Sunday, October 10, 2010

A Woman's Il-logic

I rarely start a fight when I think I might possibly be in the wrong, but it does happen. I am usually right. On occasion, it is necessary to apologize to my husband even though he was most definitely in the wrong. I am grateful during these times that he has been satisfied by my "sorrys" through clenched teeth with a look of death in my eyes.

Logically, I cannot always be right (grrr). I am pretty sure that it is not actually acceptable to start a fight because my husband is not able to locate the butter in the refrigerator, even though it is kept behind the little clear door in the fridge marked "butter" causing me to get up from a very cozy position on the couch. For the hundredth time.

Slight matters of il-logic also play a part in packing, which brings me to today. I am throwing a handicap placard burning party today. When I got the placard 4 years ago, my husband had worried that I would not be around to renew it. My blue pass expires this month, so my genius husband (I know, I know - now I call him a genius) said we should throw a party. Mom and Dirk's house is twice the size of mine and has a lake in back, so they graciously offered their place for us to use. One of my guests is my aunt who stayed with us last night.

This morning she came into the living room complaining about her lack of under packing. It seems as though there are only two ways to pack 1) as if you will never see home again and you will only ever have what you bring with you 2) as if you were backpacking in Europe where no one you know will ever have knowledge that you did not use eyeliner for a month.

(blog abruptly ended because of excitement over potential shopping and lunch with aunt)

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Fried Bacon, Frutti Di Mare & Food Poisoning

Today Karl and I went to the Texas State Fair. This is the second year we have braved the Dallas traffic to pay heartily for the privilege to pet a calf, sample hot sauce and avoid the paths of aimlessly spinning unattended children covered in red slushy and powdered sugar.

Karl's days off have felt so random lately. Meetings get scheduled at the last second, another store needs help, or he very understandably gets his days off mixed up. This is how later on this week he will be going with me to get my hair cut instead of visiting the heart doctor. I thought that surely since he had a free day that the world would intervene. Apparently even the world likes a Fair Day.

We started our adventure by going to the bank. Last year's visit taught us that things generally cost money. I guess I was all geared up for a Fletcher's corny dog, because my stomach was going crazy. I thought Karl's idea to stop for fast food close to the bank was pure genius. Thank goodness for jr. cheeseburgers. And husbands who order double cheeseburgers with jalapenos that fall out the bottom of the sandwich after the first bite. It was my Texas duty to save them.

The weather was just about perfect for walking around. Nice and cool with blue skies. A couple of hours later and the Texas Glare was in full force. I had on sunglasses and a baseball cap, but somehow the brightness of everything was still overwhelming. I'm sure the temperature had crept up a little bit, but it was still... oh right, I had forgotten. The later part of summer has been hard on me, and I've spent so much down time that my endurance is a bit low. Disappointing for the girl who just a month ago had her best 6 minute walk test time ever.

The heat makes everything hard. Even when I spend the day inside with the air on. It gets hard to remember anything. Weeks after it has cooled down and I'm running around everywhere, I'll look back on summer and wonder what happened. So here's your reminder, Honey. You were prostrate with heat at the fair. At least it afforded the opportunity to watch spontaneous line-dancing. Got to love Texas!

The Texas State Fair has become famous for frying up things that had previously only been accidentally fried. Fried butter, fried cola, fried beer. For the past few years official judgement has been past on these culinary stomach aches. 2 will win, one for creativity, one for taste. The butter, cola and beer all won for creativity, none for taste. The fried bacon, however, was a 2008 taste winner. Talking Karl into spitting some with me was a non issue. That poor bacon. It was just awful. Even with barbecue sauce. So sad that someone took a perfectly good animal and turned it into that. The queasiness of that bacon stayed with us both for the rest of the day.

We sampled wine, pet a calf and toured the Made in Texas barn. I think that is my favorite barn. I know, the others have livestock and cute fuzzy bunnies, but the Made in Texas barn has free samples of food that are made in Texas. And I like the ecological displays. Last year I did the fair in a wheelchair, and we saw every last corner of the place. This year I walked it, and decided that staring from the path was well enough.

Finally, it was time for the corny dog. This year they offered one stuffed with cheese and jalapenos, both of which were near invisible. Last year was the first time that I had ever had a Fletcher's. I think this year will be the last.

We greatly considered walking to the Butterfly Museum, but it was a little too far from where we were at and I wasn't sure that once I got there I would be up for spending time in such a humid place. You can pretty much see the air in there. In previous years I had stayed away from butterfly museums because I thought it was going to be rooms of butterflys pinned to paper. I had no idea that they would be alive and well flying around in basically an oversized greenhouse.

Thankfully, Dallas was happy today and let us return home quickly. The couch was a gracious and welcoming hostess, but it seemed to me too soon when we got hungry again. Apparently, even if it's greasy, a jr. cheeseburger, a piece of bacon and half a corny dog will not fill me up for the day. This was actually pretty much okay with me. I had plans. Big plans.

A couple of days ago I was at the good grocery store and bought a combination of seafood that I had not purchased before. I have made sea scallops and shrimp, but I have never used calamari. What I am most proud of is that I cooked the seafood perfectly. I have a tendency to overcook proteins, so any step forward is cause for a celebration. I can understand wanting to impart safe cooking methods, but telling a child with a vivid imagination that something needs to be cooked until it's dead means that you risk creating an adult who loves a medium-rare steak, but can only make it well-well-done. Too bad the statement didn't inspire vegetarism.

My next hurtle for this dish will be to use mussels in it and to not overcook the pasta. I used one made with rice flour and had forgotten to remove it from the heat when the timer went off. Next time I think I might make it with just chunks of toasted bread.

I think it's time to take a shortcut and right down the recipe, because I am pretty sure that the next time I read this I will have no idea what I put together. I sauteed scallops, shrimp and calamari with olive oil and a bit of spicy seasoning, diced tomatoes and served it with pasta. I also made a side of artichoke hearts, baby tomatoes (all colors, very pretty), basil with small toasted bread from the bakery. Simple, but yummy.

I was so happy with my dinner that I decided to treat myself to a dessert drink. I remembered that I had bought small packages of chocolate soy milk, so I mixed that with a bit of vanilla vodka. Very tasty. Until the stomach cramps came. I can't believe I had forgotten that my stomach really hates chocolate soy milk. Hopefully, I will never make that mistake again. I suspected the seafood at first, but Karl was fine and he had eaten more of it than I had.

I spent the rest of the night moaning. In the bad way, ugh! I was rewarded for my illness with a couple of blessed hours of sleep until I woke up ravenous hungry. So unfair. I know it must be strange, but I get really frustrated with growling stomachs. I don't mind eating, I obviously really enjoy it, but I want it to be on my schedule. I love the planning and the making of something that I have never made, or something that I know I make well, and I'll enjoy it to it's fullest. To have my stomach say "Now" seems rude to me.

Oh well. I think the computer has made my eyes sleepy enough and this blog has gotten a bit of the day's excitement out of me, so hopefully I can fall back to sleep before the sun comes up. I hope I have time for an apple.