Pensées and other thoughts

The bad cat Thisbe is staring at me with love in her eyes.  She just hurled on the sofa and is asking forgiveness.   That sofa was around when God was a boy.   We're actually thinking of having it reupholstered and  put it back in the living room.  It is an old down-filled Dunbar that we bought years ago ($65) at a house sale in Deerfield, Il.   You are forgiven, Thisbe.

Yesterday I trekked through the Braintree Mall with a 12-year-old young lady, and the term shop til you drop was never more apt.  I was dropping.  She was still raring to go.  We arrived home with lots of parcels, including 2 pieces of cheesecake from (natch) The Cheesecake Factory, and a whole bunch of stuff from The Body Shop til you drop.

I  barely had energy to make lentil soup garnished with homemade croutons and kielbasa.   Tasty.  Today was  Turkey Day - 1, and I did the cranberries, the pumpkin tarts and prepped for the vegetable and the dressing.   Cooked up two kinds of tacos for dinner.    The guest said that they are better than restaurant tacos. I do a whole rigamarole with reconstituted pepper, black beans, red pepper and red jalapeno,  8  garnishes, the whole nine yards.  Now I am yawning, but well situated for the morrow.  We have a mildly ambitious menu, so I should be able to cope.  Now it's bedtime.

I'm reading two of my manuscripts on my Kindle--you email them to your Kindle account and they load them onto the device for chump change.  It is really easy to find typos on the Kindle.  I bookmark them, and then do a scan on the MS as I go thru the bookmarks.  Works like a dream.  Highly recommend.

The formerly orange cat can also be described as kumquat.  This is not the cat who vomited on the couch.  The cats are happy with a new catnip plant.  Many nibbles. 

We are feeding the poor starving squirrels.  Our oaks produced NO ACORNS this year.   A friend brought me a bushel basket of them from New York.  We also bought corn and have been throwing out stale bread.   And the pumpkin has been chewed up royally.  An opportunistc mouse has taken up residence under the front porch to partake of all the sudden delicacies.  I love it.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.  Tomorrow I'll have a photo of a cat wearing glasses . . . and cattitude.  Can you wait? 

Grapeshot

The New Year Lurches In Like A Zombie

Recovering from houseguests. Laundry. Leftovers. Lethargy. The 3 L's? After the laundry comes the ironing of napkins and pillowcases. Sheets can tend to themselves.

What is better than a meat pie? I had LOTS of leftover pork tenderloin. Cut it into bite-sized cubes, browned in butter with some scallions and garlic, sprinkled with flour and roast-beef seasoning (go figure) and added some stock mixed with a bit of white wine. Tossed in lots of chopped parsley and a couple big spoonsful of sour cream. Stir like crazy. Tossed in a bit of leftover rice since I had no potatoes, and a few cooked baby carrots and some frozen peas. Put a Pillsbury ready-made pie crust on top and cooked in a hot oven until the crust was brown.

We ate it last night and tonight. Yum!

Today was the day to exchange some presents at Macy's. I have to tell you that if everyone in the city and suburbs of Boston bought a bra and some panties at Macy's in South Shore Plaza, there would still be plenty for the people in Providence. Sheeesh! Never have I seen so much underwear, so many pj's. People, there are also a lot of really ugly clothes out there. Kohl's had some in the kids dept. and Macy's had some in the women's dept. Ugly. Ugly. Probably everyone could buy something ugly and the store would still have . . . well, you know.

We had a frugal lunch at Au Bon Pain. I noticed with sorrow that the tarragon chicken sandwich was not on the menu, nor was the Florentine tomato soup. Alas, alas. S.O. had broccoli cheddar soup and I scarfed down a spicy tuna sandwich. Lunch for two for $13.00 with lemonade is not bad. Some places a glass of wine would cost that much.

Hit the Body Shop for soap and foot cream and other sundries. The Body Shop rocks.

On the Scottish Highland Cattle front, the young black bull is gone, which must mean the freaked out pregnant cow is in residence. I fed them yesterday--three bags of fruit and veggie scraps. The grapefruit rinds from 4 people filled a whole bag.

I made apricot bars today. Hope they aren't overly sweet like the last batch. Current recipes can way overdo the sugar.

Promiscuous Mode received another rejection today. I am back in my drug lord's head, which is not a bad place to be as he daydreams of Cali and Cartagena.

Onward,



Grapeshot