Straight Outta Refinery Town

Went on a walk yesterday with the Rev, out near the old place. It was lovely. We saw ruby crowned kinglets, and cats sleeping in the sun in the grass next to the trail. We saw a mountain pooping out a cloud. 

And we had some great views of the refinery near where I used to live. Which reminded me that I wanted to share a photo of a painting done by one of my former neighbors -- a pastiche of the area surrounding the refinery and old downtown where we all lived. The view reminds me of the view from a different neighbor's rooftop apartment over the former shoe store where the artists all had their studios. You could sit on her roof and look out to the other rooftops, and see the refinery on the hill, and hear the pool balls breaking at the bar across the street. On Sunday mornings you could hear the choir singing in the church that had once been a punk nightclub, and a movie theater before that.

Another former resident of that town and I visited later in the day, unmasked. Why I didn't put my mask on immediately when she said her son was working in a restaurant, I don't know. Her phone rang, and she picked up. It was her husband. Where were their rapid tests? Son's chef has COVID. She bolted out of my house. Son tested positive, she tested negative, and I'm not leaving the house for a while.

I really have to be more careful, even though I really am.

Seiko S-282

 

Some Thoughts on 2022

I like cooking, and have made some dishes in 2021 that I'd contemplated making for years.

In the upcoming year I'd like to go through my recipe binder, which mostly contains recipes I have collected and *never* made, and to give some of them the old test drive. I already started with these two -- Minnie's Morsels for Mature Cats and Pumpkin Koftas in Creamed Spinach Sauce. And here's my review:

Minnie's Morsels? Hard thumbs down! I made it as a Christmas gift for a friend and they simply fell apart. Boo!

Koftas? Insanely delicious. I didn't find kale at the Pan-Asian grocery, but they had something called Chinese Spinach. And I had bought some chrysanthemum greens. And had some frozen spinach on hand. All of that and the herbs specified in the recipe made for a delicious and delicately herbal puree. And I think I will make more purees in the future. Love a new concept to add to my bag of tricks.

PS This recipe was made with my free pumpkin. I finally finished off the pumpkin by making another batch of soup. 

Holiday 2021 -- Xmas

On Christmas we did the same thing. Woke up in the morning, came back to our place, and had a nephew and family in for coffee and pastries.

They stayed a LOT longer than I thought they would, and it was really fun. The mama was totally zonked from the day before, and oldest neph cuddled her for two hours while she dozed and we all chatted.

Then came the part that mrguy likens to trying to get a cat out of the carrier at the vet -- it was time to take her home. We waited until halftime (she is a huuuuge basketball fan) and tried to dash. But she wanted to make every excuse to stay. "Who's going to clean that up?" she exclaimed, pointing to the coffee cups and plates. Then there was the trip to the bathroom (what takes her so long?) and finally the trip home.

Once we got there, she was agitated because she couldn't hear well. Then I changed her hearing aid batteries and she screamed at me because it was too loud, and she was worried that they'd confiscate her television because everybody down the street could hear. Let us leave all the other unpleasantness aside and praise Mary Berry and the Downton Abbey movie, which eventually settled her down completely.

Please remember to support your local public broadcasting station.

Holiday 2021 -- Xmas Eve

Christmas and Christmas Eve were multi-part affairs.

Christmas is a holiday for the caregivers, so I got a Covid test last week and was the official caregiver for the mama on those days. And only two visitors are allowed at a time at her place, and our nephew's family was going to be in town. So...I picked her up in the morning and then we visited family at our house and then we returned to her place for dinner and sleep because our house is under construction.

I know that my nephew said we should do something simple, but I also needed to do something that registered as festive for my mom, since we weren't having a classic Guy Family Christmas. So I made lunch for us all with stuffed potatoes. It was so fun to see them, and the boys are cat crazy and chased the cats around for a few hours and the mama was happy. Then we went back to her place.

I had brought presents and a simple dinner with expensive ingredients: lobster and shrimp ravioli, truffle butter and fancy gelato. And wine. I brought wine.

First there was the wine argument. I made dinner and poured wine for us. Admittedly it was 4:45pm, but that is 15 minutes past mealtime in mamalandia. She did not like the idea of wine at all. 

Mom: "Why are we drinking wine with breakfast?" 

Me: "It's dinnertime, and wine is a dinner beverage." 

Mom: "Don't we have any milk? We shouldn't be drinking wine because it's not ours to have. And what if they saw us drinking it?" 

Me: "I bought the wine, I brought it here, it is my wine, and I will drink yours if you don't want it." [I'm just realizing that this has a bit of the Peter J. Haskett cadence -- "You drank all the wine. You drank alllllll the vodka. You will go to O'Looney's and buy me more vodka."]

Mom: "You are just too clever"

Then she got wrapped up in the time of day, since that had been confusing to her. This is her challenging the clock, which sits on the wall under the thermostat.

It took me a while to figure it out, but a lot of the conversation during dinner came back to a central theme -- a desire to move somewhere else.

"People here are ok but people over there [points in direction of nearby wealthy city] are more sophisticated"

Translation: I think I'm more sophisticated than the other residents in my community and would like to live over there where people are more sophisticated and would understand me better.

"What will I do with all of this stuff?"

Translation: I want to move somewhere else, I feel overwhelmed by my possessions, and don't know how to move to a new place and/or get rid of my stuff.

Then she wanted to talk about Christmas ornaments. She proclaimed many many many many times that this was her favorite one. It is, indeed, super cute:

Oh yeah. Dinner. I have confirmed that I don't like lobster or truffles. And the mama didn't seem to be enjoying her dinner either. When asked if it was to her liking, the sophisticated lady stuck out her tongue and gave me a Bronx Cheer. I asked if I could make her something else more to her taste and she answered "Bran flakes".

Bran flakes it was.

Opening presents was also a great sadness for her. There were too many. She wished someone had given her just a scarf. People would think she was a Mrs. Gotrocks (woman of unseemly wealth).

So many rules, man. So many rules.

I slept on the sofa because I couldn't exactly figure out where the ladies had hidden the speaker for the bed alarm. After I tracked it down, I took refuge in the guest room and fell into grateful slumber.

One last thing -- a 93-year-old baby shoe. It's one of my favorite Christmas ornaments. It cradled the foot of a cheerful little child who is now my cranky mama.

Sex And The City

I loved SATC as much as the next person, but people are losing their minds over the reboot. 

For years, fans wanted more Sex. Knowing this, the Hollywood press asked Kim Cattrall over and over about returning to play Samantha. She all but SHOUTED "no". Nobody seemed to listen to her or believe her, because they wanted a different answer. It became a thing.

Planning for the show moved ahead anyway. It's probably easy to say in retrospect, but SATC was a very 2000s show. Placing those characters (and those actors!) in a post Me Too world would seem like a true challenge. It's a surprise to some that the show doesn't meet expectations...and every episode is greeted by the shrieks of the damned.

The surprise surprises me, and I'm ready to stop hearing about it.

Thank you for listening to my rant.

Pumpkins

As readers of mrsguy know, my neighborhood Buy Nothing group is the best. 

Last week someone was giving away pumpkins and I couldn't see them go to waste, so I raised my hand for these two beauties, which were much larger in person than they appeared in this photo. I juuuuust managed to herk one under each arm and get to the car.

Then the fun began! I made pumpkin risotto. And some of the best pumpkin soup of my life, which I served to my people on Christmas Eve. And pumpkin koftas, which were fabulous. More on that later. But I still have more pumpkin, so I think more soup is in the offing.

I am recovering from Christmas with the mama, so all I want to do today is cook. Mrguy asked me what my plans were for the day, and I declared that I was going to clean the kitchen, foul the kitchen and clean the kitchen. 

My idea of a good time.

A Different Kind of List for 2022. In the meantime, 2021

How about a plain old "Things I'd Like To Do" list for 2022? I'll work on that. But in the meantime, 2021.

Last year I made lime pickle (which nobody liked, but I made it).

This year I had some successes with:

• Plum sauce (makes me deeply happy)
• Marmalade (so fun to make!)
• Kefir (success! many batches!)
• Rhubarb pies (3. Not great. Stop me if I try again!)

I finally had my metal furniture powder coated after all these years.

I received and shared things on my Buy Nothing group (ex: today I'm picking up two pumpkins and giving away canna rhizomes). I gave away most of the things in my etsy closet and also gave away cat grass.

I supported and will appear in a documentary (upcoming).

I tried a juice fast and learned that I am not a juice fast person.

I finally found a reading lamp that is the perfect size.

I hired a cat therapist as seen on tv.

I hired a person therapist, originally for my sister and I, but ultimately for myself. It helped.

We started a lemon giveaway on our porch and now neighbors come by to receive lemons.

I bought my first Crocs (platform, tie die) and bought a second pair.

I ordered live ladybugs, twice. First batch was from Brooklyn.

I came to love my light pink camellias.

I inadvertently grew 13 tomato plants, gave half away, and ate yellow tomatoes much of the summer. Seeds are already in the ground for 2022.

I finally ordered vpn to allow me to use resources in distant libraries but ultimately figured out a way to simply subscribe to Bergens Tidende yesterday and find obituaries of my ancestors.

I bought my own allspice tree. It is alive, but not thriving.

I subscribed to a veggie box again and then stopped it when the winter veggies were in season.

Our doctor retired and now I have a young doctor who makes you do the things. I am doing (some of) the things.

And rather than chasing 2021 away with a broom, I am inviting in 2022 with hope and curiosity and crossing my fingers that I'll be able to find its beauty, no matter how small.

Bucket List 2021

A number of years ago I started a bucket list. And here I am looking at that list and rethinking it. Bucket lists are things that you work towards. Here's where I stand:

1. Take an exercise class with Richard Simmons

No longer in biz    

2. Ride a camel (not a location-specific goal)

A dear friend did this once and I was so impressed. But she's dainty and I'm a big fat hog and I don't want to hurt camels. I will strike this off the list.

3. Sit in the booth with Doreen Simmons while she comments on a sumo basho for NHK
Passed away. But perhaps I would like to sit in with Ross Mihara? Developing.

4. Write a book

I had a *specific* book I was writing, but downsizing makes me want to prioritize other things.

5. Meet distant family in Ireland

This turned into wanting citizenship. I tried so hard, spent so much money, hired an expert to assist, but was ultimately rejected by Ireland due to inconsistencies in the facts on paper. Thanks, Irish Grandfather. I can still try to pursue the original goal.

6. Play Carnegie Hall or Royal Albert Hall

Why did I want this to happen?

7. Be a balloon wrangler in the Thanksgiving Day Parade

If an opportunity comes up in the future, I will ask.

8. Volunteer in the Bishop Museum archives

This hasn't happened yet, and I'm not working on it, either. But I am transcribing Freedmen's Bureau records and that feels very satisfying.

9. Have our Hawaiian band sponsor a match in a sumo tournament in Japan

Too expensive. Band not together.

10. Play music at a retirement home
Done.

11. Learn to tie knots (as added in 2015)
I will give up on this because I clearly don't want to do it.

12. Sing the National Anthem at a baseball game
Done.

13. Perform in a pantomime horse costume

I still want this. 

Bathroom 2021-2022

We are three weeks into the bathroom remodel. Great to see the old, non-functioning stuff go, and I look forward to the addition of a new cabinet to the right side of the sink area, and floor tiles that aren't broken. Ok, and working plumbing in the tub/shower, since that broke right before the pandemic.

Woo!

So You Don't Have To

It turns out that my millennial friends don't listen to NPR on the radio on the way to work the way that I do, so much of this will be lost on them. However, for those who do -- this is for you.

For a billion years Susan Stamberg, she of the umami-laden voice, has shared her mother's recipe "Mama Stamberg's Cranberry Relish" on NPR right before Thanksgiving. It's a decades-long tradition that she dutifully spins into different takes on the recipe every year (with the recipe not changing). The older I get the more I think I will make the recipe. This is the year, my friends.

I made it, so you don't have to.

Why the fear of the recipe? The ingredients: horseradish, onion, sugar, sour cream, raw cranberries. Couldn't wrap my head around the combination. Didn't get around to it before Thanksgiving, but finally made it this weekend.

Guess what? It's effing delicious. My plan was to make the recipe and share small dabs of it with people on my Buy Nothing group who have wanted to experience it. But I might eat it all myself.

It looks like meatloaf when you're making it.

Here is the recipe, as shared by Susan Stamberg.

Adventures In Getting Stuff

Oh my Buy Nothing Facebook group is a constant source of entertainment. 

This week I'm getting rid of a tree stand and dividing my Yellow King Humbert canna rhizomes so I can share them with the group. And I got some magnificently awful plum preserves with rosemary and two non-denominational holiday garlands that go fantastically with the pimpy wreath from last year.

Thank you, People!

Adventures In Getting Rid Of Stuff

Ahhhhh. Feels so good to divest.

Today the youngest nephew, known to all as Weazel Boy or Weezbo, came to get a piece of furniture that had belonged to his great grandmother. Because doesn't every young man needs a bombé chest? 

One more thing out of the garage. Along with it, he was also the recipient of some of my dad's firewood, circa 1999, that I dutifully brought from the ancestral manse to ours. Both were just waiting for someone to love them.

     

Woooo!!