It Was a Good Day

I was walking through the grocery store this afternoon when a few of my favorite sappy 80s easy-listening songs came on over the radio, and I just thought, "It was a good day." I suppose its actually been a good weekend, come to that. Its nice to feel that content at times.



Friday afternoon I took the pups to the dog park. There was a trainer in an SUV outside the park and he immediately got out when I was unloading my beasts. Mac, who thinks everyone was put on this Earth to love him, ran over to say hello. The trainer was more interested in Ayla, but she of course didn't want to go up to him. We headed on into the park, but I thought that was an interesting way to drum up business. Perhaps he'd do better actually in the park where he could chat with the dog owners easier and maybe even do a little demo. Then again, he's the one running the business.

Oh, and I sold a bookcase on Craigslist that we haven't used in a few years, and met a poet in the process. I'm quite impressed with his work, and will look for his book when I'm next at the book store.

Friday night we watched Serenity. I recently finished watching the Firefly series, and Serenity was kind of a follow-up to Firefly. The series didn't get picked up for a second season, and I really can't fathom why. It was very, very good. (And it will be coming your way soon, Dad.) If you're into sci-fi and a space-western sounds like fun to you, I heartily recommend it. Maybe Joss Whedon will get to do more with it in the future.

Saturday we mostly lazed around the house. I got take-out at our favorite Chinese place (they have great vegetarian fare), and we watched The Benchwarmers. It was okay - it had some funny points, but overall wasn't great. But the entire day was relaxing, and that was great.

Today Christopher had to work a bit, so I took Ayla and Mac swimming at Shadow Cliffs. We had a great time. Shortly after we got to the ol' swimmin' hole, a couple showed up with a standard poodle named Snoopy and a bulldog named Lu Lu. Her owner got her a life jacket so she could swim out far and not worry about drowning, since bullies can't swim very far before tiring due to their breathing. I am so getting Mac one of these!

Lu Lu in her life vest, with her favorite toy

Lu Lu was a stitch, and plenty energetic even at six years old. That gives me great hope that Mac will be as much of a go-getter as he is now. Anyway, Mac swam some and waited in ambush for Ayla whenever she got the ball.

Mac chasing Ayla down to steal the ball

Ayla swam a lot, and went pretty far out in the water. I thought I'd have to go in after her the last time I threw the ball out since she's not a great swimmer and was tired, but she got in on her own, thankfully. Maybe she needs a life vest too.

Snuggling with a loved one

Culinary Delights

Going for a walk

Mac heading up the hill

Ayla smiling

I recently realized that I have never seen The Sound of Music. How could that have happened? It was on TV a few weeks back so I recorded it. By the way, I love having a DVR. I can easily record things I want to watch, and fast-forward through commercials. And with our AT&T U-verse service I can pause live TV to take the dogs out, or rewind if I miss something. Its great! Anyway, back to The Sound of Music... I watched it Friday night, while having a dinner of microwaved popcorn and Fat bastard Chardonnay. What, you haven't done that? I'm glad I finally watched the movie, it was of course great and Julie Andrews amazing.

Sunday we took the Toyota in for an oil change. While we were waiting (it was supposed to take two hours, but ended up taking four) Chris and I headed to Broadway Plaza in Walnut Creek. We did some shopping - Banana Republic has the best polo shirts for Chris and you have to love end-of-season sales. We went past the fancy-schmancy jeweler, Davidson & Licht, where we got our wedding rings. They even have a uniformed, white-gloved doorman! Its the best jewelry store I've been too (including the pretentious Tiffany & Co., which is right down the street). We had lunch at Boudin Bakery Café - the California Veggie sandwich was mediocre, but the Tomato Soup in the Sourdough Breadbowl was quite good. The service was a bit snippy: it was somehow my fault they forgot to bring us the sandwich, and I guess I was supposed to prostrate myself in thanks that the server found it on the counter. And we walked around some more shops (must find a less expensive version of the Smith and Hawken 3-Tier Plant Stand for the patio).

We each drove up to Walnut Creek so we'd have a car to get around in while we waited on the Toyota, so we took the Subaru in for a cleaning inside and out. We don't drive it much, so it gets quite dusty. We've also decided to haul the dogs around only in my VW since it has leather upholstery which is much easier to clean, but there was still a lot of dog hair in the Subaru. The car wash people did a good job getting a lot of the dog hair out, but it is tenacious! Later we picked up the Toyota (the service people were very nice, despite being quite busy and me showing up three or four times to check on the status), and headed home.

Lately we've been making lots of pizzas. Out of one batch of dough we can make five personal-size pizzas. I'll make up two batches of dough and we'll make a bunch of little pies, eat a few, and toss the rest in the freezer so there's easy food on hand (made entirely of ingredients I recognize and can pronounce!). Sunday night I made up three batches of dough with my trusty food processor and Mark Bittman's easy recipe (see below):

Plain, garlic and red pepper, and basil and oregano (after rising).

Chris is a pro at shaping the dough. I topped them with either marinara from the freezer (I made a bunch a while back, making it a smooth sauce with my immersion blender), fresh-made pesto with basil from our still-bountiful crop, or leftover basil cream sauce I made a few days before. Then I added shredded mozarella, sliced Tofurkey Italian sausage, mushrooms, sliced tomatos from the garden, chopped artichoke hearts, and a little shredded cheddar. I cooked the pizzas (we split one for dinner, along with a green salad), cooled them, and now have a stack of fifteen of them in the freezer. They reheat in the microwave in about four minutes, so when I don't feel like cooking dinner or making lunches its very easy to have a tasty meal with no work. And its fun making them together. I love the smell of rising dough!

Here's the recipe for the dough:

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, plus more as needed
(I prefer bread flour)
2 tsp. instant yeast
2 tsp. coarse kosher or sea salt
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Combine the flour, yeast, and salt in a food processor. Turn the machine on and add 1 cup water and 2 tablespoons of the oil through the feed tube.

Process for about 30 seconds, adding more water, a tablespoon or so at a time, until the mixture forms a ball and is slightly sticky to the touch (I haven't had to add any extra water). If its dry, add another tablespoon or two of water (but no more than a total of 1/4 cup in this step) and process for another 10 seconds. (In the unlikely event that the mixture is too sticky, add flour a tablespoon at a time.)

Turn the dough onto a floured work surface and knead by hand for a few seconds to form a smooth, round dough ball. Put the remaining olive oil in a bowl, turn the dough ball in it, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap; let rise until the dough doubles in size, 1 to 2 hours. (You can cut this rising time short if you're in a hurry, or you can let the dough rise more slowly, in the refrigerator, for up to 6 or 8 hours.) At this point you can stop, wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap or a bag, and freeze for up to a month if you wish (bring to room temperature before proceeding).

When the dough is ready, form it into a ball and divide as you wish; roll each piece into a round ball. Place each ball on a lightly floured surface, sprinkle with a little flour, and cover with plastic wrap or a towel. Let rest until they puff slightly, about 20 minutes.

At this point I roll out the dough, top as desired, and cook in an oven set to 475°F until golden brown and cooked underneath.

Leaning tower of, what else, pizza

I've made a little more progress on my Cable-Down Raglan. The first cable is completed and I've started the side cables on the arms. I have some irregular increases on the raglan portion, but I'm not going to frog back and fix them. Its too much work for something that's taken so much time to get started and is mainly a learning project for me. I also found an uncrossed cable, front and center, but I'm not fixing that either since it doesn't detract from the look of the sweater. I guess I'm more of a process knitter. And I plan to wear this while walking the dogs or some other similar casual activity in the cooler weather.

Cable-Down Raglan (with uncrossed cable!)

Speaking of, check out my new wellies! Target was selling these last fall/winter season and I kept eyeing them but never bought them. I found them for $5 on Saturday and couldn't pass them up this time. They're perfect for taking the dogs out once its raining and our pathways become ponds. And they're polka-dotted!

Wisdom

As in teeth.

I almost forgot to take a moment to publicly humiliate my dear brother... again. Two weeks ago Clay had his wisdom teeth removed, and my dad sent me this picture from his cell.

Modeling the toilet paper turban

Lookie, they have fancy-pants ice packs nowadays! In my day, we were lucky to have some gauze shoved in our cheeks and sent on our merry way.

Gauze?! Och, we should be so lucky. We had to pull our own teeth out with our bare hands, then had to find a scrap of old newspaper from a trash bin while walking home to use. Gauze... hmph.

Clay is healing up fast and well. Too bad I didn't get to pinch his chipmunk cheeks. :)

As Time Goes By

We've got a good crop finally going in the garden. There's herbs: way too much basil and mini basil, oregano, dill, and chives. There's many, many late-summer cherry tomatoes just ripening. Why do they taste so good fresh off the vine and warm from the summer sun? There's a prolific jalapeño plant that has taught us that the longer you leave the peppers on the bush the hotter they get. And I was just given a jade plant from a friend that I have to trim and pot, and keep Mac from eating.

Cherry tomatoes basking in the sun

Jalapeño forest

Its been quite hot over the last week or so, so its been difficult to get the dogs out to exercise and they were beginning to drive us batty at home. So, over the weekend, I took them to the dog parks first thing in the morning. Sunday morning Mac, unfortunately, was attacked by a dog about 4 times his physical size. He was playing with a ball that the other dog had been playing with, and about five minutes later the other dog went after him. She must have been holding a grudge because Mac didn't even have the ball at that time. She grabbed his face and he immediately rolled belly-up - smart boy knew that he would be overpowered so he calmly submitted to the other dog. Right afterward Mac wasn't even phased about it and still acted like the happy little guy he is. The other dog had it in for him though and stalked him, snarling. I intervened a few times so she wouldn't go after Mac again, and finally got to check Mac out. He has a scrape above one eye, a couple cuts by his right ear, and another cut on his neck, but no puncture wounds. I informed the owner that Mac was bleeding, though it didn't appear serious, and took him home to clean him up. Of course, Mac could care less about the whole incident. I'm very glad it didn't cause him any mental trauma (one mental dog is enough, thank you very much). I hope the scrape above his eye doesn't leave a scar.

Guess Mac won't be winning any beauty pageants

I've started a new knitting project since finishing the scarf. Its the Cable-Down Raglan from Interweave Knits Spring 2007.

A diamond cable

I've spent the last week starting and restarting the blasted thing. Its knit in the round and I'd either twist my stitches when joining (mobius isn't great for a sweater) or mess up on the cable chart. I think I've restarted it four or five times. I've got it now and am enjoying seeing the cables form. I'm using an inexpensive yarn (Lion Brand Wool Worsted) since this is a big learning project for me. Wish me luck!

As for the title of this post, As Time Goes By... well, time has certainly passed. I've decided that after about a decade (seriously, how did that happen?!) I'm breaking out my old saxophone. I went to the House of Woodwinds the other day and picked up an exercise book, a fingering chart, and some Vandoren Java 2-1/2 reeds. I still read music just fine thanks to playing flute in undergrad with the Cal Wind Ensemble, and my sporadic piano playing. With help from the fingering chart I'm quickly picking up how to play again, but boy did I forget how strong your mouth and lungs have to be! I can play only about ten bars before gasping for air right now, but with practice I expect to have my wind and chops back soon enough.

"Hello Bundy, my old friend..."

Once I'm back in playing shape I plan to join the Pleasanton Community Concert Band. I used to play with a community band back in high school and really enjoyed it. I am very much looking forward to getting into one again. I'll have to buy a new mouthpiece once I'm up and running (a Meyer 5M or 6M, depending on the band's repertoire - the 6M is a jazzier sound), and I'm checking out a better instrument than my old student-model alto, maybe the Yamaha YAS-475 or the Yanagisawa A901. That's a ways off since I should be able to get a decent enough sound with a nice mouthpiece, and the Yamaha and Yanagisawa cost a couple grand that is better spent paying down our mortgage.

Now I have a case of the I-wants. I want a digital piano - I sold my keyboard a year or so ago with the intention of getting a better instrument, but haven't done so yet. I've been drooling over the Yamaha Slimline Clavinova for a number of years now, but I can get a Casio digital piano for under $1k at Costco. Why is everything I want so expensive? Wait, that's not true... I want a small Canon Powershot (new model) digital camera to take everywhere since our G5 is quite large, and that's only a couple hundred... *sigh*

Enough dreaming for now, I'm off to make pesto with our bushels of basil.

Its my Veggie-Versary!

Tomato bud in our garden

Today marks one year since I made the decision to stop eating meat. I would quit all animal products, but I like cheese too much. :)

We've been keeping busy the past few weeks working on the condo some more. In our continual effort to organize and streamline our lives we put up new shelving. In the patio closet we installed two sets of Ikea's Aspvik wall shelves. We finally have a nicely organized closet out there and its easy to find things. And yes, that's a machete hanging on the door. Gotta be prepared and all.

An organized patio closet

In the kitchen and adjoining laundry area we installed Ikea's Grundtal wall shelves. I have one shelf over the sink for my cookbooks and a few other items.

The green book is my favorite, Bittman's
"How to Cook Everything Vegetarian"

There's a matching rail on one wall to keep my oven mitts handy. By the way, that picture above the rail is a print of a painting done by my third-grade teacher Mr. V. It always hangs in my kitchen, through all the apartments we've lived in. It makes me happy.


I have two sets of shelves above the dryer/cat feeding station, high enough so that I can hang some of my pots and pans (freeing up cabinet space for my nesting mixing bowls).


There are three sets of shelves above the washer for more storage too.

Ayla always hits the vertical blinds in the living room to notify us that she needs to go out. It gets annoying, especially when she only wants to go out and doesn't need to actually do anything. Its like a kid whining that he's bored. So I took them down and replaced them with Ikea's Kvartal (sensing a theme here?) panel curtain system. I love how low-profile it is, and we can use just one row of the three-panel-deep panels to let light in but still keep our living room private. And Ayla doesn't hit them! She just looks at us now, which is almost as annoying but not as loud. A definite upgrade.

Bonus Mac-booty shot, curly pig tail and all

Other than working furiously on the condo, organizing and sorting and all, we've had a little time for relaxation. I'm geeking out with the Firefly DVDs and loving the show. Too bad it was dropped after 14 episodes. I've been taking walks with a few neighbors on the golf course in the evenings which have been great. Between the three of us we have five dogs, so the pack runs around, plays in the sprinklers, and they wear themselves out while we chat. I also completed the Traveling Roses scarf.

Lace work close-up

It turned out too short due to my yarn substitution choice, but I don't think I've seen my intended recipient wear a scarf so she can use it as a runner or something. Even though the color doesn't photograph well, I think its pretty and I enjoyed the process.

Full-length shot

The last thing I have for now is this:

Lasagna and salad topped with grilled tofu

Lasagna doesn't photograph well either, but this one was made with eggroll wrappers rather than noodles. I have seen a recipe on the wrapper package for lasagna and was intrigued. It was good: I layered it with half marinara and half pesto sauce, as well as ricotta, mozarella, and a little cheddar on top. I made the pesto from our bountiful basil harvesting - its growing like crazy on the patio and in the Aerogarden! The lasagna was a bit doughy for my taste, but I liked the thinner "noodles". I'll have to try fresh noodles next.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my little brother!

I remember coming home from college after my first year and realizing you were 3 or 4 inches taller than me. I guess you're my not-so-little brother!

This day in history:
On this day Annie Oakley, Alfred Hitchcock, Fidel Castro, and Danny Bonaduce were also born. Interesting company you keep, Clay. The first taxi hit the streets in New York City. Bambi premiered at the Radio City Music Hall. The 28th Olympic Games opened in Athens four years ago. And The Beatle's "Help" and the Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love" were released.

And what's a happy birthday wish without an embarrassing picture?

Love - your big sis.

Busy Bees

I've done a lot over the past week or so!

Two Saturdays ago Stef and I went to the Gilroy Garlic Festival. We got there in the early afternoon and were famished after driving in the traffic, so we stopped at one of the first vendors for lunch. I had a Greek salad which was ordinary and Stef had a lamb gyro. It was very hot out so we decided on beer. You have to get in one line to have your ID checked if you're under 30, another line to buy a beer ticket, and then head into the beer tent where you get in yet another line for your beer. I'm not a huge beer drinker, but it sure did taste good by then! We walked around, looked at the arts & crafts booths, found the gourmet alley where I got garlic bread dripping in butter, watched some cooking demos, stood in the rain tent (with overhead misters to cool us off, along with about 30 of our now closest friends since it was crowded in there) and at the end watched a swing band. We also laughed until our cheeks hurt and talked until our voices were hoarse. All in all, a good time!

Stef in front of the flaming garlic

Me in front of the flaming garlic

Sampling the garlic wine... one sip is enough

On Wednesday I met up with a couple friends from grad school for dinner at Chow in Lafayette. It was great to catch up with them, find out what they're up to now that we're two years out of school, and have a nice dinner (the bruschetta was great!). I also learned how dog-friendly Lafayette is - there were a number of dogs with their owners on the patio where we ate, as well as quite a few walking by.

This past Friday I went with a couple of my neighbors to the Summer Concert Series at Blackhawk Plaza (a ritzy shopping area in Danville). And since well-behaved, leashed dogs are welcome I brought Mac along. We had dinner at a little burger shop - yeah for Gardenburgers! - and listened to the band play fun funk/rock music. Mac absolutely loved it. He got tons of attention and pets from the crowd. A lot of people told me about their bulldog at home, the bulldog they used to have, or their friends' bulldogs... welcome to the club (its the same when I take Ayla out). One person was saying hi to Mac and asked him to sit, which he did of course, so I told him to ask for a high five. Mac did his cute little high five and about 20 people around us "ahhh"ed at the same time. Another lady came by about 3 times to visit and the last time nonchalantly said, "Ok, I'm just going to take him home now!" He definitely draws attention, but just loves meeting people and is a complete joy to take places, and I think he's probably contributing to a rise in the population of bulldogs in our area just by being cute. By the end of the night when my neighbors and I were chatting in the parking lot Mac was so tired he was trying to drag me home. It was great! We're going again this Friday - I think its a Neil Diamond tribute band this time.

When did I get such an active social life?

This past weekend Chris and I decided we needed to do more home improvement. Well, Chris decided and I got roped into it. See, we hate our carpets. Carpet is intrinsically unsanitary, and having pets (going through two puppies no less) doesn't help matters. Chris was talking about replacing them with a Berber carpet and wondering if we could DIY such a job. I told him I didn't want carpet at all and if we were replacing them we should put wood down instead. Well, he got that familiar gleam in his eye and planned out the project within 2 minutes.

Friday afternoon we headed to The Home Depot and picked up 12 boxes of Dupont Laminate Flooring in Maple and three rolls of 3-in-1 underlayment. Saturday morning Chris got up bright and early at 8 and started moving furniture and ripping out carpeting in the living room. I sleepily followed (what a role reversal!) and helped out. Taking up the carpet wasn't nearly as bad as we had expected. We had to do about half the room at a time so we had space to shift the furniture around. Unfortuntely we (and mostly Chris) had to do all the plank cutting by hand with a hack saw. That hurt, and still does. By midnight that night we had about half the room newly floored and the other half prepped, as well as all the old carpet out in the dumpsters. The next morning we got started around 11 (Chris had to run back to the store for transitional flashing and I took the dogs to the park to play) and completed the rest of the flooring around 9. By 10 we had the new floors cleaned, the furniture rearranged, and were very much ready to sleep.

I really like the end result. I still have to finish tacking in and sealing/painting the baseboards, maybe next weekend. With rugs down Ayla seems to be doing okay on the slippery floor, not looking like Bambi-on-ice as she usually does on semi-slick surfaces. She was a major consideration in this, but we just had to feel clean and decided to figure out a way to deal with her needs. Chris bought an awesome crimson shag carpet rug that I love, and a larger area rug that she can play on. I think she'll get better and better with time and exposure too (fingers crossed).

The only down side... Chris is now eyeing the bedroom carpet.