What are you doing today?

Well...I’ve had an interesting morning so far.

At 8:00 I got up to see my garbage can was laying on its side by the road. It’s been windy. But since trash is usually picked up at 7 am, I figured it was empty and that’s why the wind knocked it down.

I look down the street, and there are other cans standing there with white garbage bags peeking out of them. Oh shit, it’s still full. I’d better get it upright before they come.

...And I hear the truck pull up next door. I’d gotten there just in time. Since trash collectors are not obliged to pick up improperly set out cans, if I’d obeyed my naturally lazy instincts and left the can alone, I’d probably still have that same garbage for another week.

Then I get inside and before I can pour a coffee I look out my back window and there’s my neighbor’s dog, the escape artist, wandering at the back of my yard. He’s headed for the narrow gap between two fences (which leads to the street) and I’m thinking Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it...and he does it. He runs between the two fences into the street.

So I go to my neighbor (still in my robe) and tell her that her dog is loose. By way of explanation as to how he got loose, the poor woman tells me her husband has Covid and she’s been overwhelmed. So she walks and I take my car and we go searching for the little shit. We quickly find him a half block away, blissfully exploring the wide wide world like The Poky Little Puppy. So she leashes him and takes him home.

No sooner do I get back inside my own domicile but my phone beeps to announce a text. I think it’s my family, but it’s USPS telling me the gift that I’d given up on arriving in time for Christmas is finally sitting in my mailbox!

This is all between 8:00 and 8:30.

Can’t wait to see what the rest of the day holds in store for me. 😄
 
I sallied forth and ventured out, and had an enjoyable walk, where I caught a glimpse of that great golden globe, well, more a pale yellow orb, as it briefly put in an appearance before descending rapidly towards the horizon, and seeking refuge where it was freshly obscured behind banks and blankets and duvets of leaden grey, charcoal clouds.

Anyway, I trotted out to collect some brown bread that I had ordered for delivery - the sort of multi-seeded brown loaf that feels, and weighs, and looks like a brick, but a horribly healthy one.
 
lizkat said:
Hah, yeah it should be just one word, right? Fishmonger. I used to shop at Citarella's in NYC for wonderful fish, in the 70s on Broadway. Worth the extra fare to leave the train at 72nd after work, shop that market and take a bus the rest of the way uptown. Any fresher and the fish they'd got that morning at the Fulton Fish market would leap off the ice into your hand.
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This is what I love about living on the gulf. You cannot NOT get seafood that was hauled out hours earlier. I’ve never understood how Dead Lobster can survive here. Are there cheese biscuits really that good?
 
Sampling delicious homemade cookies, so many cookies, chocolate chip, thumbprints, buckeyes, peanut butter blossoms ...

... my goal of hitting 250-lbs by Jan 1st is right on schedule :D
 
Alli said:
This is what I love about living on the gulf. You cannot NOT get seafood that was hauled out hours earlier. I’ve never understood how Dead Lobster can survive here. Are there cheese biscuits really that good?
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No clue on the cheese biscuits, it was just the seafood drew me in there. Sounds like I missed an opportunity though...
 
Scepticalscribe said:
Everything tastes better when served in a Waterford crystal glass, even mineral water.

And food is better - it tastes better and it looks better - on a proper china plate, or a decent piece fired by a potter.

The thing is - or, the trick is - to reconcile yourself to the fact that accidents may happen - and can happen - but to use them, - they were designed to be used, as much as admired - and to enjoy the use of them, on a daily basis.

When buying my Ethiopian coffee today, the staff wondered whether I wanted an actual cup of coffee as well. They, themselves, were drinking coffee, in beautiful pottery cups, - while one had a glass cup, with an elegant cork diameter - but they served (yes, Covid, I know, but I loathe to have to consume coffee - or beer, or wine - from plastic and paper cups) coffee to customers in paper cups.

Yes, I know that this is a necessary health measure, but it is so........uncivilised, so uncultured, and so unpleasant.

No, thank you.

I'd rather wait until my return home, when I serve myself coffee in a Le Creuset mug.
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Absolutely. Beer from a can or tea in a paper, or worse plastic mug just doesn’t taste right.
 
Not a bad day. Cross trainer first thing. Lunchtime walk with Mrs AFB. It was sunny but cold.
Worked from home. Finished at 3. Off (officially) until the NY. But have a few tasks I’d like to get done over the next few days.
Dinner is in the oven. A chicken breast, cauliflower and carrots. Will be served with wheat free pasta. I’ll have a jar of sauce with mine.
 
Apple fanboy said:
A chicken breast, cauliflower and carrots. Will be served with wheat free pasta. I’ll have a jar of sauce with mine.
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Similar to my own plans: poached chicken, cauliflower, carrots, green beans and some couscous w/ sautéd mushrooms.

Aside from that just taking it easy today, it's the holidays without the usual rush, I'm not ungrateful actually.
 
Hahaha, yes, this is happening ...

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Alli said:
This is what I love about living on the gulf. You cannot NOT get seafood that was hauled out hours earlier. I’ve never understood how Dead Lobster can survive here. Are there cheese biscuits really that good?
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Yes, there are.

But, nothing beats fresh, French bread.

This afternoon, I also collected a litre of organic milk (and organic double cream) that had been held for me (and already paid for, by me) in the local store; another litre (also paid for as is the cream) awaits me still, for, I doubt that deliveries will resume until the new year.
 
lizkat said:
Similar to my own plans: poached chicken, cauliflower, carrots, green beans and some couscous w/ sautéd mushrooms.

Aside from that just taking it easy today, it's the holidays without the usual rush, I'm not ungrateful actually.
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Most of our meals are just a variation on a theme. Mrs AFB choices are pretty limited.
 
lizkat said:
Similar to my own plans: poached chicken, cauliflower, carrots, green beans and some couscous w/ sautéd mushrooms.

Aside from that just taking it easy today, it's the holidays without the usual rush, I'm not ungrateful actually.
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Apple fanboy said:
Most of our meals are just a variation on a theme. Mrs AFB choices are pretty limited.
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Poached chicken can be quite tasty, although roasted chicken - when you have a number of people to dinner - can be delicious.

However, chicken dishes stand or fall on the quality of the fowl, in question.
 
lizkat said:
I cannot be trusted if left unsupervised around either deviled eggs or guacamole. Not even while making them!
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I love them, and this was just an exchange:

J: "Do you guys like devilled eggs?"

D: "Yes, love them!"

J: "With pickles ...?"

Me from the other room, "THEY CAN PICK THEM OUT!!"

:ROFLMAO:


We have this neat Tupperware devilled egg tray (with a lid, like little 1/2 egg divots), it's a family hand-me-down I guess you could say :)
 
@lizkat: Earlier, elsewhere, when chatting - in the Other Country, aka MR, I have described to you what a good friend the cheesemonger has been to me; for example, the night my mother died, close to midnight on December 21, 2018, around an hour before she passed away, at 11.00 pm, he turned up with a box of cheeses, loaves of bread, and a few bottles of wine - and here, on these threads, more recently, when discussing the noun (and verb) "monger", I referred to my friend the cheesemonger, when we were discussing fishmongers.

Anyway, that is by way of mentioning - describing - how I have just now answered the door to take delivery of the most enormous hamper (which contains cheeses, terrines, salami, prosciutto, chutneys, jams, olives, biscuits, a few bottles of wine), a gift from the cheesemonger.

What an amazing, and wonderful human being.
 
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