Dream with Our Eyes Open

Woke up after far too little sleep and went to watch our town's parade. Most of the usual suspects were there: the police color guard, the local politicians and heads of educational institutions in vintage cars, the day care centers, the dog training school, locals bands on trucks, part of the Washington Revels company (complete with Morris dancers), fire trucks, town maintenance department heavy equipment, Shriners, a youth dance/cheer school, cub scouts, the local wooden bat ball team, a coouple of religious groups(with, thankfully, Congregation Tifereth Israel to balance the Christian groups), and the car plastered with names of local businesses who sponsored the event.

Crowd-pleasers included the heavy equipment (always popular with the kids), the rival youth swim clubs — the Hammerheads and "The Feet," the Panquility steel drum band, a couple of acrobatic cheerleaders from the local high school, and our Representative Jamie Raskin (Democrat, 8th Congressional District), surrounded by friends and his re-election committee.

Then I went home and crashed, completely missing the traditional July 4th ice cream making at my friend Kat's house.

"Leave tomorrow for tomorrow." I did my best.

This was actually the last weekend of the winter holidays for us: we had late Christmas with the Mr.'s family in western Maryland. And I cooked. A lot. Starting slowly on Saturday and building to a crescendo from which I am still recovering (and washing dishes)

Saturday: For the late Xmas mid-day dinner. Salad (set out salad-bar style: mixed greens with shredded radicchio, mixed grape tomatoes, grated Parmesan cheese, dried cranberries, sliced white mushrooms) with home-made vinaigrette (champagne and grapefruit-scented white balsamic vinegars with herbed olive oil) or a selection of bottled dressings (good-quality blue cheese and misc. from my sis-in-law's fridge), plus sweet potatoes roasted in their jackets ... because I had like 15 of the things in the pantry for some reason (what was I thinking? Even with Daughter home the other week, there were only 3 of us). The sweet potatoes were weirdly popular for such plain things.

Sunday: Playing with the new Instant Pot. Tunisian-style lamb stew with pumpkin (or in this case, Delicata squash) and cabbage (from the classic Time-Life "Good Cook" lamb cookbook), using CSA lamb and farmer's market squash and cabbage. Good, but I could have been a little bolder with the seasoning.

Monday: Food for the week. Chicken en casserole with shallots and bacon and mushrooms that the Mr. cooked up, another onion, chicken broth and white wine (a pinot grigio), plus the last of my Seggiano semi-dried Mediterranean Blend herbs. (I'm going to miss them.) Lamb broth from the bone left from one of the two legs of lamb my sis-in-law made for Saturday (we all love lamb), which I will later make into a hearty soup with the last of the meat trimmed off the bone. Meat sauce with CSA ground pork, farmer's market pioppino mushrooms, Cento canned and Pomi boxed tomatoes, onion, garlic, and Seggiano semi-dried basil. I bought some gluten-free pasta for me to try with this (the Mr. will have regular pasta). There's 2.5 quarts of meat sauce, so I will freeze some.

Whee.

Whether you celebrate or not, be happy!

This year's jack-o-lantern:

I'm filled with nostalgia for Halloweens of the recent past, during which I spent the evening alternately giving out candy to the neighborhood kids and writing flashfics for trick-or-treating online fan-friends. I don't have the energy; don't know how I did it then, either.

We have had beautiful weather this weekend, but I haven't taken that much advantage of it. We did walk out for gelato (the Mr.: dark chocolate and hazelnut) and sorbet (me: grapefruit) yesterday afternoon at the neighborhood place (Dolci Gelati), and today we walked to Busboys & Poets for brunch (which has become a near-weekly habit).

I have just finished making 6 quarts of chicken stock. I think this is the best I've made. I used more or less this recipe, which I have bookmarked for later. The main difference between this and what I have made previously is far more carrots (6 instead of 2 or 3) and peppercorns (2 teaspoons); also, leaving the skin on the halved onion, which has an effect on the color. And darn I should have known that (it's one of the common natural fabric dye ingredients, for a golden yellow), and in fact, I remember my late mother doing the same.

The chicken stock is for matzoh ball soup for second seder at my sister's place this coming Saturday. I am the official Matzoh Ball Maker on our side of the family. The first seder will be at our friends Michael and Sharon's. They have asked me to bring a fruit platter, which should be easy, except that I will be working most of Friday. I will try to pick up fresh fruit the night before, I think.

And the Mr. is upstairs doing the taxes, because yes, it's spring. *sigh*

It was mostly low-key. We went to my sister's house for the actual holiday.

Everyone else have a nice weekend?

I just had a serious medical procedure (on Rosh Hashana, ironically, but that's when it could be scheduled). I am on a new medication and on a greatly increased dose of one of my accustomed medications. And I am a diabetic.

I will be consuming a small amount of food today and some water, not fasting entirely, as is the commandment.

Rabbi Ruth Adar, the "Coffee Shop Rabbi" blogger, addresses this; see If I Can’t Fast, How Can I Observe Yom Kippur? (from 2013) and Approaching Yom Kippur (from yesterday).

I still feel guilty about it. But that's tradition too. :-\

The family are all a bit hungover today after our annual pilgrimage to the Mr.'s sister's place in western Maryland for a late Christmas celebration. It's a trip of 154 miles (248 km), which GoogleMaps thinks should take 2½ hours, but it took more like 3, with backups caused by roadwork outside of Frederick and a stop for restrooms and coffee near Sharpsburg (site of a famous Civil War battle, Antietam). We left home at 10:00 a.m. and were back around 12 hours later.

The weather was great for traveling, as clear and dry and open as I can remember its ever being for this trip. It can get very snowy in western Maryland, and there are ski resorts, despite the mountains' modest heights. Of those on the list at the link, we drove over Meadow Mountain, Big Savage Mountain, and others, including the titular Sideling Hill (site of a dramatic road cut that displays the local geology in a striking fashion). Savage Mountain is also the site of part of the Eastern Continental Divide: the watershed on one side drains into the Chesapeake Bay and thence to the Atlantic Ocean, while on the other side, it drains into the Mississippi River and down into the Gulf of Mexico.

We actually spent only about four or so hours hanging with the relatives, eating home-cooked (for the most part) food (roast lamb and ham, baked salmon, and lots of sides and desserts) and exchanging gifts. On the way back, the sky was so clear and the stars very bright, even from inside the car. We made an unplanned stop in Frederick and had a late supper at Dutch's Daughter, which was pretty good "traditional American" food (heavy on beef and seafood).

Today we are all stiff and spaced-out: too much driving and sitting.

Now that I've referenced the song, I need to post this wonderful recording:

(Peter, Paul and Mary, 1986)

T - 2:15 hours and counting ...