Busy weekend, but restful.
Friday was a productive day at work, so we decided to go out to pizza for dinner. Red joined us, and we headed up to Rockridge to enjoy Zachary's, and get the contact information for the new Blue Bottle coffee opening up. The coffee shop has hiring information in the window... but it's for a different company. So I'll be e-mailing them and seeing what's up.
While at dinner, we ran into some friends, and they ended up heading over to our house afterwords, and hanging out. It was lovely. Everybody left by midnight, and V and I stayed up a bit longer, he playing video games, and I, sewing.
At about 2am, I got a text and he got an IM asking if we were still awake. A friend of ours had just come home to find the neighbors' house on fire, and had helped get the family to safety. Understandably, he was a little wound up, and didn't want to go to sleep. So he came over.
Typically, I fed him. Ice cream and coffee chocolate chip cookies, which was maybe not the best thing, but it went over well. We chatted and I sewed until around 3:30, and then he headed off home, and presumably to sleep.
V and I were now wound up, so we didn't go to sleep yet. I figured I'd sew just a little bit longer, and then head off to bed.
I heard birds chirping, but didn't think anything of it until I had to pick out the same seam three times due to stupid errors (I sewed it on upside down, then I sewed it on backwards, and then I sewed it on backwards AGAIN). I realized I had hit the "I'm going to keep screwing this up over and over and over again because I'm exhausted" stage, and then I realized that I heard birdsong, and that meant it was roughly dawn. Since it doesn't actually get dark in the Bay, the first portent of dawn is not the lightening of the sky, but instead the stupid birds.
We headed off to bed and were asleep before the Ashram went off, anyway, so prior to 6am, but after 5, sometime.
I woke up around 8am, and went "um, NO." I went back to sleep, and woke up again around 1pm. We had a nice breakfast, and poked around a bit, and then I went climbing. It was supposed to be a 2 hour trip, but instead was almost 3, and I arrived home just in time to grab a shower before my sister and her friend showed up, and the friends from the night before and their friend showed up. Dinner was a short notice pot luck of veggie pasta salad and a green salad, both with tofu in them for some protein. We also happened to have between us some strawberries and cherries, and our guests brought some much welcome cider.
The original plan had been climbing from 4 to 6, dinner from 6 to 7:30, then Sea Shanties from 8 to midnight. Sea Shanties ended up getting skipped; V and I were tired, and it was pleasant to just sit around our living room, drinking and chatting... and hey, that sounds like my normal Saturday night! MiL was out of town, too, so it was nice to not have to worry about waking her up, or anything.
Folks took off around 10, maybe? and we stayed up a bit longer, V on the computer, and I sewing again. Went to bed around 1am, and we were up again by 11am on the Fourth.
Our plans for July 4th were pretty minimal. We cleaned up the remains of dinner from the night before, and I did more sewing, and then we made Samosas. They're devilishly delicious, and shockingly low calorie for something that's deep fried. Last year, we made them almost weekly during the summer, as they're stuipidly yummy, and we had a vegetarian roommate at the time. They also make good picnic food, and one of my fondest memories of last summer is sitting near the water at Crissy Field, eating cold samosas and basking in the sun after seeing Fort Point. That day, we also went to Golden Gate Park and went to the tea garden, which is my favorite thing about San Francisco, and then went to Pizza Orgasmica, which was as good as the name implies.
Samosas are time consuming, and by the time we were done making them and eating them, it was time to start thinking about Fireworks. Ultimately, we decided that we'd rather stay home and have a restful evening, though we did get to see some fireworks that got set off near our house. The kittens were NOT fans, but it wasn't too bad.
Today, I got up around 11 when my sister called. We headed out to Costco to do shopping for next weekend, and then we went to 4th Street, and then Berkeley Bowl and came home. Originally, we'd planned to also hit Stonemountain, but we were both tired, and done.
I saw the most adorable dress at Anthropologie, it was a Navy blue shirt-dress, and the fabric had white bicycles on it! A penny-farthing, and a more modern, but still vintage, silhouette were both present, and I didn't look closer to see if there were any others. If it had been $30, I would have bought it in a heartbeat, but since it was $130, I didn't even bother trying it on. It did inspire me, though, to get on that whole "making a shirt dress" thing. My blue fabric that was originally supposed to be one thing, but that didn't work out, so now it's another, might make a great shirtdress. It's tempting to find out. Though I might try making a skirt, and a shirt, so I can wear them together or separately and get more outfits out of it.
This evening, for dinner, I made a nut-based curry. It sounded so strange, that I wanted to try it. It was probably the highest fat content of any lentil dish I've ever made! It had heavy cream, almonds and cashews in it, and it was, as lentil dishes usually are, ugly as hell. This was a particularly special look, since the nuts are pureed with the cream, and add an odd gritty texture... it just did NOT look healthy.
Despite the lovely visual, the dish was delicious, and I'll definitely be making it again. I wonder if I could make a large batch of the cream/nut mixture and freeze them for later use? I don't usually keep cream or nuts on hand, so this can't become my new "I don't feel like cooking" dish unless I find a way to do so without them going bad.
The kitchen is now clean again, and the Orange Room has returned to it's alter-ego, the Conference Room. MiL is home, and tomorrow is Tuesday. I have my dance and climbing stuff packed and on my bike, and I have my computer accouterments ready to go for tomorrow morning so I can work in the coffee shop. My goal for tomorrow is to not have my head explode, and maybe to pack a little if I'm feeling ambitious. ...and I need to shave.
Wednesday, I want to salt all the carpets, and vacuum the whole house, including the closets. This flea thing is getting REALLY irritating, and we don't have a vet appointment until the end of the month (the logic here is to get a recommendation about what kind of flea control to use, since the kittens like to rub the topical stuff off all over US). If I have time, I might get the chicken prepped, and I'd like to go to yoga.
Thursday, I need to fry the chicken. I'm frying 24 chicken breasts! Dear god. If I get anything else done, it'll be a miracle, though I also need to hit the farmers' market, and make pasta salad.
Friday morning, I try to get 4 hours of work in. Mr. and Mrs. Minstrel will arrive at our house by 1pm, and we'll load the car. Then we drive to Monrovia for a weekend of debauchery and fun! Oh, and a wedding.
While at dinner, we ran into some friends, and they ended up heading over to our house afterwords, and hanging out. It was lovely. Everybody left by midnight, and V and I stayed up a bit longer, he playing video games, and I, sewing.
At about 2am, I got a text and he got an IM asking if we were still awake. A friend of ours had just come home to find the neighbors' house on fire, and had helped get the family to safety. Understandably, he was a little wound up, and didn't want to go to sleep. So he came over.
Typically, I fed him. Ice cream and coffee chocolate chip cookies, which was maybe not the best thing, but it went over well. We chatted and I sewed until around 3:30, and then he headed off home, and presumably to sleep.
V and I were now wound up, so we didn't go to sleep yet. I figured I'd sew just a little bit longer, and then head off to bed.
I heard birds chirping, but didn't think anything of it until I had to pick out the same seam three times due to stupid errors (I sewed it on upside down, then I sewed it on backwards, and then I sewed it on backwards AGAIN). I realized I had hit the "I'm going to keep screwing this up over and over and over again because I'm exhausted" stage, and then I realized that I heard birdsong, and that meant it was roughly dawn. Since it doesn't actually get dark in the Bay, the first portent of dawn is not the lightening of the sky, but instead the stupid birds.
We headed off to bed and were asleep before the Ashram went off, anyway, so prior to 6am, but after 5, sometime.
I woke up around 8am, and went "um, NO." I went back to sleep, and woke up again around 1pm. We had a nice breakfast, and poked around a bit, and then I went climbing. It was supposed to be a 2 hour trip, but instead was almost 3, and I arrived home just in time to grab a shower before my sister and her friend showed up, and the friends from the night before and their friend showed up. Dinner was a short notice pot luck of veggie pasta salad and a green salad, both with tofu in them for some protein. We also happened to have between us some strawberries and cherries, and our guests brought some much welcome cider.
The original plan had been climbing from 4 to 6, dinner from 6 to 7:30, then Sea Shanties from 8 to midnight. Sea Shanties ended up getting skipped; V and I were tired, and it was pleasant to just sit around our living room, drinking and chatting... and hey, that sounds like my normal Saturday night! MiL was out of town, too, so it was nice to not have to worry about waking her up, or anything.
Folks took off around 10, maybe? and we stayed up a bit longer, V on the computer, and I sewing again. Went to bed around 1am, and we were up again by 11am on the Fourth.
Our plans for July 4th were pretty minimal. We cleaned up the remains of dinner from the night before, and I did more sewing, and then we made Samosas. They're devilishly delicious, and shockingly low calorie for something that's deep fried. Last year, we made them almost weekly during the summer, as they're stuipidly yummy, and we had a vegetarian roommate at the time. They also make good picnic food, and one of my fondest memories of last summer is sitting near the water at Crissy Field, eating cold samosas and basking in the sun after seeing Fort Point. That day, we also went to Golden Gate Park and went to the tea garden, which is my favorite thing about San Francisco, and then went to Pizza Orgasmica, which was as good as the name implies.
Samosas are time consuming, and by the time we were done making them and eating them, it was time to start thinking about Fireworks. Ultimately, we decided that we'd rather stay home and have a restful evening, though we did get to see some fireworks that got set off near our house. The kittens were NOT fans, but it wasn't too bad.
Today, I got up around 11 when my sister called. We headed out to Costco to do shopping for next weekend, and then we went to 4th Street, and then Berkeley Bowl and came home. Originally, we'd planned to also hit Stonemountain, but we were both tired, and done.
I saw the most adorable dress at Anthropologie, it was a Navy blue shirt-dress, and the fabric had white bicycles on it! A penny-farthing, and a more modern, but still vintage, silhouette were both present, and I didn't look closer to see if there were any others. If it had been $30, I would have bought it in a heartbeat, but since it was $130, I didn't even bother trying it on. It did inspire me, though, to get on that whole "making a shirt dress" thing. My blue fabric that was originally supposed to be one thing, but that didn't work out, so now it's another, might make a great shirtdress. It's tempting to find out. Though I might try making a skirt, and a shirt, so I can wear them together or separately and get more outfits out of it.
This evening, for dinner, I made a nut-based curry. It sounded so strange, that I wanted to try it. It was probably the highest fat content of any lentil dish I've ever made! It had heavy cream, almonds and cashews in it, and it was, as lentil dishes usually are, ugly as hell. This was a particularly special look, since the nuts are pureed with the cream, and add an odd gritty texture... it just did NOT look healthy.
Despite the lovely visual, the dish was delicious, and I'll definitely be making it again. I wonder if I could make a large batch of the cream/nut mixture and freeze them for later use? I don't usually keep cream or nuts on hand, so this can't become my new "I don't feel like cooking" dish unless I find a way to do so without them going bad.
The kitchen is now clean again, and the Orange Room has returned to it's alter-ego, the Conference Room. MiL is home, and tomorrow is Tuesday. I have my dance and climbing stuff packed and on my bike, and I have my computer accouterments ready to go for tomorrow morning so I can work in the coffee shop. My goal for tomorrow is to not have my head explode, and maybe to pack a little if I'm feeling ambitious. ...and I need to shave.
Wednesday, I want to salt all the carpets, and vacuum the whole house, including the closets. This flea thing is getting REALLY irritating, and we don't have a vet appointment until the end of the month (the logic here is to get a recommendation about what kind of flea control to use, since the kittens like to rub the topical stuff off all over US). If I have time, I might get the chicken prepped, and I'd like to go to yoga.
Thursday, I need to fry the chicken. I'm frying 24 chicken breasts! Dear god. If I get anything else done, it'll be a miracle, though I also need to hit the farmers' market, and make pasta salad.
Friday morning, I try to get 4 hours of work in. Mr. and Mrs. Minstrel will arrive at our house by 1pm, and we'll load the car. Then we drive to Monrovia for a weekend of debauchery and fun! Oh, and a wedding.