Weekend notes: its raining. :(

[gayathri]

I know, we need the rain, but I'm so cold, nd so tired of being COLD!!! I know, big whiney baby head. There is SNOW IN THEM THAR HILLS and I'm not well enough yet to go skiing. :( No motorcycle riding either.

But, despite that, the weekend has been _mostly_ awesome.

Friday, headed south to RWC after work to meet up with byronium  and llamaeyes  to see Coraline again. Well, again for me and byronium. Margaritas at Milagros in RWC, walked over to the theatre. Saw a porche with the license plate, "Hal2000"...

two thumbs up again for Coraline. :)

I didnt want to get up early on saturday, so I didnt. Went to Serpentine for a late valentine's day brunch with my bestest valentine byronium. He had the red velvet hash, and I had the chicken fried steak and eggs. *sigh* Best Brunch Place - tho expensive, so it isnt someplace I can go often. Whiskey Smashes to start out, as well.

Headed out to pick up stuff for dinner at Park Place that night - steaks, and items for cheesy potatoes and a beetroot salad.

Hung out at my place waiting for the housekeeper who was supposed to come to help clean my place... at a 145, she txts me to say she'd hurt herself partying the night before and couldnt make it. Annoyed beyond belief (this is now the third time she's flaked), I called anther housekeeping company (Natural Maidens) and then went on a tear around my apartment - wiped down all the surfaces of the fan blades, damp mopped the floor in my bedroom, moved EVERYTHING around and damp mopped around the bed too.
of course, that didnt really help my asthma much. *sigh* I was so annoyed - the place is very dusty and its really making me crazy.

The bathroom, bedroom and living room are as done as they are getting, by me, the kitchen still needs a lot of help.

byronium  shows up, with my valentine's day presents! I wasnt expecting anything from him, but was really happy. My boy is thoughtful and sweet and I adore him as much as I've ever adored someone. :)

We head over to Park Place and the cooking commences - TBone steaks on the Big Green Egg, roasted red and yellow heartbeets salad with arugula, cheesey potatoes, ginger cauliflower, chard, mushrooms and bleu cheese for top of the steaks, baked hot chocolates and rice pudding for dessert.

I had too many cheesy potatoes. *sigh* they are so so so so so good.

Sadly, when we got back to byronium 's, found that his ratgrrl Julia who had not been doing so well, had passed away. :( 
I'll really really miss her bright little face being so curious,  how she'd wake me up at night with her squeaky crazy energy on the wheel.

Was not the best ending to a lovely day for certain. I petted byronium  a bunch and fell asleep dreaming of jumping mice from Coraline.

Today was utterly mellow. I've been practicing how to knit in the round and spent most of the morning watching people making pancakes and yummy scones while doing so... I've gotten pretty far, and screwed up in some interesting ways - need to see how I did this with some help with bobbing_bob...
Tonite, made some amazing soup:

6 slices of bacon, sliced up, cooked until crispy. remove bacon
Cook 2 roughly sliced onions, 6 smashed garlic cloves in the bacon fat until translucent
Add in 4 celerey stalks, (chopped into 1/4" slices); cook all of this until it wilts
add in 2 bunches of roughly chopped kale leaves, mix until wilted.
Add in 3 qts of chicken stock, 3 cans of well rinsed white beans (I had a mix of cannellini, and white beans) (this could be a lot more, actually, I think another two cans of beans would be good.) 
Add in three chopped carrots (1/4" slices)
Bring to a simmer.
Add in bacon and spicy italian sausages that yo've browned in another pan 'cause you forgot to do so in the pot... and a tea ball filled with herbs (Oregano, peppercorns and thyme)

Cook until kale is cooked thru. Serve with a dash of Crystal. EAT UNTIL THE BOWL IS EMPTY AND .. you know, lick it.

srsly. that was so good. And then even BETTER, byronium made some chicken piccatta. The PAN SAUCE! oh, I'll have to write about the pan sauce process when I'm a little more awake, 'cause, dang. So much fun.

So first, the chicken piccatta, 'cause the pan sauce needed to be first. Then the spicy hot bowl of soup. And my stomach is full of so much yum. My mouth was so happy.

Anyway, its late and its bedtime now.

I wish my lungs would quit bugging me. :( 

Comments

[rhiannonstone.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting the soup recipe! I've been meaning to ask you for it since the first time you mmentioned making it awhile back. It sounds so delicious!

[gayathri.livejournal.com]

this is the first time I've made it that way, actually, so its far far different than any other time. (I believe the other soups were actually vegetarian versions, cooked in olive oil and butter, no pork products)

[lil-brown-bat.livejournal.com]

I called anther housekeeping company (Natural Maidens) and then went on a tear around my apartment - wiped down all the surfaces of the fan blades, damp mopped the floor in my bedroom, moved EVERYTHING around and damp mopped around the bed too. of course, that didnt really help my asthma much.

Next time you do housework, wear a mask or just improvise one with a bandanna. With a woodstove, I have to deal with a certain amount of ash and smoke. I think that being scrupulous about wearing a bandanna was pretty important when I was getting over bronchitis last month.

[gayathri.livejournal.com]

yea, I need to get a better mask. I wore a bandanna, but it didnt help.

[lil-brown-bat.livejournal.com]

Sure it helped. It just wasn't a total solution. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good: if you need to do something, use what you have, don't do without what protection a bandanna will give you just because you haven't had time to buy the $329 micropore ergonomic sustainable filter mask.

[gayathri.livejournal.com]

heh, no, that's why I used the bandana, I didnt have even the usual micropore masks from home depot.

[sfracerx.livejournal.com]

Yes, it sucks when people repeatedly flake on you.

[gayathri.livejournal.com]

I just dont have any patience for it right now. :( I'm sick of being tired and overworked.