why are there two of you standing there?
I'm flattered. For a writer to say she thought you were a writer ... it means you are a good person.
Some Labor Day weekend. Certainly not a lot of work on my part.
After all the hilarity on Saturday, Darin and I planned to go to Elinor's 5th birthday party on Sunday. I got up and got into the shower and found myself trembling. As in, if I keep standing up for ten or more seconds I'm going to collapse.
I opened the door and said to Darin, "I'm not going."
"You're sending me to Chuck E. Cheese's by myself?"
I looked up "light-headedness" and "dizziness" in The Pregnancy Book by William Sears (my bible of pregnancy--I refuse to have anything to do with What to Expect When You're Expecting, which I find to be preachy and dogmatic and not at all helpful to a woman going through the turmoil of having a parasite take over her body) and there was a section describing feelings of light-headedness and dizziness...in the chapter for month four. (Where I am now.)
Darin said later, "Kinda undercuts the feeling that no one's ever done this before, huh?"
I got in bed and stayed there the whole day. I reread a couple of Regency romance novels and basically didn't move except to go get something to eat. I called Dorothy and said Darin wasn't back yet from Elinor's party and I wasn't getting out of bed, so we weren't going to stop by the soiree at her folks' house.
Then I went to sleep, only to be woken up by Darin, who was finally on his way back. He mentioned to me he'd invited a whole bunch of people over for a barbecue on Monday. Aha, I said, not having the wherewithal to say much more. He asked me where he should go shopping for food, and I told him to go by the new Gelson's that's opened near us.
If you haven't heard of Gelson's, it's this totally excellent supermarket that has tons of great produce and fresh meats, short lines, and elves who stand around for the sole purpose of telling you where stuff is. Of course, they manage all this by having higher prices than places like Ralph's. It's not a comparison shopper's store; it's a grocery store for snooty people.
He came home with steaks and jumbo shrimp and hot dogs--gourmet hot dogs, mais oui. Plus mango and strawberries and raspberries. Mmmm. We watched TV. He said that since he had invited Al, Harry, Brent, Therese, and Elinor, I should call some people to see if they could make it. I called Dorothy, who said she'd come.
Mission accomplished. I went back to sleep.
As we prepared in the morning--I was still light-headed, but determined to keep moving, since that's what the book said I should do--we discovered we had to go back to Gelson's for some more supplies, primarily for the marinade the steaks would sit in for an hour or so before grilling. Darin got the recipe from Hot off the Grill with Bobby Flay's site.
Chimichurri Marinade:
6 cloves garlic
3 fresh bay leaves
2 jalapeno peppers, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon ancho chile powder
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
1/2 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup finely chopped oregano leaves
3/4 cup olive oil
(I'll cut to the chase: meat made with this marinade is damn good. Yum.)
All of the invited guests came over and we made what we thought was going to be too much food and turned out to be just about enough. You wouldn't think 6 adults could eat 18 jumbo shrimp plus a couple of steaks and hot dogs, but you'd be wrong. There was also potato salad and Greek salad and even fruit salad (which we didn't even get to).
After filling our faces, we retired inside to watch The Big Sleep. Yes, Darin and I really are the most boring party hosts of all time. For dessert we had fresh fruit with a mixture of light sour cream and brown sugar (very yummy). I snagged one of Elinor's double chocolate Milano cookies and really hated myself for it--the chocolate tasted terrible. After the movie, I drove Dorothy home. When I got back, I...went to sleep. I felt very proud of myself for not having done so earlier in the afternoon, believe me!
Boy, is the The Big Sleep a great film. If you haven't seen it in a while, do yourself a favor and go rent it.
Late last night, despite having had some steak and two hot dogs at lunch, I went upstairs and had one of the remaining ribeye steaks. Great, here's my food craving: protein, in vast quantities. It's got to be some kind of survival adaptation--when you're out in the wild, eating an animal would be the highest concentration of calories you could get.
And all I want for meals lately is eggs. I would make fried eggs for every meal, except it's too much work. (I have to get out of my chair, walk to the kitchen, get the pan, crack open the eggs...you see the problem.) I should just make a big pot of hardboiled eggs, so I can have one whenever I want. (Actually, that's not a bad idea.)
The other weird craving is for salty snacks, which generally I dislike and can definitely live without. You know the old commercial, "You can't eat just one?" The one being a Ruffles or a Pringles or a whatever. Thank you, I'm the person who can. Well, until now. Now, I demand that Darin buy me Cheesy Poofs. I want mah Cheesy Poofs!
We went into Gelson's and I said, "I have to get some poofs." I started to head down the aisle to pick up the uber-brand, Cheetos, when Darin said, "No, no, the best ones are in the can." He picked up a can Planter's Cheez Mania--doesn't that just sound disgusting? No mistaking that for a product that actually contains cheese--and I snacked on those as he prepared the barbecue.
I want to thank everyone who's written me with congratulations and other well wishes--and apologize for not having written back yet! I have a ton of mail to go through and no stamina to sit at my desk like a good little girl. (Still waiting for that burst of energy.) Honest, I'll do it. I will. I mean it.
The answer to Saturday's question: It would seem that quite a lot of money is being laundered through the Bank of New York (among other institutions of finance, such as several Swiss banks). And since Those Who Know can't figure out any other place it might have come from, they rather suspect it's IMF money meant to help right the Russian economy that's going to fill a whole bunch of personal bank accounts. Oh, that old time greed and corruption.
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Copyright 1999 Diane Patterson
Send comments and questions to diane@spies.com