Holstein Sunrise instead. Yum! Strawberry ice cream (you know, with big chunks of real berries) with chunks of milk, dark, and white chocolate.

We then tried to stop and poke around Taos some, but it was just too difficult. The traffic, the tourists....ugh. We decided it was time to head back to Albuquerque.

Porkchop humored me and agreed to take the High Road (aka the Mountain Road or the King's Road) back to Santa Fe. There was a whole section in our guidebook about this road, but the author never specifically states exactly which roads make up this "High Road." So I had to piece it together using references to road numbers in various sections and our crappy, non-detailed map that came with the book.

It was an adventure!

The road was interesting, but long. We saw lots of pretty pretty scenery like this:



We also drove down lots of little, curvy roads that went through tiny settlements. If we were hoping to stop and buy weavings or pottery or have lunch at a little cafe, it would have been great. Unfortunately, I think Porkchop's driving patience was wearing thin.

Anyway, we made it back to the bigger road outside of Santa Fe and then onto Albuquerque.

Being a bit burnt out on chiles and cheese and stuff like that, we ate at a little fast food Japanese place. Yay for bento boxes!

I'm not sure what we're doing tomorrow (besides going to see Superbad), but on Saturday, we're definitely going to the gay rodeo. Oh, yeah!

Freakout at 10,000 Feet

Today has been jampacked with activities. We arose around 7:30, picked up bagels, and headed out to Petroglyph National Monument. We walked around for about an hour and saw around 200 petroglyphs, just a fraction of the 20,000 carvings in the area. This was one of my favorite guys:



Afterwards we stopped in Old Town and looked at a bunch of tourist crap. We had a pretty good lunch at Church Street Cafe. I had a Navajo Taco, which totally exceeded my expectations. My memories of such tacos were from stopping on the road to Monument Valley and having lunch at one of the little dirt floor huts that line the road. Anyway...the fry bread that I had today was totally delicious, and there were plenty of toppings.

We stayed inside during the afternoon while the hot desert sun went scorching through the sky. Once again, Porkchop trounced me during rummy. We also cried some...well maybe a lot. To pick up our spirits, we decided to go on the Sandia Tramway.

Woo-hoo!

While Porkchop voiced fears about the ride and being on top of the mountain, I played it cool and said everything would be fine.

I really thought it would be, what with my experiences on Jungfraujoch, Mt. Pilatus, and some other mountain type places that required riding an air gondola or super steep railroad.

Well, I was wrong!

I started freaking out soon after our tram car started out. Here is a picture of Porkchop looking cool as a cucumber while I'm silently panicking:



We were REALLY HIGH above the ground. Panic, panic!

Here's a shot of the pretty scenery that I couldn't enjoy because I was freaking out so much:



When we FINALLY got to the top (the ride was 15 minutes), my hands had each released at least a pint of sweat.

Porkchop adjusted more quickly than I did and readily did things like lean on the guardrail and stare out from our vantage point of nearly 10,400 feet. See:



Meanwhile, Porkchop had to drag me over for this picture:



I actually said to her, "I really don't appreciate you pulling me to the edge like this."

Things got better once we left the area by the tram and went out on some of the trails. Since it was already so late and pretty chilly, we didn't walk for long. But here's a nice shot of Porkchop:



It was so nice and quiet on the trails. I forget how easily we get used to the constant noise of everyday life. It was refreshing to just hear the wind blowing through the trees and animals scurrying about.

I was, however, relieved to go down. I enjoyed being on the mountain top, but I couldn't stop thinking about the return ride, so it was nice to get it over with.

Here are two great shots that give you an idea of the size of the mountain that we were on and how high up we were during the ride. The cable cars are a good size and hold up to 65 people (although they only load a maximum of 50):





After such a harrowing experience, we stopped for gelato on our way home. Ecco Gelato is relatively new and is super delicious. I had the chai and cinnamon flavors. Yum!

However, even though the gelato was terrific, nothing beat being back on ground level and not dangling above a mountain.

Poisoned by Thai Leftovers

Hi!

I am currently holding down the fort while Porkchop goes to get her student ID and her bus pass. Holding down the fort means that I'm waiting for a UPS driver to deliver Porkchop's stuff. I doubt the driver will actually find the apartment since it's hidden behind the main house...but we'll see what happens.

I don't mind staying in because I feel like shit. I've been nothing but dizzy since I first woke up. Even though I continued to sleep and drank a couple of glasses of water before getting up, the blechiness continues.

I blame the Thai leftovers, which made my stomach grumbly right after eating them last night. Or it could be the beer (Farmer's Tan Red Ale from the NM Tractor Brewing Company) that I had while we watched Follow My Voice: With the Music of Hedwig (PS: I love John Cameron Mitchell so much). Or maybe I had too many snacks during our game of rummy, which we played while sitting out on the patio and enjoying the pleasant night (we had to go in when it became too chilly - imagine that in St. Louis!).

Or maybe I'm just exhausted from all of our shopping trips. I really really think Porkchop is set now. Except we might have to buy Scrabble.

Oh, I nearly forgot to mention lunch yesterday!

We did indeed go to the Flying Star. Here I am waiting for our food:



And here is my Vegacado. When I ordered this tofu casserole, I was under the mistaken impression that it contained avocado, even though the description doesn't mention it. So...I was a bit pissed off when I found nary an avocado while eating it. My mistake!



Here's Porkchop with her ginormous chicken potpie:



All in all, I wasn't very impressed. It seems like a nice place for coffee and a pastry, but I won't be hankering to go back for a meal.

Today
We'll see what happens today. As Porkchop writes in her blog, our schedule today will be determined by when (or if) her UPS boxes arrive.

Bye!

In the Burque

Greetings from Albuquerque!

We flew into the Albuquerque Sunport yesterday morning, arriving around 9:40 local time. As you can imagine, this meant getting up at 5:00 am. Ugh, so early!

The flight went well. Near the three-quarter part of our flight, we started seeing lots of these things:



What are they?? They reminded me of a giant quilt. I don't know what we were flying over...perhaps northern Texas, but I don't know our flight path.

Anyway, after picking up our bags, we took the rental car shuttle and got our ride for the week. Unfortunately, instead of the PT Cruiser that we were signed up for, we got stuck with a Mercury Milan. Oh well. It's okay.

Since we were starving, we drove into the university/Nob Hill area and enjoyed our first breakfast burrito at Bumble Bee:



Bumblebee wasn't on my list of places to eat, but it was there, and we were hungry. After that, I picked up an iced chai from a Satellite coffee shop, which is an offshoot of the Flying Star.

Porkchop is lucky....she is surrounded by lots of little restaurants and coffee shops. She is most excited about the Einstein Brother's bagel shop just a block away.

After breakfast burritos, we met Porkchop's landlord at the apartment. Her apartment is a converted garage and is a nice size for one person. Of course, one always wishes that furnished furnishings were nicer, but they are okay. Check out Porkchop's blog for photos of the apartment.

So, we spent the afternoon going on massive shopping trips to pick up things like toilet paper, hangers, measuring cups, sheets and a comforter (because you DO NOT want to use furnished linens, seriously), laundry detergent, and other essentials.

The free wi-fi advertised with the apartment is the univeristy's wi-fi, which I find quite amusing. Fortunately, Porkchop is close enough to get a steady signal; she is literally right next door to the university. And only a block away from Tamarind.

After all of the running around in the hot hot Albuquerque sun (yeah, no humidity, but the sun is oppressive. While St. Louis is like a steamer, Albuquerque is like a roasting oven.), we just wanted to have comfort food for dinner. For us, this means Thai food. Jasmine Thai has received good reviews, so we went there. The main draw for me was mangoes and sticky rice (yum yum yum!), but everything was delicious.

We finally checked into our hotel after an incredibly long day. I'm glad we stayed in a hotel tonight.

After the sun set, we hung out on the hotel patio for a while. Nice! The day was a scorcher, but the night was incredibly pleasant. Porkchop has a little patio area with chairs and a table, so we'll definitely be able to enjoy that this week.

Today
We're staying as long as we can at the hotel (2 more hours), and then we're going out for brunch. Maybe to the Flying Star.

After that we will be going grocery shopping. Because the apartment didn't come with furnished groceries.

Then maybe we can do something. Maybe the Sandia Tramway!

Have a great Sunday!

Helicopters, Tomatoes, and Waiting

In addition to thinking, "Man, it's f'ing hot out," when I stepped outside at 7:30 this morning, I thought, "Why does it sound like there's a helicopter over our house?"

Because, duh, THERE WAS a helicopter over our house. Actually, a few houses to the east and a couple of streets to the north. But it was loud, and it wasn't moving.

I warily walked down the street...wondering if a strung-out crazy was going to come tearing through the neighborhood wreaking all sorts of havoc. When I got to Grand, two police cars and a fire department ambulance tore around the corner of Gasconade and headed to wherever the helicopter was focused. Then the helicopter flew away.

I imagine that, unless I overhear something on the bus, I'll never know what happened.

Where Did the Weekend Go?
Saturday started bright and early with a quick trip to the Tower Grove farmers market. I bought two pounds of some very good tomatoes. YUM! I also picked up a pint of cherry tomatoes, a pint of locally grown sweet cherries, and an ambrosia melon (probably the last of the season). At the baked sweets booth, I bought just a single mocha macaroon because I purchased a raspberry scone and a blueberry scone for my and Porkchop's breakfast. The scones were fabulous, especially the raspberry one.

I spent the rest of Saturday at the Saturn dealer having a bent wheel replaced and my brake fluid flushed and replaced. Fun. I also drove around looking for secret things.

Sunday also started bright and early because I awoke at 7:30 and couldn't get back to sleep, even though I didn't turn in until after 1:30 am. After 8:00, I decided I should go ahead and get up and do yoga, but Porkchop suggested that we instead grab brunch on the way to the closest Michael's.

The closest Michael's turned out to be in South County, which meant brunch options were severely limited. We ended up at a Waffle House, where I did not heed Porkchop's advice on ordering a pecan waffle and therefore ended up with a mess of eggs with super-processed cheese, nasty hash browns, and cinnamon raisin toast with apple butter (the shining light in my plate of grossness). Porkchop gave me some of her pecan waffle, and I realized she was right. I should have ordered a pecan waffle.

The rest of Sunday consisted of making food for dinner at a co-worker's house, going to a 9-year-old's birthday party, and then going to the co-worker's house for dinner.

With the trip to South County in the morning, the roundtrip travel to Fenton for the birthday party, and then the trip to Bridgeton for dinner, we spent over two and a half hours driving on Sunday. Blech. People should live in the city - that's all there is to it.

The birthday party wasn't so bad (probably because only two other kids were in attendance) and dinner at the co-worker's house was delicious. Our hosts grilled various meat products and vegetable skewers, and the standout was the tandoori-style chicken. So good! Another co-worker brought roasted potatoes, and we brought pesto deviled eggs (which people didn't really eat...what's wrong with people?!) and a panzanella salad (see recipe below), which was a hit. After eating, we played carrom, which was lots of fun even though my team didn't win any of the games. After a couple of games we had chocolate cake and mango pie for dessert.

So, Sunday started with some gross food and then ended on a very high food note.

Now
Now I'm just waiting. Waiting to go to Albuquerque and waiting for Fall to begin.

I should be quite busy after returning from ABQ. The weekend of August 25 is the international festival at Tower Grove park. Labor Day might be a trip to Chicago, which means the weekend after that would be a trip to see my parents. I will be in ABQ the first weekend in October, and my parents will be here in St. Louis later in October.

Busy!

Panzanella Recipe
I based my recipe on one from Everyday Food, but I made quite a few changes. So, here's mine:

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
Pepper and salt
1 lb tomatoes, diced
1 14.5 oz can cannelini beans, drained and rinsed
1 medium zucchini
4 oz fresh mozzarella, diced
3-4 cups crusty wheat bread, cubed into large chunks
1/4 cup fresh basil, torn

DIRECTIONS

Dice the zucchini and roast in a 400 F oven. For roasting, drizzle the zucchini with olive oil and toss with pepper. Roast until tender.

Meanwhile, whisk the vinegar and oil together. Add pepper and salt.

Add everything else, except the basil, to the vinegar and oil mixture. Let the salad chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and no more than 8 hours. Before serving, add the basil.

Enjoy!

Don't Feel Like Working

Porkchop took me to work today and was singing part of the Scissor Sisters' "Don't Feel Like Dancing" song. It's stuck in my head, only I've changed the lyrics as appropriate.

This week has sucked big time, but today is different. Today we stopped at Eddie's Southtown Donuts so that I could bring in work treats.

I'm not a glazed donut fan at all, but I do enjoy a good cake donut. And, wow, Eddie knows how to make them! I picked out one each of nearly all of the cake donuts, which Porkchop said was awesome because I guess lots of folks go for the glazed ones. When I got to work, I selected the cinnamon dusted cake donut for myself, and it was FANTASTIC.

Yum!

Apparently, Eddie made the cake donuts at Donut Drive-In for well over 10 years. So, the shop on Kingshighway is his first independent venture.

And yes, Porkchop, I think it WAS Eddie who helped us. He hand cuts all of his donuts. And he loves the cake donut...he told me himself this morning.

ALSO
Porkchop has started a blog that will be all about Tamarind. You can find it here. There's already a post!

Workplace Ergonomics

This afternoon I had an evaluation done on my workstation's ergonomics.

The result...I will be receiving a new chair sometime in the next 2 months and a footrest.

Sure, you probably think this is boring, but I CANNOT WAIT for a new chair. I should have scheduled this ergo eval when I started, but I didn't find out about it until a couple of months ago. I HATE MY CHAIR. It is literally a pain in the neck and back. I hope I get to set fire to it when the new one arrives.

I was also told to schedule an eye exam, and I have. Not just because I was highly recommended to do so, but because I think I might actually need glasses. By the end of the workday, my eyes are so tired.

I kind of hope that I need glasses because maybe then I can get a Missouri driver's license. I put off getting a new license as long as I can because the eye test is always so embarrassing. Maybe glasses will help. I used to be convinced that it was the machines, but maybe it IS me.

How Apropos

At this very moment, I'm watching a PBS show all about different farmers markets. The show started with a segment on Santa Fe's market, which is quite apropos because I broke this out over the weekend:



Also apropos because I can't wait for Saturday and the Tower Grove market. Hopefully I can pick up more of this:



Peaches and ambrosia cantaloupe...yum!

At the Tower Grove market, I'm trying to cultivate a "that person" persona. I'm that person who buys two mocha macaroons every week from the baked sweets booth. Just two and only two.

I'm hoping we can go to a farmers market in Santa Fe or Albuquerque...maybe a market where we can pick up a breakfast burrito. Man, I am stoked about the food we'll be having in New Mexico...chiles, avocado, homemade tortillas and sopaipillas...yum, yum, yum.

But, I also don't want our trip to come. In 3 weeks, Porkchop will be living in Albuquerque and I'll be back here in St. Louis.

I am so sad.

This morning at work, our financial director asked how things were going and I started tearing up. Granted, I was tired and bleary eyed, but I can cry at the drop of a hat these days.

But, I'm sure things will be okay after the first few weeks. In addition to fairly frequent visits, we will do video chatting. We recently received one iSight camera and the second one is on the way (unfortunately, stupid Apple stopped making the cameras once they started putting cameras in their monitors, and of course PC cameras don't really work on Apples, so we're stuck paying big bucks on eBay - screw you, Apple).

In Addition to My Great Sadness
This week has SUCKED SUCKED SUCKED. Monday morning started with my regular bus running early, so I saw it pass by on Grand as I was walking up Montana. Then the next 70 bus was running late, which made me miss the 8:10 train. Therefore, it took me more than a freaking hour to get to work. I had to start hopping as soon as I walked in the door, and I had tons of things left over to finish at the day's end. AND, the evening bus didn't stop for me as I ran alongside it. GRRRR!

Tuesday was better, although work was still crazy. The day ended with ice cream from Serendipity. Yo, toasted almond ice cream ROCKS! It's like an almond macaroon in ice cream form. Heaven.

And today, well I started the work day by tearing up in front of the financial director. Murrr... And things were still busy.

It doesn't help that I keep thinking today is Friday. Or that tomorrow is Friday. Ugh.

Late-Twenties Crisis
I've also been rather depressed lately...wondering what the hell I'm doing with my life.

I'm reading a book in which the main character is asking himself the EXACT SAME questions that I've been asking myself. It's scary.

ALSO, yesterday I was at the school library and searching around just to see what sort of grad school guides are out there. When I searched on Amazon, my search pulled up one of those Amazon lists...this list was called "You want to go to grad school and your name is Carrie." Okay, first of all, what a dumb name for an Amazon list. Second, why was my name in the title?! Had I at any time logged into the computer or any website, I could understand how my name could have been parsed out and pulled into the title. However, I didn't log into the computer, and I had only done a generic search on the school library website. I never entered my name on anything EVER. It was so strange and kind of freaked me out.

Anyway, I have thoughts that I'm thinking about Masters programs and maybe what I want to do. But I can't write about it here, because then things would be weird. I don't like to tell people my plans.

A Bit of Knitting
Just a bit, not much knitting of late. Here's a little baby hat and the scarf:



(mmmmm...people on the farmers market show are eating sticky rice at a market in Hawai'i. mmmmm.....sticky rice....)

Since one of my co-workers is pregnant and another in the process of adoption, I see some more baby knitting in my future. Babies! Booties! Little hats! Miniature sweaters! Fun!

What Else
Porkchop and I finally received these back:



Porkchop had her sandals totally reworked with new footbeds and new soles with heel taps. Since my footbeds were in good shape, I just had mine recorked and resoled with heel taps. We're happy to have them back.

Also, NO, our sandals are not exactly the same. Porkchop's (top) are much darker than mine in real life.

So, have a good rest of the week! Two more days!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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:



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.

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.

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!

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?

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*

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!

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!

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!

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!