Trip Aftermath

Gainesville

Not up to speed here either, by a long shot. Turns out it was a foolishly exhausting trip-- 7 days, 6 different hotels, 3K miles of driving. What WERE we thinking?

One thing I surely did right: put on clean sheets before leaving. Clean towels too-- so coming home did not have to be a sudden drop-off in creature comforts. One of my favorite FL testimonials was the one about one's own home being a swell B&B.

Nothing too nasty in the fridge for a change, so was able to put together a decent meal on the fly (so to speak) last night: chicken cutlets with BBQ spice and crushed pork rinds pressed into them to simulate a crust. And it worked! A tasty no-carb "breading" that fooled Bill. Had apples and the dregs of some celery, so made a passable waldorf type salad.

Shopped Publix today, a zoo with all the new and returning students clogging the aisles yakking with each other and on cell phones, vaguely shopping now and then. The Bacon and Potato Frittata-like thing I made was edible, but not great. I have a long way to go before hitting my cooking stride, especially after a few nights watching The Master at work in her Kitchen From Heaven.

Will relay some adventures from the trip home in the next post. Right now, just very very tired, very sleepy, and, just now, very sneezy. Sounds like I'm rounding up a dwarf reunion.

Wonder if I'll ever get caught up on email and tweets. Still working on unpacking and the attendant laundry and stashing stuff. Usually I'm done with this by now.

What a bummer to get back to reality of fresh produce in FL after Sandy's garden. I did luck out and find some blueberries that actually have some flavor, so I have hopes of duplicating pana cotta once I pick up the Knox gelatin I forgot today. We both loved it.

Bill is taking this week off too-- long overdue down-time. Today he devoted himself to getting TiVo to update himself again. After 5-6 hours, he got it to happen-- I lack such patience.

The cat continues to amaze us with her new operatic vocalizations. After following us around for a day and a half and sleeping with us last night, she's finally relaxed into some of her old haunts and slacked off with the blackmail demands to compensate for her pain and suffering while we were gone.

Impossible to hold my head up another minute. Miss everybody! Thanks for a great visit!