Yum. My only regret is I didn’t think of it sooner. All that wasted fruit…
I like to buy fruit. It’s tasty, healthy and especially refreshing on a hot summer day. Even so, I can never seem to eat it before it goes bad. This time it was a baby watermelon. I had it with breakfast, shared it with friends and randomly grabbed pieces throughout the day; but the bowl still remained entirely too full for my liking. I knew that if I didn’t take action soon, the watermelon would be another food casualty that I’d find weeks later shoved to the back of the fridge, covered in a scary mass of mold.
And that very well might have happened, had I not had a brilliant idea. (Yes, it happens once in a great while.) I would make the most delicious, refreshing, summertime libation EVER. I found a recipe that even incorporated peaches (amazingly enough I had a wayward peach that was on the verge of becoming it’s own interesting refrigerator specimen and a bottle of rum that had been fermenting for over a year), and an idea became a refreshing drink. Fruit, booze, ice, blender, DONE. Cheers!
This weekend one very classy lady had a birthday. She’s my grandmother, but since we’re all good friends here you can call her MeMa. So in honor of her special day, I dedicate this blog post to giving thanks for all that she has done for me over the years.
-Thank you for staying-up all night to sew me an Indian costume when I was in elementary school. I’m pretty sure that I was the envy of every kid that I encountered and that suddenly I was very, very popular.
-Thank you for letting me eat however much homemade bread (amazing) and peanut butter candies I wanted. (I must mention that the peanut butter candies were made in peanut shaped molds. I swear they tasted that much better because of the peanut shape) It’s nice to remember that at one time in my life I could binge on bread and candy without them living in my double chin and thighs guilt-free.
-Thank you for continuing to take me on outings even though I always managed to accidentally “forget” my wallet.
-Thank you for the little bit of craftiness that I possess. Don’t blame yourself. You tried to teach me your crafty ways.
-Thank you for providing a retreat when I was in high school and had yet another fight with Mom and Dad. It couldn’t have been easy to listen to me bemoan my terrible life and scoff that I didn’t even need parental guidance. There was a period of time this happened about one or twice a week. I applaud your patience and my adult self apologizes for the obnoxious teenager she once was. Now I’m just an obnoxious adult. Much better.
-Thank you for being supportive of my blog through emails like this… I am proud of you. It was very creative. You are a mess. A very good mess. (Smart lady)
-Thank you for the times you gave me money in college and never asked for it back. (Or were you just betting that I’d get you back when I was all grown-up and rich? I’m still waiting for that day too.)
-Because it’s your birthday, I’m even gonna thank you for the grey hairs that are cropping-up like weeds in my brown hair. And I’m not sure if it has even been proven that grey hairs are genetic so this thanks might be misplaced. I’m gonna let you keep it anyway.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for everything!
I’ll forgive you for the grey hair thing if you give me your fountain of youth secret.
A few weekends ago I attended an event called the Bite of Bend. It’s a weekend long festival in which the main draw would appear to be the opportunity to sample the cuisine of local restaurants. I’ve attended this event before and continue to attend because it’s free and I enjoy it. However, I’ve quickly discovered that my vision of cruising down the alley of food vendors sampling bite-sized, dollar priced tasters is not happening. Instead, a few food vendors offer small bites for a few bucks while the rest serve full-on meals. I am not there for a full-on meal from one restaurant. I am there to taste bite-sized portions from a variety of restaurants and to discover new places to eat around town. Yes, the free music, Top Chef cooking competition, and various other vendors are nice, but I am there for the food! Or rather was. Next year I will be there for something entirely different–the Northwest Spirits and Mixology Show.
I’d been deterred in previous years because of the $15 per person admission. This year I decided to investigate what I would get for $15. Turns out you get 1 free drink of your choice mixed by one of the professional mixologists (a cocktail alone can cost $15!) flown in for the event, and unlimited tastings of your choice from a selection of 140 vendors. Plus, unlimited re-entry throughout the Festival. So, I went for it and had a blast! Instead of a Bite of Bend,I gulped sampled libations from a variety of western distilleries. I did an afternoon run through the tent and then went home for a nap. My head was swimming from all the drinks knowledge bestowed upon me by the generous vendors. We returned to the tent a few hours later for another go and to meet-up with friends. Good times had by all!
This past weekend I went camping with a group of friends. As it grew colder and darker, we gathered around the campfire. The conversation took many random twists and turns until we settled on the topic of prostates. One of our friends had to leave early the next morning to help check people in for the free prostate exams her urology office was sponsoring at Dick’s Sporting Goods. My mom always said, “Never let them know how smart you are”, so I kept all my really smart comments concerning prostates to myself. For some reason the intelligent comments don’t come spewing out of my mouth with the same frequency as my ridiculous ones. Exhibit A-
Me with all seriousness: Well, thank goodness I don’t have to worry about that for awhile. Isn’t that something they recommend when you are in your forties?
Silence from the group. I sure know how to put a halt to a conversation.
Very helpful friend: Lauren, you do know you don’t have a prostate, right? Prostate exams are for men.
Me: Errr, of course. I mean, no. Well, yes. I mean, I guess I knew that. I must have just forgotten. I got caught-up in the moment. (I really should think before I speak)
At this point, the prostate conversation was up and running again. Granted a lot of the laughs were at my expense, but it was all in good fun. And within a few minutes, I redeemed myself by announcing that “Friends don’t let friends go unexamined”. After my earlier comments, this sounded downright genius.
After Jazz Fest we spent the next week walking, eating and drinking our way through New Orleans with the help of our superbly amazing hosts, Mimi and Peter. Not only did they open their beautiful home thus making our trip possible, but they were troopers at helping us accomplish any whim/craving/adventure that struck our fancy. And if they weren’t available my friend Huster was happy to show us around. So here goes…
My Favs From Mission Explore New Orleans
-Oysters at Luke Restaurant. We almost by-passed it as we couldn’t get a table. I am so glad that we didn’t. We decided to hang in the bar for a round of oysters. Best. Decision. Ever. Chilled, crisp, fresh, salty, simple goodness.
Seriously. The bar is spinning.
-Drinks at the Carousel Bar at The Hotel Monteleone. Basically the bar is slowly spinning around the bartenders who are situated inside the carousel center. It’s a bit unnerving at first, but after a few drinks the bar usually starts spinning anyways. Where else can you play the game “how does the bartender get out when he/she has to pee?” After many absurd guesses, (I was just sure there was a trap door I was missing) the answer was simple. They hop over the bar. Oh duh. So the weak, claustrophobic and small bladdered need not apply.
-The St. Charles Street Car. So not only were we blessed with free accommodations, they also happened to be about two blocks from the St. Charles Street Car. It was a super cheap, easy to navigate, romantic way to get around.
-Discovering the HBO Show Treme. Our first day we saw filming right by our home base. We asked Mimi and Peter later and they told us it was Treme. Whenever we had any down time (we spent 10 days in New Orleans so yes we had moments where we just wanted to chill) we watched Treme. It was a cool experience watching the show while we were there.
-Fishing on the Gulf with fly-fishing buddy connection, Greg. I got to do my favorite boating activity; lounging in the sun, reading my Kindle and shooting the occasional video. I’m not sure if Greg had ever had a Kindle reading lady on his boat, but he took it all in stride. And just when we thought the day couldn’t get any better, Greg introduced us to….
I am way awesomer than I look.
-The Drive-Thru Daiquiri. A love affair was born and a daiquiri-sippin monster created. I don’t know how it’s possible, but it’s stupendous. One minute I’m riding in the back seat of a truck which is nothing spectacular, and the next minute I’m still riding in the back seat of a truck, but with an extremely tasty beverage in my hand. Much different experience. Did I mention the drink was about the size of my head? My particular favorite was the White Russian Frozen Daiquiri. Yes, I took the liberty of sampling a few.
-Strolling through the Garden District. Since every house was absolutely stunning our walk was more of a crawl as we didn’t want to miss anything. There were quite a few for sale. So here’s the plan. One of you can buy a vacation home and we’d be happy to come take care of it for you. Got it? And when we worked up an appetite from all that strolling we visited Stein’s Market and Deli for sandwiches. Definitely worth a stop for the tasty traditional deli fare as well as a wide selection of specialty meats, cheeses and drinks.
–YLC Wednesday at the Square free concert series. We were lucky enough to attend for the performance of Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe. It was jancing (jamming +dancing) mania. In between jancing I managed to devour an order of crawfish queso and chips. I love queso. I love crawfish. Together YUM. Definitely in the top three of free concerts I’ve attended. And while there Peter purchased Mimi and I both presents! I received the beauty to the left! Yes, it’s a gold octopus necklace made by local artist, Forrest Bacigalupi. Kudos to Peter for picking out a stellar piece of jewelry that is now in constant rotation.
–Mahony’s Po-Boy Shop. This shop has been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, a show that never fails to leave me drooling and hungry, so it seemed like a safe bet. While my oyster Po-Boy was delish, the real standout for me was the “dirty fries”. Fries dripping with cheese and gravy, but not just any gravy, pot roast gravy with chunks of tender roast. Wow. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
Ok. That’s all the reminiscing I can take. I’ve worked-up quite an appetite. I need an episode of Treme, a frozen daiquiri, and some “dirty fries”. Oh how I miss you, NOLA.
I thought I’d share the battle that occurred in our bathroom between the toothpaste and the AC adaptor/power cord/thingie that lives on the floor. Just because it was completely random. It went something like this:
Me: Something happened….
Micah: Yes?
Me: I was brushing my teeth and I dropped the toothpaste and when I went to pick it up it was impaled by the prongs on the AC adaptor that was on the floor. Now toothpaste is gushing out of the toothpaste’s puncture wounds.
Micah: Just put some duct tape on it. That’s probably the first time that’s happened to a tube of toothpaste. You’re like the Neil Armstrong of impaling toothpaste with a plug.
Me: Who? Chuck Norris?
I’d rather tango with a vampire.Warning. I eat toothpaste tubes for breakfast.Duct tape saves the day. All better.
diproute.com 