The Neurasthenic Go Go Dancer

There's a woman in my aerobics class that I don't much like. She's a backstabber, and has the most unpleasant smile. The always backs up three feet and screws up the rows while whoever has the misfortune (sometimes me) to be standing behind her scrabbles for floor space.



Worse, she doesn't have an honest movement. Her twee little butt shakes and hand flaps drive me crazy. The appears unable to extend an arm or a leg or move with any vigor at all. I don't know WTF she's doing, but it's not aerobics. There's 80 year olds in the class who exhibit more energy than she does.



Why do some people get under your skin? It's not even personal. Usually I like most everyone until there's a sufficient reason not to. Her I didn't like from the day I first set foot in the class. It is chemistry? Hard to say.



Enough about the aerobically challenged one.



Today is a frenzy of cooking I made french bread and a minestrone with Italian sausage. Not vegetarian of course, but muy delicioso. Tomorrow we're smoking some salmon and eating more bread and soup.



Annie the cat has escaped twice today, both times S.O.'s doing. She's enjoying the nice evening and the birds are batshit, esp the catbird. Well, whatchagonna do? She'll come in when she's hungry. Hope the cat-chasing dog doesn't spot her. The whippet.



Going upstairs to watch the Barefoot Contessta. Can't wait to see the new Julia Child movie.



Grapeshot, who expects those in an aerobics class to actually do aerobics.

Smoking

We broke out the smoker on Friday, and smoked a nice hunk of salmon. Easy as pie, just start a fire, dump 1/2 cup whiskey into the water and put the salmon on. Two hours later, it was done, perfectly moist and tender, incredibly tasty.

Today I took it to a meeting with paper thin slices of red onion, capers, dill (lots of dill) and a cream cheese spread made with chives, scallions and yes, dill! Served with rye bread and lemon wedges. Looked beautiful, tasted better.

The best part? There was just enough left for our dinner. What a treat. Love them capers.

We'll do some kielbasa and maybe a turkey breast if we can get started early enough. Smoking isn't like throwing some burgers on the grill. You have to check the fire, check the progress, add more charcoal. It's a process. Of course the salmon, smoking quickly, was easy.

I wasn't sure what would chips I was using, because the bag had lost its label. Maybe apple or alder. Whatever it was, it went perfect with the salmon. A mild smokey flavor, not overkill.

So, here's to a summer of activity on the grill and with the smoker. Maybe I'll try to smoke some mozzarella. Now, there's a thought.

Grapeshot