(no subject)
Usually my sunday work is easy and routine, but today it was particularly challenging. Which means I feel real tired for no good reason. The nice thing about it was that Jeremiah came by to say hi and check out the roaster. I felt bad that Alex wasn't there to give him the grand tour - I didn't want to mess with his mise en place over there in his coffee cookin' corner.
Last night was fun, though - Amber laughed so hard she fell out of her chair, I laughed so hard I had tears, and Michael nearly dozed off on the floor. They plied me full of booze and it was grand.
This morning I was woken by my neighbor hammering the composite shingling onto his shed roof. But he is being friendly enough, he even chatted a little while I watered the tomatoes. So maybe I should stop being such a hermit and go out there once in a while.
At home, I made tortillas (my family is in serious danger of tortilla burnout, but they are really healthy). We ate them with carne asada that I had marinated yesterday and some leftover beans that I had in the freezer and a salsa that Bill made from my cousin's recipe. Except that we cheated a little. But it was tasty nonetheless. Juan joined us, seeing as how his mother had also made carne asada for dinner tonight. Bill told him that if he plays his cards right, he could run home and have "second dinner." But he's still here, watching Family Guy with Tristan.
We have had Juan for dinner every night since....well, I can't remember. Yesterday Juan threw an arm around Tristan and jostled him a little, calling Tris his "bestest friend" with the most angelic grin. When I relayed this last night, Michael and Andrew thought it sounded fruity until I clarified with the one-arm and the jostling. "Oh, okay! Why didn't you say so? It was a guy hug. Ok, that's cool." Men are so complicated.
Here are some pictures of cooking, and how we cheated. Please ignore my countertops, as I am well aware that my kitchen gadgetry is well out of hand!! (I do use them all, believe it or not...)
Bill was supposed to grill these tomatoes and jalapenos right in the barbecue for 50 minutes but he torched them with the BernzOmatic over the electric grill for ten, instead. This was because he broke his toe today and didn't want to stand at the barbecue outside.
I don't have a good tortillera so I smash the dough with this cheese cutting board. (Works better than the dumb little aluminum one I have.)
I like to cook 'em on the electric griddle because it goes quicker. See that blemish on the bread machine behind it? That's from putting the griddle too close to the bread machine the last time I made tortillas.
Anyway, it was pretty good. I ate a bunch, but fortunately not too much. I am going to have a glass of cool white wine in a minute, too. The weather calls for it.
Yesterday I spent the lion's share of the afternoon stripping a table that I bought at Goodwill for $6. I'm pretty excited about it but it is a pain in the ass. It's no fancy piece of furniture but it is a drop sided dining table on wheels which is why I thought it would be great for a cupping table at the roastery. Now that I've got the crappy spray-on laquer stripped off, I think it has some nice wood on it, and it is probably from the mid 1930's. The surface is a veneer (which in some parts I am going to have to glue back down) but the legs are solid and the grain is diagonal in the shape of a "v". It was obviously badly water damaged and abused in someone's garage or something, so it will never be pristine, but I think that when I am done with it, it'll look like I paid a lot more than $6. ;)
When I first moved here and before I knew anybody, I had a lot more time on my hands and refinished Goodwill finds for fun. There used to be a consignment store across the street, and I had it in my head that I would refinish treasures and consign them there. But then I met Alex and everything changed. Maybe someday, though. I still have a bed frame to refinish for my bedroom. Maybe I'll do that next.
While I worked on the table yesterday, I listened to a lot of Clark Howard. He's all upset about a Supreme Court decision that threatens to disallow retailers from discounting merchandise below the MSRP. I think that's crazy and so does Clark; he implored the government "not to stab the American people in the back by curtailing the free market and robbing them of their ability to comparison shop." Clark is kind of a Ned Flanders, so I was surprised to hear him use such strong language! I thought some of my retailer friends might be interested in that, but I bet they already know.
I also heard something about the unemployment rate, and was surprised by the jump between workers with high school diplomas and workers with high school diplomas in addition to "some college" (no 4 year degree). I couldn't remember the particulars when I was telling Amber about it last night, so here it is. I was surprised that there was that big of a difference. This came up in a conversation about the book, Nickeled and Dimed, which Alex and Amber were discussing. I borrowed it from Amber. I have read only one chapter and what I have learned so far is that Key West is a terrible place to earn minimum wage. The wages were, in some cases, half of the minimum in Washington State and the rents were close to double that of Bellingham.
Anyway. Time for that nice cool glass o'wine and some soft pajammies and TV watching with the boys. Hope your weekends were refreshing!
Last night was fun, though - Amber laughed so hard she fell out of her chair, I laughed so hard I had tears, and Michael nearly dozed off on the floor. They plied me full of booze and it was grand.
This morning I was woken by my neighbor hammering the composite shingling onto his shed roof. But he is being friendly enough, he even chatted a little while I watered the tomatoes. So maybe I should stop being such a hermit and go out there once in a while.
At home, I made tortillas (my family is in serious danger of tortilla burnout, but they are really healthy). We ate them with carne asada that I had marinated yesterday and some leftover beans that I had in the freezer and a salsa that Bill made from my cousin's recipe. Except that we cheated a little. But it was tasty nonetheless. Juan joined us, seeing as how his mother had also made carne asada for dinner tonight. Bill told him that if he plays his cards right, he could run home and have "second dinner." But he's still here, watching Family Guy with Tristan.
We have had Juan for dinner every night since....well, I can't remember. Yesterday Juan threw an arm around Tristan and jostled him a little, calling Tris his "bestest friend" with the most angelic grin. When I relayed this last night, Michael and Andrew thought it sounded fruity until I clarified with the one-arm and the jostling. "Oh, okay! Why didn't you say so? It was a guy hug. Ok, that's cool." Men are so complicated.
Here are some pictures of cooking, and how we cheated. Please ignore my countertops, as I am well aware that my kitchen gadgetry is well out of hand!! (I do use them all, believe it or not...)
Bill was supposed to grill these tomatoes and jalapenos right in the barbecue for 50 minutes but he torched them with the BernzOmatic over the electric grill for ten, instead. This was because he broke his toe today and didn't want to stand at the barbecue outside.
I don't have a good tortillera so I smash the dough with this cheese cutting board. (Works better than the dumb little aluminum one I have.)
I like to cook 'em on the electric griddle because it goes quicker. See that blemish on the bread machine behind it? That's from putting the griddle too close to the bread machine the last time I made tortillas.
Anyway, it was pretty good. I ate a bunch, but fortunately not too much. I am going to have a glass of cool white wine in a minute, too. The weather calls for it.
Yesterday I spent the lion's share of the afternoon stripping a table that I bought at Goodwill for $6. I'm pretty excited about it but it is a pain in the ass. It's no fancy piece of furniture but it is a drop sided dining table on wheels which is why I thought it would be great for a cupping table at the roastery. Now that I've got the crappy spray-on laquer stripped off, I think it has some nice wood on it, and it is probably from the mid 1930's. The surface is a veneer (which in some parts I am going to have to glue back down) but the legs are solid and the grain is diagonal in the shape of a "v". It was obviously badly water damaged and abused in someone's garage or something, so it will never be pristine, but I think that when I am done with it, it'll look like I paid a lot more than $6. ;)
When I first moved here and before I knew anybody, I had a lot more time on my hands and refinished Goodwill finds for fun. There used to be a consignment store across the street, and I had it in my head that I would refinish treasures and consign them there. But then I met Alex and everything changed. Maybe someday, though. I still have a bed frame to refinish for my bedroom. Maybe I'll do that next.
While I worked on the table yesterday, I listened to a lot of Clark Howard. He's all upset about a Supreme Court decision that threatens to disallow retailers from discounting merchandise below the MSRP. I think that's crazy and so does Clark; he implored the government "not to stab the American people in the back by curtailing the free market and robbing them of their ability to comparison shop." Clark is kind of a Ned Flanders, so I was surprised to hear him use such strong language! I thought some of my retailer friends might be interested in that, but I bet they already know.
I also heard something about the unemployment rate, and was surprised by the jump between workers with high school diplomas and workers with high school diplomas in addition to "some college" (no 4 year degree). I couldn't remember the particulars when I was telling Amber about it last night, so here it is. I was surprised that there was that big of a difference. This came up in a conversation about the book, Nickeled and Dimed, which Alex and Amber were discussing. I borrowed it from Amber. I have read only one chapter and what I have learned so far is that Key West is a terrible place to earn minimum wage. The wages were, in some cases, half of the minimum in Washington State and the rents were close to double that of Bellingham.
Anyway. Time for that nice cool glass o'wine and some soft pajammies and TV watching with the boys. Hope your weekends were refreshing!