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Sep. 11th, 2004
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Sep. 11th, 2004 11:29 amMy reward for being productive this week at work is to spend the afternoon knitting in the water truck. Very exciting. But I've got a new tree and a truckload of new perennials that all need watered in, plus other things that could use a drink, if I get that far.
Today has been blessedly non-annoying. No part-time employees around to get on my nerves, no baseball coaches trying to be friendly and putting their hands on my back while I'm working (I'm still much pissed about that, btw, and that was yesterday morning), and rehearsal last night was better. Not perfect, but better. I've been excused from any work on the baseball field, especially if the coach is there, and Maintenance Supervisor said he'd have words with the Athletic Director about the incident, because this is my third complaint about the baseball coach or his team.
By got home late last night, and we didn't have much time to talk this morning, so I don't know how the opening show went, except that Frank enjoyed the wine guy. By's at work again today, working on Plaza show stuff.
Had trouble deciding which project to pack for water-truck entertainment. Most of my knitting projects are either bulky, or too intricate to put down every five minutes, or the yarn's too delicate. I do have purse socks, but I don't care for the yarn, and I'm less than motivated to finish that set. So, the "On The Moon" purse from the summer '04 issue of Knitty (look under the archives), in a nice washable cotton, plus the Orenburg style scarf I started months ago, becuse it's intricate, but it's small, and I know that yarn washes ok.
Today has been blessedly non-annoying. No part-time employees around to get on my nerves, no baseball coaches trying to be friendly and putting their hands on my back while I'm working (I'm still much pissed about that, btw, and that was yesterday morning), and rehearsal last night was better. Not perfect, but better. I've been excused from any work on the baseball field, especially if the coach is there, and Maintenance Supervisor said he'd have words with the Athletic Director about the incident, because this is my third complaint about the baseball coach or his team.
By got home late last night, and we didn't have much time to talk this morning, so I don't know how the opening show went, except that Frank enjoyed the wine guy. By's at work again today, working on Plaza show stuff.
Had trouble deciding which project to pack for water-truck entertainment. Most of my knitting projects are either bulky, or too intricate to put down every five minutes, or the yarn's too delicate. I do have purse socks, but I don't care for the yarn, and I'm less than motivated to finish that set. So, the "On The Moon" purse from the summer '04 issue of Knitty (look under the archives), in a nice washable cotton, plus the Orenburg style scarf I started months ago, becuse it's intricate, but it's small, and I know that yarn washes ok.
Called Mom last night; she's worried about one of her students. Guess the kid's ok in school, but he's been having anxiety attacks and trouble sleeping. His parents are some of those conscientious news-watching types, and Mom says he's afraid that his school is going to get blown up. Which is bad enough, but when the parents of the child went to the pharmacy with a prescription from their doctor, the pharmacist didn't want to give it to them, because the drug (Mom couldn't remember which one, sorry) can make children more anxious or even suicidal when they finally go off of it. Spooky.
Mom also said Sis and Baby are doing well. Baby went back to the hospital last Friday, because he's still jaundiced, but everything's ok otherwise. My male parental unit showed up last week to visit his new grandchild....Sis was SOOO thrilled. Especially when he pulled another one of his disappearing acts on Friday when it came time to take Baby to the doc. Old dog, old trick. Sis is apparently in trouble with the mother-in-law, too. MIL wanted to take Jake to the zoo Saturday, and didn't tell Sis she meant she'd keep him overnight and then take him, so there was a fight about that, but Jake went anyway, and MIL didn't return him until very late Sunday night. And Jake came home cranky, and announced he didn't want to go back to MIL's house. In front of her. Mom thinks this may put Sis & family permanently in the doghouse with MIL, which is no bad thing.
My grandmother had laser surgery on her eye Friday...this was a repair job, as the last cataract surgery wasn't healing, and she hasn't been able to see out of that eye in about a year. Hopefully, this will fix it, we'll know in a couple of weeks. She's at home, and one of her brothers will be around to help drive her for a few days, and I think Mom is going back down next weekend. Mom's thinking about trying to talk Grandma into moving into assisted living soon...Grandma's been staying where she is because of my great Aunt June (one of Grandma's surviving siblings). Aunt June hasn't been doing well, and Grandma feels obliged to stay close in case she's needed. Mom, and Uncle Bud (Grandma's youngest brother), and Uncle Melvin (Mom's older brother) all say Grandma would move in an instant if/when Aunt June passed away. But she hasn't, and so Grandma won't...it's all a tangle.
Mom also said Sis and Baby are doing well. Baby went back to the hospital last Friday, because he's still jaundiced, but everything's ok otherwise. My male parental unit showed up last week to visit his new grandchild....Sis was SOOO thrilled. Especially when he pulled another one of his disappearing acts on Friday when it came time to take Baby to the doc. Old dog, old trick. Sis is apparently in trouble with the mother-in-law, too. MIL wanted to take Jake to the zoo Saturday, and didn't tell Sis she meant she'd keep him overnight and then take him, so there was a fight about that, but Jake went anyway, and MIL didn't return him until very late Sunday night. And Jake came home cranky, and announced he didn't want to go back to MIL's house. In front of her. Mom thinks this may put Sis & family permanently in the doghouse with MIL, which is no bad thing.
My grandmother had laser surgery on her eye Friday...this was a repair job, as the last cataract surgery wasn't healing, and she hasn't been able to see out of that eye in about a year. Hopefully, this will fix it, we'll know in a couple of weeks. She's at home, and one of her brothers will be around to help drive her for a few days, and I think Mom is going back down next weekend. Mom's thinking about trying to talk Grandma into moving into assisted living soon...Grandma's been staying where she is because of my great Aunt June (one of Grandma's surviving siblings). Aunt June hasn't been doing well, and Grandma feels obliged to stay close in case she's needed. Mom, and Uncle Bud (Grandma's youngest brother), and Uncle Melvin (Mom's older brother) all say Grandma would move in an instant if/when Aunt June passed away. But she hasn't, and so Grandma won't...it's all a tangle.
Kitchen Alchemy
Sep. 11th, 2004 02:46 pmForgot to mention that I'd bottled all of last fall's batch of pear wine on Wednesday, and started two batches of oak leaf mead.
The pear's not bad, a bit green flavor-wise, although I thought it was better than a pear mead that was being passed proudly around Laid-Back. It has potential now, it ought to be quite good 6-12 months from now. I'm in no hurry. It's not quite as dark as I was expecting (running the pears through Robyn's juicer caramellized some of the sugar in the juice), but still a rich amber color, and I think there will be a hint of caralem in the flavor once the "new wine" taste ages out.
I am in a hurry about the oak leaf mead (aka the Ent Juice). I'm just that curious to see how it turns out. One batch with red oak leaves, one batch with bur oak. In each case, I infused the leaves in water for 5 hours, then added the 12 cups of infusion to about 2 gallons of honey-water (the usual ratio, 1:4). The red oak infusion just smelled tannic and earthy, and was basic brown; nice, but I can get that from tea. The bur oak infusion...oooo....it had the most wonderful earthy smoke smell (not sure if that's the leaves, or the fact that I picked the leaves off the tree near our campfire), and a rich red-brown color. That's the one I have high hopes for. I'm using this set of recipes for proportions (leaves to water, etc), but I don't think I want a product as strong and acid as the original recipes looks to provide. Hence, mead.
Next batch of mead (probably when these two are out of the primary fermenter, 1-3 months depending on yeast activity) will be those black currants in the fridge.
The pear's not bad, a bit green flavor-wise, although I thought it was better than a pear mead that was being passed proudly around Laid-Back. It has potential now, it ought to be quite good 6-12 months from now. I'm in no hurry. It's not quite as dark as I was expecting (running the pears through Robyn's juicer caramellized some of the sugar in the juice), but still a rich amber color, and I think there will be a hint of caralem in the flavor once the "new wine" taste ages out.
I am in a hurry about the oak leaf mead (aka the Ent Juice). I'm just that curious to see how it turns out. One batch with red oak leaves, one batch with bur oak. In each case, I infused the leaves in water for 5 hours, then added the 12 cups of infusion to about 2 gallons of honey-water (the usual ratio, 1:4). The red oak infusion just smelled tannic and earthy, and was basic brown; nice, but I can get that from tea. The bur oak infusion...oooo....it had the most wonderful earthy smoke smell (not sure if that's the leaves, or the fact that I picked the leaves off the tree near our campfire), and a rich red-brown color. That's the one I have high hopes for. I'm using this set of recipes for proportions (leaves to water, etc), but I don't think I want a product as strong and acid as the original recipes looks to provide. Hence, mead.
Next batch of mead (probably when these two are out of the primary fermenter, 1-3 months depending on yeast activity) will be those black currants in the fridge.