kind of a normal weekend at home... kind of

Well, heck, it's 5:37 in the morning, and I've been awake for two hours.  Came home from Van's, I should go downstairs and work out a bit (I will, I will!), but I thought it might be good to dash off a blog entry as a return to real-life blogging.  No luxury hotels or culinary walking tours here.

Yes, we're jetlagged.  I was fading badly through dinner last night and went to bed before 8.  I didn't want to, but I was swooning.  So this will take some time to get back on LA time.  I did make it in to work yesterday (after needing to get roadside assistance to jump the dead battery in my car) for a while, though, and I will be there the rest of this week.  But yeah, things are off.  And it's such the opposite of the trip!  We landed got to our hotel room around midnight in Hanoi when we arrived and got up at a normal time the next morning, and the rest of the trip we were synchronized with the local time and not struggling.  On this end, we got home on Thursday and were in bed at a normal time (10:30ish), but awake by 3:30 the next morning.  It was worse through the weekend with bedtimes and badly needed power naps.  I am dreading setting the clocks back this coming weekend and the effect that will have.

Anyway, we got through the weekend, so how about a weekend report?

Friday, not much to say.  I was heartily tired of eating out so much, and I badly wanted to cook in.  Nothing fancy:  turkey meatloaves.  Goodness, it was a welcome dinner.  Conrad and I watched Great British Bake Off and that was our simple evening.  And it was good.

Conrad slept in on Saturday morning, so we skipped the walk and going out.  I didn't go out all day, in fact.  A lot of unpacking to do, and then there was dinner to make for having Van and Olive over.  Simple pasta, a buttermilk fruit cake that was deliciously boozy.  Conrad went to bed early, I pushed through to get dishes done and the kitchen clean, and then I was wide awake until 1 AM.  Yikes.

Sunday came, and we did a walk then on to Amara for breakfast (and yes, we will make it back to Maestro and Mama M this week). 

In the afternoon we had online happy hour with a Halloween theme.  We did that before in 2024, so I was able to pull from that set of recipes and came up with a few drinks. 

I liked the Corpse Reviver No. 2 best - there's a reason it's a classic. 

The Afterlife was my second favourite,

and then the Skeleton Key. 

We cut short our time on the call, though, and headed to Van's, picking up an easy dinner to heat for the three of us.  Van had an overnight appointment to get to after dinner, so we were going to take care of Olive for the night. 

That was nice, but again, I was awake until too late (after midnight) and not a good and long night of sleep after that.

That was the weekend that was.  Trying to get back to normal, some of the trappings of normal, not yet there.  Two weekends to go before the next one out of town.  Here's hoping that we get back to normal fully in that time! 

fourth weekend in August

Most of the week gone, almost the next weekend, the last weekend in August.  What better time to check in on the previous weekend, right?  And I know, I know.  Maestro and Amara again, right, Peter?  Well, yes.  Unapologetically.

So let's kick it off with the usual:  seats at an end of the bar late Friday afternoon/early Friday evening at Maestro. 

I did NOT, however, go with the usual drink.  A Guayabita for me this time to start with,

followed by a glass of rose. 

Sometimes it's good to switch things up!  We ate relatively light, given the heat.  Oysters to start,

some chicken mole to share. 

Did we have queso as well?  No photo, but I dimly recall we may have, which totally makes a lie of the eating light.  We came home and watched some television, winding down, having a mellow time of it.

Saturday morning there was a mild walk, but yep, Amara.  Lattes and a shared burrito (they're pretty filling for one). 

Back at home, there was the usual assortment of things to get done, and I added the baking of two banana bread loaves to that list. 

Check!  They'll make for nice slices some mornings with coffee.  By early evening, we were swinging by Bristol Farms and picking up fixings for dinner.  Van wanted shrimp cocktails, and we obliged. 

I also bought a nice piece of coho salmon and served it atop a warm okra salad and Israeli couscous.

After dinner the guys showed me the photos of their recent road trip, telling me more of the stories.  Nice to see.  No television after they were done - it was too late for that.  We headed to bed.

Sunday morning I didn't get up early for a solo walk despite best intentions.  I slept really well, but when I finally got up, I soon heard Conrad.  And if Conrad gets up, that means Olive is awake with him.  She really loves him.  A short walk for the three of us, then a further short walk for me to get some more steps. 

Conrad and I had coffee while Van slept in, then the four of us headed off to Starbucks because we weren't quite up for a big breakfast at home.  Conrad and I got home around noon, and then it was an afternoon devoted to online happy hour.  Sushi and television to finish the day.

That, friends, was a very regular, normal, no-frills weekend for us.  Nice one, I have to say.

quiet Sunday in August

Well, howdy!

It's been another quiet day with Olive.  She didn't even want to go for a walk this morning - maybe I tuckered her out yesterday.  She did enjoy a drive late morning to go check up on the condo, though, and I got her over to the park for a brief stroll. 

Otherwise, we're two mellow souls, having a day of (so far) reading, music, napping.

I may write some more note cards this evening before I turn on the television.  We shall see.  But dinner is done for both of us.  I poured a Kamikaze

and served up some leftover pork

and a few other things scrounged from the fridge. 

A basic meal, and that's fine.  It's not been the best day for eating, I admit.  Ah well.

A new week ahead, the library closed, Conrad and Van due back later on Wednesday.  Let's see what else the week brings! 

Saturday evening with the LG

It's been a super easy day.  I did make the mistake of going back up to the condo this afternoon, and that got me caught in all the traffic for the Noah Kahan concert at the Rose Bowl (and I would have loved to have see that - I've been enjoying his most recent album so much),  But that was a blip in an otherwise easy day.

Time spent with Olive today, once again. 

She is such a good girl.  We had a good walk this morning. 

By the end, she was tuckered out.  And I confess:  we both had a late morning nap.  Just that kind of day!

I poured another Italicus martini while I made dinner. 

Tasty drink for summer, I have to say.  Dinner was a hodge-podge.  I had a pork tenderloin that needed cooking, so I seared then roasted it, slicing it to serve along with some sweet potato leftover from dinner with Denny and some green onions in a bowl of Trader Joe's noodles. 

Not a bad dinner.  I feel pretty satisfied here.  Leftover pork for tomorrow as well!

Olive is used to television in the evenings, so I shall hop offline and get to watching with her.  Happy weekend, folks! 

Friday evening in

The week of me and Olive and just me and Olive continues. 

Almost at the halfway point.  I am utterly sure that she is dearly wishing that she was with her daddy and Plan C instead.  Rest assured, she is being fed and watered and walked, though!  I am not a monster!

I had a weirdly busy day for working from home.  Fridays don't usually have quite so much I need to tend to.  I'm glad for things to do, though.  At the end of the afternoon, though, I put on music (listening to the new Laura Veirs) and made a very very very basic dinner (things foraged from the fridge dipped in blue cheese dressing), and made a cocktail.  I shudder to call this a martini (just because it's in a martini glass doesn't make it a martini)(and I served this in a large Nick and Nora instead) when it's really a vodka sour, but it was tasty enough:  the Italicus Martini. 

I'd make this again, happily.  Simple, goes down easily.

I munched on dinner and sipped the cocktail then poured a glass of wine and started to work on notecards and such to friends.  One of my favourite things to do:  send something in the mail to people I care about, even if it's just a hello.  Who doesn't enjoy something in the mail other than a bill or a flyer?

Friday will wind down here.  Lunch plans tomorrow, and that's it for Saturday.  We are almost half way through August, folks!

a delivery!

Hooray!  I love getting stuff, especially when I've been shopping online.  Courtney and Robert gave me a generous gift card for Eataly for my birthday last month, and I was so very happy to spend it.  Fun times.

At the end of my remote workday today, I got Olive into the car (she LOVES to go for a drive)

and headed back up to the condo.  I had received a notification of a parcel delivery, and I wanted to be sure that it was inside, out of the heat, no matter what it was.  When I arrived, we discovered it was the Eataly shipment. 

I eagerly got it inside and unpacked it.

Pastas and sauces and some other goodies. 

Nothing perishable, lots I can have fun with down the road.  I'm so looking forward to it.

And then back in the car with us, another ride for the little girl. 

me and the LG

Conrad and Van have made it to the first stop on their 8-day road trip.  Yay!  I know they've been excited about it.  Meanwhile, I get 8 days taking care of Olive.  And I am delighted by that as much as she is confused because my routine is not Van's routine.  Poor girl.  She will survive, I promise.

It will be a mild 8 days, and that's ok.  Just nice to have time working from home and keeping an eye on her before the semester starts! 

last reminder of the month

She may be slowing down - we definitely are noticing more and more that she's not the young dog she once was (are any of us?) - but she's still the cutest, prettiest little girl.  Television date night at Van's last night, and when I arrived, there was much time spent on the Couch of Love, as we call it.  She jumps up and demands (and gives!) affection until she is done with us, and last night that was a goodly long time of making sure Olive was given the love she deserves.

Happy August ahead!  I look forward to spending time next month taking care of her while Van and Conrad go on a road trip. 

two cuties

Yep, a reminder that Olive is so pretty, so adorable.  And so is Conrad!!😉 

second weekend in July

The weekend that was, and really, it was a good weekend.  It's Sunday night now as I start this, I've had some decent, moderately-priced wine.  We've watched a little of Cougar Town, an older television show we're now getting into.  I have a ticket purchased for tennis in the desert this fall.  Why not start the weekend check-in?

And let's extend the weekend back to last Thursday.  A cheat, but Fridays during the summer are WFH, and although that's not a day off (there's always something or things to deal with), it is a little easier for not having the drive.  Anyway, Thursday evening was nice for having had friends invite us over. 

That's a rare thing.  People get intimidated or weird about cooking for me, and I swear, I SWEAR

EVEN. IF. YOU. MAKE. ME. A. BOX. OF. KD. I. WILL. BE. GRATEFUL. THAT. YOU. COOKED. FOR. ME.

I mean it.

Jennifer and Sanders, however, provided us with a dinner beyond Kraft Dinner, with halibut cooked on the grill

and some very juicy and sweet corn on the cob.  Lovely!  We sat outside and had a great chat, the five of us.  Very good food!

Friday came, and it was off to Maestro that evening.  Sooooo long since last we were there.  They had closed for some renovations, and before they reopened I was off to the Midwest, so it had been weeks.  Too long.  So it was so very good to be back.  YAY!  We sat outside, the three of us, and shared gaucamole, a roasted beet salad, the tetela, calamari, and the bone marrow esquites. 

Such a nice evening there.  We came back to the condo to have some little pastries from Bu Pastry Bar. 

A nice way to finish the evening as we watched some Stanley Tucci in Italy.

Saturday!  Saturday I was up early, but I lingered as I heard Conrad stirring upstairs.  We eventually went out on our walk, a nice casual one.  And then it was Amara.  So, yes, a proper and regular weekend for us.  Our usual breakfast after all this time,

and a second round of lattes to boot!

 

Then there was the SG Lewis concert, a good walk this morning, a great and bountiful breakfast at Van's, a new pair of shoes for walking, dinner with some television.  Nothing especially photo-worthy, or moments where taking photos wasn't at front of mind.

All in all, a good mix of busy and not busy this past weekend. We're almost halfway through the month, which doesn't feel real, to be honest.  Fall semester will be upon us in no time at all!