Hair Day rolled around on Saturday morning. We didn't roll out of bed very well, but did have a good time, and we "ate great." Pat and Alex supplied the main dish, and Pat made the spaghetti sauce—she said when she was making it that the real test would be if I liked it!—and then Alex made baked ziti with it, one with meatballs and one with Italian sausage, and there was also some plain ziti with sauce for Juanita, who's allergic to cheese. (And it was indeed quote delicious, especially the one with the Italian sausage.) We brought a cucumber and tomato salad with orange blossom honey balsamic vinegar, Shannon brought baby greens and mushrooms with dressings, Oreta and John provided watermelon, Phyllis brought the usual relish plate, Charles provided cheese, and Terica and Ben brought a fruit and cheese plate. We all had a feast, and then it was time for cake to celebrate the July birthdays: Charles, Juanita, and Pat.

Now very full, we headed home to set a spell with Snowy and Tucker; I made the bed and cleaned up some in the bathroom and put together a little remembrance gift for Jessie, who is leaving soon for a five-month internship at Disney World, and then dozed off on the sofa after reading the new cross-stitch magazine I bought last night. Woke up during a Christmas episode of the British Antiques Roadshow.

Around 6:20, got dressed, walked Tucker, and then we headed out to Jessie's farewell dinner at Keegan's Irish Pub. We minded our carbs after the ziti overload earlier: James got a sampler platter that was mostly meat and veg and I had chicken wings. The only "overage" was more cake: Juanita had a Beauty and the Beast cake for Jessie. We headed home on a truly lovely summer night for late July: we not only rode to the Butlers this morning with the windows down, but we could do so again that night.

Of course this morning we intended to be up around 8:30 or 9 to go to Costco when we opened. Well, if we plan to do such things we need to set alarms, because the last time I looked at a clock it was 7:35, and the next thing we knew it was 9:45. So I walked Tucker—it wasn't that bad out; warm in the sun, but a nice breeze and low humidity—and James had a burrito, and I munched on a BelVita breakfast bar on the way to Costco. Since it had opened an hour earlier, it was quite crowded, but there was still a handicapped space out front.

We had a nice stroll about; I bought another fall magazine (the "Cottage Journal"), and then spent a joyful five minutes in the wonderful chill of the dairy room to pick out some milk. We also picked up Skinny Pop, mushrooms, Loratadine because it was on sale, a big bag of slivered almonds for my oatmeal, and the soap we needed, although we couldn't find Costco's brand of soap any longer; we had to buy Dove. At that price it's cheaper for me to get the oatmeal and almond soap at the Dollar Store. ::grump:: But we did find more Rice Ramen! These are great ramen noodles made from millet and brown rice, and taste delicious in Asian dishes.

We brought the milk home, then went to Kroger, ostensibly for gasoline, but James wanted to get more chai tea, so we found a parking space after a few minutes searching—the place was packed because church was out—and went in. Picked up the tea, Those Damn Bananas, a few other things, and a chuck roast to pressure cook tonight. We will cook this with teriyaki and have it over the rice ramen noodles. Yum!

James confessed that his portion of the closet was a bit of a mare's nest. He has been having such pains in his knees and hips that he's just been laying his clean laundry on a shelf and not hanging his shirts up. So we spent an hour making order out of chaos. I hung up most of the shirts and he put them back where they belong (the closet has a double row of shelves and I'm too frippin' short to reach the top rail comfortably), and he sorted through the pants. We put three in the trash and four are in good shape, so they will go to Goodwill, and the rest are nicely folded on a shelf.

Then we kicked back and chilled out, watching the rest of Aerial Ireland and Aerial America: "New York City 24" on Smithsonian Channel. At 4:30 James sauteed the beef in sesame oil and started the chuck roast in the pressure cooker. We ate a little bit after six. Okay, we needed to cook it longer; it was not "fork tender," but it was cooked and edible. The sauce he made was outstanding: teriyaki, miso broth, and no salt beef broth thickened with cornstarch. Enjoyed the beef soaked in it, the rice ramen, and even dipped some bread in it. Next time we will cook it longer.

Sadly, Colour Confidential has gone into reruns. Did see the final episode of America in Color, which was the 1960s and had some authentic color footage instead of colorized. 😀

Labels: food, friends, magazines, parties, television

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