It’s Monday, it’s raining, it’s hot. I could complain - but why let it get me down?
Instead, let me tell you about something this weekend that made me smile.
We have a local farmer’s market, and I love to get up early on a Saturday and get fresh veggies and fruit and home made baked goods.
Last week, I got some nice tomatoes and made a yummy caprese with them - circle of tomato, circle of fresh mozzarella, fresh basil leaf, drizzle of EVOO and salt & pepper. Soooo good. My bf and I agreed we definitely needed seconds and I planned to get some more tomatoes at this week’s FM trip.
Only I overslept.
By the time I arrived at the farmer’s market, all the veggies had been picked over and the best farmers had already packed up and gone. Sadly, I had to come home and tell my bf: no caprese. He smiled kindly and said we’d be okay. We both knew better. But we carried on, my wayward son.
Cue doorbell and the appearance of the next door neighbor with the most gorgeous vine-ripened tomatoes you’ve ever seen. (get your minds out of the gutter!) And that night’s caprese? It was the stuff gourmet orgasms are made of. What about you? Tell me something good that happened to you recently.
The stone fruit season is upon us, and our local orchard is beginning their yearly production of heavenly nectarines, peaches, pluots and plums. The cherry season is just ending and the apricot season is starting to wind down, but the other fruits are just starting their surge.
I’ve been cramming my face with delectable juicy nectarines, as we bought a whole flat. The first pluots have been a variety which is kind of marbled green and plum color on the outside, and magenta on the inside - “Flavor King”, I believe they’re called.
I keep a big package of paper napkins in my car so that I can eat fruit in my car on the return trip from my weekly drives to the orchard store. There’s no way in hell I can resist eating a plum or two on the way home!
A couple of us went to see the movie “Despicable Me” over the weekend. Two days later, and I’m still smiling about hearing my SO giggling right along with all the 5 year old kids at the movie.
I love a movie that brings out the inner little kid. I’m hoping someone makes a toy minion that talks when you squeeze it, for when he is in a bad mood.
I went to watch the World Cup final in our neighborhood movie theater yesterday.
It was pretty crowded and a family of 5 came in around 1/2 time. I moved over so that they could sit together (which stuck me in the middle of the row; actually a better seat except for the part where it would have been inconvenient to leave).
The mom sat next to me and we wound up kinda watching together, making remarks at each other. After the match went into extra time, someone went and got Twizzlers and she shared with me. It was fun to have someone chat with a bit (I was one of the few women who was there by herself).
I had a great night on Friday. I went to an AA meeting. I got to hear the end and during the discussion a woman I tried to help years ago raised her hand. She sounded really happy and she recently got engaged. Then she said something that sounded familiar to me. It was a saying I told her years ago and she remembered it and used it. I get home and the phone rings and it’s a sponsee I thought was dead. She is in a VA facility in Mass and doing good and she sounded so strong I cried for joy. She said I was out of options and I burned every bridge but I wanted to get sober. She said she was standing in the rain and her lawyer stopped and offered her a ride to the rehab on his own dime! I said, Now that was a miracle!
I saw that movie this weekend, too. I went with my parents, my husband and my brother, who is the youngest in our party at 22. And we all laughed like kids.
There’s a “produce market” near me that used to remind me of the grocery stores I went to as a kid prior to supermarkets. I hadn’t been there for a year or more, and I stopped in just on a whim. They’ve expanded/remodeled a bit so they’re a tad less funky than before.
But the reason I’m posting is this: the first thing I saw when I walked in was a display of Mexican Coca-Cola. You know, the kind with real sugar. This was the very first time I’ve seen it, so I picked up a case. It’s yummy. Bliss.
I volunteered to walk the neighbor’s two little terriers this weekend while she traveled. I walked them every 3.5-4 hours without forgetting, and sat with them for a while to make them happy. Then I gave all our parrots a spray misting, which is a treat for them, and took our own dogs for a hike in a local forest with some friends who paid attention to them. Lots of happy animals this weekend.
I went to karaoke and rocked the socks off an unsuspecting audience, gathering a girl’s Facebook and e-mail in the process. People were actually disappointed that I only had time to sing once!
OK so it’s pretty much only ‘Something Good’ for me, but hey it brought a big smile to my face!
The bizarre thing is, during the week I have to kick myself out of bed every morning.
But there’s something about being up early on a Saturday when normal, sane people are still in bed, and doing something slightly bohemian like walking around a farmer’s market in a big floppy hat and sunglasses and putting really fresh veggies in my cloth grocery bag that makes me feel like a pre-teen getting a chance to play grown up And a hip grown up at that.
You are welcome! My best hint is to prepare the caprese about 1 hour before consumption and let it sit out at room temperature, so the tomato, mozzarella and basil have a chance to absorb the EVOO, salt, and pepper and really start to meld. Yum!
Thanks everyone for sharing - this has been an awesome way to start my morning
My SO is giving up smoking. When I go for a shower, if she sneaks out to have a cigarette the Siamese runs in and yowls at me to let me know what is going on.
Rewards of saucers of milk- you will never see that on a KGB expense list.
I got my car fixed last night and it is no longer making that unholy noise. And the price, while not inconsiderable, was not outrageous.
And I woke up with a migraine yesterday and nudged my husband to wake up and help me take a shot, and he was, as always, kind and gentle and not at all irritated with me for waking him up. And I felt better pretty soon.
I was out walking after dark week or two ago. It was pleasantly warm and not too humid, which is rare for S FLA. As I was going through my apartment complex, I passed an apartment that had an outdoor grill set up. The smell of it brought me back in time to summer evenings at Goshen scout camps. It didn’t bring back specific memories or take me to a particular place. It just gave me the feeling of being there. A pleasant, carefree feeling when one’s jobs are done and it’s just time to lounge quietly with friends.
My new apartment is on the upper east side (well, the upper upper east side, but I’m not going to split hairs) and this means that every time I mention the new place I get to sing the Jeffersons theme song. I’m having more fun than ever with my apartment-song combo. It makes me want to sign us up for a cruise so I can spend the whole time singing The Love Boat theme song.
