Just further proof that my brownies are a health food.

I’d go home and bake a batch, but unfortunately I have a presentation due Thursday that’s worth about a third of my grade. And it’s no use trying to get Michael to make them. He absolutely cannot bake, so that would be a waste of good chocolate.

Does anyone have a good sweet potato pie receipe? The last one I tried I didn’t like, so I’m looking for a tried and true suggestion.

Bad Day.

But one good thing from this weekend. We ordered tickets for Cirque du Soleil when it comes to Pittsburgh with VAREKAI. Susan will be coming in from Cincinatti for the show. We’ll be going with my her, my parents, and whoever wants to buy the extra two tickets we have, for my brother and sister-in-law decided they don’t want to go.

Fools.

I am really excited about getting to see another Cirque show. Tres fantastic!

Elsewhere on the home front, I cooked down two pumpkins for pies and other baked goods this winter, and made a batch of chili, which means I’ll be making cornbread to go with it. Yum. Was going to bake something, but coulsn’t decide what I wanted to make, so ended up making nothing. I’ve got apples, and I’ve got lemons, so apparently I had too many choices.

Of course I also just don’t feel very hungry. Something about the current state of politics has made me just slighly sick to my stomach.

Julia Child has died.

“Life itself is the proper binge.”

“It’s so beautifully arranged on the plate — you know someone’s fingers have been all over it.”
–Julia Child

This is not a good food week for me.

I pulled soup out of the freezer for lunch, but it had apparently been there for a little too long, because even after heating it was all separated and scary looking. No food poisoning for me thanks! Then after finding something at the cafeteria, I came back upstairs to eat only to discover that my milk had mold in it.

Yetch.

So my dad and I took my grandmother back to Baltimore this weekend. As luck would have it, my portion of the driving involved storms coming and going. I’m just lucky like that.

Although I was sorry that the visit with my grandmother ended, we did take advantage of the trip to Baltimore, and so I got to eat crabcakes at G&M’s , which always makes me happy. And we also made a trip downtown to Attman’s. I have to admit that only is it when we go to Attman’s for Jewish corned beef that I regret that I no longer eat red meat. But, I got a turkey pastrami sandwich, which was very good, so that made up for it a little. But still I always consider, if only a little bit, eating red meat again just so that I can have corned beef when we go to Baltimore. (Yes, it really is that good. As the sign says: Corned beef, Rye, Mustard. Period. You neither want nor need anything else.)

Anyway, we did a bit around the house for my grandmother, since every year there are more things that become more difficult for her. I did her laundry, so she wouldn’t have to go up and down the stairs, and as I was folding the sheets and towels, I noticed that they have become very thin with age, much like my grandmother. I feel I have to be careful or I’ll damage something. It’s a very strange and discomforting feeling, for the more frail she becomes, the more I want to touch her and hug her, knowing that the number of times I’ll be able to hug her is finite, and that number is dwindling.

But mostly I’m just glad she’s still around, and I want to enjoy her company as much as I can, while I still can.

So in addition to the lemon cake I made, my grandmother brought up her pound cake. Both of which we ate with strawberries and fresh whipped cream. (I really would like to get some unpasturized whipping cream, as I’ve read that it’s better than the ultra pasteurized you get in the store. (Which is of course superior to something out of a can, or even worse, Cool Whip.)

Saturday, about an hour after eating dessert, we were playing cards when I asked if anyone needed anything. My mom asked if there was a piece of lemon cake left (there was) so I brought the platter with the cakes over. She cut the remainder of the cake into small pieces, so that everyone could have some. (She then proceeded to eat all the pieces of cake herself. ) I asked if anyone wanted anything on their cake; we still had strawberries, but were out of whipped cream. We did, however, have some Ben & Jerry’s vanilla ice cream.

“I’d like some ice cream,” said Michael. So I got a bowl and got him some ice cream. Grandmom, looking at the ice cream, asked, “Didn’t you say you had rootbeer?” Yes, we did. Michael bought root beer at Jungle Jim’s. Virgil’s all natural micro brewed root beer in fact. “Would it be too much trouble to get a root beer float?” Not at all. Anyone else need anything?

“Well,” my dad said, “since you already have everything out, could I have a root beer float too?”

We even had straws.

I just had strawberries. With a small bite of Michael’s ice cream.

Very delicious.

Boy, do I need to start walking twice a day again…

BTW, my grandmother will be back from visiting my brother tomorrow.

Went to the Newport Aquarium. We’d gone several years ago with Andy and Susan, but I was glad to go again. I really like their set-up; there is a underwater tunnel that goes through the main tank-the tank with the sharks. There’s just something about watching the fish swimming above me that I find absolutely fascinating. Not to mention the fact that it gives you a view of the fish that I presume typically only scuba divers get. I don’t know if other aquariums use a similar set-up, but I really like it. They had added two new exhibits since the last time we were there, an otter exhibit and a lorikeet exhibit–both part of “The Rainforest”. If I’d seen otters before, it had been a long time ago, and at a zoo, so I didn’t realize (okay, these is where guys can wander off for the rest of the paragraph.) how absolutely adorable they are. They weren’t swimming, which was too bad, but were instead all curled up together on the rocks in the sun. They very much reminded me of cats, the way the curled up together, and interacted, and even moved. As I said, they were very cute, and I only wish I’d have seen them swimming.

They also had some very nice jellyfish, including a “Lion’s Mane” that I recognize from a Sherlock Holmes story.

At this moment we saw the man himself. His head showed above the edge of the cliff where the path ends. Then his whole figure appeared at the top, staggering like a drunken man. The next instant he threw up his hands and, with a terrible cry, fell upon his face. Stackhurst and I rushed forward — it may have been fifty yards — and turned him on his back. He was obviously dying. Those glazed sunken eyes and dreadful livid cheeks could mean nothing else. One glimmer of life came into his face for an instant, and he uttered two or three words with an eager air of warning. They were slurred and indistinct, but to my ear the last of them, which burst in a shriek from his lips, were “the Lion’s Mane.” It was utterly irrelevant and unintelligible, and yet I could twist the sound into no other sense. Then he half raised himself from the ground, threw his arms into the air, and fell forward on his side. He was dead.

They also had several sting rays, which I think are fascinating. They also had a thing going about sea turtles, but although they were interesting, they just don’t have the same draw for me as the sharks and the sting rays.

They still have the penguin exhibit. Penguins are so awkward on the land, that I always imagine them to be elegant swimmers. Although they are efficient, they just don’t seem elegant to me. I’m sure that penguin enthusiasts are going to come down on me for that, but I just don’t see them as elegant. Efficient, yes. Interesting, yes. Elegant, no.

After the aquarium we had lunch at the levee plaza (I think that’s what it was called) at Mitchell’s Fish Market. After watching all the fish swimming, Michael said he wanted fish for lunch, so… It was quite good, although I thought that my garlic shrimp were a little bland. Could just be me. I had a bit of Michael’s salmon, which was quite delicious. (He and Susan had the seafood platter, with salmon, shrimp, and scallops.) I would definitely go there again if we go back to the aquarium. Yum!

Although variety is the spice of life, Dinner was again at the Thai Cafe, and I again had the Drunken noodles, although I only ate half, which means that I’ll end up having that three days in row, which is perfectly alright with me. Dessert was Graeter’s, and then on back on the road to home.

Not, I know, everyone else’s idea of a vacation, but for us, it was perfect.

Helped Susan move furniture around, and took a closetful (and I do mean full) of empty boxes to storage. She now has room to move around, and to sort out everything that came into her apartment from her parent’s house after she and her brother emptied it this spring. Despite all that, I still feel like I’ve gained ten pounds.

Dinner was (finally) at Thai Cafe, again with Andy and Heather. The food was excellent, as always. I got the drunken noodles instead of the Paad Thai, and ate so much I was too full for dessert, which was more Graeter’s ice cream. Then we all walked around for a bit. As usual, it was wonderful to see Andy and Heather, but with his schedule, the visits are much too short.

I also want to note that no book stores were visited this day.

After helping Susan move some empty boxes to storage, we then got to go to Joseph Beth. I was disappointed in their selection of Folk and Fairy tales, as it wasn’t very large, and didn’t have much I hadn’t seen before. So I picked up some mysteries, two by Laura Joh Rowland, set in Japan. I fear Grandmom will read them before I do, but they look very interesting.

Had lunch at the Bistro on Joseph Beth. A tasty but perhaps over-priced portabella mushroom sandwhich. The salad greens were good, but I’m not sure the whole thing was worth $9.

Went to Wild Oats, but I didn’t get much.

Dinner was with Andy and Heather–we were going to go to Thai Cafe, but discovered that it is now closed in Sundays. So we ended up at Cactus Pear, which was not as good as I would have hoped. It was kinda froofy Mexican, and I think I prefer the regular stuff. Had more Graeter’s ice cream for dessert. Yum!

Jungle Jim’s: 4 hours. $100. One bag of groceries.

But, I got a lot of chocolate (including a bar of Scharffen Berger bittersweet), organic madascar bourbon vanilla, and other good stuff.

Dinner was the Macaroni Grill. I got Shrimp Diavolo, although without the extra spicy tomato sauce, since I seem to becoming more and more of a wimp as I get older (bag humbug). Very delicious, and took leftovers home for lunch.

Bookshopping was Border’s where I picked up the last paperback Spenser book I was missing (Widow’s Walk, started it last night) and a new book of Japanese Folktales. For the most part their selection of folk and fairy tales was pretty much the same as I’ve seen elsewhere, but it never hurts to check. I almost bought a book of Norse Tales and Myths, but then I remembered that I spent $100 at Jungle Jim’s, and so set it aside (for now). We’ll be going to Joseph-Beth, so I’ll see what they have there.

As usual, first meal with Susan was Uno’s.

We got the shrimp and crab fondue for appetizer, which was delicious, although we were so hungry, almost anything would have been great at that point.

Susan and I split a regular Spinoccli pizza, while Michael got the three mushroom thin crust. I didn’t care too much for Michael’s pizza, but ours was fine. Not quite as good as I remember, but that’s okay.

Drinks, food, good company…

Ahhhh.

I’d forgotten to mention my exciting news, which is that Giant Eagle now has Pudding Pops!

Okay, you can stop laughing now, because I really do love Pudding Pops. They seem to have disappeared off the face of the earth from about the time I was in high school until this year. I’d occasionally peruse the freezer aisle, just checking to see if anyone had anything like them, but no one ever did.

Yet when we were in Giant Eagle, walking past the freezer section, Michael said, “Look! Pudding Pops!” I immediately assumed he was taunting me; after all, I hadn’t seen them in years, why would they appear now? Yet there they were. A single box. Sitting, waiting for me.

I snagged the box, took it home, and ate four.

Strange thing is that I’m not even sure why I like them so much. I don’t particularly like the vanilla ones (in fact, I told Michael he could eat those, although not any other flavor [No, I don’t know why he puts up with me either]) but the chocolate—ah, the chocolate. It’s slightly different from fudgesicles, and slightly better, but I can’t explain why. Perhaps because fudgesicles should only be eaten at the pool, walking fast across burning hot cement, to get to the shade where you eat them as fast as possible before the entire thing melts and drips down your arm.

But Pudding Pops are to be eaten whenever and wherever, until there is nothing left but a stick, and that sitck you chew on while you wander around, until you hear the voice in your head say, “If you fall with that stick in your mouth you’ll hurt yourself!” So you stop chewing on the stick and throw it away, feeling guilty about allowing grown-up things to intrude upon a childish pleasure.

So you eat a second, because when you were a kid, you were only allowed to have one at a time; so you convince your brain that there are advantages to being an adult after all.

It’s vacation time. That means that even if we don’t visit tropical hot spots or any place any otherhuman would find to be a nice vacation spot, we will go out of our way to get good food.
(more…)