my own private haikyo
I'm ready to build a small porch for the front door on the blanco river barn. a broken window needs to be fixed first. so I ran down to remove it. I always spend a few moments in the house. even if I just bring back a load of trash, it's a small step towards a big problem.
one of the blogs I read; tokyo times often features photography from haikyo, or ruins/abandoned buildings. I realize we now own such a property.
we don't know where the previous owners are, we can piece together a few ideas of who they were from what they left behind. the house is filled with personal effects, and various collections of materials. I did find a working juice extractor on this week’s visit. past visits had me coming home with old computers and 9-pin bowling ball complete with custom leather bag.
there is a whole closet of suits. I brought back a tuxedo and found this in one pocket. it's an unused ticket to the 2001 AVN awards (adult video news awards are like the Oscar awards of porn).
another pocket contained a used ticket stub for the 2001 AVN awards and a small candy heart with the words "would you be mine" on it.
I recently uncovered a recipe box, I don't know if the person who collected these is still alive, but I/we can now recreate part of their past by following simple directions
I think I will surely try the pretzel recipe.
FOOD AT AMH:
inspired by our friend's new years eve shabu shabu meal, kat wanted to try the taiwanese version of hot pot. I found some irony that the article/website she found to research her chosen culinary adventure was written by a white guy, married to a chinese/taiwanese girl...
it's very similar to the japanese shabu shabu. kat used a pot that is divided in half, one side has a spicy broth and the other is mushroom broth. it was good fun as it is not a fast meal. I'm not eating chicken/pork/beef, my hot pot items were limited. I did enjoy the cod. I'm not a big fan of the fish or shrimp balls.
I made an asparagus and mushroom pizza last night. I'm enjoying the semolina pizza dough recipe I found online at http://www.fogazzo.com/html/pizza_dough.html
making the dough using a kitchenaid mixer requires very little time and I don't even have to get my hands dirty/doughy
he mostly wants the parmesan
maybe our palate is tuned to spicy food more than most people. we often became frustrated when we lived in the coast (east and west) when we'd order some food at a restaurant. making a real effort to select an offering that was described as spicy or had at least one pepper symbol next to it on the menu. the server would often ask "how was it?" as the plates were cleared. too often I would reply, "it was good, but not really spicy". and far too often the server would toss my comment back at me "you should have told me you wanted it prepared spicy, they could have made it that way". so what was the point of stamping all those pepper symbols next to the description?
so that brings me to our local grocery store, an upscale HEB/central market hybrid. they have a kiosk with an elevated platform. a chef inspired human is always back there demonstrating how you can prepare meals at home using their factory made food stuffs. a microphone headset amplifies her description and her urging passers by to sample what she has just prepared. we usually avoid eye contact and just keep truckin' by.
they had a green salsa and some blue corn chips out for sample. #1 son was hungry and went over to have a sample. I stayed with the shopping cart and #2 son, waiting. the food demonstrator saw #1 son, chip in hand, about to spoon some of the green salsa onto it. she was on the loud speaker and it went like this
HEB lady: that's really spicy, I don't think you want to try it
#1 son: (completely oblivious, dips spoon in green salsa, hovers it over his chip and dumps)
HEB lady: (starting to panic) THAT'S TOO SPICY FOR YOU, STOP
me: (laughing at the chaos she is creating over the her microphone) huh-huh-huh
HEB lady: (heard me laughing, looks at me with bit of anger and frustration) IS HE YOURS? AND YOU WEREN'T GOING TO DO ANYTHING!
me: (continue to chuckle)
#1 son: (holds chip fully loaded with green sauce, moves it towards his mouth)
HEB lady: (to me) you aren't going to do ANYTHING!!!! (gives me very disapproving look, her face is turning red)
#1 son: (CRUNCH!- bites into chip and chews slowly, swallows then slowly looks up to the food demonstrator) it's not spicy. (looks at her in a perplexed manner)
HEB lady: (stands there saying nothing, slack jawed, mouth open and eyes wide)
#1 son: (joins us over at the shopping cart) what was that all about?
me: she might just be mentally ill, they are out there among us you know... you never know when one will pop up. it's best to just ignore them.
#1 son: ooooh yeah! you may be right.
