Merry Christmas!!

I had a wonderful prime rib dinner at Uncle Dan and Aunt Susie's house.  Susie did a fantastic job with the roast and it was cooked perfectly.  I made some smashed 'tatoes and John forgot to make the salad and everything was perfect!  I tried and tried to work the massive crossword puzzle but only got 20%--1000+ clues and such.  John, Ellen, Susie and Judy shook their behinds to dance nation--it looks like you could get some serious exercise with it!  All in all, enjoyed the time with family and food.  Joyeux Noel y Feliz Navidad!

party at my house!

What originally intended to be a small dinner at my house became a Christmas Eve party.  Still small, just over a dozen people, but I don't have dishes for 8 much less 13.  I made red chili and white chili and caesar salad, Uncle Matt brought desert, and Uncle Peter brought a vacuum.  Yay, a very useful house-warming present.  Now I can clean up after all these people!  It was a successful party and a good time had by all.  Richard, BLou, Matt, Dan, Susie, Ellen, John, Gail, Peter, Paul, Dave and Judy were all in attendance.

Jason visits Rosemarie

One of my favorite people on earth came for a visit this weekend.  Jason found me at CB and watched me work for at least 15 minutes before I noticed him, squealed like a little girl, and ran over for a hug.  Jason is moving to Atlanta next year and is going to be my new roommate.  YAY!  We spent time catching up, went to the Sebels' baby shower, R. Thomas's Cafe, Cafe Intermezzo, the Colonade, and others.  Sooooo good to see him!!

the Sebel's baby shower

My good friend Tim and Mel are expecting a bouncing baby boy!!  I volunteered with Becky and Jyl to throw them a baby shower.  We (when I use we in this post, I mostly mean Becky, Tim and Mel)  decorated a tree in baby toys, made taco and smores fixin's, invited both boys and girls, and had a great time not opening gifts or playing lame games.

bed

Finally!! My new bed arrived today.  Since it arrived at 7am and I didn't have to be at work until noon, I put on sheets and went right back to sleep.  No more twin bed, no more sofa bed.  Feels more like home every day.

Thanksgiving 3

Today, I am thankful for my family, my friends, my health, the combination of factors that lead me here, and for the turkey that is happily and tastily in my family's bellies.

Dinner was delicious! if a bit salty on the bird's part.  Susie helped me out with the gravy and the turkey was nicely moist.  I am glad that my family is full of fantastic cooks.  John is the latest for me to sample his culinary talents and he did not disappoint in the slightest.  And my dad's cranberry sauce topped everything perfectly.  Good showing Clarkes!!

Thanksgiving 2

So I bought the CB prepared brine and consulted the Joy of Cooking on turkey.  I've got Susie on brussels sprouts and pie, John on salad and mashed potatoes, and the parents on stuffing and cranberry sauce.  I'm borrowing turkey plates from Grandma and found some serving bowls at CB.  I think I'll be okay.


(2 hours later)
I was waiting on the brine to boil while I wrote.  After writing, I took out the bird and IT'S STILL NOT THAWED!!  It has been in the fridge for 3 days to thaw out and... nada.  Now the bird and the brine are in the sink and a water bath.  Hopefully *fingers crossed and knocking on wood* the turkey will be ready.  The people will be hungry!

Thanksgiving

I'm hosting Thanksgiving for the first time this year.  The guests include Mom, Dad, Uncle Dan, Aunt Susie, John, and a 13-lb turkey.  GAHHH!! What do I do with a whole turkey?!?

Closed

I signed and signed and signed.  And then we went to lunch.  Marge was sweet and took us to Paul's in Peachtree Hills.  But all I wanted to do was get my suitcases in the place.  After a 2 hour lunch, I got my wish and used my new keys to open my new house and sit on my new sofa.  Ah, mine.  I'll be sleeping here tonight.  On the sofa.  And not in the basement.

Closing

Freaking out about closing on the house tomorrow.  Not sure I'm ready but everything keeps rolling so tomorrow this time, I should be a co-owner of 2298 Strathmore. Wish me luck...

Blast from the past

One of the fun things about going through all my old stuff at my parents' house is old photos.  These are some of the high school ones...

just cause it's funny

2302 Sagamore Hills Drive

Yup, I'm living in my Grandmother's basement.

But it isn't all bad.  I spend each afternoon and evening at my parents' house, cooking and catching up with my mother's illness.  My parents are willing guinea pigs to my culinary experiments and compliment my cooking, which I haven't done this much of in years.  And I think the last time I cooked on an electric range was when I stayed with my parents back in 2002.  Catching up with my mom has been just as experimental but with less enjoyable results.  I keep getting frustrated and pissed off which makes her frustrated and emotional and pissed off.  She has started to compare me unfavorably to my father and I just keep repeating the mantra "She can't help it and it's not her fault."  Slowly it's helping.  Maybe.

But on the brighter side of things, I've found a house I'd love to buy.  And I embarrassed my cousin by posting old pictures of her (and me) on facebook.  I've loved going through the old family photos and reliving the me of yesteryear.  So I'm doing fine.  Just wanted to let you know.

Navratri Indian Festival

Sorry, no pictures--I stuck out in the crowd enough anyway.  Jess invited me to join her and two of her Indian friends, Praful and Rupal, for a dancing festival.  Having no idea what this entailed, I said sure!  So Saturday night we piled into Praful's car went down to Morrow, GA. 

First of all, I had never been to Morrow before.  Or known that it had a Hindu temple.  Second of all, I don't go out after 10 (I have to already be out).  And I can't remember the last time I got home after 2 am completely sober.  Third, I was very surprised after all the multiculturalism of SF, my first Indian festival was to be in Georgia.  Georgia, please accept my apologies for under-estimating you.

We arrive around 11 and park in a field about a half mile from the festivities.  There are four of us, me and Jess dressed in American and Praful and Rupal dressed in traditional Indian robes.  And everyone else is colorfully garbed in Indian dress.  The women with arms linked in part to combat the cold, brightly colored and very sparkly.  All with long hair braided and decorated.  The men in more somber colors, also glittering, but a little more toned down.  And so many people!

Praful was our tour guide for the evening.  He explained that shoes were not allowed and took us to seven massive bookcases full of shoes.  He tucked his and Jess's into a "safe spot" but Rupal and I had large handbags in which we tucked our sandals.  We got our tickets and wove our way through the crowd into a gymnasium sized room stuffed with people.  In the center sat a gazebo-like altar with concentric circles of people dancing around in a complex series of synchronized moves.  The dancers were mostly women but several men contributed to the mix.  Praful greeted several friends and then endeavored to teach us how to dance.  He showed us the basic steps--step, step, back, circle, step, step, step, circle, or something like that-- and then lead us into the fray. 

To say I was bad is an insult to bad dancers.  Those women arriving without jackets or large handbags knew what they were doing.  I'm making excuses but swinging a huge purse through the crowd was not easy.  Nor were the dance steps that had all the turns done with our backs to the direction we were moving.  And with our backs to our dance instructor.  Jess was getting the hang of it but I just had too much baggage and not enough coordination.

Fortunately, that was about the same time that the break started.  We ducked out into the cool air for some water--no alcohol to Jess and mys disappointment.  I kept ogling all the Indian finery and noted a few other "Western" faces, but not many.  And I was one of the taller people there so I could see over everyone's heads which was fantastic.  Jess and I kept asking questions of Praful, discovering more of what kind of festival we were attending.  Turns out our understanding of festival (food, drink, music, artist stalls, etc) and the Navratri Indian Festival (dancing, prayer, family, community) were not in mesh.  The break was actually 30 minutes of prayer and devotion.  We ate our share of the offering (sweet bread and fruits) to the gods and clapped along with the chanters but understood very little of it.  And by the time the food stalls opened (12:30ish), we were sleepy and ready for home. 

We stuck it out sitting on the floor with all the families and watching dancing commence again.  There was a little girl, around 3 years old, who was fascinated by me.  She would come up and touch my shoulder and then just stare curiously at me.  I smiled, waved and said hi, and she shyly grinned at me.  Her grandmother(?) would gently tug her back to the family group a few over from our small circle.  And then a few minutes later she would stroll back and touch my shoulder again.  Very cute.

We hiked back to the car a little after 1 am.  Praful drove us back to Rupal's house and I drove Jess home.  And then I drove home.  I swear I hit every red light and they lasted forever!  I finally fell into bed just after 2:30.  Not what I expected but I did have a great time.  Thanks Praful for broadening my horizons!!

Arrived!!

14 days, 3,583 miles, min elevation -282 (Death Valley), max 12,000 (Loveland Pass), min temp 34 (Loveland Pass), max 104 (Death Valley), 9 friends visited plus 2 children, 2 dogs, 8 cats, and a horse

CA ->NV ->AZ ->UT -> CO ->NE ->IO ->MO ->IN ->IL ->KY ->TN ->VA ->NC ->SC ->GA   (all of 15 min in AZ and TN combined but I'm counting them anyway)

Whew!!  I probably could have made it a lot shorter both in time and distance but I wouldn't change an inch.  I had a great time!

Thank you to my 2001 VW Jetta for making it all possible.

Thank you Alison, Averil, Greg, Karen, Leigh, Elijah, Ginny, Shari, TK, Mary Elizabeth, and Eric for making it fun!

And many many thanks to Greg, Patty, Averil, Eric, and Jimmy for getting me through the drive with presents of music.  Let me know if you ever want me to return the favor :)

Parents house

Atlanta bound

Headin' home!!

Yep, that's the Atlanta traffic I remember

KY->TN->VA->NC

I decided to start the day with a visit to Maker's Mark.  It was neither close nor convenient, but Prudence got us there.  The back way.  The WAAAAAY back way.  I'm talking one lane roads through farms that have probably never seen a CA license plate before.  At least that was the look I was getting from the guy on the tractor.  But she got me there.

Then she took me on the scenic route to Winston-Salem without me even asking!  It was a beautiful day.  I did get tired at one point so I decided to break my no soda no junk food rule for the trip (Twizzlers don't count, they are roadtrip food not junk food).

Made it to Winston about the same time Eric finished his evening class.  Another friend that I haven't seen in more years than I want to count.  We caught up over 5 Guys burgers and drinks at his house.  Good times.

The Broekers

I had yet another rainy morning.  Shari, ME and I went to Harvest for lunch--delicious!  It was delivery day at the house so we did not have as much time to do stuff around town as we wanted.   But that just means I'll have to come back and visit again.

For ME's birthday, Shari made BBQ.  And not just the pork.  She made 7 different sauces to go with it.  While she made sloppy joes for dinner, I set up a BBQ sauce tasting station and did just that.  My favorites were the Carolina Mustard and the Burnt Tomato--YUM!

An then there was the flock of wild turkeys occupying the backyard.  This was only one part of the group.  There were just over a dozen of them.

Bourbon Country

Fought the bridge closing to get to Shari and ME in La Grange, Kentucky.  Shari immediately took me on a bourbon tour so, clearly, she still knows me well.  But since Woodford Reserve only tastes one type so we decided to do our own tasting back at the house. 

We met TK for dinner at Steve-Os for Italian and headed back to the house.

The prep

Add caption

The Begining

The end and the order of great to not so great to doesn't get be called bourbon (R to L)