The Lobby

I got home from work and almost immediately turned around. The snapper I'd taken from the freezer last night hadn't thawed, and I was feeling lazy. Happily, Conrad is an enabler in situations like this, so a quick browse of Opentable.com (and if you're not signed up, why the heck not? Come on people!) later, we were getting ready to head down to Michigan Avenue. Dinner at The Lobby in the Peninsula Hotel beckoned. I duly showered and decided to wear my light blue khakis for the first time. Sales at The Gap are a lovely thing sometimes. Gads but I'm such a big homo.

The Peninsula is supposedly the hotel where all the stars stay, but at 6:30 on a Friday night, the The Lobby was a little quiet. A lot quiet. Ah, no matter, it's a big airy space with lots of light from the wall of windows overlooking the Shanghai Terrace restaurant, and we were able to have an enjoyably quiet conversation. Conrad got to order wine - I still have a few weeks to go - and asked for an Oregon Pinot Noir. I launced myself into the breads set out for us, and we debated our menu choices.

We've been eating very very lightly lately. Low cards for Conrad's dietary needs. Tonight I made up for it, indulging in some bread in each course. Smart idea. Conrad and I decided to order appetizers but switch halfway through, so it was a spinach salad for me - it included some roasted tomatoes, heart of palm, asparagus, and a crouton slathered with a green olive tapenade. His was a bowl of wok roasted mussels. I think he had the better choice, for while mine was certainly a pleasant bowl of roughage, his mussels floated in a fragrant, piquant broth that had bits of garlic and lemon grass in it. Springs of thyme and a few thin rings of red jalapeno offered clues to other ingredients. I was glad to switch, enjoy the juicy mussels, and especially enjoy dipping a slice of his garlic bread into the liquid.

I think I liked my dinner better, so let's call this meal a draw. Conrad ordered the grilled salmon. I thought it rather a plain fish - I think it was Atlantic salmon, an inferior fish to something like a good sockeye - with nice sides of tomato and olive relish and sauteed spinach. He liked it, though, and washed it down with a second glass of the same wine. Mine was the roasted monkfish: crispy topside, floating in a crab pot-au-feu broth that wasn't at all spicy as promised but was more than tasty enough regardless. Alas, only one crouton to sop in the soup, drizzled lightly with rouille.

No dessert for us. There was a buffet of chocolate treats just set out nearby, and certainly they were lovely, but we behaved after indulging through dinner. I DID have rabbit food, on the other hand, so kudos to me. No, I musn't joke, I really liked the salad, simple as that.

What then? Over an hour spent browsing at Borders. And now home to cap the night with, well, this. LOL. Well, there are worse ways to spend a night!

Buttermilk baking binge

You know how it is. You have a litre of buttermilk in your fridge, and you've meant to use it. And suddenly, it's at its expiry date, so you gotta use it fast.

Welcome to my Thursday night.

Oh, I'll come clean, I had wanted to do baking tonight anyway. Souffles aside, it had been far too long since last I really baked. And, sadly, the rustiness showed.

Conrad cooked dinner for me. Yes, it was his specialty: turkey burgers. And yes, I did make the (simple) salad dressing - oooh, try this: just toss the salad with a little plain low fat yogurt, salt, and pepper. Easy, breezy, yummy salad dressing! In any case, he did this for me since I was so late home from work. As if I didn't have reason enough to love him.

Dinner done, I settled into the kitchen. Before dinner I'd looked up a few recipes using buttermilk, so a few things - the cakes - were new to me tonight. I put on some CanCon and got to work. Jane, Kate and Anna, Holly Cole, Rufus, Martha, the Ladies, kd, and others: ahhhhhh....

First up: get some lightly sweet pastry made and put into the fridge to rest. Not a problem doing it, but I'm not happy with the result. More shortly.

Next up: warm sour apple and buttermilk torte. That's the recipe name, but I suspect it will be served up room temperature at either Conrad's office or the Library tomorrow. An easy enough recipe, and the apples atop the cake do look attractive. The texture seems light, though I had hoped it would rise a little more. Ah well. Pretty simple cake otherwise.

Then: jam tartlets. Damson plum and raspberry. These things are popular at work, and I haven't made them in ages. I decided I was burned out on blackberry after the souffles, and I only had a little of my precious Saskatoon berry jam, so the two flavours are what resulted. Now then, the pastry: I think I used too little butter in it (and yes, Steven, I know lard makes pastry best, but butter is what I had on hand). It all held together and wasn't too wet, but I think it became easily overworked. The tartlets are alright. I ate one (and ugh - how much dough/batter did I consume tonight? Far too much. Bad Peter!) and thought it too crispy, not flaky or rich. Butter does that, I know, makes things crisp, but I think some more butter would have been better. Am I getting too alliterative here? The other concern is that the filling is a little skimpy. The jam boils up during the baking, and if it overflows the pastry, it's a real nuisance to clean up, let alone try to fish an intact tartlet out of the tin. I haven't made them in a while, and my eyeballing abilities have atrophied.

I took the leftover scraps of pastry I hadn't eaten and made something like what my Mum used to do. She called it an eccles cake and filled it with raisins, butter, sugar, and cinnamon. I had some apple slices leftover from the first cake, so I diced them and used them in place of the raisins. A misshapen little thing, but it should taste alright. I've had eccles cakes from bakeries in Canada and the UK - they aren't exactly like Mum would make.

After that: a maple buttermilk spice cake. Not sure how this one will be. I think I may have had it in a bit long as well, for the cake seems a bit dense and, well, solid. We'll see. I have yet to unmold that one.

And then: two simple buttermilk cakes that are meant to be brushed liberally with a syrup made from sweet dessert wine and topped with macerated berries. Not tonight. Two cake layers, each of which I will wrap and freeze and use for a furture casual dinner party when I can dress one or both with a syrup, some cream, some fruit, whatever. Maybe a wedge alongside poached pears?

Finally: chocolate chip and candied ginger scones, something to honour the good mornings back in Terrace when I would show up at Skeena Jr. Secondary with some fresh from the oven to give to my friend Greer on her break. I hope she made the other teachers jealous! Man, I am rusty. I forgot that I had adjusted the recipe to make twelve rather than ten, so these scones are big! I think they turned out well. Jeph received his copy of the cookbook I use for them today. May he give them a go and play with other combos of things for them rather than the currants in the recipe.

And that, my friends, used the entire litre exactly. Conrad did have to run to the store downstairs for eggs, but ah well.

Ah, and just to brag a little (oh let me - I have the tartlets' pastry to keep me humble!): I got all this baked AND clean up done by 10:20. As one thing was baking, the next was being mixed and put in the pans. So, a pat on the back to me, and let's hope that people tomorrow like what they're snacking on!

Skewers

I'll keep this posting short: I hear ironing calling to me from the bedroom, and there's a basketful of folded clean laundry that needs some love as well.

Chicken breast cut up, marinated in (I'm almost blushing here) last night's vinaigrette for the beans, skewered, and baked in the toaster oven. I should say I use the toaster oven rather than the big one at this time of year in the interest of keeping overall kitchen temperatures down. Back to the plate: I rested the skewers atop "Greek salad". I have a soft spot for that sort of a jumble of things, dressed with something slightly sharp and tossed with feta. Ah well. It takes me back to my days of waiting tables during the summer at Savala's Steak House in my hometown. Sort of - that place was heck! Dinner on the balcony and an hour-long walk in the neighbourhood was anything but!

Travellin' thru

I find this site kind of fascinating; it utterly appeals to the data-geek in me. My map looks as follows:

create your own visited countries map

Of course, I am using the Geoff Heuchling Rules, Peter's modification*.

The sister site is also cute. I do wish they'd get the Canadian provinces on a site, but I'd be embarrassed to have accomplished no more than 8 and no territories. Plus I would be forced to admit that my experience of NB is as paltry (but qualifying) as mine of Norway!


create your own visited states map




*To qualify as visiting a city, state, province, or country, the person must first leave the airport and go elsewhere in the locale. Then one of the three following criteria must be met:

1. Have a meal there
2. Use the toilet there
3. Spend the night there

Productivity

Ahhh, a little Nana Mouskouri playing right now. Fun! Lovely voice, and singing a Kate McGarrigle song to boot!

I feel as though today were my first true day back at work. Meetings and research time and coffee with FXK in the morning. Yep, feels like normal. I didn't exactly doze off in my 2:00 as I might normally, but I will confess to glazing over a little, spacing out, wool gathering. What to do for dinner. What to do for dinner. Conrad's dietary restrictions plague me. I had chicken, garlic, and basil sausage links thawed in the fridge at home. Normally I might toss together some sort of a "Thai curry". Well, I like it, at least.

Not tonight. Coconut milk, even the light stuff, is rich, and what's the point of all that sinfully good sauce if I'm cutting back on the rice to soak it up. Oh yes, I know, I can make rice and just serve him a moderate amount. I'd prefer to save his carb binge for going out for a meal later in the week, though. I might otherwise bake the sausages in the toaster oven and prepare a sweet and tangy chutney to offset them, some broccoli rabe if I had any. Nope, not those either.

It's a little ludicrous, innit, that I should be sitting in a meeting dealing with the ins and outs of our ILS and all I can think is what sides and condiments to offer for dinner.

On the way to the blue line, I had it partially figured out: sautee greenbeans in a simple vinaigrette and maybe do a bit of potato as well. Screw the carb count - I'd just serve Conrad a little less potato! But then I got home with time to spare before heading over to coach practice, and with a bit of fishing in the fridge I surfaced with a yellow summer squash, some white onion, some sweet red pepper, and a better idea.

The sausage did go into the toaster oven to bake. Prick it here and there and let it plump and bake. Easy.

I topped and tailed the beans, then blanched them to take off the edge of rawness. The vinaigrette was a whisked concoction of OJ, some crushed garlic, dry thyme, salt, pepper, sherry vinegar, and olive oil. The beans were sauteed at medium-high heat shortly before serving and laid down as a bed for the sausage.

I cut up some onion, squash (seeded), and red pepper into a large dice. Set that aside. Softened some sun dried tomatoes in hot water, squeezed the excess water from them, then chopped them up a bit and added it to the veggie mix. All of this went into a heated skillet with a bit of olive oil. Salt, pepper, dried thyme. When the veggies had softened a bit I added chicken broth and turned the heat to high to reduce the liquid. It stained nicely thanks to the tomatoes. This I held until almost serving time, then returned to a good heat before adding about a tablespoon or two of butter to finish. This all got spooned over the sausage.

In the end, it was a good mix of flavours: Some orangey sweetness and garlic on the beans, the garlicky, salty sausage, the savoury vegetables with a tang to them. A nice meal we finished off by snacking on fresh blueberries.

Plus, it's a lovely evening out. A bit cool, hence Conrad's jacket. He's still outside with a lamp now, working away on something. What I especially love is seeing the sunset reflected in the high rise across the street. Sometimes it's a remarkable orange glow. The moon, too, is bright and full (or close to it) tonight, and while the camera couldn't zoom well enough to get it as large as it appeared to us, I did get a few shots with some clouds obscuring it slightly.

I am glad, however, that I'm fairly clear on what I'm cooking tomorrow night so as not to spend any further meeting time deliberating over it this week!

Riddle

What do you get when thousands of gay men fill a half mile of Halsted Street, drink a lot of booze, wear a lot less clothing than they would to work, and all of this not on the last weekend of June?

Market Days.

I missed the weekend last year while I was coming back from BC/off to LA, but yesterday afternoon Conrad and I wandered down to see the crowdds, look at the booths (nothing caught our eye), and hang out with some of the Yoshi's crowd outside of the restaurant at Laura's mother's booth. Gwen, Laura's mother, sells handmade jewellry, mostly necklaces of chunky, interesting beads and stones. I really like some of it - it touches the tiny little drag queen inside of me (and believe me, there's not much drag queen in me at all).

Back out to the balcony

99 Fahrenheit degrees. Suzanne Vega CD, or actual temperature in Chicago earlier this week? The latter, though the first guess is close. Too bloody hot to do much of anything outside, including dine on the balcony. Wednesday's storms that slightly disrupted Project Runway were a breaking point, though, and today has been warm. Happily, that meant dinner out on the balcony with Francis and Kim.

Relax, I didn't cook up a dinner party. Conrad and I resorted to Ping Pong for some delivery: chicken spring rolls, lettuce cups, chilled tofu with crispy fried garlic, sesame beef, cashew chicken, peapods with shrimp, and basil chicken. Also known as far too much food - there's lunch for both of us - at the very least - in the fridge now.

What a lovely evening to be outside, though. Kim came by at about 6:30, the food followed 20 minutes later, and Francis was hot on its tail. Conrad opened a few wines: an Argentinian white, a sweeter Hawaiian white, a 1999 pinot noir that was on its way to becoming madeira and met a fate down the drain, a Chilean cabernet, and a more successful pinot noir. I toasted and sipped a little of the too-sweet Hawaiian stuff - a toast to getting through the appendix thing and to our trip to Maui together in October - but otherwise stuck with water.

The food? Not bad. Takeaway is never quite as hot and fresh as one might like, and I found the basil chicken a bit sweet and stodgy. I liked the peapods, and though the beef was sweet as well, the broccoli in it was a good, crunchy texture. I kind of wish we'd ordered something spicy, but as I picked out the items, I have only myself to blame.

But still, the sun went down, we were treated to the glow of sunset on the highrise windows around us, the night air was a very comfortable temperature, we had our friends there. A good time.

Dessert. Oh, I got a bit fancy here. Not entirely a success, but fun to do. I made us some blackberry/raspberry souffles. In truth, it was too sweet. I used fewer berries (I was a little short) and too much jam (I think I was trying to compensate for the berries). It needed some lemon juice to cut it, or less sugar. Kim even noticed the texture of the sugar grains in the finished dessert. IT did rise well, though. I was pleased with that.

The other part was the OTT thing: tuile cookies rolled into cones and filled with some fresh raspberries and blackberries. Simple recipe, but I really need practice at timing the cookies and manipulating them. I have made ice cream bowls with a different recipe that involves honey. I also hate to say it, but in the case of both recipes, I like the taste of the batter more than that of the baked coookie!

Anyway, making the cones was a pain. The first few attempts were too well cooked and brittle. Snacktime! So I baked them less and was able to manipulate them a bit better, but they didn't then dry/harden into a nice crunchy cone. I smartly made extra, though, so there was enough to make four attractive plates.

It's almost midnight, the dishes are done, and I should be off to bed. No swimming yet again tomorrow, so a walk will be in order to work off the very big meal tonight!

I cooked again! I cheated!

Conrad let me cook dinner again! Yay!

Alright, so elements of the meal may look suspiciously like last night. A bed of spinach. Poach shrimp cooked in a similar liquid to last night's chicken. Toss the shrimp with the leftover couscous salad and asparagus, add some fresh tomato and a bit more quickly-made dressing. Bob's your uncle: a dinner reminiscent of last night but just different enough to allow me to retain my position in the kitchen.

And wonder of wonders, I actually got Conrad to watch a DVD with me after dinner. Wimbledon was the movie. I'd seen it before. Jeph's post and Steven's responses regarding rumours of Paul Bettany being considered to play the Joker made it a nice choice for the evening. Better still, the very handsome Danish actor playing the part of Bettany's German training partner! How nice - he shares a birthday with me!

I can cook once again!

Let me preface this by stating that Conrad IS taking VERY good care of me, but I am getting better. He did not ask me to cook dinner - I just went ahead and did it. Took the practice in to the team, made it through announcements, then came back home and got my kitchen ya-yas on.

Conrad, I should add, must modify his diet further. Not content with removing a lot of cholesterol from his diet, he must now watch carbs and fat in order to avoid diabetes. The fun really never does stop in our house. You can well imagine how all this is going down with me, Mister 12-Pounds-of-Unsalted-Butter-in-the-Freezer. I'll modify my eating as well - what can it hurt? - but gosh will I miss some of the baking I could be doing....

Tonight's dinner (a dinner for eating indoors while temperatures soar above 90 outside):

Poached boneless, skinless chicken breast, served sliced atop a simple Israeli couscous salad, surrounded by quickly cooked asparagus. The poaching liquid was composed of water, dried lemon and orange zest, bay leaves, a sprig of rosemary, black peppercorns, and a few cloves of garlic chopped. The couscous was mixed with chopped parsley, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper.

Why yes, we are a little skimpy on groceries here!

I should be going to bed...

(ETA I ended up going to bed because Blogger just wouldn't upload photos. I'm doing this as I eat my porridge)

...but I napped a bunch when I got home from the hospital this afternoon. Yes, the hospital: one more night there for observation. Oh, the fun of having an IV inserted (third attempt was the charm). Ah, how wonderful to urinate into a plastic container so they can track (presumably) my hydration levels.

Anyway, enough of that. Conrad and I have spent much time quietly today - in the hospital and at home - planning the NZ trip. I've also been playing with my iTunes on the new laptop, and figuring out what I love about ACDSee 8, which I downloaded a few days back.

In the meantime, I finally got around to some of our own photos. I'm posting a shot of my salmon from the other night:

I'm also posting a shot of some flowers sent me. Kristina and Christopher had some lilies delivered a handful of days back; in bud at the time, they are blooming wonderfully. They are not as heavily fragrant as some other lilies, but I did catch their scent on coming home today. I am sorry not to be skilled at flower photography, but among all the lovely bouquets and plants I have received, I did want to capture at least one on photo while it was still in its prime:

Older? Yes. Wiser? Um....

So, 36 years old. This is what it feels like. Am I now in my late 30s? Or still in my mid-30s? I need some clarification, I think.

I am still at home, though about to embark on a short walk (because I haven't been doing enough walking lately) and then off to Illinois Masonic for some tests. We're not yet out of the woods with this ruptured appendix episode, but I hope that we're on the path. Hmmmm, horrid metaphor there, but we'll go with it.

Yesterday was, indeed, my birthday. And for the first time since I came home from the hospital, I ventured outside the building. Understand that I am still moving slowly and in some discomfort, but also kind of bored. Take it easy and rest and recover - that's the advice I get. Well for my birthday, gosh darn it, I was going to have dinner with friends. So I put on some really big pants to accommodate everything attached to my right side, smooshed the hair up into a faux-hawk-ish sort of look, and got in a cab bound for Yoshi's.

It was a delightful dinner. Michael and Laura and Gil and Rakhael joined us, as did Clyde who happened along, happily. Scott showed up in time for a bite of dessert. Everyone treated me royally. We sat outside - the quick afternoon storm had cooled things down nicely - and enjoyed ourselves. I have no pictures of the starter everyone opted for (and I should say that there are no dietary restrictions on me): grilled baby octopus on polenta. Four of us, though, had the ivory king salmon for dinner.

I was allowed a glass of wine, so while I passed (darn it) on the Sauvignon Blanc to start with, I did go with our waiter's recommendation (thanks Chris!) to try the Domaine Chandon Pinot Meunier with dinner. All of us liked it, I believe.

After that, out came dessert. Yoshi had made a stunning, simple chocolate mousse cake and sent it out with candles. What a lovely treat! We took some photos, I blew out the candles, and the cake was served up with some fresh berries to each of us. It's more decadent than I've eaten in some time, and it was greatly appreciated.

We got home at 10, and I was in bed and out like a light in 15 minutes. A wonderful time, to be sure, but a draining one. I guess I'm not yet fully back to normal (as if the catheter in my side wasn't evidence enough!). Still, I didn't want my birthday to be confined to the house and some takeaway (though we had a lovely evening a few nights back when my colleague Carol came by and we ordered in Thai food to eat on the balcony). I leave you with some other photos from last night - I'm off for my walk and to see the lovely people in Diagnostic IR at Illinois Masonic!

Still alive

Jeph has suggested (lovingly, naggingly - is that what Brett gets to deal with day in and day out? But with benefits?) that I chime in to let people know I'm alive and well and what's happening. I'll keep it simple: my appendix ruptured while we were in Chico, and I'm recovering from the infection. There's more, but it all feels a little too intimate posting it here. So, let's leave it at me being at home this week, moving a little slowly and carefully, taking it easy.

But I do appreciate having heard from and seen so many people, receiving their well-wishes. Thank you.

Happier thoughts: I have no photos (of course!) of me looking like post-hospital stay heck. Instead, I'll dig into the way-back machine and post a nice holiday photo. We were to be in Vancouver tomorrow for my birthday on Thursday. I offer you a photo from Vancouver in a July past....

Mustard?

Anyone reading this feel free to chime in, but I'm really pleading for help from the gardening enthusiasts:

Mustard greens? I apologies for the slight slick of dressing and morsels of cheese if they throw you off. Inquiring minds want to know....

February? Or November?

7:15 tonight

So, two point five sick days this week. Happily, I'm on the mend. Back to work tomorrow, for a full day this time. Back in the pool later this week.

But enough of that. Yes, sick, wah wah. Get over it Peter. After all, Project Runway starts tonight. I'm trying to do this in the quieter moments of the show.

Anyhoo, no big food stuff this week. Oh, yes, dinner last night at Osteria Via Stato was quite nice. We did the grandma's kitchen option wherein we each chose an entree, and they brought round antipasti and pasta to our hearts' content. We did not bring a camera, though. Dommage.

The point of this post is simply to put up some photos from this evening. Very humid weather, and kind of warm. Nonetheless, while Jeph gets hardcore rain over in Snow-Hi-Oh, it's heavy heavy fog here. Very odd. A glance out the window suggests it's a very different time of year.
8:15 tonight.

Wedding in Chico

The only good thing I can say about being at home in bed with some searing abdominal cramps (hey, wait, why don't I take a painkiller? - Didn't even think of that one yet!) is that I can catch up on the blog. Last week was so busy during the week, and I decided a handful of days away from the blog world would be a reasonable thing.

Conrad and I returned last night from a weekend in Chico, CA. Hands up those among you who have been there or who have thought you might one day go. Hmmm, yes, me neither. Chico. What the heck is a Chico? The name lends itself to a nice wealth of jokes and puns, I think, but otherwise it was a faceless northern California town that was likely to be some dusty open main drag and all the life sucked out to the shopping mall. What else could it be?

Hmmm. How about a thriving small university city with some handsome pre-1900s buildings, the third-largest city park in North America, a terrific farmer's market, a compact and walkable downtown full of interesting storefronts, and a lovely community nestled amongst hilly country, orchards, and rice fields? Ah yes, that would be Chico.

In other words, we had expected to go to an old friend's wedding and otherwise not much else this weekend, but from start to finish, the trip has made us seriously consider adding Chico to any extended northern California trip in the future.

But let's go through chronologically and pictorially. The lead photo is from our hotel following drinks with Grant and Malinda the night before their wedding; Grant is someone I've known from back home for about a dozen or so years now, and I'm delighted that he and Malinda (beautiful woman with a good career in nursing and a couple of young sons) have met and married. The second photo shows Conrad with some strawberries purchased at the Farmer's Market. Up next, the trip starts with a shared limo ride to the airport Friday morning with Gil and Rakhael:
We stayed in the Hotel Diamond right in the heart of town. From there it was an easy walk over to Creekside Cellars - not a winery but a good wine shop that was hosting a Friday night tasting. The wines were hit and miss, but we brought back two for ourselves. Note to self: find the Husch Chenin Blanc they'd sold out of.
Once home from the wine shop, we found a message from Malinda that resulted in us joining the wedding rehearsal dinner. That was a nice treat, and I will compliment The Albatross on its simple but very good preparation of salmon. Not at all overcooked, letting the good flavour of the fish shine. After dinner, Conrad and I went back to the hotel with Grant and Malinda for a drink. I had to apologize to Conrad the next night: I haven't seen Grant in a handful of years, so much of our chat was him and I going over old times. Neither he nor Malinda got much chance to get to know Conrad this time. Sorry everyone for that.
The wedding was at 6:00 on Saturday evening, so we had plenty of time to get around town and see the sights. The hotel breakfast was pretty sad (though the room was quite fine), so we ended up foraging a bit more. The Farmer's Market was an early stop, but we drove and walked around all over Lower and Upper Bidwell Park. This immense city park built along Big Chico Creek stretches out into hot, dry open country. The lower park is cool and shaded along the creek and includes numerous paths and part of the creek dammed and converted into a pool.Regarding the hat: yes, it is a Bob Daugherty hat. Sue me: it was well over 90 degrees there (in fact, it got up to 103 that day) and it takes a lot to maintain my pale pasty complexion. Also, somehow I think I look like Jeph's BF in a small way. Weird. Not a bad thing though. No, we didn't swim at the pool, only felt the temptation. We eventually did the second of two workouts that weekend at the In Motion Club where we had guest privileges from the hotel. 8 lanes outside, not busy. Wonderful. Too bad we could only do 15-20 minutes for fear of a bad burn!

Upper Bidwell park was stunning - in the city, but out in the country with hill formations that looked like a cousin to the Sedona landscape. Lots of volcanic rock around there, of course. The creek has some pools for swimming, and we did view some, but the heat radiating from the black rock was obscene!
What else did we fit in? Gosh: browsing for used books (CG and Jeph, I found a couple of goodies for you two), lunch at the Upper Crust, a bakery/cafe with ridiculously marvellous "granola bars". Let's be real, they were snack cakes, dense and sweet with an apricot filling. Our last one sits in the fridge right now - we picked up three yesterday morning - and I was tempted to bring even more home. Finally, though, we drove out to the almond orchards of Malinda's Dad's ranch for the evening wedding.

So, some wedding photos. And a few quick comments:
I think I look good, just need a bit more slimming and toning maybe? No more granola bars for a while?
A bit blurry, but the couple gets photos done before the ceremony.

Most of us got some shade, but Grant's family resorted to the fans all guests received to get a little relief.
Brent, the guitarist. Conrad and I sat with him the night before and chatted more with him after the wedding. Nice young man of 20, and let's be blunt: darn cute!
The pastor is Grant's ER supervisor. He did a "Joey from Friends" and got certified online to be able to perform the ceremony. Malinda pulled together the vows from disparate sources to stunning effect: Grant barely made it through his part without crying.

No photos from yesterday, just a nice morning stop at Upper Crust again and a pleasant trip home. Bad airplane movies in both directions this time, but I'll get over it. I am dismayed that France lost yesterday, but I will carry on just the same. In the end, though, terrific weekend and we look forward to a return visit to the newlyweds one day!