It hardly matters that we climbed into the low teens today. The day is gray, the winds are strong. Suffice it to say that the cheepers refused to leave the coop.
A Friday breakfast is usually just a touch rushed -- Ed has his tech meetings to go to. I keep things in the kitchen. Northern exposure, southern exposure -- it hardly matters on a sunless day.
Lily, my new old car, has calmed down and stopped fussing. Charged and ready to go on my Friday round of grocery stores. That's the upside. On the other side, I pop by my favorite auto body shop in town and ask if I could forestall the proliferation of rust by buffing up the few spots in the predictable hit-hard-by-salt areas. The owner of the shop responds with a hearty laugh.
I persevere. How much would it slow down the rusting process if I had you touch things up a bit?
Oh, maybe two weeks! -- he's positively chortling.
How long before she'll have gaping rust holes in her body?
One year.
So, I'll be driving something that will look awful on the outside soon enough. Ah, but it's what's inside that counts and right now (and possibly forever after), Lily continues to charm me with her lovely insides and her smooth ride!
Going for groceries (which, for me, requires two, sometimes three separate stops), then unloading all that I buy for the week takes a good 3.5 hours. I set out with enthusiasm and always come back a tad disturbed by how much of the day is behind me.
As the winds continue to gust fiercely from west to east, I go to check on the cheepers, offering them some cooked corn and bread bits. They're still hiding inside. I don't want to coax them out into the bitter cold and so I give them the plate of food right in the coop and they gratefully devour it, emerging only briefly from their football-like huddle.
Friday. The young parents truly like having this evening to themselves and so I have the great pleasure of entertaining little Snowdrop at the farmhouse. She is at that crucial age where she can see, feel, recognize so much -- but it all doesn't quite make sense to her. The world seems so chaotic and fast paced! And so Snowdrop moves very quickly from calm...
... to worried.
... to playful.
... to worried again.
It's hard to be a wee little baby. Or a parent of a wee little baby. Grandmas (most grandmas) -- they have it easy. At the end of the day, they hand the wee one over to mom and dad and sit back and think about what movie to watch or what book to read.
But here's the thing: babies grow, seasons change, daffodils eventually do burst into bloom. I have a bunch waiting to do just that in the front yard. There's so much to anticipate with pleasure!
A Friday breakfast is usually just a touch rushed -- Ed has his tech meetings to go to. I keep things in the kitchen. Northern exposure, southern exposure -- it hardly matters on a sunless day.
Lily, my new old car, has calmed down and stopped fussing. Charged and ready to go on my Friday round of grocery stores. That's the upside. On the other side, I pop by my favorite auto body shop in town and ask if I could forestall the proliferation of rust by buffing up the few spots in the predictable hit-hard-by-salt areas. The owner of the shop responds with a hearty laugh.
I persevere. How much would it slow down the rusting process if I had you touch things up a bit?
Oh, maybe two weeks! -- he's positively chortling.
How long before she'll have gaping rust holes in her body?
One year.
So, I'll be driving something that will look awful on the outside soon enough. Ah, but it's what's inside that counts and right now (and possibly forever after), Lily continues to charm me with her lovely insides and her smooth ride!
Going for groceries (which, for me, requires two, sometimes three separate stops), then unloading all that I buy for the week takes a good 3.5 hours. I set out with enthusiasm and always come back a tad disturbed by how much of the day is behind me.
As the winds continue to gust fiercely from west to east, I go to check on the cheepers, offering them some cooked corn and bread bits. They're still hiding inside. I don't want to coax them out into the bitter cold and so I give them the plate of food right in the coop and they gratefully devour it, emerging only briefly from their football-like huddle.
Friday. The young parents truly like having this evening to themselves and so I have the great pleasure of entertaining little Snowdrop at the farmhouse. She is at that crucial age where she can see, feel, recognize so much -- but it all doesn't quite make sense to her. The world seems so chaotic and fast paced! And so Snowdrop moves very quickly from calm...
... to worried.
... to playful.
... to worried again.
It's hard to be a wee little baby. Or a parent of a wee little baby. Grandmas (most grandmas) -- they have it easy. At the end of the day, they hand the wee one over to mom and dad and sit back and think about what movie to watch or what book to read.
But here's the thing: babies grow, seasons change, daffodils eventually do burst into bloom. I have a bunch waiting to do just that in the front yard. There's so much to anticipate with pleasure!
Your grocery shopping seems so organized; not haphazard like mine. Do you write out a week's worth of menus and ingredients and then compose your shopping list? Or do you just buy what looks good and make up menus from what you bring home? The latter is my style, although I aspire to the former.
ReplyDeleteIt's a combination of the above. I'll have maybe two meals in mind and then I'll fill in with veggies and seafood or poultry, with which I'll improvise. I would hate to be tied to a menu. You don't always know how much time you'll have for cooking on a particular day. But I do buy with a loosie goosie weekly set of menu options. I am tremendously proud of the fact that I rarely mess up in terms of fruit and veggies purchases for the week: there are nearly always just the right amounts. The refrigerator on Friday mornings looks incredibly empty and by evening, after the shopping trips --- incredibly full.
ReplyDeleteIn WNY we're spoiled... there's Wegmans, where one-stop grocery shopping is really fun. I can spend an hour and a half, often two, just taking it slow and enjoying myself... and the groceries I buy are great!
DeleteI actually do love shopping at Whole Foods, but prudence has me go elsewhere for things that are unnecessarily overpriced or not the best there. Mineral water comes to mind. Or tissues that are as rough as the stuff I used to get in Poland. So I supplement by stopping at the lesser places as well. Unpacking everything for the week, cutting and replacing flowers, organizing the fridge -- all that takes at least half an hour. Still, I always set out with enthusiasm. But it wanes as the wintry short day disappears before my eyes.
DeleteI once had a Chevy Blazer and it was chocolate brown, not thrilling. I really wanted a silver car like yours, so I went to my local autobody guy and asked him if I could have it all changed to silver - no problem! And when they repaint your car they can install a coat of rust-guard underneath the final coats! It was about $500 and this was back a couple of decades but still, it was as if I had a brand new vehicle and I just loved it. And I never had any rusted spots after that. When I went to turn it in to buy my current Podd, the car salesman remarked at how new the Chevy Blazer appeared to him (I called her "Snow Tiger" because she could go anywhere with her 4-wheel drive in the snow).
ReplyDeleteI have to think that this one owner of Lily did the proper anti-rust undercoating. He spared no money on the car, the tires, the trim -- all of it. But the rust came anyway and once it's there, you can stall it a little, but you can't really arrest its progression. Ah well. There is a reason why this stupendous, car was barely $6000, spare wheels and all.
DeleteMORE snow falling today and tonight. The road out front has disappeared. Fortunately I expected this and brought in Thai food, movies, and all kinds of favorite food fixin's! (That's southern Ohiospeak - do you use that word in Wisconsin?)
ReplyDeleteNo baby love for this Gramma this weekend. I see our little girl so clearly in my dreams! We have the furry grandchild this weekend, the musician son's dog. DogDaddy is much in demand all weekend, which is great because winter is usually his slow season. Even so, he buys the very best dog food for his buddy. :)
I am reading a wonderful book, All the Light We Cannot See. One of NYT Year's Best and a National Book Award finalist. I bought it for the writer daughter for Christmas and she said she was enthralled and in awe of Doerr's prose style - so I got my copy from the library. #465 on the waiting list, but it came to me fairly quickly.
Emery Lord's second novel will be released at the end of March! Her third book will be published in 2016 (Jon says her third is his favorite) and Bloomsbury has bought rights to her fourth.
All those years as a Starbucks barista, dreaming of this! She made it happen!
Such a lovely update, JoyD! And yes, Doerr's book is lined up on my kindle for the March trip reading time!
DeleteYour daughter's success is awesome, especially when you consider the tough market right now for books, even great books. Super congrats!
And no, food fixin's is definitely not Wisconsinspeak. :)
Ohiospeak is something you use tongue-in-cheek, all down-home :) like Southerners sayng y'all to Yankees.
ReplyDeleteHave I told you how I like to sit down for a little interlude in Barcelona? via Ocean :)
ReplyDeleteI was just there. How refreshing!
Recently, Scotland. You have a ton of treasure in the archives that I've never seen.
Do you like travel videos? We love Rudy Maxa, I just think he could be our best ol' friend. His resume is impressive, he's not only that avuncular fellow who's such a pleasant companion.
Recommended by the former sous-chef son, we're enjoying Anthony Bourdain, even though he would not be a pal of mine! So abrasive! But his pieces have such energy and humor.
Rick Steves, no. I find him so annoying. It's not a gay thing. I love the gay guys, at least, all the ones I know.
I share your dislike of Rick Steves -- or at least I don't find him engaging. But, I have to give him credit for building his empire, despite the odds. So many have come and gone and he remains strong -- right on top of everyone's list for travel guides. Never mine. I dont own a single book of his and I find his shows terribly dull. (Which says a lot, since I can be mesmerized by nearly everyone's travel photos or blogs. But I look for the personal. The special connection. He's too robotic.)
ReplyDeleteAs for Bourdain -- do you mean the show (is there a show? We dont have cable so our offerings are small) or the book? I read his first book (I think there are now others) back in the years I was working in the restaurant, so maybe 10 years ago. I was horrified by his cockiness. I know it's a tough world out there and chefs develop this edge, but still, it was tough reading.
In Madison, we have a group of chefs/cooks who formed what they call the Underground Food Collective. They have one restaurant (a second one in the works), one butcher+other foods store and a catering business. No hierarchy, plenty of support to each other. The one who spearheads it (Jonny Hunter) was just nominate for the James Beard award for great chefs of the Midwest. He's so modest that he shies away from the label of chef! (He is also the partner of my great friend Barbara's daughter and he catered my own girl's wedding so my connections to him run deep.) I so admire his sense of community and fair play. Bourdain seems just the opposite. I mean, Gordon Ramsey is also potty mouthed and arrogant, but he seems to have a fuzzy side somewhere inside. (Later) I just looked up Bourdain and noticed he has an interesting online restaurant review thing going. I may give that a try in March! Thanks for the prod! :)
So sweet of you to take note of Ocean's travels. I have to admit, I am very ready for my next trip. It's been a long time since I sat out the whole winter and stayed home. Snowdrop is a million times worth it, but I am also looking forward to being on the other side of the ocean. Three weeks from today.
I've also done some travelling via your archives. The place I needed to look at most, Cinque Terre. Ever since seeing pictures of that area of Italy, I've wanted to go there. I've been in that area: Rome, Athens, Istanbul, Ephesus, Olympia, Patmos, and some of the Black Sea, but there's something about those brightly colored buildings clinging to the seaside cliffs and the little beach inlets that calls to me.
DeleteBourdain - his show is called Parts Unknown. His visit to Havana was a high point, It's just savvy entertainment, and occasional entertainment at that. A little Bourdain goes a long way.
DeleteWe watch on Netflix. We've never had cable. We rarely watch broadcast either. And definitely not the nightly news.. bye bye Brian Williams, you arrogant ass.
I do my homework for choosing our entertainment the same way I do my homework for compiling my reading list. I want to spend our time together well! and I'm a tough critic.
I'm going to jump into the chef chat.
ReplyDeleteBourdain's first book, Kitchen Confidential, was the first chef book I ever read. I found it shocking and voyeuristic - a wild ride. I suppose I was a bit naïve regarding the world of restaurants, but I got hooked. I next read Ruth Reichl's Tender to the Bone and thoroughly enjoyed it - very tame in comparison, but delightful. Next read Gabrielle Hamilton's Blood, Bones, and Butter - considered the best chef memoir ever ever - also another wild ride that I loved! I agree that it's the best. Fabulous. I've read others along the way - and not because I'm a foodie - just picked them up. I recently read Wizenberg's Delancey. Meh. I used to watch Ramsey's shows, but got bored - think he's an amazing chef but full of baloney. His Master Junior Chefs show is engaging, but seems so contrived like so many other *reality* shows.
I mustn't leave with a *swoon* for Snowdrop. :)
I think the chef I like best is fictional - the girl in Treme. Gorgeous photos as usual of the stripey one!
ReplyDeleteJanette Desautel! Yes, we liked her a lot! We had meant to rewatch Treme in honor of MardiGras but the time passed us by.
DeleteBiography and autobiography are up there for me -- possibly my consistently favorite genre. But I have to connect at some level to the author or else it doesn't work for me. Kitchen Confidential, beloved by the cooks I worked with, described a world of which I wanted no part. Reichl's book (actually both of them -- she wrote a part two) was, as you say, delightful. I like who she tried to be in the restaurant world (from what I could tell; I was an avid reader of Gourmet until it went out of business). The Delancey pair -- as you may have noticed, I link to their blog. It's just a different style of writing: more upbeat, less dramatic. Ramsey has become a TV persona and he's rather repetitive in his approach (we used to catch his Kitchen Nightmare on TV), but I don't dislike him. He means well and is kind to the kiddies on Junior Chefs.
ReplyDeleteBut I have to agree with Jayview too -- none of these chef characters grab me these days. They're fine, but they don't make me sit up and listen.