You are currently browsing the monthly archive for June, 2008.
Packed.
Extra food and water for cats.
Key and overly-detailed note to neighbor.
Night of fitful sleep due to combination of joyous anticipation at seeing family and dread anxiety at leaving the house unattended.
Stomach ache.
Okay, looks like I’m ready internet. I wish you all a good week and I’ll see you in eight days.
Tally ho.
Sick, I know.
This morning, I unscrewed the lid on my dad’s urn and transferred a bit of him into a container for transport to CA. On our many southern Cali camping trips, he and my mom would wake us up in the middle of the night to go down to the beach and watch for the running of the grunion. Nary a grunion was ever seen and my dad’s irate obsession with seeing them became a running joke on family camping trips – and a good excuse to sit on the beach all night eating hot dogs and s’mores. In researching our trip, my sister found out that the grunion are supposedly running in Oceanside this month. Which means that one night, we will wake her kids in the middle of the night and pass the tradition along. That’s also when we’re going to dispatch part of my dad in to the Pacific Ocean. I gingerly approached this idea with my mom earlier this week and her response was to start laughing so hard she had to set the phone down. So, ha-ha, Dad.
It was kind of…odd to sit in my kitchen this morning, funneling my dad into a container much the way I had funneled salt into shakers earlier this week. When I first opened the urn, I cried, but by the time I was done I was laughing my ass off because it was just so surreal. I ended up putting him in a plastic cosmetics container because the TSA rules are somewhat vague and I want to be sure there are no problems. Somewhere out there, I am quite sure my dad was laughing along with me.
Oh goodness. My crazy story that I can’t talk about publicly took a surprising and (I think) good turn tonight. Again, no details yet but perhaps sooner than I thought. I will say this: I got a phone call which so excited me that I actually thought, “Oh god, I need a cigarette!”. And I don’t smoke. It was crazy adrenaline madness here for a few hours. After the phone call, I recreated some of my research steps and lo and behold, two previously missing pieces of this intriguing puzzle fell into my lap, seemingly from nowhere. I think I’ve said this before but there is something about this story that feels fated somehow…information is coming in a steady stream and I am trying my hardest to push it forward without pushing it at all, if that makes any sense…Anyhow…potentially exciting times ahead! Woo hoo!
S. and I spent much of today recovering from last night – S. in particular was wiped out (he worked about a 20-hour day). I did laundry and ran errands this morning, including a brief stop at the ex-charges’ house for lunch and to get a dose of fuzzy baby head. The baby is just adorable and has a full, beautiful head of hair, including little baby sideburns. His mama is very generous in sharing the baby love so I got to hold him for quite a while. It was nice. Later, at home, I dozed off on the couch while watching Judge Judy and had some bizarre dream about working a catering at her house. Thankfully, my sister called and pulled me back into the realm of consciousness.
I’ve decided not to take my laptop with me to CA, as I suspect this may be the last week of real vacation I’ll have for a while. There’s a computer at the house we’re renting so I can check email and keep up with any new story developments but beyond that, it’s back to the Amish lifestyle of my youth. (You know, the Amish life I lead on the beaches of California so long ago. That one.)
Does this entry seem incoherent to anyone but me? Perhaps that’s because it’s 1am and I’m running on fumes. Very light fumes. I need to go to bed. Right now. Night, internet.
Menu from tonight’s event:
Coppa And Roasted Eggplant Wrapped Mascarpone
Criminis Stuffed With Pancetta Polenta
Antipasti Salad with Romaine, Radicchio, Petite Heirloom Tomatoes, Roasted Peppers, Capers, Olives, Provolone and a Braised Fennel Vinaigrette
Linguini Aglio y Olio
Panko Crusted Chicken Scallopini
Homegrown Tomato Pomodoro with Fresh Basil
Amaretti Crusted Caramelized Apple Pie
S. wants you all to know that, due to client constrictions and requests, this is not one of his more “inventive” menus. I think S. should do a guest post with pics and menus of some of his fancier stuff. What do you guys think?
Filled 10 teeny pepper shakers with pepper. Filled 10 teeny salt shakers with a layer of pretty green bamboo rice, then a layer of sea salt. (Not as easy as it sounds as it required using a paper funnel and sea salt is very moist and doesn’t like to slide out of the funnel, which lead to much use of the seven naughty words -and then some- on my part.) Unpacked and repacked serviceware for 36. Filled large salt shaker and pepper grinder. Cut, trimmed and arranged six small vases of greenery (eucalyptus and some other pretty, leafy things). Assembled two types of hors d’oeuvres: The first consisted of laying a blanched onion ribbon on the counter. On top of that I laid a paper-thin slice of coppa. On top of that went a slice of roasted eggplant smeared with toasted-garlic cream cheese. Then I wrapped the coppa around the eggplant, tied the teeny little onion ribbon and set it on a tray. I did this 92 times. I also stuffed 92 crimini mushrooms with a pancetta/romano polenta. While I was doing this, S. was pounding the bejesus out of some chicken breasts, making pomodoro and baking amaretti-crusted, sherry-and-caramelized apple pies. And then I washed some dishes. And helped load coolers and a truck. And then… I was tired and ate a bunch of Cheezits and drank part of a beer and went to bed. The end. Catering prep: so glamorous.
The event isn’t until 5:30 but I’ll be meeting S. at the event site around 1:30 to set up and finish some of the last-minute prep work. I’m happy because we’ll be working tonight with T., who works for one of S.’s other clients and who has the driest, most brutal sense of humor of anyone I have ever met. It’s always fun to stand next to him at these things and listen to his under-the-breath observations on the partygoers. My kind of fun.
So, yeah. I have a bunch of stuff to get done so off I go.
This dress is currently on a UPS truck somewhere in the greater Austin area, on its way to me. Yes, I realize that “sweater dress” and “summer in Hell” don’t exactly mix but…I wanted it. There should be one or two days during the next twelve months when it will be cool enough to wear it. And yes, every time I wear it I will pose just like the model. (Which will undoubtedly make walking difficult but what’s a girl to do?)
Also, maddest of props to Mr. S, who recently procured this most excellent coffee mug for me. It holds the equivalent of two cups of coffee and keeps it piping hot, plus it has a rubberized bottom (sounds naughty, eh?) that serves as a built-in coaster. I recommend it for you writerly types out there.
I put a vacation hold on our newspaper service this morning and was very pleased to learn that the Statesman gives you an option to have your unused papers donated to the Newspapers in Education program. They also offer an option to have them hold and deliver all your missed papers, which I find kind of odd. But then, I trial- pack suitcases so who am I to talk?!
This past weekend, one of our neighbors brought us a huge bag of homegrown tomatoes. We haven’t been buying any because of the salmonella scare and wow…I’ve eaten about half the bag in just a few days. Because I’m from a family of hillbilly freaks, I like to eat tomatoes like most people eat apples – just wash them and bite right through the skin. (That’s how I eat my human victims as well, btw.) Possibly with a few shakes of salt here and there. I also salt watermelon and put pepper on canteloupe. Uh-huh.
Some recently reminded me of THIS EXCELLENT PLACE . They have a homemade but interesting ‘museum’ in the basement and it made me think it might be a nice field trip for a certain Spy Kid. (Or have I already recommended it to you, H?) It was a frequent rainy-day stop for me and my Chicago charges.
And now, I must go iron my service clothes for tomorrow. We don’t even own an ironing board but S. has a big fancy dinner and I will be helping him out and I thought it might be nice if I wore something that didn’t look like it had been hanging in the back of the wardrobe for months. Also, pray to the great goddess of clumsiness, Lucille Ball, that I don’t drop food on anyone important, won’t you? Thanks.
Quick note:
Anyone who wants a postcard, let me know here or email me your address. Some of you may get one anyway. Bwahahahahahaha!
I am feeling laaaa-zee this morning.
On my agenda for today: finalize packing list for our trip, do a trial pack. (Yes, I actually do this.) I can’t decide if I want to check a bag or carry one on. I haven’t checked a bag in over ten years but for some reason it’s appealing to me this time around. And since we’re on SW and can check it for free, well… I am also in talks with a friend who works for the federales as to the best way to take some of my dad’s ashes with me without getting busted. He loved the beach and when we were in Malibu last year my sister and I thought it would be nice if we could bring a bit of him back with us the next time out. My mom concurred and I have been designated as the carrier – better I get detained than the 76-year-old woman or the mother of five.
Last night, S. and I broke our shut-in status by having our neighbors over for drinks. We’ve lived here for over a year and while we have a passing neighborliness with them, we’ve never actually socialized with them. And surprise! We like them! They like us! We will do it again! Sometimes I worry that my hermit tendencies have rubbed off on S. but I think the truth is they have brought out his own. Whatever.
George Carlin died last night. I was never a huge fan – he was more of my older brother’s generation than mine but let me just say this: Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, and Tits. RIP, George.
Because I am a writerly geek, I take a little notepad and pen with me everywhere I go in case I overhear a good tidbit of conversation or have a thought I want to flesh out later. Occasionally, I find notes that either make absolutely no sense or for which I’ve forgotten the context. Anyone want to try to figure these out for me?
They’re wearing matching outfits.
“It’s what’s happening, man.”
“That’s a beard what is a beard.”
I could do it on my own but I don’t want to.
Bono is the Jesse Jackson of rock.
Who are you talking to? What are you talking about?
Maybe it was his time and maybe over the course of a lifetime many “times” come to us and when we make the right decisions, we live. And when we don’t, that’s it.
Yeah, I’m kind of a sage and stuff.
What do you guys think of the new layout? I am undecided but probably too lazy to change it back or look for a new one…but feedback is welcome.
On June 20, 1996, my friend Jim committed suicide. I never know how to remember him publicly without it seeming self-serving in some way, but I honestly don’t want people to forget him or his great power-pop music. Whether you like this genre or not, his musical craftsmanship was undeniable.
So here. Enjoy.
On this day in history, Prince William, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ray Davies, Jane Russell, Mary McCarthy and Kip Winger were all born.
As was THIS SMART, SASSY LADY.
World events on this day in history:
1527: Niccolo Machiavelli died.
1778: US Constitution ratified. (Sadly, it was murdered years later by the Bush administration.)
1982: John Hinckley found not guilty by reason of insanity.
1997: WNBA formed.
Claudia is a Cancer (just barely). Let’s find out a bit about her, shall we?
“Claudia is a tough cookie. You can’t pull the wool over Claudia’s eyes and you had better not try! Claudia was born under the sign of the crab and she can deliver a very nasty nip! Cancerians may not be the fiercest creatures in the zodiac but they are blessed with a brilliant set of self-defense mechanisms. They have impenetrable armour and sharp, scary claws. Claudia’s shell is especially strong. She won’t let anyone come anywhere near to her heart unless she knows for sure that they mean no harm. Her impeccable instincts inform her of this and alert her to act accordingly. This is why the world around Claudia is divided into two sorts of people – those who don’t know quite what to make of her and those who have been fortunate enough to meet the real Claudia .
The real Claudia is soft, kind, caring, loving and giving. So soft, so kind, so special as to deserve a sainthood. All praise to ‘Saint Claudia the Caring.’ It has a ring to it does it not? It is fair comment, is it not? Indeed it is, as all who know the true nature of Claudia will willingly and eagerly confirm. There’s only one problem with being a saint. It is what it does to your ego. Claudia is a true saint and true saints are not just naturally loving and compassionate, they are also naturally humble. But true saints have a tendency to turn into martyrs. Sometimes, just sometimes, Claudia can be a little too good for her own good.”
Hope you are enjoying a happy and relaxing day, Saint Claudia. Here are some musical wishes for you as well.
