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Really good day
Aug. 1st, 2009 11:40 pmFor some reason today I don't feel quite as bad. I'm sure it's just a comparison thing as yesterday was awful, so any improvement would make me feel loads better.
Spent most of the day working on Mona's pressie, so it's coming along well. Also spent some time doing a bit of light cleaning. Mostly just the kitchen.
Yesterday there was no progress on the house next door yet again, and today I found out why. According to Greg that deal isn't set to close until some time in October. So while houses here normally go up in less than 8 weeks, they're probably going to drag their asses on that one as there is no hurry at all. I'm thinking I might give up on the daily photos as it's not as impressive as any of the other builds in the neighbourhood, and the whole point of the exercise was to show how fast they go from empty lot to move-in-ready house here. Maybe the one across the road will go faster when they start on it.
In other news, Greg and Rhonda came for a special dinner tonight. Because they have cats we always eat at our place, whether I'm cooking or they are. Usually it works out that Greg cooks and I provide dessert and do the dishes, which is reasonably fair. Tonight Greg offered to make us all lobster! I can't even remember the last time I had lobster. I think it might have been Fenrick's birthday two years ago or something. He went to the best fish market in town, and he's from Maine, so he knows what he's doing. It was some of the best lobster I've ever had. And despite the reduced stomach size, I still managed to finish my entire lobster, including picking every last bit of meat out of the body and legs. For Rhonda (doesn't like food she has to work for) and Jason (doesn't like seafood) he made steaks. He also served up some truly excellent mussels, which I also found room for (jason tried one, Rhonda declined and Greg and I finished a pound of them), and some corn on the cob that was super-sweet, some fantastic grilled asparagus and some potatoes (I skipped those, deciding to save my space for the seafood). It was a magnificent spread and way too much for the number of people we had at dinner, as usual.
Because he was making a fancy dinner I decided to do my best to make a fancy dessert to go with it. I settled on lemon meringue pie, which I've never attempted before. The time estimate in the recipe was grossly wrong. Mostly because it assumed I was starting with a finished, ready to go pie crust, and I was in fact planning on making my own. I should probably have some pre-made crusts in the freezer or something, but fresh always tastes better anyway. I also lost a lot of time to trying to locate the pie tins. As it turns out I haven't made a pie since I moved. Go figure. And of course, the first time you make anything it's a learning experience and it takes forever. Long story short, it wasn't completely chilled and set by the time dessert rolled around, but it still tasted fantastic. Nice to know that there's yet another dessert I can do well.
I also made a "back-up" dessert by accident. The recipe for the pie gave the instruction: separate egg whites and set them aside to get up to room temperature to make the meringue. I interpreted this as meaning dispose of the egg yolks, but sure enough, two directions later I was supposed to use the egg yolks that were now down the sink. As I had to separate more eggs I figured I might as well use the extra egg whites so I made some meringue with chocolate chip "cookies". Those were pretty successful too.
Before the party started I took some quick pics of the dining room. Nana gave us the money for the dining set for Christmas and she's been asking for pictures, but because everything in the room is white and I hadn't hung curtains yet I hadn't tried taking a picture, figuring it would all bleach out. Now that the curtains are up, and the room was clean today, I figured I'd do it before it got messed up again. The room still isn't completely done. I have some lovely oil paintings I need to get framed and hung in the art nook on the right. But it's pretty close.
It's a pretty dead-simple blank-slate kind of room, but I kind of like it that way. Makes the art stand out more. Besides, the house is open concept and if I painted it I'd have to start painting everything else on the main floor, and that's just not going to happen. Gold-yellow curtains and art are the only colour that room is ever getting. And maybe some day I'll find some table cloths that fit my massively long dining table. It's highly unlikely, but it could happen. I'm also not super-keen on the light fixture, and because of the china cabinet and the super-long table it's not actually centered over the table, so that's going to have to get replaced one of these days. Not any time soon though.
Spent most of the day working on Mona's pressie, so it's coming along well. Also spent some time doing a bit of light cleaning. Mostly just the kitchen.
Yesterday there was no progress on the house next door yet again, and today I found out why. According to Greg that deal isn't set to close until some time in October. So while houses here normally go up in less than 8 weeks, they're probably going to drag their asses on that one as there is no hurry at all. I'm thinking I might give up on the daily photos as it's not as impressive as any of the other builds in the neighbourhood, and the whole point of the exercise was to show how fast they go from empty lot to move-in-ready house here. Maybe the one across the road will go faster when they start on it.
In other news, Greg and Rhonda came for a special dinner tonight. Because they have cats we always eat at our place, whether I'm cooking or they are. Usually it works out that Greg cooks and I provide dessert and do the dishes, which is reasonably fair. Tonight Greg offered to make us all lobster! I can't even remember the last time I had lobster. I think it might have been Fenrick's birthday two years ago or something. He went to the best fish market in town, and he's from Maine, so he knows what he's doing. It was some of the best lobster I've ever had. And despite the reduced stomach size, I still managed to finish my entire lobster, including picking every last bit of meat out of the body and legs. For Rhonda (doesn't like food she has to work for) and Jason (doesn't like seafood) he made steaks. He also served up some truly excellent mussels, which I also found room for (jason tried one, Rhonda declined and Greg and I finished a pound of them), and some corn on the cob that was super-sweet, some fantastic grilled asparagus and some potatoes (I skipped those, deciding to save my space for the seafood). It was a magnificent spread and way too much for the number of people we had at dinner, as usual.
Because he was making a fancy dinner I decided to do my best to make a fancy dessert to go with it. I settled on lemon meringue pie, which I've never attempted before. The time estimate in the recipe was grossly wrong. Mostly because it assumed I was starting with a finished, ready to go pie crust, and I was in fact planning on making my own. I should probably have some pre-made crusts in the freezer or something, but fresh always tastes better anyway. I also lost a lot of time to trying to locate the pie tins. As it turns out I haven't made a pie since I moved. Go figure. And of course, the first time you make anything it's a learning experience and it takes forever. Long story short, it wasn't completely chilled and set by the time dessert rolled around, but it still tasted fantastic. Nice to know that there's yet another dessert I can do well.
I also made a "back-up" dessert by accident. The recipe for the pie gave the instruction: separate egg whites and set them aside to get up to room temperature to make the meringue. I interpreted this as meaning dispose of the egg yolks, but sure enough, two directions later I was supposed to use the egg yolks that were now down the sink. As I had to separate more eggs I figured I might as well use the extra egg whites so I made some meringue with chocolate chip "cookies". Those were pretty successful too.
Before the party started I took some quick pics of the dining room. Nana gave us the money for the dining set for Christmas and she's been asking for pictures, but because everything in the room is white and I hadn't hung curtains yet I hadn't tried taking a picture, figuring it would all bleach out. Now that the curtains are up, and the room was clean today, I figured I'd do it before it got messed up again. The room still isn't completely done. I have some lovely oil paintings I need to get framed and hung in the art nook on the right. But it's pretty close.
It's a pretty dead-simple blank-slate kind of room, but I kind of like it that way. Makes the art stand out more. Besides, the house is open concept and if I painted it I'd have to start painting everything else on the main floor, and that's just not going to happen. Gold-yellow curtains and art are the only colour that room is ever getting. And maybe some day I'll find some table cloths that fit my massively long dining table. It's highly unlikely, but it could happen. I'm also not super-keen on the light fixture, and because of the china cabinet and the super-long table it's not actually centered over the table, so that's going to have to get replaced one of these days. Not any time soon though.
