Day 1, Unemployment: The Sequel

It's the first day of my time off between jobs. This morning I'm due for my waxing with Karen, and I'm mailing Mom's birthday present too. I found a snappy little bag at Fireworks from an Olympia company called Queen Bee - perfect. Last night I spent some time at Third Place shopping from my book buy list and picked up 4 or 5 books, except I couldn't find two I wanted to buy (Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf and A Thousand and One Arabian Nights). So that will happen later, as will a copy of HP7.

Tilth

We ate dinner at Tilth last night, Maria Hines' place in Wallingford. It wasn't a knock-your-socks off dinner, but it was pretty nice indeed. Three of us ate, and here's the spread:

Drinks:
Backporch (Calvados, champagne and lemon)
Manhattan (made with house spiced cherries, I think)
5 glasses of wine, 1 glass of Madeira

Appetizers:
Cured sockeye salmon
Beef tartare served with these melba toast-like crostinis
Asparagus salad (peeled and tossed in a black truffle vinaigrette), topped with shaved asparagus (in another vinaigrette). Served with a deviled egg filled with truffle oil.

Entrees:
Duck burgers served with fingerling potato chips
Spring cannelloni with preserved lemon and foam
Black cod (although she called it sablefish, which made it sound all exotic) served with a fried green tomato, baby zucchini and baby pattypan squash

Salad:
Heirloom tomato salad with 3-basil chiffonade (thai, opal, and italian - although the italian was all I could taste) served with a drizzle of sicilian olive oil

Desserts:
Cheese course (including a lovely Hoja Santa wrapped/sasparilla-soaked goat cheese from DALLAS!)
Almond financiers with a strawberry rhubarb compote
Heirloom peach crostata served with cinnamon ice cream and candied bacon (guess which one I picked!)

The damage? $270, plus tip. Service was excellent.

My Little Old Man...

Grendel gets slower every day. But he's still the best dog ever.

I've lost count...

So many of my friends are having babies (or have just had them) that I'm losing count. I got away with my 20s and early 30s avoiding many weddings, engagement parties, and baby showers, but it seems to have just hit me pretty late.

As of this morning, I can think of 5 friends who have either just had or are about to burst forth a new person.

It's kind of a strange feeling - I get simultaneously curious/envious while also sort of realizing that might not be for me. Or rather, I'm just not sure we're willing to give up everything for that right now.

On Again, Off Again

I have what amounts to a love affair with writing. Sometimes I want to bathe in it, enveloping myself in words, words, words. Other times I just want to be left alone to ponder and think about it. 'I need space,' I tell myself when I'm not in a writing mood. Such has been the last 10 months. And then before that, with my lame post entitled 'Accounting.' It was like reading one of those awful Christmas letters that people feel obliged to write and others feel obliged to snicker at in the company of those who know better. I've been so busy writing I haven't felt self-indulgent enough to document it. At least not here.

So I have no excuses and I won't give an accounting. You'll have to figure it out for yourself.

What's happening now? Immediately, I'm working on a blog for our garden and I'm about to quit my job at the Port and take a month off (see the right pane for a list of some things I want to work on during July!). We're starting the search for another dog. I still expect to hear Papa's voice answer the phone when I call Granny. It's the same thing as everyone else, life.

Stay tuned for more changes.