Ponder Post: Dinner Get-together for Dancers

Friday night we hosted a get-together with three couples we know from our dancing lessons: John and Marita, Carl and Sachi, Dave and Janet. Frank and I thoroughly enjoyed the socializing and have resolved to entertain more. One of the things I think we are realizing in retirement is that friends are now folks with whom we have something in common and not just parents of friends of our kids. Also, as we get older, we may need to end the evenings earlier, but they can be more low key, less ambitious, and more flexible in when they are scheduled. I was not nearly so uptight about having these folks over as I have been when hosting parties in the past. I thought I would be since I am so out of practice entertaining. But all went smoothly, I had a good time, and I was not stressed. Cleanup was a breeze and not at all onerous. Folks brought wine, which I am sure helped. I, too, bought a bottle of wine based, not on my vast expertise as a wine connoisseur, but rather on its name, Slow Dancer.

I actually liked the taste of the wine as well as the name.

I kept Friday night's menu simple, serving marinated broiled chicken, a potato casserole, steamed broccoli and carrots, with fruit and cheese plates set out for pre-dinner munching. Since I love dishes and china I finally got to put some of my collection to good use. A while back I had bought some vintage pressed glass crescent shaped dishes at an antique store in Oklahoma, just because I thought they were pretty and unique with a fruit pattern molded in the base. I got to use them to contain bright strawberries, red raspberries, blackberries and green grapes. They were so appetizingly colorful.

The colorful fruit  was a sweet snack throughout the evening.

I guess I should have taken a picture when the dishes were full but I did not. Their  crescent shape was perfect to encircle table lamps in the living room and later around serving dishes on the supper table. The fruit got eaten but here is the glass dish. It was fun to get to use some of this stuff I have been "saving".

This pressed glass dish I think was originally intended to wrap around a serving plate
 and serve fruit. The crescent measures about 8" tip to tip.

Folks complimented the food so here are some of the details. The marinade I used for the chicken was from a Grill Mates packet; McCormick has a whole series of them. I used my second favorite which is the Garlic, Herb & Wine.

Just mix with oil, water, and vinegar.
I used olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

I could not find my favorite one, Zesty Herb, even though I checked three different grocery stores in Livermore –  Nob Hill, Safeway and Lucky's. I wonder if it is discontinued in the stores. There was no empty spot or label for it on the shelves. Good old Amazon. I went there and was able to order some and at about two thirds the price in the store even with the shipping. I had to get a twelve pack, but they keeps and I go through them fairly quickly.

I like to use apple cider vinegar with this one.

Folks liked the potato casserole. Here's how it's made.

     2 lb  frozen cubed potatoes, thawed (~ 1 hr)

     1 stick of butter melted (I used unsalted)

     1 lb sour cream (I used fat free)

     1 can cream of chicken soup (I used the low fat, low sodium option)

     1 cup diced onions (I used the equivalent of dried onion flakes)

     8 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Mix all ingredients together and place in 9"x13" casserole dish, uncovered. Bake 1 hour at 375°F.

After dinner we played some games. Half of us played the balancing game Suspend while others toured Frank's trains. There is little to no learning curve on this game and it is a lot of fun while it keeps you in suspense wondering if or when the tower of rods you've constructed will topple.

The games are short and do not require a lot of deep thought.
Deep thought is dubious after several glasses of wine.
So is fine motor balancing. 

Then the train crew took a turn playing Suspend and the female contingent went upstairs to look at my quilts while the aroma of Janet's chocolate dessert creation wafted through the house as it baked. We broke for a chocolate souffle-like concoction filled with chocolate ganache and served with homemade vanilla ice cream. Janet is formally trained as a pastry chef so you gotta bet it was "Mmm, Mmm, Good"!

After dessert we played Apples to Apples. In this game a green adjective card is exposed and each player tries to match it best with one of the red noun cards he holds in his hand. The player who introduced the green adjective card is the judge of which player made the best match. Often there are no good matches but the unlikely pairings can make for some good laughs.

With eight players there were lots of opportunities
 for off-the-wall, funny, noun-adjective combinations.

I think the most memorable card combination was when Carl played his red noun card "Helen Keller" in response to Frank's green adjective card "touchy-feely". It almost made up for Frank's dismay and disbelief when Marita favored my red noun card "Internet" over Frank's red noun card "Porsche Boxer" as a better fit with the green adjective card "speedy". Folks left shortly after we completed our Apples to Apples game. It was unanimous however that we all want to get together again pretty soon.

My Time in Oklahoma

I just got back from a week in Oklahoma visiting Robin, Jeremy, and Autumn. I arrived there Tuesday, March 18th, and returned home Tuesday, March 25th. It was a good visit. I had the chance to just relax and read and knit the few days Robin was at work. Jeremy was on travel for his job the first half of my visit, so Robin welcomed my company and help with Autumn. The weather was gorgeous while I was there. The clouds stayed away all days but one. Even the days that were a bit chilly, were a crisp, sunny, chilly that required no more that a sweater or light jacket to be comfortable. Autumn and I enjoyed sitting on the new swing on Jeremy and Robin's front porch. I read to her and swung with her. We played ball, did puzzles, and built with duplo bricks. I also got to observe her splashing at daycare and playing with a little boy, the son of one of Robin's friends.

Autumn's tentative smile hints that she is not yet too sure about this Grandma person sitting next to her.
Hmm... the person does look a lot like that lady in the computer she talks to with Skype.

Autumn was initially timid about my presence. Skype-ing helps but it is not as good person to person contact. Autumn began accept me when her desire to be read to overcame her apprehension. She is really, really, and I mean REALLY, into books now. I brought out with me four cloth books I had sewn and two hardcover books I'd bought.

I sewed these four cloth books for Autumn.

One of the hard cover books had been an impulse buy at the checkout line at the Jo-Ann's fabric store here in Livermore that I just could not pass up since it was so darn cute. It was called ... and Nobody  Noticed the Mouse and is about a little mouse who sneaks into a wedding. The illustrations are adorable, showing the mouse hiding behind a hymn book, in a bouquet of flowers, up in the organ loft of the church, on a rich lady's hat, and in the kitchen of a grand hotel, among other places. Autumn loved finding the mouse on each page and I began to win her over after reading the book to her four times in a row.

This is an adorable book for a young child.
The artwork is precious.

Here I am pointing out to Autumn where the mouse is hiding on this page.

The other hard cover she loved, especially reading it with her daddy, was Hide–and–Ghost Seek. Knowing Jeremy's penchant for Zombies and Halloween, I thought this book would appeal to him. There are 101 ghost images to find in this book. Grandma has her limits. I left that book for father-daughter bonding.

101 ghosts to find in this book!
And they are not as easy to find as 101 dalmations!

I joked with Robin that Autumn's relationship with her grandma was like Groundhog Day, the movie with Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell where Bill Murray needs to live the same day over and over again until he gets it right.

 Déjá vu all over again.

Every day had a repeatable sequence. Each morning Autumn clung to her mom and shrunk from me, seemingly forgetting that I was the very same person who had hugged her, kissed her, held her, played with her, and read many, many books to her just the evening before.

Here I am playing catch with Autumn in the evening.
From Autumn's enthusiasm and level of engagement,
 you can tell this this was not taken in the morning.

Robin and I were able sew a bit, talk quilting, peruse quilting magazines and books, and visit fabric stores while I was there. More info on that is in my other blog DianeLoves2Quilt in the post with the link  http://dianeloves2quilt.blogspot.com/2014/03/wip-time-out.html.

I also brought with me to show her a quilt I had made for the new baby daughter of her best friend Mary before I mailed it off. It's feature fabric is a design line titled "The Ghastlies" where the characters remind me of members of the Addams Family from classic TV fame.

Do you remember this classic TV show with Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, and Lurch?
They're creepy and they're kooky, mysterious and spooky,
They're all together ooky, the Addams Family.

You can read more about the quilt and Robin's friend Mary in a post from my other blog DianeLoves2Quilt.

For more pictures and information on this quilt see the post  http://dianeloves2quilt.blogspot.com/2014/03/ghastlies-quilt-completed.html

Here we are with the Ghastlies quilt, folded strategically for mailing. Jeremy, with his characteristic attention to detail, posed us holding up the quilt with me next to the mom Ghastlie on the left and Robin next to the daughter Ghastlie on the right.

Mothers and daughters.

My SWA flights home both departed on time and arrived early. Fortunately, routing through Denver presented no weather challenges. Neither flight was full and I had an aisle seat with an empty middle seat next to me on both flights. As I trundled out the terminal doors with my luggage, Frank was just pulling up to curb to pick me up. What luck and what timing! Now that is finishing off a great visit with flair!

Time in Dublin on St. Patrick's Day

There was no need for us to fly east across a continent and an ocean to be in Dublin, for St. Patrick's Day. We just had to drive to Dublin, California, two cities to our west, to celebrate at the festival there. Frank dressed for the occasion.

Okay. All three of you... smile!

We picked up Alex from his St. Denis home and headed out. Green was the color of the day, even as far as Alex's Hulk bank.

Can you hear those Christy Minstrels singing their 1963 folk hit?
Green, green, it's green they say on the far side of the hill.
Green, green, I'm going away to where the grass is greener still. 

After some initial challenges in finding a parking place, we walked several blocks to the outdoor event and had a good time browsing the various vendor tents. Alex enjoys and feeds on the cacophony and energy of crowds. We skipped getting an insurance estimate or a chiropractic re-alignment or a massage; we also turned down tupperware, special soaps, and gourmet oils. The weather was beautiful and we did enjoy pausing to sit and listen to some Irish music and watch some Celtic dancing.

We went inside the civic center building for Tea Time where we got to select our china cup and saucer for tea from a wide selection. It was funny observing how each male that entered hesitated before making his flowery choice.

Our choices were pretty near as many and pretty near as varied as in this photo.

To eat we could choose between a madeleine or a scone.

Frank and Alex each picked a buttery madeleine.

I chose a less sweet but equally delicious cranberry scone.

Scattered throughout the grounds, signs were posted that contained interesting facts about Ireland.

• It is the country with the largest dog per capita population. 
• The potato blight that ravaged Ireland originated in the United States. 
• There has never been an earthquake or tremor in Ireland. 
• Irish coffee was first formulated in San Francisco, not Ireland. 

Alex got to pet a shetland herder type service dog. She gave him multiple kisses on his face, much to Alex's delight. We visited some craft vendors and did not buy any jewelry or leather ware or tie died clothing.  We were impressed by a vendor with the clever title Someware In Tine (www.somewareintine.com) who fashioned decorator items and jewelry out of old silver tea services and silver knives, forks and spoon. We did buy a lamp. I guess we still had tea on the brain and Frank and I both liked the shade.

That fun house mirror effect in body of the teapot is the bottom half of me - twice!

After two games of bowling at an alley in Dublin, we had lunch there. The cook told us that Frank was the largest leprechaun she had ever seen! We dropped Alex back at St. Denis after stopping and buying carrots for his bunny; then Frank and I drove home. It was a pleasant, low-key way to spend a sunny day. Erin go Bragh!

Ponder Post: Pi Day

Yesterday was π day and an irrational occurrence happened. I have three printers and they each worked at the first "request". (They often balk if "commanded".) Technology is wonderful on such a technically magical day as π day.

My black and white Brother laser printer spit out my trip itinerary flawlessly when prompted.

Brother HL-2240

My color HP ink jet printer neatly delivered my multi-paged quilt pattern pdf without a burp.

HP Photosmart 6510

My thermal technology dymo label printer streamed out my file folder labels without a hitch.

DYMO LabelWriter 330

It was positively amazing that I got none of the following interface messages.

❑ Printer is offline (not really... the lazy printer only wishes it were)

❑ Load correct paper size (it is the correct size)

❑ Printer is out of paper (which it is not)

❑ Paper jam (not really... the printer is hallucinating)

❑ Incorrect label size (no, it is the same file folder size I use 98% of the time)

❑ Paper jam (okay, I'll give you that one... it is jammed... again)

❑ Check ink levels (if I print another @#$% test page I will be out of ink)

Yesterday's π day was wonderfully blessed! It did not make sense. The odds were against me but the printer gods were thwarted. But then, the day was meant to be irrational!

Image courtesy of http://quiltinkaboodle.com/2014/01/29/pi-quilt/

Ponder Post: How to Fold a Bag

This past weekend Frank and I went out to lunch at a local Chinese restaurant. The meal was good but my takeaway from the place was what I took away... my leftovers. This place was a bit classier than where we usually eat because they boxed up my leftovers for me instead of bringing out a container and having me dump the food in it by myself at the table. In the kitchen, the remaining food had been placed in a standard little white chinese takeout container.

A perk of this ordinary white Chinese takeout container was that it had no metal parts
and so could go directly into the microwave.

The waiter had placed the container in an ordinary brown paper bag. As he was walking toward our table he casually folded over the top and I was fascinated. Two simple creases and a curl and my bag was locked shut and had an adorable, functional, stylish, carrying handle. Call it Feng Shui, call it Origami, call it clean-line design principles, but I was hooked. Frank and I exchanged glances and I could see he'd been hooked, too. It may not look like much but here is the folded bag with the top locked in place. You can just slip a finger underneath the lip to carry it.

Here is our boxed and bagged leftovers...
complete with locked finger hold for convenient transport

Once home, I unfolded it carefully and took photos at each step. Here is how you do it. The first fold is made at 45° with the top edge aligned with the side edge, and the other side edge parallel to the bottom edge.

The first fold is at 45°.

Now here is the sneaky part. The second fold is offset and not symmetric like we scientific types might do. That peak at the top is biased to about a third from the left edge and not halfway.

The second fold is offset and at an approximately 30° angle.

Now the remaining part, the flap that is pointed down, is tucked up by just curling your fingers and accordian pleating it up under the first fold. You can see the crease lines in the preceding photo where the fold lines were for the tucked-in portion.

With the remaining flap curled under, the top is locked.

Voila ... or whatever the Chinese equivalent of voila is.  I am so glad it takes so little to keep us retired folks entertained!