can't stop now . . .

if i don't stop playing, i am going to miss lunch with the girls.  that and some really yummy thai food.

and another . . .

Oia, a small village on Santorini, Greece, was on my bucket list.  Check!

to suck or not to suck . . .

it was a sucky morning and all it took was a well meaning hug from someone i had not seen since the 9TS departed the cave.  tears still sneak up when least expected.

but, i found a new tutorial which made me go running to see how fast i could fire up my CS4 and then the day got unsucky:

isn't this a cool technique???  the tut can be found here.

numero cinco . . .

I'm milking these beach shots for all they are worth. 

Doing a tap dance.  Kidlet is headed home for a few days.

evolution . . . .

when i think about what i cook these days . . . what my palate craves . . . i realize how much it has changed in the last 20 years.

when i married the 9TS, i married a second generation Italian.  a man who loved his pasta.  a man who grew up with his mother's scratch cooking.  while Lou was born in the US, Joe was born in Italy.  between the two, meals were all about pasta, family and heritage.  Lou's pasta was homemade.  her gravy full of rich spices, slowly cooked.  bar none, she created some of the best Italian cuisine i have ever tasted.  and she shared.

i, on the other hand, grew up on Betty Crocker's balanced meals of meat, starch and vegetable.  good but uninspired.  i didn't know any better.  hey, i am not knocking it.

for the next 20 years, i ate mostly raw veggies and popcorn.  let's just say i was not financially secure and they were easy staples.  no wonder i wore a size 4. 

when i finally learned to cook, it was through the help of a Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook and the necessity of feeding a ne'er do well husband.  i figured if it could teach me how to boil water, it might just make me the queen of meat and potatoes . . . that which he who must be obeyed, craved.  and in truth, i can cook a mean prime rib with oven browned potatoes.

but back to pasta.  the 9TS was really my mentor.   he was in charge of all things Italian.  he made gravy from scratch just like his mom and his older brother.  slowly i learned the basics but i never did make my own pasta.  mix flour and water and my fingers are glued together tighter than a tick on a dog's neck.  it was his domain.

after his triple by-pass in 2000, we reinvented eating/cooking in the cave.  we cut out fat and so, much of the flavor disappeared.  

as he became less able to cook, i insisted we shelve our 10 year hiatus into the world of fat free and go for the gusto to beef him up.  i would watch and type whenever he cooked.  i have a library of most of his favorites although i must admit, i looked the other way while he prepared airships . . . they not being my most favorite.  i memorized his own version of 'bam':  garlic salt, garlic powder, basil, oregano, Italian seasonings.  i left more fat on pork, better tasting cuts of beef marbled with fat.  i stuffed him full of chocolate covered donuts.  i fed him anything he could tolerate.

and now, i have taken yet another fork in the road.  fresh spices as opposed to bottled.  the difference is night and day.  i eat very little meat.  none at all actually unless Kidlet is home.  on a college budget, she hits the door craving that which she cannot afford.  Meat, momma, feed me meat!

and so with today's lunch using fresh Italian parsley and fresh basil, i realize how sweet and fragrant my palate has become and as i tucked into some left over homemade pasta fagioli for dinner, i counted once again how lucky i was to have known the sloth for the seventeen years he was mine, for with him came an open window to new food and new flavors and a new life, rich in love of food, family and friendship.  amen.

it's drizzling . . .

so i am making a mediterranean salad for lunch:  chopped tomato, fennel, red pepper, greek olives, feta cheese, chick peas, fresh basil and parsley drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice.  it is marinating while i am drooling.

fast forward an hour and here we go:

i gotta tell you, this is delicious! 

meantime, since it is still raining, the pool is getting full.  thankfully, it is at the point where the drain is working well:

a good day to stay inside and nosh, nap and navigate nothingness!

it's raining . . .

it's pouring, the old man is snoring.  and while the old sot sleeps comfortably in his nice dry feather bed, we are under a tornado warning.  not nice old man.  not nice.

it's been raining all day . . .  this after a couple of weeks of rain.  one more inch and the pool is going to overflow.  hopefully, it will do what it usually does and overflow into the woods behind us.  it would not be my first choice of how to wash the kitchen floor.

the good news is, i will finally get to wear my yellow rain boots tomorrow when i go grocery shopping.  yay!