Vignettes from out and about

Into town via public transportation on the MBTA Green line.  We were going to a classical music concert, but like, a zillion young people boarded the train until it was full by the 3rd stop and SRO, very crowded until Brookline Village, when the conductor announced, as they do with ungodly frequency, "this train is going out of service."  Everyone off.  What to do?  Would we be late for the concert?  Next train comes, already crowded, and now 200 more people trying to board.  Only one door opens.  We are last in line, and finally the door we were standing by opens and we're the last two on.  I say some bad words.

Concert is lovely.  The Musicians of the Old Post Road.  We discovered them about three years ago.  German music from the time of Bach.  Sprightly, melodious, and traditional.  Beautiful chapel is the Emmanuel Church on Boston's Newbury Street.  After the concert, we wander down Newbury St, looking at the Christmas windows and drooling over the high priced merchandise. 

Finally into Papa  Razzi where we dine whenever we're in the neighborhood except for ultra-nice days when we go to Stephanies.  Unfashionably early, but there's always a crowd.  Waiter seems surprised that we've been there before, and keeps trying to give us each other's food.  I order the meat appetizer and the chicken entree, while S.O. orders a vegetarian soup and a  spicy sausage/pasta entree.   Never assume.  Food and wine delicious as usual.  Always an interesting crowd to watch.

Back onto the "T" where they are two girls in Muslim headscarves and black tights up to their hip-length coats.  Lots and lots of leg. Somewhat confused by this garb (me not them).  So anything goes.

Yesterday off to the doctor, the dump, Walmart and Whole Foods.  At Walmart I get my finger stuck in the Salvation Army bucket, trying to push my bill snd the bill of the man before me bill into the container.  A moment of panic.  Give finger a tremendous yank, hoping I don't do any permanent digital damage, and except for a small scrape, I am free and uninjured.  I ask the woman if anyone has ever done that before, and she says no.

At Whole Foods we find super-cheap Brussels Sprouts and  great cheese sale.  Also notice hazel nuts and walnuts in bulk are a much better price than our supermarket.  Buy some bulk soaps for a Christmas gift.

Back at home, we devour the Whole Foods "Pizza of the Day."  It is a basil, tomato, mushroom, cheese and pesto affair.  Very tasty with a nice thin crust.  Never had one with pesto before.

I make steak soup, which is a primo way to eek 4 servings out of one small steak.  Lots of veggies:  onion, garlic, thyme (steal from neighbors) carrots, celery, tomatoes, kale, potatoes.  Some noodles, too, and the steak, sauteed until med- rare and then saved until the final assembly.  I added some pepper flakes and Southwestern seasoning.  Lots of pepper.  Tasted real good.

Next came a new recipe for cookies made with the hazelnuts.  Total disaster!  I was supposed to form the dough into 1 inch balls, but it was way too dry and crumbly.  Finally added 3 more T. of butter.  Then the hazelnuts adorning the cookies fell out.  Then, the chocolate didn't melt right and it was a mess dipping the cookie bottoms into it.  They didn't dry, and I put the whole business outside wondering if a hungry coyote would finish the destruction.   No such luck.  Some cookies are without both nuts and chocolate bottoms.  They taste o.k. and look o.k., but I'll never make them again.  I have two other excellent cookies to take to the party Wednesday.  Old standbys.    

With two cats on my lap, I watched the Pats game to its late but satisfactory conclusion.  Every day brings its own triumphs and struggles.  Onward, onward.

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A Waiting Game in Foxborough

Waiting for the game to start, and I may as well confess that I've had frissons of nervousness all week. Bill Bellicek, Tom Brady, et. al. How will it play out? Suspense, conflict, good characters, hey, this sounds like a novel. Maybe that's why it's so interesting. The characters are tough, but are they flawed? Flawed enough? I like their steely determination, the grittiness of it all. We don't usually watch the x+1 hours of pre-game hype. Maybe I'll allow myself an hour. What the hell?

Beautiful weather in the Boston area--they could be playing here today. I took a walk and found perfect football weather--sunny, cool, a bit of a breeze but pleasant.

The bean dip is ready. I mixed some of the bought-by-mistake bean salsa into the real bean dip, and got out the chips. S.O. pronounced it edible. We're going with the chicken and pasta casserole in a mornay sauce with baked crumbs on top. The Domino ad was so cool and showed the Dominos a couple miles from here--we recognized the intersection. Even the pizza looked good, but I usually make my own.

Blueberry pancakes this morning made with sour 2% milk and diet Bisquick, the only diet fare we'll see today. I bought some Schaller and Weber double-smoked bacon--to die for. It's slab bacon, which I had been having trouble finding. Always a good feeling to use up something like soured milk without pouring it down the sink. We put Apricot syrup from the Apricot King (grown in the flavor zone) on the pancakes. Their products are so delicious. http://www.apricotking.com/.

The New York Times Book Review was thick today, and I haven't finished reading it yet, what with walking and cooking and je ne sais quoi. So my analysis will come later this week.

I'm preparing to do the dreaded Tax Workbook the accountant sends us every year. Takes about 6-8 hours to get everything entered. I keep all the receipts together all year, but somehow this is heavy duty paper work which I hate. They don't call it paper work for nothin.'

This week we're venturing forth to the new Opera House to see My Fair Lady. We were in the Opera House years ago when it was literally falling apart, but one could see intimations of the glory days, and now that's it's been rehabbed, I'm curious to see if it captures the former grandeur.

I have to come up with a speech about writing for Toastmasters. I'm thinking of talking about characters and where they come from and how real they become to the author. Should be fun, maybe even edifying.

Yesterday the Globe had an article about all the glitzy parties in Arizona, pre-game parties. Some people don't even go to the game, they just fly down, party and come home before the game. The number of private jets flying into the area is unbelievable. I've been flying into Sky Harbor since there was just one terminal. One always gasps at the huge Valley of the Sun and peers down to see the Camelback, and the plane makes a huge loop and comes in and lands heading East. You can see a gazillion swimming pools, and the baked area of the valley and the green of the city--all that water. In a sense, it always feels like coming home, because I visited there so often over the years. I hope my favorite Mexican Restaurant, Such Is Life, is benefiting from the hoopla. Well, enough for today.

So, let's hear it for the Patriots!

Googling Around

So I've wasted about 4 hours today with Google, doing research for the California book, and trying to find out where the Harvey Houses across New Mexico were located and figuring out where my heroine would be for breakfast and what they might serve.

Menus are scarcer than hen's teeth, but I saw some fantastic southerwestern architecture and I suppose I am getting a feel for train travel across the U.S. in the 1920's and the allure of the Harvey Houses.

In the meantime I found a really cool blog, "if the creek don't rise" and had some other ideas, so maybe nothing is lost except the words I might have written and still could write.

S.O. is dozing on the couch down here in the home office. We have a comfy old down sofa and a Danish rocker that's been rebuilt and reupholstered a gazillion times. Sofa was an old down-filled Dunbar so old it had a curved back. Also rebuilt and recovered multiple times. The old area rug from the late lamented Marshall Field is fraying mightily, but everywhere I look I see something interesting or beautiful or old or sentimental, so the room is really cool with his and hers areas and lots of book cases and music and what else could you want? We keep a bottle of Amontillado (not a cask) down here with the funky little glasses.

When S.O. finishes his nap, we're off to feed the cows. Yesterday the poor things had nothing to eat and the snow is really too deep to forage in. I don't know what happened to the hay, but we have some plastic bags of cow food, mostly bread and fruit and veggy scraps. I think we waste almost no food around here.

Tonight we're going bar hopping around Foxborough Stadium to check out the scene before tomorrow's big game. The movie Volver came from Netflix, and there's more Broccoli/ham casserold to nosh on, and a huge mass of challah bread pudding (see previous post).

Now if I could just get down to writing.


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Persuasion

I watched the Jane Austen special on PBS last night in spite of bad reviews, and actually enjoyed it. The young woman who played Jane looked like a young vulnerable Sandra Bullock.

Naturally everyone is New England is obsessed with football, and rightly so. I include myself among the fans, because there is something so compelling about the Patriots this year.

Tomorrow, yes, finally tomorrow the ABNA contest semi-finalists are announced. If my entry doesn't make it, I am going to have to totally rethink this writing business. Right now I have the character list for the California book, and have fleshed out the major characters.

Tomorrow also starts a course on "beginnings," always problematical. I'll be forced to write some pages. Good.

Onward, to prep for inner. We had 5 hours of no power in the snow this a.m. Cats sort of amazed to see everyone sitting in front of the fireplace reading all morning. A pleasant respite, to be sure. Now I need to be a bit more productive. Kierbasa and saurkraut tonight. Turkey Kielbasa and rinsed saurkraut, with veggies. Always aiming for a little bit healthier meal without going overboard into the non-fat and chemical choices.

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