NYC Weekend

I had a short visit to New York before we left for Missouri for Thanksgiving, and I got good time in with friends (and plenty of good food!). Photos as follows...

Grendel-hol!

I found this kind of fun toy called the Warholizer...Check out this picture of Grendel!

Best Chinese Ever!

When we arrived in Waco for a visit with my family, we were greeted with a spread so unexpected that I had to write about it. My grandmother (mom's mom) had been prepping a Chinese meal for the previous few days, and she was pulling out all the stops for our arrival. Because it's so infrequent that we're in Texas for a visit, she made sure that plenty of people were there and all had something special to eat.
While she was cooking the last dish, we managed to get the entire episode on video and let me tell you, my grandmother would make a great cooking show host. I'm going to try to get more videos of her doing things like this.
Mom and Dad had gotten there a few minutes after we arrived, and Mark and Uncle showed up shortly thereafter too. Including Popo, there were 7 of us who sat down to the following meal:
Beef and broccoli (Mark's dish)
Chicken in lettuce cups (Uncle's dish)
Chicken in black bean sauce (Mom's dish)
Piccadillo (a Cuban alternative, just in case Mark didn't have enough to eat)
Chinese soup
Lobster Cantonese (sort of Dad's dish, sort of just special)

All of it was outstanding!

Tillman's Roadhouse

On a visit to Waco recently, we got to spend the night with Jessica and Jay, and they took us to a fun place in Dallas called Tillman’s Roadhouse. Imagine a fancified Shady Grove, if you know the place in Austin. It had a swanky bar with equally swanky cocktails (from the cocktail mistress Lucy Brennan), but it was really just an upscale hunting cabin, complete with animal heads hanging from the walls. The animal heads were wooden, and the room lighted with shabby-chic chandeliers, but you get the idea.
When we were seated, the waiter brought two different snacks – fresh roasted Spanish peanuts and truffle popcorn. I think it was kettle cooked with white truffle oil and then topped with a little shaved black truffle. It was the best popcorn I’d ever eaten and completely original.
For appetizers, we shared a round of deep-fried pickles – they were closer to sweet pickles, not dill pickles – and they were served with homemade ketchup and horseradish mayo. To continue the fried theme, we had a trio of French fries: Peruvian purple potato, sweet potato and Yukon golds topped with a chile spice, smoked salt, and a rosemary garlic mixture respectively. Dinner was equally creative - the guys had chicken fried hanger steaks, Jessica had a supreme hamburger (with foie gras) and I had Frito pie, made with venison chili.
But dessert was where it was at. We four shared a little sterno-hibachi grill and made fresh s'mores from homemade marshmallows, homemade graham crackers and a nice, dark chocolate. Yum!

Give Thanks

Over the last two weeks, I've ben witness to a couple of remarkable transformations. One was very public, the other a little more private. But both were moving and gave me pause to think about the big things - family, friends, life, love and happiness.
The first was the death of a little girl from the Seattle area. Her name was Gloria Strauss. She'd been battling a particularly nasty form of cancer for four of her short twelve years - and the last six months her family allowed a reporter in to chronicle her battle. I picked up the thread in August when she'd fallen into a coma - and somehow I managed to read his blog entry every day since. I quietly asked around - others were reading about her too. It sounds voyeuristic, but she had such grace in the face of it all that it was a salve to all who peered in.
The second was the end of a friend's marriage. The last several months had been painful - I'd seen him bitterly angry, flippant, and mean-spirited. All at once within a few short weeks, his wife left. Left him and his two small kids. All of it. She had her reasons, as did he. And somehow, he's come out of it a little more thoughtful, not quite regretful, and full of wisdom one has only when living in that state. The further I get from that place, the more of that wisdom I fear I lose. But it turns out that it's not a momentary grace (there's that word again), but becomes part of you, it's in your bones and lives in every choice you make thereafter - even if you don't smart from the source anymore. And today when I spoke with him, I heard it in his voice - and it came back to me too. I came home, hugged the dogs, made sure Todd knew that I love him, and made dinner. And tomorrow I'll not be so earnest.

Lucy Bland at Nectar

Lucy Bland played at Nectar tonight - and their show was a smash. They played for the first time since finishing their album (Down from Sea Level), and they used this show to introduce fans to their new drummer, Chris.
Their next show is at the Sunset Tavern - they headline on a Thursday night at the end of October, and I'm encouraging everyone to come out. Making the Sunset's a big deal for them, and it would be great for them to get a good show of support! Hope to see you there!

Painin' and Gainin', I suppose

Well, I've now been to the gym a couple of times and at yoga regularly - and although it's only been a week I can tell things are starting to shift. My eating patterns are changing a bit, but my muscles are where I feel the most change. Everything's achey after I do my workout - and I didn't even see the personal trainer this week. I'll see him next week and for a few weeks more, and after a month we'll have a weigh-in and progress check.
So do I have a goal for this whole thing? Well, I had to put numbers down, if just to give something the trainer to measure progress by (and my measurement of his abilities as a trainer). The bigger goal is 20lbs - not too much, actually - and the short-term goal (3 month goal) is 12lbs. He took measurements of my waist, thighs, calves, hips, bust - everything you can imagine - and gave me my fat percentage (not pretty). So for all those things, he gave me a goal too. I won't say what it is, but making it would be an accomplishment.

Jenny Improvement Plan

A long time ago when I was in Weight Watchers, I remember standing in line waiting for my weekly weigh-in. This older woman standing next to me was telling me about her goals - and how the only thing she wanted was the body she'd had at 20. I told her that I wanted to be great at 40. Screw 20, I'd never be that again.
So last week I hit 37 - while I don't obsess over a cut, lean body, I'd still like to look great at 40. Not a bad goal.
I'm pretty active - yoga weekly, heavy gardening, and a good amount of walking. And I don't eat all that bad - almost no soft drinks, rarely coffee, and lots of fruits and vegetables.
Yet my weight doesn't ever shift, and my clothes always fit the same way. I figured I'd plateaued, and it was time to shake things up a bit.
This week, I rejoined a gym and hired a personal trainer. Thursday I'm in for a haircut, and Saturday I'm off to the spa for a refresher.
I'll keep you posted on my progress!

The Story of Lucy

We got notice yesterday that we are finally, officially Lucy's guardians. The application process was a long one, and it included reference letters, changing of homeowners insurance companies - all of that. I have to thank our refs for this process - they were critical in helping us bring Lucy home permanently! Cheers go out to Jessica, Cherish, and Eric for their kind words and never-ending support!
I wanted to give you the background that we got on Lucy just the other day - it really starts in a shelter in Pasco, WA because before the shelter, we don't know where Lucy was. In early May 2007, the shelter in Pasco found itself in a very bad spot: 150 dogs were being housed in the shelter, and they couldn't get them adopted fast enough before another group came in. The did not have a license to euthanize, so they put a call out to area shelters and rescue organizations to take dogs - free of charge - to alleviate the overcrowding. Puppies, elderly dogs, and special needs were really suffering because of this; their shelter wasn't built to hold nearly this many dogs, and even though they were refusing owner abandonments, they still had to accept dogs brought in by animal control.
Carina from Animals First Foundation called and said she had room for 2 dogs - and the woman in Pasco was given the task of picking out two dogs for rescue. She was giving as many dogs away as possible, but she would not send out pit bulls because they are so difficult to place. Carina urged her to pick out a pit bull - there must be one in there that can be saved - and after a bit of searching and temperment testing, she pulled out Lucy. Here are the pictures of little Lucy at Pasco before AFF picked her up.
She's grown an awful lot in the last 4 months. Since we picked her up in mid-July, she's put on 5 - 7 pounds already, and she's starting to bulk up in her shoulders and her head. Her legs are already incredibly muscular and although she doesn't have a classic pit bull body, she's still got a wicked looking mouth if you're on the receiving end of a nip. She graduated from her first obedience class yesterday, and maybe once she's really mastered all of these things, she can go back for some more advanced work.
But for now, I try to never turn my back on her in the yard - anywhere that she can pick up speed, really - she's got a leap of a frisbee dog and can knock me over in a flash. We're hoping she'll be great at frisbee one day (if she doesn't eat it first), if we can ever let her off-leash. That said, I think we're resigned to the fact that she will probably never go to the off-leash park to play. I can't remember ever seeing a pit bull of any kind at the park, and now that I know the breed a little better, I know why. You can't leave them alone, because they can't be allowed to make their own decisions. They are too smart and too strong, and other dogs just love to pick fights (pits stare, and that's class-A provocation for just about any dog). So we're happy to take her to the lake and maybe one day to the beach or hiking in the mountains. And who knows, maybe one day it'll be different. She and Grendel are getting along just fine, and they seem to be sharing things quite well, from the occasional shared snack to their chew toys. Grendel, despite being covered with allergy breakouts (and a severe loss of hair) is more energetic than he's been in a long time. I have to think some of that is the new girl in town.

Mystery Spot!

Okay, I wouldn't normally put this on a blog post, but it's been around so long that I figured it will some day make a big scar and someone will ask me about it. It's the thing on the back of my leg, recently acquired (like, end of July perhaps) and it won't go away. NOTE: There's a picture of it down at the bottom of this post - don't scroll to see if it you think you'll be grossed out. It's about the size of a silver dollar, looks like a lyme disease bullseye, and sometimes itches and sometimes doesn't. We've had a nasty infestation of spiders this summer, but when I went to the doctor the other day, he told me he didn't think it was a spider bite (I have more of those on my body already and they don't look like this!). The only thing the doctor could say for sure is that it isn't cancer (whew!), it isn't flesh-eating bacteria, and it's not lyme disease. He didn't think it was a spider bite because by now it would be necrotic if it was a bad spider bite, or it would have gone away. It's perfectly round with a red raised center and a middle field that is bare, and then a nice, red outer ring. Next step - to the dermatologist! Stay posted...

The mystery spot...

Back to School

I went back to work this week, and I’m happy to be back. I started on Monday and it’s been a pretty low-key week, so far. I expect it will pick up at some point, but right now I’ve had the luxury of trying to get up to speed without a million things coming at me. Lucy’s starting to fall into a nice rhythm too. Before bed I get hers and Grendel’s food ready, Grendel’s seaweed glucosamine snack, and fresh water out. In the morning, Todd gets up and takes her out while I get Grendel out and fed and then I run to work. I take care of both of them when I get home until Todd comes home. Lucy’s getting better every day. She’s been a little troublesome in the crate over the last couple of days and I suspect it’s because of the stress of change so we loaded her up with a nice bully stick and she’s a little better. She was great on the walk last night, so I think she’s getting better still.

Mark spent some time here last weekend and it was good to see him. He was here for Microsoft Gamefest, a conference designed for game studios to learn best practices around submission of their games to MS. He’s been at it a couple of times and came for the networking opportunity and for fun. We got some tasty eats at the Kingfish Café before he left, and Saturday night we took him to the Palace Kitchen.

Sometime over the last couple of weeks we’ve had an infestation of spiders here in Seattle, and I had a nasty bite on my arm that finally cleared up this week. Oddly enough though, I have a bite on the back of my leg. It’s been there since the end of July and is getting larger, so I’m heading to the doctor tomorrow. It’s a couple of inches large and looks frighteningly like a bulls eye, the hallmark of lyme disease. But I don’t have any of the other symptoms so I’m hoping it’s just a nasty spider bite that never cleared up!

Things I Did Between Jobs

I tried to keep track of everything I wanted to do (and managed to accomplish) while taking time off this summer.

Have lunch with Ernie - Cancelled!
Make Hoegaarden - DONE!
Make all-crust potato gratin
Make fried pies
Make Michel Richard's Apple Icebox Terrine
Make pate sucree
Re-pot the Napentheses - On HOLD until FALL
Learn some Javascript and make a cool timewaster
Pick up the Pig! - DONE!
Make fruit syrup bases for spritzers
Have lunch with Cam - DONE!
Fill out living will - DONE!
Beers with Sam at the Bierstube - DONE!
Go to the dentist - DONE!
Return to work plans - DONE!
Make plans to visit Texas - DONE!
Make plans for Tofino, BC - CANCELLED!
Go see Harry Potter - DONE (YAY!)
Make Rigatoni w/ tomatoes, eggplant & mozz - DONE!
Freeze Jamie Oliver's Tomato Mac & Cheese - DONE!
Pre-make & freeze mini pies - Change of plans!
Start Dog Obedience Classes for Lucy - DONE!
Call Nancy Hall - DONE!
Go to the spa - SAVED FOR LATER!
Practice Tart Dough (Carlo's Cookie dough) - DONE!
Kayak Lake Washington - DONE!
Make angel food cake in my new silicon pan - DONE!
Lunch with Dave & Amy - DONE!
Recycle scrap metal at Pacific Iron & Metal - DONE!
Lunch with Huy - DONE!
Lunch with Ev, Kim, Jacqueline & Summer - DONE!
Dinner plans with Andrea & Sean - DONE!
Have freezer hauled away - DONE!
Get Rx filled - DONE!
Make cookie dough to store in the freezer - DONE!
Voter registration in WA - DONE!
Renew my passport - DONE!
See Love in the Afternoon at the SAM - CANCELLED!
Renew my driver's license - DONE!
Wash the dog - DONE!
Make ice cream - DONE!
Go see Rion at Deep Roots - DONE!
Change Metro purchase properties - DONE!
Buy a Chest Freezer - DONE!
Buy books at Third Place - DONE!
Buy Mom's BD present - DONE!
Finalize 401(k) rollover - DONE!
Buy Star Wars stamps - DONE!
Buy Jeffrey's grad present - DONE!
Take stuff to storage - ALREADY DONE!
Put in more wine racks - ALREADY DONE!
Reorganize the Pantry - ALREADY DONE!

Going Back...

Well, the date's picked - and I'm going back to work. After taking a little more than a month off, I'm ready to go back to the (an) office and get back into a regular routine. I've loved having the time off and I spent a lot of time baking, cooking, and taking care of those little things I had not done for a while. But at the same time, I'd started to feel aimless, spending the day cooking randomly and snacking, not playing as much tennis as I wanted to, and showering intermittently! It's time to get back to making some cash, enjoying the challenges of work, and learning to budget time in our regular lives for those little things I've spent a month doing.
Yes, I'm going back to Redmond. But I'm going back on my terms, and with a long-term plan.

It's Official. She's here to stay!

Well, we've finally put in the adoption papers for Lucy and called our references to tell them - and you'll start seeing plenty more posts about her (and Grendel) for a long time.
We went to our first obedience class with her this week - aside from two pee incidents (she was trying to tell us), she did great. She seems to have learned the sit command (no speaking, just a hand gesture) and is progressing with 'Watch Me' pretty well. However, Linda (our instructor) already gave us a little private coaching on how we might want to tackle her more challenging issues - her mouth. She's definitely a mouthy dog, and while a good knee to the chest works when she's running at us in the backyard, it's the gentle nipping on city streets that I really worry about. Everyone in class is great, and they recognize she's young and needs to learn. Not everyone in public feels that way, and more often than not, other dog owners (and their dogs) are far scarier for how they behave when approaching us. How about those great folks who let their terriers run at the far end of a retractable leash directly at Lucy full speed? Or those dog owners with very large 'oh, she's friendly' dogs who let them run off-leash everywhere - and then can't call them back when they make eye contact with our 'she will kill you' dog? I cross the street when approached by another person with a dog, or I give them a very wide berth. A child? I'll cross the street or make Lucy sit (with my hand tight under her collar) until the family's far past the 6 foot reach of her leash. No matter what, we will be good ambassadors for this breed - it's our responsibility. But I tell you, when that guy came up to Todd and said 'it's not the breed, it's the owner,' I really feel like someone should have said, 'no, it's the other dogs' owners.'
And Grendel? A little older, and definitely requires some protection from her, but he's doing just fine. They're striking a balance and have even worked together to get food out of a food puzzle.

I Get It Now

After having Lucy for a week, I think I finally understand what it must be like for new parents (of babies, not just puppies). I always wondered how life changes so dramatically upon the arrival of a newborn - interests tossed aside, conversations about one thing only (the baby), and a noticeable decrease in grooming, cleaning, and acting like grown ups. I mean, I'm not stupid - I know kids take a huge amount of time and energy - but it's been so long since Grendel was a puppy that I had really forgotten some of the challenges of taking care of something completely dependent on you for food, shelter, and manners.

Don't get me wrong, Lucy's been a great dog. Better than either of us expected, I think. She's smart, energetic, and incredibly sweet. But she's a puppy and she does need constant supervision - and unlike Grendel, who even at 4 months was relatively calm - she is always (and I mean ALWAYS) moving. That means from the time we wake up until the time we go to bed, we know where she is, what she's doing, and what she has in her mouth. It also means we're on full-time - she's always watching, learning, absorbing, responding, and behaving in response. We have to respond to her carefully to set good precedent, to make sure we're being clear with instructions, not to confuse or punish her, but to encourage good behavior.

It also means that we work in shifts - when one of us needs a shower, the other watches both dogs. One day last week that meant cleaning up after Lucy's accident, only to discover Grendel had peed all over the place in response. And feeding them at the same time? Grendel has special food for his skin, Lucy has high-fat puppy food, something old man Grendel doesn't need. Who likes what? She likes his, he likes hers.

So what am I trying to say here? Well, it's been 2 days since I had a shower, I have dog treat crumbs between my toes and I've just spent an entire post talking about one thing. I get it now.

Lucy's in the crate, Grendel's asleep. I'm going back to my vacation list of things to do!

Day 9: A Restful Day

Simple day, lots of rain. The garden needs it badly. Today I made Carlo's Cookie Dough, a tart crust, as well as froze the cinnamon ice cream base that I made yesterday. I'm going to make a lemon meringue tart for Carl's BBQ on Saturday, and deviled eggs for Cat's BD party on Friday. Should be good.
The dogs are behaving today - the Gentle Leader head harness seems to be working pretty well. Lucy's chilled out a bit - she's sleeping on the floor of the orange room now while I'm working.
Grendel's snoring in his bed just outside the door. Whew.

Day 8: Exhausted, and here's why...

Still chugging through my list - I had lunch with Ev, Kim, Summer and Jacqueline yesterday (day 7) and made an Angel Food Cake with my new silicon pan - what a difference that made! Today I'm going to take it easy a little bit and make some curd from the leftover egg yolks, and maybe cinnamon ice cream from Rick Bayless' book.

But really, the reason things have slowed down a little is because of a little orange and white dog named Lucy. We've just brought her home (Sunday) and we're trying her out with Grendel - and if things go well, we hope to adopt her permanently.

Day 6: Easy On, Easy Off

It's Friday. Todd worked from home today, so we started the day with a game of tennis and wound up ending it with one too. I met Huy for lunch today, and we made plans for my eventual return to Redmond. This weekend, we're going to meet Lucy in Fall City, and we're going kayaking on Saturday on Lake Washington!

Happy Bastille Day tomorrow!

Day 5: Getting Back on Track

Now that it cooled off, I went back to checking things off the list:
- Finished making ice cream (wild Italian cherry ice cream today)
- Renewed my driver's license
- Mailed my passport renewal application
- Met a possible new dog to adopt!

It's time to review my list and see what else I've got planned - and what else I can squeeze in!

And as a Harry Potter Character...

Apparently I'm Ginny Weasley, too. How nice to spend a vacation doing crap like this.


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