Good Evening;
Damn I am sure glad that Jenn and I have reconnected this year! Although I am unable to truly 'live' here at there place, the hospitality offered me in light of the totally insane weather we have had this year; (the back to back to back blizzards and snow storms, and the effin' ridiculous heat and humidity all spring and so far this summer), has been a life and sanity saver...well the sanity is offset by the grandmonsters, but at least I'm not losing too much ground...LOL!!
I have tried my best to be helpful and earn my keep, by babysitting and by feeding the kids to give Jenn a break as much as I can. I have also been both helping and benefitting by having a kitchen available to me for the first time in 3 years or more. "Kitchen therapy" is a relaxation technique that I embrace and enjoy, and having folks who like and appreciate my creativity and creations, on many different levels is gratifying. Of course Jenn is more likely to ask what such and such subtle herb or seasoning, or technique was used...while Tom is more direct and visceral in his compliments......"Hmmm, is that ginger, garlic and cilantro...?".....as opposed to "Good....me want more!!"................LMAO!!!!!
Yesterday I oven braised Halibut steaks in a marinade of lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, ginger, paprika, sesame oil, salt, pepper and a touch of onion; then reduced the pan juices to a moderately thick sauce. Very nice, even cold the citrus ginger tang was evident, but balanced by the sweetness of the rest of the ingredients. And it works well over steamed asparagus too. But don't ask me for amounts..I 'cook by ear'!!!
Last night, late, Jenn was going to the Giant and mentioned she craved cheesecake but could not see paying their prices for it, so I told her to get me some pre-made graham cracker pie crusts...(I know, I know but she had no spring-form pan)...and three pounds of cream cheese and I created 2 cheese cakes, (starting to cook at 11:00 pm. at night and finishing up around quarter after 1:00 pm....LOL), with 4 different flavors. One was 1/2 'turtle' with a layer of honey toasted pecans, quartered Kraft caramels and semi-sweet chocolate chips embedded and then also as a topping; the other 1/2 was studded with Mini-Oreos, the other cheesecake was 1/2 good old fashioned plain jane and 1/2 pureed frozen blueberry, raspberry, blackberry, and strawberry mixture layered between the filling, and then each slice was topped with the refrigerated berry puree upon serving, (which was also delicious on the other three 1/2s also!), I had some canned mango slices which I topped the berry cheesecake with too, talk about ambrosial!....lol!
Of course the other chores I do are not as glamorous, nor as tasty, such as emptying the dishwasher, cleaning the pots and pans and loading the dishwasher, feeding the animals, (the four legged ones), sweeping up the stupid dog's hair and skin flakes that she spreads all over the place from scratching, (the dog is part Wheaten Terrier, and they are susceptible to itching and skin problems, which also stink!...and she is dumb as a box of rocks besides), and I also did laundry for Jenn today, (after waiting all last nigh and most of today for the ghetto attitude neighbors to take their clothes out of the washer.....which they never did so I had to remove their already beginning to mold and mildew from the heat crap because they were left in a public washing machine shared by 11 apartments for at least 40 hours, so I ended up covered in the funk too!), and the "Mother Of All NASTY Chores"............emptying and refilling the cat's litter box, then carrying 50 pounds of litter and poop and ammonia to the dumpster in 97 degree record setting heat! Another shower today...................DAMN SKIPPY, and maybe a third one on general principles.
Tom is working late and Jenn is at a meeting as I write this, (8:31 pm.), so I am pretty damn sure I am spending the night again, and most of tomorrow until I leave to head to my meeting at Prologue with my new caseworker Shelly at 1:00 pm. I am heading back here to Jenn's, (I'm on their laptop now), afterwards because we had a previous arrangement for me to watch the kids on Thursday night while they go to a concert at Pier Six at the Harbor, (YES and Peter Frampton, which I find hilarious and ironic because these are Big Name groups from MY youth and concert going days, I saw YES a dozen times between 1969 and 1975 with the original line up, and owned all the early albums, and had my bedroom in Ocean City one year I lived 'downy oshun' painted professionally with the YESSONGS mural.....LOL). Tomorrow is supposed to be 98-99 degrees with heat indices near 105 degrees, and maximum humidity with possible serious and dangerous thunderstorms in the late afternoon and early evening..(just when Jenn and Tom will be at or taking the train to and from an outdoor concert.......yeah, that's a real nice thing to look forward to!).
Anyway, Devin just climbed up in her highchair and looked over at me and said, "eeaattt, eeaattt..." and put her hands together in the ASL sign for 'more'......
Later.....................................................Dave
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