Dork Tower

Gainesville

It was blustery here too, Mom-- had a hard time getting my shopping basket (excuse me, Julia: shopping CART) to the car. Once again it looked like it might rain, thunderheads visible through the smazey sky off toward the south west, but no joy.

Please be careful what you attempt outside in windy conditions. I would say that winds strong enough to blow a lawn chair around are too much for you to be attempting a daring rescue with a crutch in one hand!

Interesting thing for dinner-- salmon fillets marinated for two hours in a lime juice, adobo, garlic and cumin mixture right in the baking dish, and topped with onion slices, chopped chipotles in adobo, and chopped cilantro while marinating. Put directly in the oven at 400 for 10 minutes. Ten minutes wasn't enough, as I suspected, since I used the LeCr dish (famous for thermal inertia), and the cilantro should have been basted with the marinade before roasting instead of just the extra 5 minutes I gave it, but it was very good. To our surprise, the cat loved it too.

I'm reading a really fun comic compilation of Dork Tower comics-- a brilliant satire of the whole geek/gaming subculture. The volume I have is Dork Decade, a retrospective all in color. Lots of fun. Which of course means that I am a dork to even understand the humor, let alone enjoy it.

Let the record show that for once I actually finished an entire NYT Sunday crossword puzzle-- it was last week's puzzle, and I finished it today at noon, after having spent at least some time on it every day this past week. I'm amazed how much can be accomplished by just plugging away-- things I thought I'd never be able to figure out sooner or later give themselves up, unable to resist the awesome power of my subconscious mind. Not one bit of cheating, either, even to check guesses. By the end, I knew all were correct. I have today's paper, but not sure I want to spend that much time this coming week on it; last week was a bit different because of the injury.

Speaking of which, everything is getting better except the knee. I can resign myself to having a permanent crater-like scar on my knee, but I do wish the damn thing would stop erupting. Beginning to think it might have been wise to have had a couple of stitches in it, but too late now.

Another new week, another attempt to reset my stubborn sleep patterns: get to bed by 1:00, up before 9:00. Should be doable if I start bedward right now-- the clock is striking midnight.

. . . [time passes, as is its wont] . . .

And after saving, editing, and otherwise fiddling around with this (including reading all my posts for the past week) it's now 12:30. No wonder it takes so frakkin' long to write a short post!

The Vow

Gainesville

Got the sheets changed and laundered, and the towels too. I'm experimenting with moving these two Blessings to Sunday to leave more time on Monday for the rest of the weekly stuff. We'll see how that works.

Went with Bill on a forage to Lowe's. It was fun, but it left me a bit behind getting dinner started, especially since it including snapping a big bunch of beans. Had to do something other than planned with the pork tenderloin, as I could not find fresh plums (well, duh-- who would publish a recipe calling for them this time of year? Leanne, that's who. She must live in Patagonia.) Found a recipe in Low Carb Menus in Minutes (a book I never use because the recipes are much too complicated), for "Pan-Asian Pork." It looked easy, and I thought I had it under control enough to spontaneously add the suggested side of a sweet/sour cuke/radish relish thing. Actually, I did have enough time, but just blew it on the logistics, doing things in the wrong order, and forgetting all about the cauli-rice I had all ready to put in the mike until almost too late. Then the pork didn't get done enough under the broiler before it started to burn, and parts had to be finished in the mike at the same time the cauli-rice was cooking, on and on. Half hour late and a brick shy. It all turned out pretty well, all things considered. And the kitchen is completely back to fighting form.

It's so great having the Cuisinart on the drainboard. I used it for both the rice and the relish tonight. I am starting to bond with it. Maybe I'll actually learn to use it effectively this time.

And speaking of machines, what's the collective wisdom on bread machines? I find myself, after all this time, interested in one. I truly love fresh bread, but only have it once a week, and am not thrilled by the stuff Publix puts in their bakery bread. It's too long a trek across town to go to Upper Crust / Fresh Market very often. I'm thinking I could make small amounts of bread just for me more frequently. I KNOW I'll never have the patience to make it by hand-- fooled around with that in the 70's enough to know it's not for me. So far I'm just in the stalking/research phase.

It is dreadfully hot here-- first day in the 90's, and it was a blow just stepping outside. There are wildfires in the area, so the air was a bit smoky besides. The meal I fixed couldn't have been less appropriate: a pot of boiling water for the beans, the broiler on for the meat, cauli-rice steaming hot from the mike and the only "cool" dish, the cuke relish, HOT with red pepper flakes. Poor planning all around.

We looked at patio furniture at Lowes-- not for now, of course, but for fall, when it once again becomes bearable to be outside. Want to get rid of all the moldering, cheap aluminum and plastic junk we've got and get something decent and heavy enough to not be tossed about in hurricanes.

Spent some time in the disaster area today, looking for the clock radio that was replaced by the Bose that Bill gave me several years back-- the kitchen radio has given up the ghost, and it would be good to recycle one if we still have it, if only I could find it. God knows we have every other bit of electronics we ever owned. I have a strange feeling I may have given it away to a house guest, but who knows where or when. While in there I gathered up two loads of stuff I know can be tossed, at Bill's suggestion. He promises to get it into the trash pickup by morning.

One day in Zone 5 this week, then four days in... the disaster area (aka the "dining room").. As Blog is my witness, I WILL spend 15 minutes on each of those four days in that hell hole and make some progress. Thus spake the Suze.

No time to read today. Will soak up a few weeks of Walt & Skeezix before hitting the hay.