Category: Food

a few words

pOp is staying at least one overnight in hospital. My poor mother. He’s got an intermittent fever and the docs don’t like it. Her cleaning specialist was there today and (as always) a sweet and gentle Godsend for my mOm. Of course I told mOm to call me anytime. Conveyed Liz’s greetings to her and pOp.

This is Willow

Alex played with his friends for 15 minutes after school and got to see a chameleon!  (I waited in the car; friends are important!) His mommabear supplied him with a sammy for lunch.

I am continuing to train Buster regarding Alex. Before Alex came over I said about ten times; ‘Alex coming, noisy. Noisy Alex. Alex will be here soon.” Then when Alex was here (and playing gaming videos and minding his own business) I took him in to say hello but he didn’t bolt. He went into the next room, and didn’t hide (progress!!! yes!) and then I played with him and brushed him FOR A LONG TIME. He’ll get used to the lad yet. But of course letting him know that Alex is coming will help him adjust.

Buster isn’t complaining at all when we close the cat door. I think there’s a new mean kitty out there.

More laundry; two more loads today and the first three either folded or put away.

No joy whatsoever in getting hold of Paul. I assume since it’s a nice day he’s conversatin’ with the ladies out on the patio at Thornbridge. And I hope he has a lovely time!

Alex is using expensive paints and a seven dollar canvas to paint right now and I can hardly wait to see what he does. Right now it looks like the Eye of Sauron. He just threw huge swathes of copper paint on it this should be good.

 

 

Alex today

Actually I’ve got him all week.

Today will be the longest day, I’ve got him before school and then from 10ish to when Katie comes for him. I’ll be taking him with me on errands with Paul, who needs a battery stuck in his watch. He’ll be here in an hour or less.

466 words yesterday

Put away some laundry and the dishes.

Mike took me to supper at Little Minh’s. I had the Banh Hoi (Vietnamese pork sausages with cucumber and lettuce, fine rice noodles in sheets (never seen it like that before) with basil on top. (He had the chicken, fried egg and noodles.) He showed me videos of the animals he’s seen in Brunette and Alouette – a beaver and a young bear, respectively. The bear came right into the water so Mike was careful to mention that he was yonks away and the zoom function on his phone is crazy amazing. He’s given up all other activities but kayaking, and does that whenever he can. We didn’t really talk that much. Work is bad, but he’s not putting up with anything they throw at him. He’s being locked out of meetings for a product for which he’d normally be required to write customer support documentation. And the rollout is 3 weeks hence. Basically it’s the same shit as 2012, it’s just ten years on. And as soon as the meal was over, he drove me home. I think it was at his outer limit of what he can deal with socially, and I’m just glad he wanted to spend the time with me.

Mary is still on the mend, with all the tubes, and pOp had a fall and will likely be home from hospital today. I know I’m all blithe about it here, but I’m really not; I’m just letting my feelings be guided by my mother, who was concerned but not frantic.

We’ll see

So with luck Keith will be able to deal with his papa this morning for the appointment.

A teensy bit of writing yesterday but the less said about me hauling boxes to Paul’s and standing over him drinking bowel cleanser all day the better. He was very sweet and compliant… while I was in the room. Spent most of my time there setting up his phone and writing down instructions. Brought him clear broth for foodicles.

Jeff’s going to take me to breakfast so gotta jet.

LATER. OMG THE CHICKEN SOUP AND SCHNITZEL SAMMY he got me for ‘supper for brekky’ at the Foreshore Restaurant was AMAZING. The schnitzel, first class, the soup a warm hug in my tummy.

Just spoke to Paul, he drunk it all ALL THE BOWEL CLEANSER and waits for Keith.

yet l8r….

Just spoke to Paul and Keith separately; Paul informed me that he ‘loaded 14 bowls’ and if you’re thinking hash, right colour, wrong substance… Keith was inbound to Paul and I told Paul to get out front to speed things along. Both of them were very happy for my waving my arms with a baton in my hand. How this shit keeps happening to me …OH YEAH – that’s right I got pregnant twice and decided to keep the kids. LOL.

Jeff says that he jumps when the phone rings. I hardly blame him!

Back to writing, the ending is coming up like a freight train.

festive meal

Paul, Ruth, John, Keith and I dined yesterday. It was a very pleasant and convivial meal and just as I was faltering in my eating I realized I was about to basically put my head down and start snoozing so I slithered off home in a taxi. Which reminds me, I have a sammy to reheat.

The Echo is serving them well, they say, and their Yukon vacation was stellar.

1581 words on TB yesterday, so that’s respectable. Coming up on the Ottawa trip in the story.

I’m really concerned about storm Hilary, but oh well. We’ll get our day in the climate sun again here in MST country soon enough I imagine.

off to the showroom

Keith needs to buy some furniture to fit in his new room. We’ll go off to see that midmorning. He’s also setting up ‘the last family meal at the Manor’ for Sunday so I’m hoping Jeff will come.

Weather continues okay, pollen except mold is low.

Laundry done, now I need to put it away. har har

Ukraine has lost a lot of warriors in the offensive. Things are gonna snap.

Tanked all my Lumosity games this morning. I don’t mean to dip but using a trackpad instead of a mouse is kinda bogus and I should stop doing it.

Made more iced tea.

Had my leftover pad thai for breakfast. DAMN it was good. Jeff enjoyed his Mongolian stirfry so we’re putting that restaurant in the rotation. The soup (sort of like Tom Ka Kai but called Coconut soup) was so good I could feel my soul leave my body and then come whooshing back in with a big ass THANK YOU. I asked for Mild-Medium spicing and they NAILED IT so well.

Reviewing my to do list. Amazing how many items I’ve already crossed off.

360 words over today and yesterday.

Just found out that the only Guyanese person I follow on twitter… his dad was a chauffeur. And so is Blossom, so I’m thinking that is one strange echo.

I’m begging you

Mother Dear Mother

I cannot find the slender black binder which contains the ‘Tales of Grampa”. Please either send it to me in printed or electronic form, or acknowledge that everyone else involved but Grampa is dead now and publish it for the world to see, because Tales of Grampa is one of the best things our family ever wrote.

Alex is the right age now, I NEED THAT BOOK.

Okay technically it’s not required for my physical survival but gloryoski I shore would plumb like that.

Spent a LONG time at Lougheed Mall yesterday with Keith as he acquired a new phone. If -and this is a big if – I need a cell phone I’ll go to Walmart for the flip phone and go to the Bell kiosk for the sim card and activation. Keith also acquired a shower curtain and some other items for his dad and I fed him at Cazba. Lovely food but takes forever. I spent so much time waiting for him that I put together a 125 item generalized list. I also picked up a beautiful new pen – Oomomo has wonderful Japanese pens – and some mini whiteboards with markers – and a pack of Pocky. Managed to stay away from Cobs Bread and the Purdy’s Chocolate. The mall keeps changing stores and it can be quite disorienting.

Keith desperately needs to get some work done on his car, it’s not starting very well. Honestly thought we might be ‘stranded’ (it’s one bus ride home, la).

Had an unbelievably frustrating conversation with him about creativity. He spends all his time worrying about not writing instead of digging in to understanding his creative process and finding tools to support it. I mean, I only found Scrivener a decade ago and before that I didn’t have an app which supports my creative writing the way I need it done. He’s always so infuriatingly vague when he talks about anything personal so after five minutes of flailing, I shut up, assuming he was finding my ‘solutionizing’ patronizing and demoralizing and candidly useless. You know, like the ‘just cheer up’ advice you get from someone who doesn’t understand depression and anxiety and finds your gloominess rude, antisocial and disrespectful.

I checked someone’s name on line after they advertised their cleaning and organizing services on Next Door and they are…. let’s just say whoever the hell she really is, someone with her exact and unusual name has a set of resumes on line which…. er …. don’t line up. They can’t all be right, but they for sure can all be wrong…. so I’m just going to skip over that part where I pay for her advice.

The red canoe is gone out of the back yard, thank you Jeff for making that possible.

I’ve gotten wordle in three tries three days running, I don’t think I’ve ever done that before. There’s been a run of words with ‘B’ in them though, I don’t think that’s unrelated.

Ah, that coffee. Milk and sugar. So good.

And in spite of it, do you know what my bp was this am? 117 over 79. That is absolutely perfect blood pressure and that’s 1.5 hours before my meds so you can understand why I feel a bit weird for an hour after I take them. (But it doesn’t stop me from doing things, I just take it easy.)

I owe Dave a phone call, hopefully it will migrate from my list to reality sometime today.

Zibethicus changed the logo on twitter. Long time nesters there are saying things like ‘EVERYTIME I SEE THAT X INSTEAD OF THE BLUE BIRD IT REMINDS ME TO GO SOMEPLACE ELSE’ Yes Elon, you dun fuct up

I’ve written 773 words over the last two days on TB.

I really wish my energy level wasn’t so variable; but that I guess is the single biggest reason I can’t work full time any more. Plus I’m actually listening to my body and peeing at first recognition that my bladder is full rather than waiting until explosive decompression is imminent.

My pOp said something HILARIOUS to me on the phone yesterday, so I am saluting him this morning WITHOUT repeating what was said. Thank you kind sir, I have been chuckling occasionally ever since. He’ll read this and think, “What is she going on about?” and that too is part of the humour.

I miss Ryker, I need to see that boy.

 

no way

There was absolutely no way I would permit another sleepless night, expecially since Jeff and I are supposed to breakfast with Keith and Alex this morning. I whacked myself with ten milligrams and slept like a cat until 5 am. YAY, MULTIPLE EVENTS OF YAY!  Jeff, however, is not in the most tip top shape so it’s still an open guess whether he’ll be able to join us. (I’ll let him not provide the details.) Keith’s going to call us when he’s levered Alex into the car.

Yesterday, 3500 words on Handyman Special, day before 2500 words, 250 so far today. Absolutely none of the last ten or so destiel stories I posted had explicit sex in them and this one is basically a sea bed of hand-wavy plot hosting a tsunami of schmoopy porn, and honestly I have ZERO clue where the hell any of this comes from. But at least I am not repeating, in describing the hella hot consensual sex, any of the most commonly used expressions OR anything I’ve previously written, and by god that’s an accomplishment even if none of you horrified old coots will give me my due as an ahem mistress of the genre.

from Fanlore:

Schmoop is used to describe fanfic with a very sweet romance between two characters. Some fans see schmoop as a further escalation of fluff.

Fluff is often used in fandom to characterize any pleasant, feel-good work. It is sometimes described as the opposite of angst.

None of this is preventing me from chipping away at Totally Boned.

Peggy is threatening tourtiere

OH GOD will I survive?  She’s from northern Quebec, of course she knows how to make a tourtiere of note.

She is also threatening the last of the strawberry rhubarb pie. Jeff, reading this, is wiping off drool. I await delivery with high hopes.

Jeff and I were witnesses to some of Paul’s paperwork. I thank Lois and Ruth for stickhandling this, it never would have happened without them.

The ukulele reappeared. It was exactly where I left it, in the music room. If I had lost it I would be sad, but when Mike called I told him and he just laughed and laughed when I explained I lost something in my house and he said…. that’s my every day for months.

So…. heard from Mike. He nearly died yesterday, he went kayaking in Pitt Lake. The inflatable kayak burst and a rain storm came up and HE JUST BARELY MADE IT BACK TO SHORE, his arms were still shaking occasionally when he called me. He watched a satellite video just to ensure that he hadn’t been dreaming about how fast the storm blew up and nope, it happened like he said. Anyway, he sounded quite chipper, the way you always do when you avoid death by drowning by inches.

Buster’s leg wound from the surgery is healing nicely but he’s a long way from having the cone off. He completely freaked out when Lois and Paul came over yesterday for the document signing, it was rough for him. It’s possible he was confused over the car sound and couldn’t figure out who was coming and going with the Echo coming and going but me not being in it. Lois will return the car today and fly home, and she will be missed.

The battery on the laptop now discharges to 50 percent when left fully charged but unplugged overnight. I wish you could easily replace the batteries in these fuckers. I’ve pinged a repair shop for help; should be about 150 to 200 dollars.

thinking thoughts

Jeff has offered breakfast at Foreshore restaurant and just thinking about their coffee makes me happy so I have cheerfully agreed. I’ll try to have something better for my kidneys (less sweet, less fatty) so maybe a bowl of oatmeal.

NOPE I HAD THE ENGLISH BREAKFAST (more vegetable matter and fibre) and it was fantastic. For 13.95 you get two eggs, a homemade sausage, a slab of fried ham, a wedge of watermelon, a bowl of English style beans, fried tomatoes and mushrooms and four pieces of sourdough toast. I dare you to find a higher quality homestyle breakfast for less money anywhere in the lower mainland. Coffee’s not included but it’s bottomless once ordered, so…. OBVS I was not going to finish it so we packaged all the remains and it will make ANOTHER MEAL for both of us. God their coffee is superb and we had the resto to ourselves until a gent in conspicuity gear made his conspicuous appearance and sat far away from us. The server as always is an absolute peach of a woman – we do like her so. The ventilation in the restaurant is excellent and we never go when it’s crowded so I feel relatively safe dining unmasked.

Today I’ll head over to Paul’s in the morning and try to help with packing and I’ll pay Dax for the oil and filter.
Right now I’m thinking bout stuff n things.

love all yall have a good one

a few items

Mo-no-ny-mous
I mean Shakira
Mo-no-ny-mous
And also Cher
Mo-no-ny-mous
Adele and Bono
and Plato, & Cato,
Colette – and don’t forget Voltaire

(This above for mOm, I sang it to her the other day and she laughed so I thought I’d write it down for her.)

Made fruit salad for the meal yesterday. Last I saw, leaving their house, Paul was going to eat the rest before anyone got seconds. It was that good. And candidly, given that he daily complains about how hard his poops are, who minds that he inhales some food value with his roughage.

It consisted of pieces of melon, blueberries, strawberries, mangoes, the best fucking Bartlett pears I ever et, and oranges. The dressing which is from a recipe I got online, I’m not smart enough to invent it, and it’s for those who can eat dairy: a cup and a half of 10%BF Greek yogurt, three tablespoons of maple syrup and half a capful of vanilla. WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS how nommy it is, and like I said I would have taken home leftovers if there had been any. The mouth feel, good god yall.

Oreo sat on my shoulders a good long while and purred hard in my ear.

I PLAYED A BOARD GAME WITH THREE QUARTERS OF MY DESCENDANTS YESTERDAY. It was Alex’s idea and I had so much fun. Hasbro’s latest version of Clue, if you need to know.

Dax changed the oil in my car. I asked him anxiously from the back deck if the oil was very dirty and he swilled it around in the container and considered the matter and said, ‘Yes’ so dryly that I burst out laughing. I owe him forty bucks for the filter and the oil so I’ll be heading out to drop it off sometime today. Perhaps I’ll combine it with a trip to Peggy’s to ditch that weird fretless bass ukulele.

Made soup yesterday. Started with a litre of unsalted Campbell’s chicken stock, added organic ramen (so damn good), chopped carrots, mushrooms, baby bok choi, a little tiny dab of veggie soup base, a splish of soy sauce. Today or tomorrow I am going to attempt Instant Pot (did you know the parent company is going out of business thanks to asset stripping? Capitalism HOW YOU SUCK) red beans and rice. I may bake up some chicken breasts and taters since the weather seems to be veering off into ‘June-uary’ temperatures.

Thunder and lightning two days ago. Not usual for these parts. We talked about the weather a lot yesterday.

Ryker was just down for his nap and Alex kissed his head AND WOKE HIM UP. He was down for most of the meal and the board game but since he’d gotten no other nap that day and was up at 6:30 Katie was SPARE while Ryker ran around the house terrorizing everything he could and parroting everything his mother said. WITH HER INTONATION. He’s got dozens and dozens of words, some clear enough that people who don’t live with him can understand him. Keith was like that, pristine pronunciation from the git. But Ryker is DIFFERENT. He is stronger, braver (yeah, like no sense of self preservation) smarter, faster, funnier, more able to understand what the adults around him are saying, more able to self-soothe, more durable – he took hits yesterday that would have had me bawling and just walked it off – picking up language so fast. Mike the father brought him back with a pinch bruise on his leg from a recliner, apologetic af, and Katie wasn’t bothered. What can you do? He’s not Alex, or Keith, who conducted themselves from a very early age knowing that the world can bite ya. I told her they should promise each other ten bucks and hand it to whichever of them DOESN’T have to take him to hospital with a broken bone first. You should have seen Katie rubbing her face as she contemplated how many TIMES she’ll likely have to take him to hospital. Like the tshirt said, today we keep the tiny human alive. Except he’s NOT tiny, he can open and shut doors with the handle.

everything about the visit is overshadowed by the fact that Alex is crying every day about how he can no longer go to second street school because his mother can’t afford to live in the catchment area. And the landlord fucked her over by not giving her a duly completed eviction notice so she can’t move up the BC housing list. This world is a horrible place for my children right now and I am helpless.

Over 500 words on TB yesterday. Richie and Blossom have finally met.

chimichanga and Mr. Ho’s

It was lovely to see Tom, Chari, Brian and Mike at Mr. Hos. None of us had a drop of alcohol.

It was also very lovely, earlier in the day, to see Ryker who is A BUSY LITTLE BOY WHO NEVER STOPS MOVING. And broke a corelle dish, in accordance with the prophecy.

Keith cooked me a chimichanga with cheese and Suzanne made me a cup of tea and told me she can’t do second Thursday’s any more because she got a better paying position for that day but she can do an evening or weekend or morning instead. So Jeff and I will have to talk about what’s most convenient.

On the way back I got Jeff a strawberry rhubarb five inch from Pie Hole and us some relaxants from The Bohemian. Took a cab to the restaurant like a sensible person.

Curvebeak was back this morning (Jeff noticed him the other day, he’s uh, hard not to notice with that incredible honker) and it’s just aggravating because I don’t have any sound and healthy crow food except…. hardcooked eggs, (wut?) so I peeled him an egg and put it out for him. Felt weird. Accidentally let Buster out but he has to stay in for his appointment at the vet today so we for sure can lay hands on him when it’s time to go. I coaxed him back in with many treats.

Just checked what I fed Curvebeak, every scrap of the egg is gone. Well, he got one fifth of his calories for the day I guess, they eat 12 oz a day.

 

the cumulative effect

so

if Keith hadn’t asked me to come with for Peggy’s luncheon

Peggy wouldn’t have reminded me that Cindy’s Festival of the Living Rooms concert is Saturday and suggested I back Cindy up

and I wouldn’t have messaged Cindy to be so kind as to allow me to accompany her

and I wouldn’t have found out that Cindy was low key panicking, and we wouldn’t have rehearsed last night and I wouldn’t be backing her up today for the 3PM concert. She brought like 80 DOLLAH of greek food and we ate like chieftains wit’ da meat on spits, good god yall.

Yesterday with Alex was fun. We didn’t call GGMa but we did have a good time, and I got to see my neurodiverse grandson HAVING A SOCIAL LIFE WITH FRIENDS WHO ALSO HAVE DYED HAIR (three little cis boys with red and pink hair noisily occupying a living room) and once again I was moved to intense and grievous anger that he’s being renovicted and may lose these friends, as children do in moves. I will keep that friendship going if I have to take him on the bus I publicly swear it. Anyway he was invited over and I squared it with his mummabear and we exchanged numbers and his mummabear picked him up. It rained, but not enough to really put out any fires.

He played me something on youtube called Rush E. Don’t bother, it’s a memey thing and your life won’t be better if you look at it. Also he needs to remember to bring his blessed charger with him.

I got him to pick a beat on the Kaossilator and we recorded him playing overtop of that. I will post a fragment when I get around to it and quit panicking about the performance this afternoon.

The counteroffensive has begun. Qapla’ Ukrainy (Success Ukraine in Klingon)

 

busy all of a sudden

FINALLY got my bloodwork done, should be ready for the doc by the time I see her for the video chat. The venipuncturist was SO SLICK IT WAS REVELATORY. I literally didn’t feel a thing and she took three fast tubes with collapsing or bruising anything. It’s very amusing when the ripping off of the little round bandaid causes more irritation than the stick….

Keith picked me up and we went to Peggy’s. As we were driving along Armstrong a VERY TALL MAN came into view and I said, “That’s Joe.” He was looking bummed because even though he knew that he was low on gas…. he ran out. We drove him back to Peggy’s (well it’s his home too now) and he dealt with his car and Keith prepped a flatbread lunch (pesto-spread flatbread with fresh mozz and sauteed peppers (WHY WON’T THIS VERSION OF WORDPRESS COPE WITH SPECIAL CHARACTERS THANKS I HATE IT) as well as a delicious spinach salad, and which included extras of each flatbread to be taken over to the OTHER of Peggy’s son’s houses down the hill, but not for Ben because he can’t have yeast.) And Peggy devoured it, with the kind of obvious glee that makes me continuously glad she picked herself out of the crowd to be my ersatz oldest sister. She’s about to get on an airplane and go visit one of her sisters, may many blessings ensue. I was reminded that Cindy’s giving a Zoom concert on Saturday and asked to get my ass over there and provide backup singing support so I’ll email her and find out if she actually wants me to do that.

Keith talked about housing while we were there. It was a dark and emotional convo as one can imagine.

Part of Keith’s emotional turmoil is that he’s really connected with his two nephews and the idea of not being part of their daily care is grieving him.

THEN I found out I get Alex today all day because it’s a Pro-D Day so he’ll turn up with his electric candy apple red hair and tablet sometime between 8 and 9 this morning and go home when his mama picks him up. I have plans for his day.

THEN Mike’s 12v portable cooler was delivered here (for the Delica). (That’s because the Porch Pirates of Burnaby are EXCEEDINGLY ACTIVE IN HIS BUILDING, like they steal food deliveries as well as parcels.) He’s had so many packages stolen that he’s asking to have stuff delivered here instead. So I called Mike and he came and got it and most of the cooking gear he left here Sunday, although the metal chopsticks I gave him apparently took a walk and I reused one of his bowls after I cleaned it, yay ADD. He couldn’t stay because he had to make a grocery run.

I gave him his Um Suleiman kufiyah on Sunday, forgot to mention that. (Genuine Palestinian kufiyah in ladybug colours.) He really liked it and it will match pretty much anything in his wardrobe. I should have waited for his B-day in July but who the hell knows what tomorrow will bring and I wanted to do it NAOW.

Working on ‘understanding short sentences’ with Buster. I keep having to remind myself that UNLESS he’s already ‘primed’ for a behaviour he needs 8-10 seconds processing time to understand and respond to the verbal cue. (Margot needed a stunning 18 seconds to respond to anything.) “Door open” “Cat door closed” “wet food upstairs” “Daddy went downstairs” “Want brush?” “Want to train?” “Jump up for the one two three” (I always put exactly three cat treats on the tuffet in a terrifically underthought attempt to get him to learn counting words.) Also continued to train Oreo at Planet of the Renovicted. Sam is untrainable. (Like most cats with Bengal markings if you don’t get ’em really young.)

i’ve been sitting in the sun

but not at Vantan, one thing, another, the whole Dinsdale stale trail of when plans go awry. I shall be crispy tonight. Jeff said I looked a trifle sunned. I heard stunned but you know how siblings are. (That did not, in fact, happen.)

However Mike came over and cooked supper outside on a campstove and it was nom nommity yes indeedy. Gai lan and beef&onions, over rice, mochi balls to finish. For whatever reason Buster who has in past been his devoted fan, wouldn’t go near him. He’s been fine but weird lately.

Knoweth how to party, Mike, in any event. Jeff had two whole beers. (I am drinking de-alcoholized, as is Mike. The cannabis was stylishly abundant I will leave it at that.)

He is now cleaning up, the Mobile 8th Wonder of the World.

We’ll reconvene over John Wick 4.