I read 94 books in 2023, counting audiobooks and re-reads
The "pre-talk talk" was mostly Jamie wanting to know if it was okay if she talked to Mom alone. Obviously everyone was fine with that, and not just because we were dreading it but because Mom always takes difficult conversations with Jamie better. I've stopped analyzing why, mostly because I don't care. I just want problems solved, I don't need to be the one that solves them if someone else is better at it (as is usually the case). Jamie got her alone by saying she wanted to get more red wine (which was actually not bullshit) and taking Mom to the store with her.
Long story short, Mom and Rian are going to the bank today and she's going to start putting his name on accounts and stuff. Jamie said she's going to be bugging Rian about things (how much do they still owe on the mortgage, what needs to happen for the condo to get re-listed and sell, etc.), because Rian is very passive and otherwise will tend to wait for Mom to bring things up first, which will never happen.
She's also going to look into getting Phil an in-home hospice care worker once a week. Apparently he was formally diagnosed with dementia last year, something Mom told her but not David or I. Sure, we only live with the guy and take care of him, why would we need to know that. But anyway, having the diagnosis opens up options for things that would be covered by insurance. She has some friends who have been in the same boat, so she's going to talk with them about it after she goes back to California.
Jamie said something kind of weird when she was recounting the talk with Mom, like "I want to make sure every person in this house is taken care of", which sounds like she's planning for what happens after Mom and Phil die. Jamie is the only sibling who's ever made real money, David and Rian and I have always just kind of got by (more or--some years--less), so she's sort of the only one of us who understands how it works.
Friday was a pretty lazy day, I got kolaches for breakfast and we just kind of hung out. My family has this way of being together separately that I'm sure a certain subsection of Boomers would gripe about, like "everyone's on their screens, bah!", but it works for us because it keeps up from getting on each other's nerves. Like of course a couple of people are always talking to each other, and occasionally the whole group interacts. But also Jamie's doing a jigsaw puzzle (she got 4 for Christmas), David's in the kitchen, Phil's watching some old TV show on his headphones, Rian's listening to an audiobook, Mom's scrolling social media, Greg's working on his laptop or watching MMA, I'm reading or or looking through cookbooks or watching a TV show on my tablet with earbuds or going outside with the dog and to try out my new filters by taking Polaroids of the cane field across the street. To quote Kahlil Gibran, let there be spaces in your togetherness.
David made catfish courtbouillon--which in the Cajun pronunciation is "koovy-yon"--which he does every year between Christmas and New Year's because a) it feeds a lot of people, and b) it's especially a favorite of Greg's.
Saturday I went to the grocery store as soon as I woke up because we were having lunch at Shuck's and I knew I wouldn't feel like going after. Somehow the food on New Year's Eve became my job, not that I'm complaining, and I usually make supper on Sunday anyway. I like to do a series of appetizers instead of a proper meal, this year I decided on Rosalynn Carter's cheese ring, turkey bacon (Jamie doesn't eat pork) wrapped dates, and radish anchovy canapés put out around 5:00; then honey garlic crockpot meatballs (also turkey) and a veggie tray with real ranch around 8:00. For dessert I decided on the mint chocolate mug cakes from the Milk Bar cookbook, which I have inexplicably never made even though I marked the recipe.
I think 3 times in one week may be a new record for us with Shuck's. I finally got some oysters.
I detest raw oysters, I cannot get past the awful slimy texture. But charbroiled, I will suck them down by the dozen. These are half candied, which is a sweet-spicy Steen's glaze and feta cheese; and half Shuck-a-fella, with a cream-based sauce of puréed bacon and mushrooms.
In the afternoon I made the cheese ring, which has to set overnight, and cut the crusts off a loaf of white bread and set it out to get stale for the canapés--I decided to go super old school and do them on stale white bread.
In the evening I watched Once Upon a Time in Hollywood again and worked on my cross stitch, a pattern I got from Witchy Stitcher of Baba Yaga's house. I picked it because the colors were easy, it's mostly black with a few shades of grey, brown, and off-white. I knew if I didn't have the exact matches I would have something close enough in my stash.
New Year's Eve I made ham and eggs for breakfast, and early in the afternoon I did as much food prep as I could. We had football games on mute all day again, and once those finished we switched over the Twilight Zone marathon. No one in the house particularly likes all the dumb countdown shows, and we all loathe Andy Cohen, who seems to use absolutely anything said to him as a gambit to pimp out his moronic Real Housewives franchise. To be clear, I don't think there's anything wrong with watching trash TV. Everyone has some stupid thing they use to switch off their brains, for me it's true crime. I just hate how that asshole can't stop yapping about his shows.
The canapés were ones I made years ago and I remembered them being weird but also good. It's a compound butter with minced anchovies, lemon zest, and parsley, with a thin radish slice on top. The butter is rich, the anchovies salty, the lemon zest adds a little zing of brightness, and the radish is crisp and astringent. It's a lot of different flavors and textures and they all kind of bounce off each other.
The cheese ring came out great, I lined a bundt pan with waxed paper so it just slid right out and I peeled off the paper. I would chop the pecans a little finer if I make it again, but other than that it was perfect. I served it with strawberry preserves like God and Rosalynn intended.
You can't see the chocolate chips because the recipe called for mini but I had a whole bag of regular sized chips. They all sunk to the bottom in the microwave while the cake rose around them, so it was more like a black bottom cake. But it tasted great, and it's an easy recipe so I'd definitely do it again. Like coconut, mint and chocolate is something Phil doesn't really care for--and you don't need to tell me how just objectively wrong an opinion that is--but that I love. So sometimes I make them and am just like hey man, there's ice cream in the freezer and pudding cups in the fridge, help yourself. Although he ate this one without complaining.
We did fireworks around 11:00 and toasted with prosecco at midnight. Jamie and Greg had to leave right after midnight, because Greg had a morning flight and Jamie had to take him to the airport so she could take over the rental car.
Yesterday would normally be the day the 'rents left for the condo with Jamie and Rian, but they didn't plan for it this year because we were hoping it would have sold. It didn't, obviously, but it's rented for the next 5 months, starting with December and through the end of April, so that's something. It was rented by a business with some kind of industrial-sounding name, and this week Mom got an email from the condo association saying the harbor is going to be dredged, so we think that's probably it, they rented units for the workers to stay in.
We all slept pretty late, having breakfast (I made French toast and bacon) around 11:00. I ran to Super One for more eggs, after calling to make sure they were open. I vacuumed the rugs, first checking them for stray puzzle pieces, and started washing all my bedding. I use a top sheet and change them every week, so my blankets don't need to be washed that often, I usually do them twice a year, including the two huge hand-made afghans that I really should use more often. (Jamie made one; the other belonged to my grandmother and I think it was made by a lady who was in her same assisted living facility.) I like the idea of starting the year with freshly washed blankets and comforters. It's probably time for a new pillow as well, now that it occurs to me. I don't think I bought one last year.
In between all that, I finally got around to watching The Batman, the one with Robert Pattinson. David had said he liked it, that it was more noir than comic book. I thought it was more like a serial killer movie like Se7en. I liked it, I'd see another if they made it, especially if Matt Reeves directs it again. We didn't want to eat a big lunch since we ate breakfast so late, but we'd only eaten half the cheese ring--it's huge, using a whole pound of grated cheddar--so we had some cheese and crackers and Jamie and I killed the last bottle of prosecco.
David made black-eyes peas for supper, for luck, with turkey kielbasa and kale, and cornbread. He makes it with a little tomato paste, and it's just a brighter, tangier dish than the usual dull sludge that's IMO most black-eyed peas dishes. After supper I watched Bitconned, which I thought was pretty good. Ray Trapani was the "main character", but the film makers made sure not to let him be the only voice in the room. He's clearly an amoral scumbag, he'll probably wind up in federal prison for one of his grifts sooner or later.
Jamie's here for the rest of the week, and the mission for the next few days is to score some crawfish. It's not going to be a good season because of the hot, dry summer we had. The place we usually get them from has said they'll probably only be selling a couple times a week, and we should call between 10:00 and 11:00, because they have been selling out by noon when they do have some.
Long story short, Mom and Rian are going to the bank today and she's going to start putting his name on accounts and stuff. Jamie said she's going to be bugging Rian about things (how much do they still owe on the mortgage, what needs to happen for the condo to get re-listed and sell, etc.), because Rian is very passive and otherwise will tend to wait for Mom to bring things up first, which will never happen.
She's also going to look into getting Phil an in-home hospice care worker once a week. Apparently he was formally diagnosed with dementia last year, something Mom told her but not David or I. Sure, we only live with the guy and take care of him, why would we need to know that. But anyway, having the diagnosis opens up options for things that would be covered by insurance. She has some friends who have been in the same boat, so she's going to talk with them about it after she goes back to California.
Jamie said something kind of weird when she was recounting the talk with Mom, like "I want to make sure every person in this house is taken care of", which sounds like she's planning for what happens after Mom and Phil die. Jamie is the only sibling who's ever made real money, David and Rian and I have always just kind of got by (more or--some years--less), so she's sort of the only one of us who understands how it works.
Friday was a pretty lazy day, I got kolaches for breakfast and we just kind of hung out. My family has this way of being together separately that I'm sure a certain subsection of Boomers would gripe about, like "everyone's on their screens, bah!", but it works for us because it keeps up from getting on each other's nerves. Like of course a couple of people are always talking to each other, and occasionally the whole group interacts. But also Jamie's doing a jigsaw puzzle (she got 4 for Christmas), David's in the kitchen, Phil's watching some old TV show on his headphones, Rian's listening to an audiobook, Mom's scrolling social media, Greg's working on his laptop or watching MMA, I'm reading or or looking through cookbooks or watching a TV show on my tablet with earbuds or going outside with the dog and to try out my new filters by taking Polaroids of the cane field across the street. To quote Kahlil Gibran, let there be spaces in your togetherness.
David made catfish courtbouillon--which in the Cajun pronunciation is "koovy-yon"--which he does every year between Christmas and New Year's because a) it feeds a lot of people, and b) it's especially a favorite of Greg's.
Saturday I went to the grocery store as soon as I woke up because we were having lunch at Shuck's and I knew I wouldn't feel like going after. Somehow the food on New Year's Eve became my job, not that I'm complaining, and I usually make supper on Sunday anyway. I like to do a series of appetizers instead of a proper meal, this year I decided on Rosalynn Carter's cheese ring, turkey bacon (Jamie doesn't eat pork) wrapped dates, and radish anchovy canapés put out around 5:00; then honey garlic crockpot meatballs (also turkey) and a veggie tray with real ranch around 8:00. For dessert I decided on the mint chocolate mug cakes from the Milk Bar cookbook, which I have inexplicably never made even though I marked the recipe.
I think 3 times in one week may be a new record for us with Shuck's. I finally got some oysters.
I detest raw oysters, I cannot get past the awful slimy texture. But charbroiled, I will suck them down by the dozen. These are half candied, which is a sweet-spicy Steen's glaze and feta cheese; and half Shuck-a-fella, with a cream-based sauce of puréed bacon and mushrooms.
In the afternoon I made the cheese ring, which has to set overnight, and cut the crusts off a loaf of white bread and set it out to get stale for the canapés--I decided to go super old school and do them on stale white bread.
In the evening I watched Once Upon a Time in Hollywood again and worked on my cross stitch, a pattern I got from Witchy Stitcher of Baba Yaga's house. I picked it because the colors were easy, it's mostly black with a few shades of grey, brown, and off-white. I knew if I didn't have the exact matches I would have something close enough in my stash.
New Year's Eve I made ham and eggs for breakfast, and early in the afternoon I did as much food prep as I could. We had football games on mute all day again, and once those finished we switched over the Twilight Zone marathon. No one in the house particularly likes all the dumb countdown shows, and we all loathe Andy Cohen, who seems to use absolutely anything said to him as a gambit to pimp out his moronic Real Housewives franchise. To be clear, I don't think there's anything wrong with watching trash TV. Everyone has some stupid thing they use to switch off their brains, for me it's true crime. I just hate how that asshole can't stop yapping about his shows.
The canapés were ones I made years ago and I remembered them being weird but also good. It's a compound butter with minced anchovies, lemon zest, and parsley, with a thin radish slice on top. The butter is rich, the anchovies salty, the lemon zest adds a little zing of brightness, and the radish is crisp and astringent. It's a lot of different flavors and textures and they all kind of bounce off each other.
The cheese ring came out great, I lined a bundt pan with waxed paper so it just slid right out and I peeled off the paper. I would chop the pecans a little finer if I make it again, but other than that it was perfect. I served it with strawberry preserves like God and Rosalynn intended.
You can't see the chocolate chips because the recipe called for mini but I had a whole bag of regular sized chips. They all sunk to the bottom in the microwave while the cake rose around them, so it was more like a black bottom cake. But it tasted great, and it's an easy recipe so I'd definitely do it again. Like coconut, mint and chocolate is something Phil doesn't really care for--and you don't need to tell me how just objectively wrong an opinion that is--but that I love. So sometimes I make them and am just like hey man, there's ice cream in the freezer and pudding cups in the fridge, help yourself. Although he ate this one without complaining.
We did fireworks around 11:00 and toasted with prosecco at midnight. Jamie and Greg had to leave right after midnight, because Greg had a morning flight and Jamie had to take him to the airport so she could take over the rental car.
Yesterday would normally be the day the 'rents left for the condo with Jamie and Rian, but they didn't plan for it this year because we were hoping it would have sold. It didn't, obviously, but it's rented for the next 5 months, starting with December and through the end of April, so that's something. It was rented by a business with some kind of industrial-sounding name, and this week Mom got an email from the condo association saying the harbor is going to be dredged, so we think that's probably it, they rented units for the workers to stay in.
We all slept pretty late, having breakfast (I made French toast and bacon) around 11:00. I ran to Super One for more eggs, after calling to make sure they were open. I vacuumed the rugs, first checking them for stray puzzle pieces, and started washing all my bedding. I use a top sheet and change them every week, so my blankets don't need to be washed that often, I usually do them twice a year, including the two huge hand-made afghans that I really should use more often. (Jamie made one; the other belonged to my grandmother and I think it was made by a lady who was in her same assisted living facility.) I like the idea of starting the year with freshly washed blankets and comforters. It's probably time for a new pillow as well, now that it occurs to me. I don't think I bought one last year.
In between all that, I finally got around to watching The Batman, the one with Robert Pattinson. David had said he liked it, that it was more noir than comic book. I thought it was more like a serial killer movie like Se7en. I liked it, I'd see another if they made it, especially if Matt Reeves directs it again. We didn't want to eat a big lunch since we ate breakfast so late, but we'd only eaten half the cheese ring--it's huge, using a whole pound of grated cheddar--so we had some cheese and crackers and Jamie and I killed the last bottle of prosecco.
David made black-eyes peas for supper, for luck, with turkey kielbasa and kale, and cornbread. He makes it with a little tomato paste, and it's just a brighter, tangier dish than the usual dull sludge that's IMO most black-eyed peas dishes. After supper I watched Bitconned, which I thought was pretty good. Ray Trapani was the "main character", but the film makers made sure not to let him be the only voice in the room. He's clearly an amoral scumbag, he'll probably wind up in federal prison for one of his grifts sooner or later.
Jamie's here for the rest of the week, and the mission for the next few days is to score some crawfish. It's not going to be a good season because of the hot, dry summer we had. The place we usually get them from has said they'll probably only be selling a couple times a week, and we should call between 10:00 and 11:00, because they have been selling out by noon when they do have some.