Snake Surly

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June 29, 2006

Cooking Frenzy

It's so weird. I've cooked more in the last couple of months in this tiny, semi-equipped kitchen than I ever did in the spacious Fremont townhouse. I can't figure it out.

Wednesday, I made a very nice vegetarian spaghetti using ingredients from the kickass organic mini-mart across the street. To my delight, just as I'd put the pasta on to boil, Pete called and wanted to know if we wanted to go out to dinner, and I said, "No, but come on over and you can have dinner here!" It made me feel all domestic and stuff.

Thursday morning I used some of the leftover bread to make French Toast for breakfast. Mmmmmmm. Again, it made me feel all domestic to send Nathan off to work with a hot breakfast. Later that afternoon, following a hot tip from my uncle Harry, I went to the Berkeley Bowl, the world's greatest grocery store. Dude. 8000 square feet of PRODUCE. It rocked. Anyway, I wound up making lamb stew, which, despite some obstacles, kicked ass.

I'd wanted to have a Bordeaux with dinner, but there wasn't any at the store, so I got a super cheap ($6.99) French Syrah - the "Nord Sud" from Laurent Miquel in Languedoc. I'd never heard of this producer, and I'd never had a French Shiraz. But it was cheap enough to say, "what the heck". Anyway, we opened it up and had a taste. Definitely Shiraz, definitely not Australian, quite good and fruity and fairly assertive. But then about halfway through dinner I poured us another glass, and it had totally changed. Now it was round, luscious and just oozing with cherries. Man. It was a total, "Oh, THAT'S what they mean when they say that wine 'opens up'" moment.

I went back to Berkeley Bowl today and grabbed a couple more bottles. If I could have afforded it, I'd have gotten a case.

Tonight I'm broiling some chicken bosoms and will be serving them cold on some green salad with haricots verts and pecans. Yum yum yum. But first, leftover lamb stew for lunch!

Posted by Kate at 1:51 PM | Comments (6)

June 23, 2006

to do list

We're off to Scenic Sacramento tomorrow morning at the butt-freakin' crack of dawn for Faire. It's supposed to be over 100 degrees all weekend. Oh, joy.

Here's the stuff I need to get done today:

the dishes
pack (I should probably iron the shirts, too)
charge cell phone, camera, iPod, etc.
sacrifice live chicken to weather gods
clean the horribly untidy living room
hydrate myself
wash hair, shave legs

Am I doing any of these things? HELL, NO. I am sitting on my ass, watching TV and alternately knitting, doing crossword puzzles and surfing the Web. AND taking silly time-wasting pictures of myself with the cool camera that's built into Nathan's iMac.

See?

Posted by Kate at 2:33 PM | Comments (4)

recipe for a hangover

Okay, I'm not actually hungover, just a little dehyrated, and this drinkie was probably not the main culprit (the other drinkies and the popcorn helped), but this was yummy:

The Drink With No Name
inspired by the thought that I needed to clean the refrigerator

2 skanky bananas
1 overripe white peach
10 or so elderly strawberries left over from last week's daiquiri-fest
juice of an orange that's starting to wither because it was stripped of part of its peel a couple days ago
3 oz rum
splash of Citronge
ice

Blend the fruit in the blender, add ice, blend into smoothie goodness. Top with a float of illegal Cuban rum and the rest of the whipped cream.

MMMMMMMMMmm.

Posted by Kate at 10:43 AM | Comments (5)

June 20, 2006

So sad

The problem with excellent strawberry daiquiris made from scratch is that you hoover them down and then you want more more more.

Posted by Kate at 8:43 PM | Comments (4)

June 12, 2006

Cleanup

Whew. Back from Valhalla. It was a slightly lower-key weekend than last, and really much more enjoyable. We sort of just took it easy and chilled with the nice folks at St. Simon's. I got a few new costume bits. I'm getting pretty happy with the way the whole ensemble looks.

Now I'm taking a break from cleaning up. All the boots and shoes and leather things need cleaning, clothes are being washed, stuff is being stowed away...oy.

I'm getting up now, really I am.

Posted by Kate at 2:19 PM | Comments (3)

June 9, 2006

Finito

Okay, all the mending is done, the hat is finished, my suitcase is packed, there's plenty of Bourbon and I'm ready to head up to Tahoe for the second weekend of Faire.

Clink!

Posted by Kate at 4:53 PM | Comments (5)

who knew?

I've been up since 8:30 AM. If you'd told me a year ago that I'd be sitting in my apartment mending costumes for minstrels, I'd have laughed. I'd also have laughed if you'd told me that I'd have picked up the phone to ask someone, "Do you want me to take that ale token out of your codpiece?"

Back to the grind. All the shirts and things are mended, but my skirts need ironing and I'd like to finish the hat I'm knitting.

p.s. My fingertips hurt. I think I need a thimble.

Posted by Kate at 11:28 AM | Comments (1)