Tag: food

BWISER 2007 Days 1 & 2

Yesterday was our first full day at B-WISER and first day of classes. I woke early and decided to get up around 6:30. My roomie, Carolyn, followed suit. The two of us headed for breakfast and had pancakes and sausage. (Carolyn was disappointed in the lack of eggs. I was OK with the lack of eggs myself.)

The morning session was physics, and Dee had the girls doing measurement and density, with me as the faithful assistant. However, I spent much of the second period opening the Cruzer Freedom 1GB flash drives we’d gotten the girls. I put labels on all of them (which had a girl’s name and a female scientist’s name) and separated by groups. And during the third period, I headed off to the computer lab to see how things are set up.

The student machines had a Novell logon that was written on the chalkboard, but the machine hooked to the room projector had a Windows logon that I had not been told. So I decided I’d get my laptop at lunch and use it to run the projector. I had managed to turn on the projector during this testing session, and I’d also successfully transferred the Portable Apps onto one of the USB flash drives. Things were looking good.

After a delicious lunch, I headed off to the computer lab and found that half of the girls were already there. I had the idea during lunch to transfer the Portable Apps onto the computer desktops and tried to do this with girls sitting at machines. Then when they all arrived, I had them do that for me. Meanwhile, when I tried to get the projector on, it wouldn’t come on. So I couldn’t show the girls what I was wanting them to do, but we still managed to get the files transferred onto the PCs and then onto their flash drives. And eventually I figured out the projector. (Definitely a case of the Mondays.)

While the files were transferring onto their flash drives, I did my presentation on The Internet: Search Safely, Search Securely, Search Skeptically. Thanks to of all the aggro at the start of the period, we didn’t have time for the girls to research their female scientists. Alas! But the second and third classes went very smoothly and they did get to research theirs.

After class, Carolyn, Dee and I went to Walmart to take Carolyn’s new shoes back and for Dee to get photos printed. I picked up an extension cord for the wireless router. Then we were back for supper and the evening activity. The girls had 3 activities they were alternating though – bowling, a scavenger hunt, and a craft. Joyce and I supervised the bowling. And even got a game in with Anne, the nurse. I was doing VERY badly at the start, but finally got my groove at frame 9 when I got 3 strikes in a row and wound up with 127. judiang would have been proud. 🙂

Today was another early awakening for me, and Carolyn finally got her eggs. But no meat today – just hash browns with the scrambled eggs. I also had a chocolate muffin, and requiring more carbs, toasted an English muffin and put grape jelly on. Yum!

Physics had the girls racing balloon cars to work through Newton’s Laws and then outside to blast off film cannister cannons. Well, the first two periods had the girls outside. During period 3, they got outside, watched as the rain began down at the end of the street and headed towards them, then Dee herded them back inside before it hit here. So they did the film cannister cannons over the sinks instead. Heh.

After lunch (mmmm, pirogies!) it was time to teach computers again. I showed the girls OpenOffice.org’s Calc Portable and we entered in all the data and calculations for the Work & Power lab. Then we had the girls run/walk/climb/tiger dance (yes, one of them did this) up the stairs outside the classroom. I timed them doing this, then we had them enter the data into Calc. And instantly they had their work and power in climbing the stairs. Woot!

We teachers had the evening off, so I headed off to the chemistry building to meet up with the other teachers, who were helping the chemistry group clean up. Then we headed back for the dorms to get our money. It was time to go to the Toy Store! Yay!

We went to the toy store where I found dad some father’s day & birthday gifts and got me a couple of physics toys. Then on to the movie theater to watch Ocean’s 13. I haven’t seen the first two movies, but having enjoyed this one so much, I think I need to rent the other two. Mucho fun. Finally supper was at Jake’s steakhouse. Where I had beet battered fish & chips and a very nice brownie & ice cream dessert.

We ladies had a blast out this evening. I really love teaching with these ladies each summer and am glad that we were able to have the camp despite the lower numbers.

Deep fried strawberries for the win!

This is the weekend of the Troy Strawberry Festival. I invited mom to come along with me this year and she agreed. And then dad invited himself along, because he was looking forward to riding the school bus to the festival. (Yes, he’s a little odd…) So I drove us to Meijer this morning and we took one of the free shuttles (driven by the dedicated bus drivers of Troy City Schools) to Hobart Arena. The festival is held on the levy near Hobart arena, so it’s a very long festival, but very narrow. A few years ago they began to have some spillover down near the Troy HS football stadium, so we started there first. My first stop? Strawberry donuts! Only 15 minutes in line, then I looked for the parental units. It turns out they were in Tammy’s glass pendants booth. Tammy’s a coworker of mine who’s taken to making neat glass pendants and artwork. She’ll be doing quite a few festivals this summer, selling her wares. Mom got a neat necklace there. She also shared some strawberry-lemon shakeup – very yummy.

Mom & I each had a donut and dad had a bite from each. Then we found ourselves in the booth selling bamboo plants. The fellow selling them claimed they were very difficult to kill. I think mother took that as a challenge and decided to get one. And I got a very small one with a cute panda base (for $4). The booth owner let us keep the plants there while we shopped around some more.

We made our way onto the levy and wandered down one way, checking out the wares and the food stalls. We finally decided upon barbecue chicken dinners. We sat on the side of the levy and watched some firemen playing “Waterball.” They had two teams manning fire hoses (pumping water from the river) trying to send a ball to the other side. Think of a “push of war” versus a “tug of war.” After lunch, we continued shopping. I decided upon some strawberry ice cream, which was very refreshing. (It was a hot & sunny day.) But I hadn’t even half-finished my ice cream when I saw a booth selling “deep fried strawberries.” Hmmm, I’d never had those before. So I ordered some. Turns out they’re strawberries filled with a creamy & sweet goo which are then covered in donut batter and deep fried. And then they pour a sweet sauce on top. Da-amn, they were good! And not so sweet that they killed, (not like the strawberry dough ball I’d had the year before.)

Once we’d seen all of the booths on the levy, we headed back to pick up our plants. Then I headed off to get us another strawberry-lemon shakeup. Just as tasty as the first. We shared it until we were finally seated on the bus. There was a lady from Hilliard between me and the parental units, so I didn’t pass the shakeup to them until we were back at Meijer. A short hop to the pet store for food & litter for the kitties (we’d run out of food earlier yesterday, so this morning I’d grilled them a chicken boobie for breakfast. Heh.)

We returned home and the folks headed off to the Lake for the weekend (and much of next week). Then I played CoH for a bit before taking a nap. School’s officially out for us, so I have Monday off – woot! Tuesday will be training for our new grading program, but beyond that, I’ve no idea what my summer schedule will be like.

Cinco De Free Comic Book Day!

The first Saturday in May is, apparently, Free Comic Book Day. And today is also Cinco de Mayo. So let the celebrations ensue!

I had quite a few things on my running list o’ stuff, so planned my route in advance. (I hate to drive somewhere for one thing, so I keep a list going of what I need/want and when it gets full or I know I really need to get out of the house, I grab the running list and hit everything that needs hitting.)

  1. Post Office: a Saturday tradition. A Monday through Friday tradition, now that I mention it…

  2. AAA: I needed some passport photos and my local post office (which doesn’t do ’em) recommended AAA or the Troy Post Office. I figured I’d get a deal at AAA – and they were only $8. The photos do focus on my chins rather well, however…

  3. Bookery Fantasy: Yay for Free Comic Book Day. They gave us each a small Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer poster as we entered the store. Inside, there was a line of folks waiting for their free books & stuff. I stood in line and got a sack full of free comics, 4 of which we picked out ourselves. Wound up with a total of 15 free comics and 1 Batman Hero Clix figurine. Cool. Got my DWM and Astonishing X-Men and headed on to the next place on my list.

  4. Jeet India: Indian Fud! ’nuff said.

  5. Hot Fuzz: I’ve been a fan of Simon Pegg since the TV series Spaced was on, so of course I saw Shaun of the Dead and really enjoyed it (and I don’t go for zombie flicks normally). So I had to see Hot Fuzz. I’d’ve gone out the first weekend it was out, but the weather was so nice, I couldn’t sit in a film all that time. But today was nice and rainy, a great day for shopping & a movie. And the movie? Most entertaining. A wonderful blend of humor and cartoon violence. But Bill Bailey with short hair is a crime and let’s hope that never happens again!

  6. Andy’s Garden: The cheerleaders were selling discounted flats from Andy’s Garden again this year, so I bought two certificates from them. On the way back from the Fairborn area, I stopped at Andy’s to pick up two flats of Vinca. Last year I had picked up two flats of assorted annuals and discovered that the one type which survived my benign neglect were the Vinca. Here’s hoping they can survive another year with me!

  7. Other Shopping: Finished my excursion at a few shops in Troy to finish up my running list. One thing I decided to get was a George Foreman personal grill. Earlier this week I was frying a chicken boobie and was getting oil spattered everywhere. I got to thinking, a personal grill should help prevent lots of spattering and assist in cooking my ChickNSteaks and Ranch Steaks from Market Day. Tonight won’t be the night to try it out, however – I’m still stuffed from lunch.

My timing worked out just fine today. My main concern was getting to the movie in time, which I did. There were 15 minutes worth of previews, of which I was interested in one movie. (Another Simon Pegg movie, actually.)

So, today has been a good day. 🙂

Garage Sale Day – 2007

Last year for the town Garage Sale Day, we actually had a garage sale at mom & dad’s place. This year, I thought I would be at a meeting over the lunch hour, so I didn’t get stuff ready for selling. Only to discover earlier this week that the meeting was canceled. (It was our pre-planning meeting for B-WISER, but with only 11 girls signed up so far, there’s a chance we may cancel the camp this year. Eep!)

However, nothing was stopping me from going around to other people’s garage sales. When I headed off to the post office this morning, I checked out some of the garage sales around. And I stopped at my cousin’s house to talk with Aunt Becky, Deanna, and Taylor. I then moved onto the gas station to buy a two bottles of cream soda and get some cash. When I got back home, I wrote a check for a bill I’d forgotten about and retraced my steps. (The weather was beautiful, so walking around town was quite a pleasure today).

This time, on the way home, I got in line at the Texas Tenderloin caravan which set up just for the town garage sale day. (I’d seen the caravan on my walk home yesterday and decided then that I’d have a Texas Tenderloin sammich for lunch on Saturday.) The line was pretty long, but, as I said before, the weather was wonderful. In front of me was a young girl I’ve seen around who will most likely be a future student of mine some day. A bit before her were two sisters talking, one of whom is a current student and the other a former student. Was kind of neat to see the timeline there in the lunch line. Heh.

I ordered a sammich and fries and walked home. And thought about how nice it would be to have local restaurants within walking distance of home. (Well, other than the one pizza joint in town.) Lunch was yummy. Linus wanted some, but I assured him that tenderloins (well, the breaded & fried type like I was eating) are not good food for kitties. And not good food for humans either, but there ya go.

Later on, I decided to go on a bike ride. It’s my first time out for the season, so of course the tires were a little flat. However, the Free Air at the gas station wasn’t working. So I popped around to the folks’ to see if dad would fill my tires with his air compressor. And my timing was perfect. Mom was home from work and ready to go garage saling. So I went along with them.

Dad bought a balance at the first sale (their neighbors, so he walked ’em home after buying). Mom bought puzzles at the second. And then we were back at my cousin’s where Becky & co. were still selling. Mom bought a puzzle and a puzzle mat there (Becky said we didn’t have to pay, but dad got rid of some quarters to pay for ’em – heh). While they were pondering just what someone could do with a quarter these days, I suggested to Becky that she should save up her garage sale revenue and take her favorite niece out for Chinese Buffet. And that inspired our evening adventure at the Chinese Buffet.

Whenever I upgrade my computer, I always give the old one to my Aunt Becky. I will admit, the last upgrade, I decided to try building a linux box out of my old machine so that I could play with it, but I just never used it as I’d wanted to. So after nearly 2 years after my last upgrade, Becky finally got her upgrade. She promised to take me out for Chinese Buffet in thanks for the computer – and who am I to turn down Chinese food?

So with my subtle hint, plans were made to have Chinese buffet for supper. Becky picked the folks and I up, Deana took the girls (Taylor & Sydney), and my other cousin Bill and his wife Connie and their youngest, Braden, met us at the Piqua China Garden Buffet. We had a pleasant evening having Chinese food and chatting. And the little ones were pretty well behaved. Afterwards, Deanna took the girls to their mom (the garage sale was at their dad’s place) before she herself headed home to south Dayton. Becky dropped the parentals and I off. And Bill & co. returned to their place.

Once home, I saved the latest Doctor Who (which was done downloading from before supper time) to CD and watched it. It’s fun to watch new Who on my big screen TV while chatting with folks on my laptop. Mmmmm, technology!

(Oh, and if you were wondering if I ever got to ride my bike, the answer is “yes.” After returning from the garage sales – we hit about half the town before returning – dad pumped my tires and I rode around town for awhile. Yay for bikes!)

Trina on the Greene

Since we have so much fun shopping around Christmastime, the lady staff decided to try a Spring Shopping Spree this year. The destination? The Greene, a new shopping complex (think inside-out mall) in south Dayton. The one drawback to a Spring Shopping Spree is that it takes place in the Spring. And as many teachers can tell you, Spring is a chaotic time for us. So how many of us lovely ladies were able to attend? Three…

Still, we met at Tammy’s house & MBA drove the three of us to the Greene. There are several clothing stores which I’ve seen at malls (Talbots, Victoria’s Secret) and some I’ve only seen catalogs for (Coldwater Creek, J. Jill). And as an added bonus, Books & Co. has a branch there. It’s a nice two-story affair. Thank goodness I didn’t find any books that I had to have. I’m still reading from the last two crops that I got. (A trip to Books & Co. during spring break had me buying several more books.) I did buy 2 little votive candles from Yankee Candle – vanilla cupcake. I liked the scent of those – very yummy.

For lunch we agreed to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. I’ve never been in one of those before. Quite an impressive array of cheesecakes! And geez, they give you enough food to feed a third world country. (And folks wonder why Americans are fat?) Tammy & I tried the Georgia Peach beverage, which was quite tasty and, since it’s a vodka based drink, I barely tasted the alcohol. I chose the lunch portion fish & chips and was treated to the best beer-battered fish I’ve had in ages. Not at all greasy and very tasty. And for dessert? Cheesecake! Since I knew they couldn’t compete with elsaf‘s cheesecake from a couple of weekends ago, I decided to get one of their specialty flavors. I went with vanilla bean cheesecake, which was very decadent. And very vanilla-y. Yum! I’m still full from lunch!

After we returned to Tammy’s place, she had to show me the Wii. Her son (who’s also a student of mine), Tammy and I played a round of bowling with the Wii. It was quite fun. And I even broke 100! (109 to be exact). Tammy stomped on us with 154, but her son held his own as well, such that I came in third. 🙂 Not sure it’s enough to convince me to get a console, but it was certainly interesting!

Once I got home, I tried to make a dent in the mess that my house has become. I’ve at least taken the trash out and cleaned up all the paper the kitties have strewn around the house. I’ve got a long ways to go, but it feels good to have at least done something for once. 🙂

Tomorrow, I’m taking the parental units out for lunch. Actually, we’re meeting at the Piqua Cassano’s, but I’m buying. (They’re at the Lake now, enjoying their anniversary weekend and beautiful weather.) It’s not the classiest anniversary present, but I know it’s something they’ll both enjoy. 🙂

The Feast of Elsa

Wow, it’s always wonderful when I get together with elsaf & judiang (and sometimes hergrace can join us too). We know how to celebrate the joy of FOOD.

We started out the day slow. Elsa was up first, then me. I played CoH for a bit (on Judi’s PC) and then worked on my LJ post. While I was finishing that up, Judi showed up. Wow – Judi was awake and we didn’t have to get her up! We then got ready and headed up to the penthouse to exercise for the second day. I played with the two bikes and the elliptical trainer. Shame the regular bike has a dead battery cuz it would be neat to try some of the settings.

After exercising, Judi was still nearly comatose, but we promised her latte after brunch. Elsa drove us to Chinatown to our regular Dim Sum place, Three Happiness. Once again, Elsa showed enormous restraint, sticking to steamed dishes (and having the smaller half of one of my sesame rolls). We still ate well, despite the conscience eye on avoiding excess. The little steamed items are SOOOOO GOOOOOOOD. And damn, but those sesame balls are wonderful. Judi got 3 more right before we had stuff tallied up and took 2 home with her.

Elsa then drove us to Target where we found a few essentials (and Judi and I magically caused a Starbucks to suddenly appear so that she could get her hazelnut soy latte), and then to Dominick’s (which I haven’t been too since that fateful day when Judi made alryssa, tiger5 and I walk across the Long Ass Bridge the night before Thanksgiving. I can still hear Carole saying “I’ll pay for a cab! I’ll pay for a cab!” the whole way there & back, with Judi completely oblivious. Heh heh.) Dominick’s thankfully had the phyllo dough that Elsa needed for one of her dishes for the evening meal. Oh, and I picked up 3 bottles of white wine for Judi. A Chapel Ste. Michele (sp) Riesling, Turning Leaf Pinot Grigio, and Fetzer Gewürztraminer (my mom’s favorite). We put the Riesling in the fridge when we got back, but the other two are now on Judi’s new wine rack (one of her “garage sale” purchases of the day before).

The rest of the day has been spent with Elsa furiously making Yet Another Ultimate Judi Birthday Supper and me cleaning dishes. And once again, Elsa has topped herself. She truly rocks.

While light classical music played on Judi’s TV (digital cable, you know), dinner started with an appetizer of grilled shrimp with pineapple salsa. The soup course was next with the mushroom soup (with sherry) which she’s made before and which I love. For salad, she had arugula with a lemon vinaigrette and goat cheese souffle in phyllo cups. There was a small break while I cleaned a few more dishes and the lamb rested after being removed from the oven. Then we continued with rack of lamb with mushroom sauce (morels – yummy), asparagus, and rice pilaf with brown & wild rice and wine soaked cranberries. Very tasty. By now we were nicely full from a fabulous meal. It was time to open presents.

Judi got nice sheets and a mini food chopper from Elsa and noise-cancellation headphones from me. Oh, and a photo of David Tennant for her to squee at. I’d also scanned in the other DT photos that I recently bought in an eBay auction and gave her a CD of that. (The things I buy when I’m shopping for Sylvester McCoy photos!)

After present opening, I vegged for a bit and finally got the strength to finish cleaning the kitchen. But before I was done, we messed up my table again in order to eat CHEESECAKE. Yup, Elsa once again made her wonderful cheesecake. Very yummy. Judi had the biggest piece of the three of us, and then proceeded to have a sliver more. But hey, it’s her birthday and if you can’t live it up on your birthday, when can you?

Dessert over, I was able to finish cleaning the kitchen, and now I’m here, dishpan hands typing this entry. Believe me, it was worth all the cleaning. 🙂

ETA: that bit about Starbucks – just remembered it. Heh.

Yesterday’s Shennanigans

Yesterday morning, elsaf and I got up at the same time. judiang, however, had gone into hibernation. Still, she eventually got up and we forced her to exercise up in her apartment complex’s exercise room. It’s fun watching a near-comatose woman exercise. Today we intend to torture her again – even though it IS her birthday. Maybe especially because it IS her birthday.

When we returned from the “gym” (which has some very nice pieces of exercise equipment), we still had 10 minutes to spare at the city equivalent of a Garage Sale. Someone in Judi’s apartment was having a Moving Sale. So we popped up to room 1606 and poked around. The couple were young & very nice. They are moving out Friday and heading off to Switzerland. Cool beans. Their two little ones were off at the grandparents, so couldn’t protest when Elsa bought their TV and DVD player. Judi bought a lot of bakeware (which I fear will only ever come out when Elsa’s around) and I managed to avoid buying anything. Well, at this place. Money would be leaving my wallet soon enough.

For lunch, Judi had found an Indian Restaurant which was near to our afternoon destination, Intimates. We took the #3 bus, which originally we were beginning to doubt the existence of due to it being quite absent. I became abusiestic while Judi decided she was more agbustic. However, I had an epiphany when the #3 finally showed up. We were off, moving up Michigan towards Ontario. (Sounds like we were planning a trip to Canada, no?)

Lunch was at the Indian Garden, which promised us nervana and nearly delivered. We all got the buffet because Judi FORCED us too. (Well, actually she was just telling the server that she wanted the buffet, but he thought she was speaking for all of us.) There were many good things on the buffet. Basmati rice, dal makhani, saag paneer, samosas, chili chicken, etc. etc. There were two dessert items, one made of carrots (which the girls originally thought was made of sweet potatoes) and the other made of goat cheese soaked in milk, sugar, and pistachios. The food was very good and I think I had the best aloo gobhi I’ve ever had. (I prefer Jeet India’s saag paneer & dal, but you can’t have everything. Heh heh.)

After our very filling lunch, it was on up Michigan to Intimates. This is a store where they have professional bra fitters. We made appointments and then moved back down Michigan to the Borders that we passed.

At Borders, they had several books in a 3 for the price of 2 sale. Damn them! Damn them all to heck! I found 2 books right off the bat, then went looking for a third. Eventually I found a possible one when Judi then said there were other 3 of 2 displays in the store. Of course, at the next display, I found 2 more books. Damn! Some more searching found me a third for that set too.

The books that I sprung for were:

  • Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire

  • In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson

  • Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt (freebie #1)

  • Lamb by Christopher Moore

  • Coyote Blue by Christopher Moore (freebie #2)

  • The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

Stupid book sales!

We returned then to Intimates to fullfil our appointment and the rather amusing incident is something that I have shared with just the girls, hergrace, and the lovely women in my family. The rest of you will just have to imagine it. Heh heh.

Anyhoo, it was time to return to the roost. I’m sure Lance was crossing his legs when we got home. While Judi was walking him, I was busy downloading some very important torrents… The new Doctor Who ep and it’s corresponding Confidential. Once Lance was back, the three of us walked off to Grace O’Malley’s for supper.

Since I was in an Irish pub, I decided I needed to have a reuben. I also ordered the Guiness cheese soup for starters. The girls split a grilled salmon meal which they claimed was very good. (I’m not into salmon, so it could have been heavenly and still not tempted me.) The soup and reuben were great, though the fries were only so-so. Since Judi’s birthday was just looming around the corner, she decided she was gonna have dessert, damnit. So we ordered the 4 layer cake (with ice cream). Elsa got the tip of the cake and Judi and I had the rest. (Judi and I have been so proud of Elsa, who has not succumbed to our excesses. Today’s dim sum will be the ultimate test for her. If she passes, she is, indeed, the rockingest dieter that ever lived.)

Once we came back home, we had a few moments of technical difficulty regarding making the CDs for the evening’s viewings. But Judi finally convinced her CD/DVD recorder to finally make the CDs of Doctor Who & Confidential. So we all gathered on the sofa to watch. Even Lance joined us and kept running back and forth across our laps so that he could sit with all 3 of us at once.

Although I will miss Rose, I am loving Martha. It’s about bloody time there was a cute black girl as an assistant. And Freema is just perfect for the role. I’m looking forward to series 3 of Doctor Who. Woot! As far as the Confidential goes, I must admit that I prefer the Cut Downs that show up on the DVD sets. This went on too long and repeated too much. No matter, when I’m on me own, I don’t actually watch the Confidentials (mostly so I won’t be disappointed when I buy the DVD sets later.)

Anyhoo, yesterday was a blast and today should be as well. Once Judi gets up, we’ll drag her to the exercise room. Then we’ll stop for a hazelnut soy latte so that Judi can wake up enough to enjoy dim sum. Elsa’s plans are to make us a fabulous supper (and hopefully we’ll find some filo dough today!) And then Judi gets to open her presents – thankfully the one that I ordered from Amazon arrived yesterday – woot!

Down & Safe

Yesterday morning, elsaf walked to her local bakery to get us some cinnamon rolls for breakfast. As usual, I was second up and judiang eventually dragged herself out of bed. We had a nice lazy morning after breakfast, just geeking and eventually packing. When it was nearing 1pm, we drove to Panera Bread in 2 cars. We had a relaxing lunch of broccoli cheddar soup in sour dough bread bowls. We knew that when we were finished with lunch, we’d have to part company, so we chatted for as long as we could. Then we left Panera, hugged, and drove off our separate ways. Elsa back to her place, Judi and I down south to my home.

Thanks to the iPod Transpod that Judi had given me for Christmas, we listened to her iPod for the drive home. We only had one stop along the way where we discussed feminine things as you see in commercials. It was quite funny. I also got to pick on Judi’s 23 versions of “O Holy Night” in her playlist. Spread out over 500 songs, it might not have seemed a little excessive. In a playlist of 95 songs, it got a bit, um, repetitive. She also seems to like “The Little Drummer Boy” a lot as well.

When we got to Troy, I stopped at Penn Station to get us supper. I got my usual Philly cheesesteak, got Judi a club with no ham, mom a regular club, and dad the Italian sub. Plus a large fries. Once in town, I got some beverages from the gas station (including blue Gatorade for Judi who had thrown out her shoulder playing some pretty mean Air Piano during one of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra pieces and was having muscle cramps because of it). We arrived at the parentals with food and had a nice supper in their kitchen.

After supper, Judi and I headed to my house (where I’d already been to cuddle my kitties) and I showed off my flatscreen TV by playing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Ah, some mad David Tennant! What fun! Near the end of the film, mom called to say it was time to pick up Amy & Rachel, so I headed next door and we three rushed off to the airport to pick up the girls.

They arrived on time and we exchanged hugs. Then we waited and waited and waited some more for the luggage to come out. When their baggage carousel began to spin, I predicted to Amy “4th and 12th.” Well, neither of their bags showed up 4th or 12th. Indeed, it was more like 4th from the last and last. As soon as their last piece showed up, the carousel stopped. Heh, what timing…

We returned home for cookies and milk. I dragged Judi over from next door because calling her on my phone did no good. “Trina, you had 2 phone calls just now.” Um, yeah! Silly gurl! 🙂 The cookies, milk, and conversation were all a nice wind up to a busy day for all.

Bedtime for Judi turned out to be Kitten Hell. The kitties had never seen the sofa open out into a bed and spent most of the evening playing under the bed, rolling things back and forth. They did eventually join me in bed to sleep, but they aggravated Judi enough so that she didn’t have the world’s greatest night sleeping. Still, we managed to get over to mom & dad’s shortly after 9am. Dad made everyone Egg McMikey sammiches, which, as always, were very yummy. The girls went back to bed, Judi fell asleep on the sofa, and the parentals headed off to the grocery. So I have returned home for a little waiting for the sleepy heads to return to the land of the living.

Tonight, we have our “traditional” Christmas dinner of chicken casserole and will then open presents. Mmmm, presents! I love presents!

Happy Feet

We had another nice slow start today. (I *love* vacation!) And today, elsaf made us French toast – yay! (I love French toast even more than pancakes, and that’s saying something.) And more sausage to eat with syrup. judiang, as usual. was the last one up.

Much of the afternoon was spent geeking and waiting around to find out when the National Day of Mourning will be. This has no bearing on me or Elsa, but Judi is a Fed and thus it is of great importance to her. And now we know – her day off will be Tuesday. Perhaps she will rant about the irony of that date in her LJ. Perhaps not.

Elsa made us roast beast sammiches for lunch. She and I had earlier walked to her local bakery to get some bread. It was pumpernickle rye, which Judi and I turned down for our sandwiches. What can we say, we’re White Bread Girls. 😉 The sandwich was great, and we had it with Royal Riviera pears from Harry and Davids. It was the best pear I have ever had – so juicy and succulant. Thanks to Elsa’s mum for getting a Harry & David set o’ items for us.

Judi decided that she needed to go to Best Buy again, this time to get stuff for herself. So we stopped there on our way to our Holiday Movie. She picked up two mice, because one mouse just isn’t enough… (Actually, she needed a wired mouse for her laptop and decided to get a wired mouse for her PC for when her wireless one gives her grief and I pick on her to “get a real mouse.”)

Our pick for Holiday Movie was Happy Feet. The only trailer we saw that was anything good was Harry Potter 5. And the movie? So cute! And such a great rythm. I had happy feet while I watched it. Penguins are of the cute! Go penguins!

We finished our fun evening out by having supper at La Shish. We ate at one of the restaurants last year and Judi wanted to go again this year. They make very yummy Middle Eastern food. The girls got the shish combo for two and I got the garlic & almond ghallaba. Judi and I also got smoothies – her a papaya and me a mango. I’d gotten the ghallaba last year and enjoyed it enough to order again this year. Maybe someday I’ll get a shish kabob. 🙂

Our evening was cut short by poor Elsa getting a bloody nose (she got one yesterday at breakfast too, poor dear). She had me drive home and I did so quite safely cuz I’m a good driver. Despite what other people say…

When we got back, we watched The Ruby in the Smoke and ate ice cream. I had Been & Jerry’s chocolate fudge brownie while the girls had B&J’s Cookie Dough ice cream. Good eats and good show. Now we’re watching last week’s Torchwood and I’m writing this.

Tomorrow, our threesome breaks up when Judi and I head on back to Ohio to continue my Christmas celebration. And shortly my birthday celebration. Yay for celebration! Yay for presents!

Recipes!

As requested by scalderwood, two of the recipes from yesterday’s Baking Day.

Lindy Cookies

(Chocolate Chip-Oatmeal Cookies)


1cup butter or oleo

¾cup brown sugar

¾cup granulated sugar

2eggs

1tsp. hot water

2cups flour

1tsp. soda

1tsp. salt

2cup oatmeal

1tsp. vanilla

12oz. chocolate chips


Mix butter and eggs, add sugars. Cream together. Add hot water and vanilla. Slowly add dry ingredients, then mix in chips.

Bake at 350-375° for 6 or 7 minutes. Don’t over bake!


These cookies have been my favorite since I was a wee little child. It was Kathi Strong, I believe, who first called them Lindy cookies, since they are mom’s recipe. These are much better than store bought chocolate chip cookies and even better than Toll House cookies.

Butterscotch Cookies

(AKA Icebox Cookies)


4cup brown sugar

1cup butter

4eggs

6½cup flour

1Tbsp soda

1tsp cream of tartar


Mix sugar and butter, add eggs. Sift together (or mix with wire whisk)dry ingredients. Add to sugar mixture. Make into 1 or 2 loaves, set overnight in refrigerator. Slice into 70 cookies. Bake at 375°for 10 minutes.


Mom usually reserves the last ½ cup of flour for when she rolls the dough into loaves. These cookies are best served with a cup of coffee.

Straight out of the family cookbook! I love Cut & Paste. 🙂