fear of the dark......

I stopped by the library a picked up a couple books for the weekend. Friday afternoon I started reading Ann Rule (one of my fav's) Worth More Dead. I think it's her latest, but this copy was in paperback so it might not be. I normally really enjoy reading her true crime cases, but this time I was home alone. I dropped my husband off around 9:oo pm it was just starting to get dark. By the time I got home it WAS DARK . Meanwhile my daughter left around 5pm. So it was just me and the dog. Once I start reading Ann Rule, I just keep reading until the book is done. This was the case with this one. Around 10 pm I stopped reading and made sure all the doors were locked, about 1/2 hr later I pulled the drapes a little closer together. Then I also made sure the doors were really locked. I looked up from the book and noticed it was getting close to midnight and I didn't even watch the news. So I took my water glass and the book upstairs to read some more. Usually the animals (cat and dog) come upstairs with me, but this time I couldn't find them, I knew they were inside, but ah well. About two thirty I noticed gee It was getting really late. But the book.... My house was extra creaky last night. I had to continually stop reading because something made me look up. I hate when that happens, when I'm alone, and reading books I shouldn't be reading when I'm alone. Anyway I finished it about 3:30. I couldn't decide if I really wanted to try and sleep or not, what was the point. Every noise opened my eyes and the bed was not very comfortable all of a sudden. Why isn't the cat at least up here, he's always sneaking up on the bed, where was he and why didn't he want to come up. My neighbor came home late and usually the dog barks if anyone come anywhere near my door and either of my neighbors doors. But she didn't bark..... I finally couldn't take it anymore and took half a sleeping pill. My daughter woke me up when she left for work about 10 am. Sometime during the night she came home and I didn't even notice. And so it appears neither did the dog. It was very spooky. I should know better than to read something like this when I'm going to be alone. There ought to be a warning on the cover.

the old wine shades

Polished off The Old Wine Shades. I don't remember enjoying a book this much in a long time. All the twists and turns. I was sad to see the end of it all. I'm going to miss all these characters. I've grown so fond of them all. A tad too much left unresolved but hopefully the next novel will bring some closure. I will have to leave some space between the next book I read. Because this one has to be savoured a bit more. I should have read it slower. How long does it take Grimes to produce another one anyway.
Had an interesting breakfast this morning. My daughter even got out of bed before noon to partake it. My husband came home with a care package from Mom. We've been getting one on Tuesday morning these last couple of week. She lives about 300 to 350 miles away and my husband comes withing 60 miles of her home on Monday nights, so she sends it out towards him, to make a long story short. Anyway it was a welcome box of green beans, baby squash, cuc's, tomatoes (4 varieties) zuccinni, cabbage and fresh parsley all off her garden last night. So while my husband was unwinding from an all nighter I quickly saute'd the beans (heaven) ,cut up some baby potatoes and steamed them with wedges of cabbage, made some "stinky salad" (greek ) and then cut up some farmers sausage and fried it up with some sliced baby squash-added some motza before serving. Wow lip smacking. I don't know what it is about steamed cabbage that makes my family swoon. But they all come running when it's offered. I cut the baby potato into wedges at the bottom of the steam basket and then add a layer of wedged cabbage chunks on top, sprinkle the cabbage with a bit of ginger, kosher salt, and then butter before serving. It's like some kind of genetic link between them all. Must be my husbands genes because I don't have a taste for it at all. Wierd. Steamed cabbage-what a waste of time when there are so many other things out there one could be eating. I always thought food preference came invetro. But must be genetic - that would explain the weiners and beans they all seem to enjoy (again except me).
I surely do miss a veggie garden. There is nothing to compare to fresh green beans. Nothing. Except maybe fresh strawberries. Only thing I was able to produce from my tiny itty bitty yard so far has been basil. I made loads of pesto yesterday for the freezer. I have three tomato plants, but they haven't rippened yet and probably won't. The cucumber plant I rescued from the garden center is really long, but only produced one cuc so far. Lack of bees. I've been out there with my little brush. But I think I left it too late. And started out to late after moving here. Ah well, next year........
I just have to pull out all those shrubs first. All that wasted space.
I transplanted some of the herbs into a pot to hopefully keep over winter

I've got a nice spot for it in the bay window off the kitchen. I'll be really pissed if it doesn't work out.

Finished reading Espresso Tales - I gotta say I really enjoy reading Alexander McCall Smith. He's right up there with Rutherford and Grisham when it comes to readable male authors. Not like Shanks for Nothing (what a stupid male wet dream/ fantasy). Sometimes I just want to slap these guys for writing such shit. There's just no other way to describe this book. The only reason I didn't throw it across the room is because I was hoping for more of resource, two shot and cement head. The only redeeming characters in this sad excuse of the story. How does someone actually put their name on this book, and then go on to write more of the same. Ugh. I picked it up off the shelf because it had golf clubs on the cover.

Culinary Journey in Gascony wasn't exactly a wonderful read either. Her blog is so much better than her book.

I picked up some nice Savoy Cabbage at stupid store today so I think I"ll make some cabbage rolls. Haven't made them for awhile. I'm just sitting here waiting for the rice to cook. There has been some grumbling around here lately that there's never anything to eat. I always manage to eat, but everyone else expects lots of choices to nuke. So I'll make some stuffed rigatonni (we like to call them mini manicotti) and then some chicken chow mein. My mother sent me some your beets with tops that have to be steamed. We'll just have to see how much of this I actually get accomplished.

My doc's app't went really well regarding the LUMP. It's two cysts non cancerous and the blood test show that I'm menopausal. So it's what?-four to seven years of this crap. At least the hot flashes have stopped, for now. My colesteral level is slightly elevated. I don't see how that could be since Basically I've stopped eating-no appetite. It's probably the wine that I stopped drinking as well. So I bought a few bottles today-after all I need the empty bottles for my own wine.

This is the cabbage rolls before they went in the oven,before the sauce.

These are right out of the oven yum yum yum.

And there's the mini manni's, all lined up waiting for the sauce.

The cabbage left over from the cabbage rolls, (savoy makes in much neater and you don't have to boil the piss out of cabbage before rolling, just nuke leaves for about 3 min before rolling) chopped up nicely for the chow mein. I'll try making that later.

geez I'm surprised to could work out the pic's and transfering them over and everything wow.

But I have to get back to my book now, Talk Talk. It's turning out to be a "good read". I can't read it all in one sitting, giving myself breaks so as not to cause a migrane.

Cherries cherries everywhere...

Well I went to the library and exchanged my books, and paid my fine. I was flipping through Bills Food, by Bill Granger (came highly recommended from other blogs) and I gotta say there's not one recipe that really wowed me. It took less than 10 minutes- I was waiting for the cherries to process. The banana bread looked interesting, but I've got hundreds of banana bread recipes.I can't think why anyone would purchase this book. I give the same review to Chef on Fire by Joseph Carey.
Inside Every Woman by Vickie Milazzo came recommended to me by my step-daughter. She's currently starting a business and got insperation from this book, so I suggested that she buy Martha Stewart's - The Rules.
So far the only remotely interesting book is Alexander McCall Smith's Expresso Tales. Should take me half a day to polish it off.
My husband brought a box of cherries home from one of his trips on Tuesday and I've been eating them everyday all day long. I'm cherried out. Enough already. So I've pickled another 8 jars. This time I threw in some red pepper flakes into the brine. Hope they won't be to hot.
I've been plagueing my doctor with all my medical problems last week, so she sent me for many tests of every kind and even got back at me with a momogram and a pap test. Well on Friday morning the mamogram showed a lump. A large lump, so that afternoon I had an ultrasound. The technician was very tight lipped. When I went for my possible kidney stone the week before, the tech was very open and even showed me all my body parts, no stone, nothing wrong with bladder??? So now I have to wait until tuesday to find out about the lump. Could be cyst, or two in a mass. Since last test about 16 months ago I've lost 25 lbs so I'm hoping it's just the missing body fat that is the culprit. I'd rather have the kidney stone. Please give me the kidney stone instead.
I racked my white wine yesterday so now I've got to wait about a month to bottle it. I've got to start the blueberry shiraz next. I've got to start drinking more store bought wine-I'm going to need the bottles. That's the worst part of making wine, scrounging for bottles from everyone. I used up all my bottles for the 10 cases I made for my sons wedding. I didn't feel like dragging them all back here again, I'm kind of regretting that now.

Long slog

I finally finished The Rebels of Ireland: by Edward Rutherfurd. I ended up paying $3.50 in overdue fees at the library for it. I usually pay about $20 a month in fees. But I've been really good lately. I enjoyed the book, just have a minor ciriticism of it. The ending just stopped. It's like he ran out of steam and had a deadline and HAD to finish the book. Although the ending was sort of Ok, at 2am it kinda sucked. I took the book everywhere I went determined to finish it. I can't believe it took me so long. Of coarse I really can't just read a book in one or two sitting any longer because of my migraines. This one just never seemed to end. If I had appointments downtown I took the C-train just so I could read THE BOOK. I came early to appointments just to read. But It's finally finished. I met a surprising number of people who were reading the first one or just finished reading it.
The next book on the pile is The Rent Collector. I read the first chapter and I don't know...it's a little overdone with it's ethnic religious base. It's a rather thin novel and I think If the continuous religiousness of it were somehow dimished, it wouldn't be more than a couple chapters. That's why I started reading Which brings me to you. ONe I read when I'm upstairs and other I read when I'm downstairs. Neither one are really astounding at this point. So I started a third one "She May Not Leave". Sadly it also hasn't grabbed my interest either.
I've been stirring, degassing and racking my wine. It looks good sitting on it's throne over there. I also made a batch of pickled bing cherries. I"m looking forward to those at Christmas time. Last time I made them (about 20 years ago-wow) they were a hit at a party. Every year since I plan on making more, but never seemed to. But I did this year.
I've been putting up shelves all over the basement and garage lately. I gotta say that since my hand is pretty much useless it's been difficult. I have to take breaks after screwing in two screws. The power drill is all of a sudden to heavy for me. I need to get one of those bits that predrills and then holds the screw. I think I saw them on a commercial once.
I finally sorted out most of my files and paperwork. I plugged the shredder in and ended up with bags and bags of shredded paper that I should have done before I moved instead of after.
There's a construction site of future condo's across the street and over a bit from us. And the other day we had such a wind storm I couldn't see anything out the front window. I couldn't believe it, this brown dirty ucky cloud of soil. My husband was upstairs sleeping with the window open. That night I went to bed and all I could smell was dirt. Everything was covered in this thin layer of dust. So the next day I took the drapes down and threw them in the washer, changed all the sheets, washed the blanket, and took out the vac. I gotta say I'm not sure if having a heppa vaccuum is such a good idea. It's frightening what that thing sucks up. I've been leary of going into my daughters room, who knows what lerks in there. Ugh.........it really needs to be vaccuumed, but I can't even see much of the floor. She keeps complaining that so many of her clothes are missing-well she need only to look down. Instead it's off to the store again.
Still sending out resumes with out much luck. Only two call backs and the ads were a little deceiving about what the position was. Don't you hate when they do that. I almost wanted to charge them $$$ for wasting my time. Not to mention parking fees, and gas to get there in the first place.