I'm sitting here at 7:31 on Saturday morning (I was wide awake at 6 am...) watching yet another batch of snow come down, just as I was doing last Sunday. And Monday. And Tuesday. And off and on Wednesday and Thursday and Friday....It wasn't snowing when I got up at 6, but it started shortly after.
I realize that for other parts of the country, the "Arctic Blast!" (as the news channels are calling it) is paltry, but for Portland, it's big. Partly because we have so many hills and snow that melts and then freezes creating ice on those hills isn't fun. Schools were canceled all week, and I worked from home Monday and Tuesday, and most of Wednesday. I was in all day on Thursday and for a half day on Friday as it was supposed to start freezing that afternoon.
I did finally break down and buy two things I should have gotten years and years ago: cables for my tires and winter boots. I've been meaning to get both for a long time, but I always balked at the idea of spending money on things I might use a couple of times every other year. It just didn'[t seem fiscally sound, and in the past years when this kind of weather hit, I simply stayed home.
The cables were well, made, of course -- but the boots, well, for the most part they were, but when I went to put them on Thursday morning the zipper tag doohickey that you pull popped off the top of the zipper; upon inspection, I discovered that neither zipper on either boot had stoppers at the top of the zipper to keep the tab from pulling off...so I had to spend 20 minutes that morning modifying the zippers with needle and thread to create loops to keep the zipper in place.
Every couple of years Portland gets a big winter storm or two; usually it only lasts for a couple of days (so, yes, those of you who live in weather where you have snow from October until March, I realize there are only very small violins for us) and we're done with it. But like I said earlier, it's the ice that can get really bad; with the 11 main bridges going over the Willamette and the many streams going under the streets throughout the city, it makes for icy conditions. One year, there was a half-inch of ice surrounding the leaves on a tree outside my window.
Luckily, I have the ability to work from home. It's tedious, as the email I answer is done directly from our server, and it's more basic than someone would use in Yahoo! or Google Mail. After working from home the day after Thanksgiving (an optional day) and doing it all by hand, I finally remembered, the next Monday, to burn all my stationery onto a CD to have at home. Stationery is my saving grace; it's what allows me to reply to upwards of 100 emails in a day on some occasions.
Working from the server is doable, and even with my stationery on a CD to copy and paste into a reply it's still tedious. It was enjoyable on Monday and into Tuesday, but by Wednesday it was old and I was going stir crazy. I love my little apartment, but it was rather claustrophobic by Wed, and by Thursday I had a dull headache that got worse when the sun came out and was gleaming off the mirror surfaces of the snow and wet pavement.
But at least I don't lose hours by being able to work from home; it was nice to go in yesterday and Thursday, but the weather's supposed to be crappy again all weekend and into the week, perhaps even into Christmas. It's like this all down the valley, too; my friend Ruth in Eugene is "mostly sane" from being at home with her three young, energetic daughters and only one television. Her husband works for the USPS, and so it's probably been equally crazy for him, too.
I have seen snow here many times throughout my 28 years of living in Oregon, and I have seen stiff winds in that same time. But I have to admit, last Sunday was the first time, in my memory, of seeing both at the same time. The wind must have been blowing around 20-25 miles an hour, creating blizzard-like conditions. My terrace is covered, but the winds drove enough snow onto it that I had about an inch by the innermost wall, and there was about four sitting on the railing.
But what was the most amazing was watching the hummingbirds -- yes! humming birds! -- zipping in the wind, trying to feed from the feeder. One little fellow figured out how to hold onto the bottom of the plastic flower reservoir with his feet and curve his little body into the wind while drinking. I did have to add more food to the water to make it thicker, as it started to freeze in the jar, and I discovered it had turned to fairly hard slush in the reservoirs, making it hard for the little birds to feed. I've also been bringing in the feeder at night and hanging it up again in the morning so that it doesn't freeze.
The finches and chickadees and other birds that feed from my suet feeder and loose seed feeder devoured nearly 3/4 of the seed on Sunday and Monday; since then it's been less popular as the weather's been better and more ground has been exposed. But it was fun to sit here in my living room as I worked on Monday and watch everyone out there at their respective feeders. I'm still amazed by how the little hummingbirds were able to feed in that wind -- and that they survived!
I kept meaning to get my deck plants wrapped up and protected against a winter storm, but the weather kept staying calm and warm I just let it go; this storm came with a warning, but I shrugged it off, given Portland has a tendency to go into Panic Mode with a couple of inches of snow. The way it's reported, you'd think we were in the midst of something akin to the Long Winter that Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about in her book by the same title. So my poor, still blooming, still pretty geraniums got frozen. I did get them wrapped up on Tuesday morning in plastic bags to create a sort of greenhouse environment, so who knows if they'll be okay. For the ones that were too big for the bags I protected them as best I could with empty clear plastic storage boxes and their lids situated in a way to cover them and create a wind break.
I brought in my two jasmine plants, and they already look happier. The big bamboo in pots I had to leave outside (I figure if they can last through snow and cold in China, the'll be fine out there), but my palm looks kind of sad. It's all droopy and the top looks like it got bent and a bit broken in the wind. Hopefully that will pull through.
Tuesday morning I had a funny dream where I woke up and looked out my bedroom curtains to check the weather, and saw a couple of people ice skating on the swimming pool. My thought, in the dream, was, "It's too cold out. I'm going back to bed!" -- And then I woke up.
I really hope this storm blows itself out. It's now really old. I'm supposed to be cooking Christmas Eve dinner at my dad's house, but it's still supposed to be gross around that time, so who knows what's going to happen. I've already ordered a turkey from New Seasons to pick up on Christmas Eve Eve...maybe it'll keep until the weekend when the weather is supposed to return to the balmy 40s.
At least I'm stocked up on food and I'm warm. But I'm getting bored. The shows in my DVR are nearly cleared out, and I only have a few unread books around here. I guess I could go for a winter walk in this weather now that I have good boots just to get out and about; we'll see. There's only so much yoga you can do in your own apartment before you feel like you're on house arrest.
And so it's now 8:03 and the snow is still coming down. Small, dry flakes, but still. There's already a couple of inches out there and the sky is a dull pewter color. This may be the first time in my memory of having a white Christmas (I think we may have had one once before many years ago), but I'm not sure.
I do hope you all are warm and dry as you read this; I am at the moment, and I certainly hope my little birdies are as well.
-- H
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Ode to the Green Dragon
I raise a happy mug to thee
My favorite pub so near
Which has gone the way of barrels past --
Different and here no more
I raise a happy mug to thee
My Dragon'd pub so fair
My heart is touched with hoppy thoughts --
Filled with tasty fries and rotating taps
I raise a happy mug to thee
My foundered pub o' my heart
Alas! You leave! O! Like the yeast of my beer --
You gave your life to make us happy
I raise a sorrowful mug to thee
My cheerful pub of brewing beginnings
Has come to a rogueful end --
I wish thee fair and happy barley dreams
I raise a sorrowful mug to thee --
Farewell!
Rogue makes great beers -- one of my favorite ales is Dead Guy Ale -- and they do serve good food, but The Green Dragon was a truly unique place. I didn't get there as often as my brother (who was a Founder -- he invested some money, and, in return got a huge ceramic mug made especially for him -- something like 20 oz, I believe? -- which he got one free filling each time he went there -- all Founders got that -- and then 10% off his tab.).
They had many awesome beers; the hope is that Rogue will keep the rotating taps and remain true to the original philosophy and atmosphere of the pub, but only time will tell. I was sad to learn the news of the changing of the guard, but hopefully it will remain unique.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Adventures in Cooking
In my quest to make chicken curry, I made a foray to Uwajimaya, a local Asian grocery store that sells anything and everything you need for cooking Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Korean, Hawaiian, Vietnamese, and any other kind of Asian food dishes.
I love shopping there because there's so many wonderfully tasty, exotic items. Rows of rice from which to choose. Rows upon rows of soy sauces, teriyaki sauces and a multitude of other tasty sauces for cooking. Shelves of rice crackers and other snack items I came to love through my mom and our visits to Hawaii, where she grew up. Beautiful produce. Beautiful breads and meats and fish. Hawaiian Sun cans of juice (mango, passion fruit, mango-passion fruit, guava, guava-mango, guava-mango-passion fruit, and so on...mmmmmm!) for cheap. New and interesting vegetables to add to the mix. Raw sugar cane.
That's why I love shopping there.
It's also why I stopped -- I end up getting way too much! But, I have learned to hold back, and I only got what I needed.
And it's also completely amusing -- like a big soft plastic baby bottle-like container filled with this pinkish stuff that simply said "Food Stuff for ages 0-100"from Japan. There was a little picture on the front of what could either be a happy baby standing and wearing a diaper, or a plump, happy old man standing and wearing a diaper.
But the other reason I avoid going there is their nifty gift area. Lots of cool saki sets. Beautiful rice bowl sets, or just in singles. Gorgeous plates and teapots. Lots and lots of rice cookers. Sweet, sharp sushi knives. Tea whisks. Silk purses, bags, fun toys. Slippers. Woven, conical bamboo hats.
It's also fun to look at all the imported items forhousehold and bath and body care. They look similar to things we find in the bath and body sections at Fred's, but at the same time they look just like what we sell here -- and yet, also just different that even a toothbrush or tube of toothpaste has a foreign air to it; plus the English translations of the Japenese description of the products inside the packages is much like a living tour of www.engrish.com.
I think I'm going to have to remember to go shopping there more often so I can factor in some of the nifty veggies and fruits there -- as well as stock up on rice cakes and other items. Some of the stuff there was about $1 or so cheaper than the equivalent I've seen at Fred Meyer. And there's more of a selection.
I went there originally to get rice and ingredients for chicken curry; I knew they had a great selection and good pricing, and walking in I felt like I'd been transported back to Foodland, a big grocery store chain in Hawaii. It also feels good to shop among other cultures; Fred Meyer is pretty "white bread", and it was enjoyable to be around a different set of faces and people, as well as hear a variety of languages around me. At any one moment I could hear a couple speaking in Japanese, while a family going the opposite direction were speaking in Hindi.
It was also a challenge to figure out just what to get; I needed coconut milk, and I had no idea if one brand was better than the other (there were about 6 from which to choose, unlike Fred's that had 2), so I got the ones that were on sale. It was either that or try to learn how to instantly read Thai or Chinese. The brand I got was low in stock; I don't know if that's because it was on sale, or if it was a good one.
New spices, kaffir lime leaves, shallots, coconut milk and shrimp paste in hand I went home to make my meal -- only to discover that I'd gotten so distracted by all the shiny nifty things I'd forgotten to get one of the key ingredients -- unsweetened coconut flakes. I made a jaunt up to Albertson's, but they only had sweetened flakes, so I drove down the street to New Season's, where I got to packs of organic flakes for a decent price.
However -- I'd misremembered the amount of flakes I needed. I'd had it in my head it was a cup and a half, but it was actually a tablespoon and a half. I have plenty of coconut flakes now!
Cooking the meal took awhile, mostly because I was slowed down by the cloves and the cardamom seeds. When I bought the little plastic jar of the cardamom seeds, I thought they were like nutmeg -- they were about 1/2 - 1/3 the size of nutmeg and looked just like it. So while at New Seasons, I picked up something I've been meaning to get -- a microgrinder for cinnamon sticks and nutmeg. But when I started scraping the cardamom seed over the grinder, I realized it was more like a tiny little coconut and that what I'd been scraping against the grinder was actually a husk.
Confirming that by checking on the Internet, I then set about trying to figure out how to open up the little pod -- they are just hard enough so you can't just tear them open, but too soft for, say, a nutcracker. I finally discovered I could snap them open by whomping them with the pestle from my mortar and pestle set. But even that needed caution -- too little and the pod just sort of smooshed under it; too hard and it smashed everything.
Inside are little seeds that look like smooth black peppercorns fused together -- and they smell really good -- and it took me probably about 15 minutes or so to snap open enough husks to get the amount I needed to grind down to a powder.
Then onto the cloves. All I had were clove buds, and so I had to pick off the part I needed so I could grind it down. That also required care -- too little pressure to pop off the little bud and it didn't do anything, too much and you end up with a puff of nothing between your finger and thumb. That, too, took about 15 minutes.
But it was loads of fun and I was in culinary heaven from the scent wafting up from the bowl where I'd piled up all the spices. Aromatic would be an understatement.
It took about an hour and a half to cook, and that 90-minute block of time made my apartment smell divine. And the final product was tasty, too -- I also had enough for lunch, dinner and likely lunch again today. I'm definitely going to have to make more dishes like that.
The other thing about Uwajimaya is that I realized how boring standard produce selections are at standard grocery stores. Fred's does get some neat stuff, but the more exotic stuff is sometimes kind of limp-looking and / or really expensive. At least more expensive than prices I saw at Uwajimaya for the same stuff.
I think I'm going to have to go back there and meander through the other sections more -- like the frozen food, the meat section, the refrigerated food area. I love Asian cuisine, but there's only so much you can do with what your generic American grocery store sells. I love food, and I've always been a good eater, at least according to my mom. I love cooking, too, (though it's just hard to cook for one all the time!) so it will be fun to factor in some new stuff into my routine from there.
The only problem is that after awhile my apartment stops smelling good from the cooking and it gets heavy-scented with it. My old apartment did the same thing; it helps to open the front door and get a cross breeze in from my terrace doors...but I won't be able to open those much longer as the weather is cooling rapidly. Asha, a good friend from India, suggesed uncented Febreeze air freshener; I usually use essential oils warmed up in a terracotta plate on my stove, but sometimes things just won't get out of the corners.
On Sunday, I went for a nice walk around the neighborhoods near where I live; the air was gorgeous, the sun was a beautiful buttery light and song birds are still out and about. Trees still have their leaves here, so it felt more like late summer. The air was cool, but there was still a tell-tale tang of forthcoming Fall. One house had Halloween decorations out, clearly made by the resident child or children. One of them was a picture of a hand-drawn ghost with "BEWARE! SCARY!" written in all caps above the ghost, and on its chest was written "60's".
I'm not sure if the child meant that the 1960s were scary or if he meant being in his 60s would be; I suppose to any child at the age of the one who'd drawn the pictures, it would be. When you're 6, anything beyond about age 15 is "adult" and someone in their 30s is "old". (I remember watching 2001 when I was 12 and figuring out how old I'd be that year; to my horror it was 30; even at that age being 30 felt really old. Now that I'm 7 years past that, it's an amusing thought.)
All in all, it was a nice weekend.
Here's to tasty leftovers!
All in all, it was a nice weekend.
I love shopping there because there's so many wonderfully tasty, exotic items. Rows of rice from which to choose. Rows upon rows of soy sauces, teriyaki sauces and a multitude of other tasty sauces for cooking. Shelves of rice crackers and other snack items I came to love through my mom and our visits to Hawaii, where she grew up. Beautiful produce. Beautiful breads and meats and fish. Hawaiian Sun cans of juice (mango, passion fruit, mango-passion fruit, guava, guava-mango, guava-mango-passion fruit, and so on...mmmmmm!) for cheap. New and interesting vegetables to add to the mix. Raw sugar cane.
That's why I love shopping there.
It's also why I stopped -- I end up getting way too much! But, I have learned to hold back, and I only got what I needed.
And it's also completely amusing -- like a big soft plastic baby bottle-like container filled with this pinkish stuff that simply said "Food Stuff for ages 0-100"from Japan. There was a little picture on the front of what could either be a happy baby standing and wearing a diaper, or a plump, happy old man standing and wearing a diaper.
But the other reason I avoid going there is their nifty gift area. Lots of cool saki sets. Beautiful rice bowl sets, or just in singles. Gorgeous plates and teapots. Lots and lots of rice cookers. Sweet, sharp sushi knives. Tea whisks. Silk purses, bags, fun toys. Slippers. Woven, conical bamboo hats.
It's also fun to look at all the imported items forhousehold and bath and body care. They look similar to things we find in the bath and body sections at Fred's, but at the same time they look just like what we sell here -- and yet, also just different that even a toothbrush or tube of toothpaste has a foreign air to it; plus the English translations of the Japenese description of the products inside the packages is much like a living tour of www.engrish.com.
I think I'm going to have to remember to go shopping there more often so I can factor in some of the nifty veggies and fruits there -- as well as stock up on rice cakes and other items. Some of the stuff there was about $1 or so cheaper than the equivalent I've seen at Fred Meyer. And there's more of a selection.
I went there originally to get rice and ingredients for chicken curry; I knew they had a great selection and good pricing, and walking in I felt like I'd been transported back to Foodland, a big grocery store chain in Hawaii. It also feels good to shop among other cultures; Fred Meyer is pretty "white bread", and it was enjoyable to be around a different set of faces and people, as well as hear a variety of languages around me. At any one moment I could hear a couple speaking in Japanese, while a family going the opposite direction were speaking in Hindi.
It was also a challenge to figure out just what to get; I needed coconut milk, and I had no idea if one brand was better than the other (there were about 6 from which to choose, unlike Fred's that had 2), so I got the ones that were on sale. It was either that or try to learn how to instantly read Thai or Chinese. The brand I got was low in stock; I don't know if that's because it was on sale, or if it was a good one.
New spices, kaffir lime leaves, shallots, coconut milk and shrimp paste in hand I went home to make my meal -- only to discover that I'd gotten so distracted by all the shiny nifty things I'd forgotten to get one of the key ingredients -- unsweetened coconut flakes. I made a jaunt up to Albertson's, but they only had sweetened flakes, so I drove down the street to New Season's, where I got to packs of organic flakes for a decent price.
However -- I'd misremembered the amount of flakes I needed. I'd had it in my head it was a cup and a half, but it was actually a tablespoon and a half. I have plenty of coconut flakes now!
Cooking the meal took awhile, mostly because I was slowed down by the cloves and the cardamom seeds. When I bought the little plastic jar of the cardamom seeds, I thought they were like nutmeg -- they were about 1/2 - 1/3 the size of nutmeg and looked just like it. So while at New Seasons, I picked up something I've been meaning to get -- a microgrinder for cinnamon sticks and nutmeg. But when I started scraping the cardamom seed over the grinder, I realized it was more like a tiny little coconut and that what I'd been scraping against the grinder was actually a husk.
Confirming that by checking on the Internet, I then set about trying to figure out how to open up the little pod -- they are just hard enough so you can't just tear them open, but too soft for, say, a nutcracker. I finally discovered I could snap them open by whomping them with the pestle from my mortar and pestle set. But even that needed caution -- too little and the pod just sort of smooshed under it; too hard and it smashed everything.
Inside are little seeds that look like smooth black peppercorns fused together -- and they smell really good -- and it took me probably about 15 minutes or so to snap open enough husks to get the amount I needed to grind down to a powder.
Then onto the cloves. All I had were clove buds, and so I had to pick off the part I needed so I could grind it down. That also required care -- too little pressure to pop off the little bud and it didn't do anything, too much and you end up with a puff of nothing between your finger and thumb. That, too, took about 15 minutes.
But it was loads of fun and I was in culinary heaven from the scent wafting up from the bowl where I'd piled up all the spices. Aromatic would be an understatement.
It took about an hour and a half to cook, and that 90-minute block of time made my apartment smell divine. And the final product was tasty, too -- I also had enough for lunch, dinner and likely lunch again today. I'm definitely going to have to make more dishes like that.
The other thing about Uwajimaya is that I realized how boring standard produce selections are at standard grocery stores. Fred's does get some neat stuff, but the more exotic stuff is sometimes kind of limp-looking and / or really expensive. At least more expensive than prices I saw at Uwajimaya for the same stuff.
I think I'm going to have to go back there and meander through the other sections more -- like the frozen food, the meat section, the refrigerated food area. I love Asian cuisine, but there's only so much you can do with what your generic American grocery store sells. I love food, and I've always been a good eater, at least according to my mom. I love cooking, too, (though it's just hard to cook for one all the time!) so it will be fun to factor in some new stuff into my routine from there.
The only problem is that after awhile my apartment stops smelling good from the cooking and it gets heavy-scented with it. My old apartment did the same thing; it helps to open the front door and get a cross breeze in from my terrace doors...but I won't be able to open those much longer as the weather is cooling rapidly. Asha, a good friend from India, suggesed uncented Febreeze air freshener; I usually use essential oils warmed up in a terracotta plate on my stove, but sometimes things just won't get out of the corners.
On Sunday, I went for a nice walk around the neighborhoods near where I live; the air was gorgeous, the sun was a beautiful buttery light and song birds are still out and about. Trees still have their leaves here, so it felt more like late summer. The air was cool, but there was still a tell-tale tang of forthcoming Fall. One house had Halloween decorations out, clearly made by the resident child or children. One of them was a picture of a hand-drawn ghost with "BEWARE! SCARY!" written in all caps above the ghost, and on its chest was written "60's".
I'm not sure if the child meant that the 1960s were scary or if he meant being in his 60s would be; I suppose to any child at the age of the one who'd drawn the pictures, it would be. When you're 6, anything beyond about age 15 is "adult" and someone in their 30s is "old". (I remember watching 2001 when I was 12 and figuring out how old I'd be that year; to my horror it was 30; even at that age being 30 felt really old. Now that I'm 7 years past that, it's an amusing thought.)
All in all, it was a nice weekend.
Here's to tasty leftovers!
All in all, it was a nice weekend.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Ha ha!
So I'm sitting here at work, diligently working away, when Trillian tells me I've received a comment on my blog.
I check my mail, and I read this:
"Hey Heather. This is Zak from Shmaltz Brewing Company, the makers of HE'BREW Beer. Glad to hear you enjoyed the brews, and with a delicious roast beef sandwich no less. Happy New Year. L'Chaim!"
Turns out, from the website, he's the California Sales and Marketing manager.
You're welcome, Zak!
-- H
I check my mail, and I read this:
"Hey Heather. This is Zak from Shmaltz Brewing Company, the makers of HE'BREW Beer. Glad to hear you enjoyed the brews, and with a delicious roast beef sandwich no less. Happy New Year. L'Chaim!"
Turns out, from the website, he's the California Sales and Marketing manager.
You're welcome, Zak!
-- H
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Greetings, Earthlings!
...For lack of a better title.
It's been awhile since I wrote. I'm essentially all settled in, and loving it. I did go into terrible sinus allergies because of all the dry wall dust crusting everything from the refurbishing going on in my wing, but that's finally passed. I'm still a bit compressed in the head, but it's about 90% of where I was a few weeks ago. Ugh.
Last day of nice weather was yesterday, though, sadly, so my time for my terrace is drawing to a close. My plan is to go to Home Depot in a few weeks and get some clear plastic sheeting to make a sort of greenhouse against my terrace wall. I'll also grab some old boxes from the recycling bin outside work and use them to insulate the plants on the floor and against the wall (it's concrete). I'm not sure how I'm going to hang the plastic, but there's wood to which I can perhaps tack it. I need to find away to keep it closed, but also allow for me to get in and water them.
I started doing something like that a few years ago after I lost my plants in a bitter wind that started up after lunch one afternoon in late November; it had actually been rather balmy for that time of the hear, and it was quite sudden that such a fierce wind came in. I finally asked to go home early around 4 so I could go home and get my plants indoors(they had weathered just fine on my terrace the years prior), but by the time I got home, they'd already died. I think the wind chill had been listed at about 17 degrees. Brr.
I'll maybe have Rory, a good friend, who likes to modify things take a look (he buys well-made camping equipment and finds ways to improve it; I keep telling him he should work for R and D at Columbia Sportswear here in town) -- or perhaps my handy father, who kindly came over and fixed my bed this past weekend. One side of the footboard where the bedframe attaches to it had pulled out to reveal lovely particle board that was starting to disintegrate. After 24 hours of being clamped down with super-duper wood glue, it's much better now.
Although I'm not Jewish, I decided to at least honor the Jewish New Year the other day in a very Andrew kind of way: I went to Hagen and got a tasty kosher roast beef sandwich on rye, and I picked up a tasty beer from the Shmaltz Brewing Company; they're based out of New York, and their beer lable is "He'Brew" (har har; it's the "Chosen Beer", as they claim...har har again!) It was founded by two Jewish men from New York, and my favorite is Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A -- A Rye-Based Double I.P.A (India Pale Ale for those of you who don't read Andrew's blog(s) and don't know what it is). It's "brewed with an obscene amount of hops".
The whole labeling and marketing they do is funny; it's somewhat as if Mel Brooks would do a spoof of a Blacksploitation film, except with Jews. There's a lot of schtickyness, so to speak, to the whole website.
To check it out, GO HERE.
It was almost a disaster, though -- I couldn't find the beer, and then, with relief, I found it on a different shelf...with only two left! Apparently other people had the same idea I did. I also included a bag of New York Cheddar Kettle Chips and went home to savor my very tasty dinner.
Oh, and the beer is certified Kosher, too. Too funny. It was a nice way to wind down after a very crazy-making day. (I began eating after sundown, too.)
Anyway, that's sort of all the news I have, and there isn't much. I think I'm going to wait on having an official housewarming until the warm weather comes around again -- that way my terrace will be in full bloom with new flowers, and I can have a BYOM / BYOB (Bring Your Own Meat / Beer) celebration and cook on my grill.
I've been thoroughly enjoying my DVR and getting House, M.D. in HD, as well as the Science Channel and the National Geographic Channel. Plus it's nice to be able to set up a series recording and slurp up every episode of something you want. I just have to be careful to stick in some exercise here and there!
-- H
It's been awhile since I wrote. I'm essentially all settled in, and loving it. I did go into terrible sinus allergies because of all the dry wall dust crusting everything from the refurbishing going on in my wing, but that's finally passed. I'm still a bit compressed in the head, but it's about 90% of where I was a few weeks ago. Ugh.
Last day of nice weather was yesterday, though, sadly, so my time for my terrace is drawing to a close. My plan is to go to Home Depot in a few weeks and get some clear plastic sheeting to make a sort of greenhouse against my terrace wall. I'll also grab some old boxes from the recycling bin outside work and use them to insulate the plants on the floor and against the wall (it's concrete). I'm not sure how I'm going to hang the plastic, but there's wood to which I can perhaps tack it. I need to find away to keep it closed, but also allow for me to get in and water them.
I started doing something like that a few years ago after I lost my plants in a bitter wind that started up after lunch one afternoon in late November; it had actually been rather balmy for that time of the hear, and it was quite sudden that such a fierce wind came in. I finally asked to go home early around 4 so I could go home and get my plants indoors(they had weathered just fine on my terrace the years prior), but by the time I got home, they'd already died. I think the wind chill had been listed at about 17 degrees. Brr.
I'll maybe have Rory, a good friend, who likes to modify things take a look (he buys well-made camping equipment and finds ways to improve it; I keep telling him he should work for R and D at Columbia Sportswear here in town) -- or perhaps my handy father, who kindly came over and fixed my bed this past weekend. One side of the footboard where the bedframe attaches to it had pulled out to reveal lovely particle board that was starting to disintegrate. After 24 hours of being clamped down with super-duper wood glue, it's much better now.
Although I'm not Jewish, I decided to at least honor the Jewish New Year the other day in a very Andrew kind of way: I went to Hagen and got a tasty kosher roast beef sandwich on rye, and I picked up a tasty beer from the Shmaltz Brewing Company; they're based out of New York, and their beer lable is "He'Brew" (har har; it's the "Chosen Beer", as they claim...har har again!) It was founded by two Jewish men from New York, and my favorite is Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A -- A Rye-Based Double I.P.A (India Pale Ale for those of you who don't read Andrew's blog(s) and don't know what it is). It's "brewed with an obscene amount of hops".
The whole labeling and marketing they do is funny; it's somewhat as if Mel Brooks would do a spoof of a Blacksploitation film, except with Jews. There's a lot of schtickyness, so to speak, to the whole website.
To check it out, GO HERE.
It was almost a disaster, though -- I couldn't find the beer, and then, with relief, I found it on a different shelf...with only two left! Apparently other people had the same idea I did. I also included a bag of New York Cheddar Kettle Chips and went home to savor my very tasty dinner.
Oh, and the beer is certified Kosher, too. Too funny. It was a nice way to wind down after a very crazy-making day. (I began eating after sundown, too.)
Anyway, that's sort of all the news I have, and there isn't much. I think I'm going to wait on having an official housewarming until the warm weather comes around again -- that way my terrace will be in full bloom with new flowers, and I can have a BYOM / BYOB (Bring Your Own Meat / Beer) celebration and cook on my grill.
I've been thoroughly enjoying my DVR and getting House, M.D. in HD, as well as the Science Channel and the National Geographic Channel. Plus it's nice to be able to set up a series recording and slurp up every episode of something you want. I just have to be careful to stick in some exercise here and there!
-- H
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