So how viable is it for me to post here from my iPhone? The answer is quite.
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long weekend
Thanks to the Jewish High Holidays, the Husband and I got a rare long weekend together. It’s the curse of being a consultant, you don’t work, you don’t get paid. Being back in Finance does mean that there are a few long weekends during the year, but this was the first since I started working. I may not be observant, but going to work on Yom Kippur just feels wrong.
So instead we went over to New Hope for the afternoon. We confirmed that Captain Bob would be running the boat and we were good to go. It was a great day for a boat ride, so we went twice. The river was rather choppy today, square waves, I think Steve called them, so it was a bit more of an adventurous ride than usual. We tried to get some picture of the water, but I don’t know how they came out. We actually got some ice cream before heading onto the boat, “cherries for George” for me and “orange cream dream” for the Husband. Both were rather yummy, and made me wonder why we don’t get ice cream more often when we’re there. But after two boat rides it was time for some real food. We talked about dining in New Hope but a) it was Monday and we weren’t sure what would be closed; b) it was that in-between time that many places are closed; c) we looked at the menus for a couple of places and either they were expensive or just didn’t do it for us. So we decided that it was just easier to venture over to the Plucky.
Fortunately, they are still seating outside at the Plucky, and we had the patio all to ourselves. We ordered the crab cake with tempura green beans (that even the Husband ate!), pork tostada, chick pea puree (aka hummus), and the pizzette for the Husband who also had an espresso martini. I also had an amazingly good raspberry mojito. Everything was excellent, as always. It was a wonderful way to end a fabulous day and weekend. I can’t wait till our next long weekend together.
And for anyone interested, I’m still fighting that headache. Tomorrow I need to find out about the office pharmacy concierge service and then have to call the doctor and get something called in. This has been a really viscous cycle for me, with my needing to go the full three pill combo to try and kick it. Today when we got home it was so bad I needed to go take a nap to bring it back down to tolerable. Not gone, but no longer needing to envelop myself in the cone of quiet and dark. I’m really glad we were able to get out to New Hope, though. I -hate- being stuck at home with a headache. I hate having to change plans to accommodate the headache. It’s bad enough I need to make other life accommodations to deal with my health, but that one really irks me. If I can handle it, I’d rather be out with a headache than stuck home with one. At least out I have some chance of forgetting about it for a while.
life and stuff
The new job is still kicking my ass. The hours are brutal and the pace is at some times frenetic. I don’t know if I really like what I’m doing, despite the fact that I’m good at it. The Husband still hasn’t found a full-time gig yet. We know it’s coming, it’s just a matter of when, and hanging on till it does come through. It seems like I’m started in a migraine cycle. Part of it is that I don’t have an ergonomic set up in the office. Part of it is that I can’t relax the physical tension in my shoulders. Either which way it sucks. Will probably have to call the doctor next week.
We haven’t been cooking much at all. The Husband spent three weeks not feeling well where nearly all he ate was chicken soup (from Harold’s NY Deli in Edison, NJ). It turns out they make a really good black and white cookie, too. Ginormous, as all there stuff is, but very tasty. A good texture of the cookie, the icing was not just sweet glop, it was actually tasty and the chocolate was actual chocolate.
NY Ren Faire season is over, which does take some pressure off of Saturday mornings. We were up reasonably early today and I headed over to the Montgomery farmers market. It’s still in some ways summer there, with the almost last of the peaches and nectarines, but the first of the pumpkins were in the market, and that’s definitely a sign of fall. I picked up a lot of fruit today. Peaches to make what will probably be the last of the peach ice cream or sorbet for the season. Nectarines, plums, an assortment of apple varieties. The intention next week is two pieces of fruit a day in the office before I even think of the vending machines. It’s so hard for me to stay away from the tomatoes. Unfortunately, they’re one of the foods that is said to be not so good for the inflammation from fibromyalgia. (Unlike pineapple which is supposed to reduce the inflammation, and I try to get some of that at least three days a week), I’ve been trying to stay away from them but it’s hard at the market, when there are still so many varieties of them that I used to just love to eat out of hand. Maybe just a sprinkle of sea salt on each bite. So I got some cucumbers and peppers, forgot to get spinach- I prefer it to lettuce for a salad base. The market runs to Oct 16, so I have a couple of more weeks to go.
Then it was off to the Amish. It was rather crowded when I got it, not too surprising for a Saturday. I got some burgers for dinner during the week- it’s grilling weather for us. Some chicken breasts to cook for lunch for myself. I got some desserts for munching. And grapes. Which I am snacking on now.
I haven’t been cooking much. This job knocks the hell out of me and by the time I get home, I have a hard time dealing with food some days. I think I had pb and j (apricot preserves) three nights last week. I have to work on finding some easy to make dishes for nights during the week. It seems like half the time I do that, though, I have one of ‘those’ weeks, and it goes to waste since I end up being too tired to do anything with it. It was easier when we had the personal chef service and could just heat and eat. Once things get settled again….
I got some apple cider from the Amish, too, just a small once. Hot cider with rum is one of my all time favorite drinks. That and hot chai with Kahlua.
Monday is Yom Kippur so I’ve taken the day off. I need to do some work in the morning, but after that, it’s just me and the Husband. A boat ride or two in New Hope is about all that we have planned for the rest of the weekend. And ice cream or sorbet.
So that’s that, for the most part. No food to talk of, just the day in day out staus quo. Which doesn’t suck.
Last Day at NYRF, Back at Brunch
Today we visited NY RenFaire for the closing day with the best weather of the season. Naomi picked up her new 3/4-length black cloak from the Scottish booth. She also was able to get three new skirts from Bullseye to wear in the off-season. We got to listen to Abram’s set at 11:30 and by noon we had decided it was time to go. The traffic waiting to get INTO Faire was backed up for miles – we had made the right choice! So off to Elements. We arrived at 1:50pm to find a wedding reception starting. Many thanks for the staff at Elements who agreed to allow us to sit at our favorite seats in the kitchen even though we were again in garb. The chocolate french toast hit the spot for the both of us, along with a glass of sake for me. Then it was back home to relax and prepare for the upcoming week.
End of Summer Brunch
Weekends during the summer revolve around going or not going to the Renaissance Festival in Tuxedo, NY. If the weather’s hospitable, we’re out of the house by 8 am and on the road to faire. It’s hard when it’s a Sunday morning and we have to decide between Faire and brunch. Today we managed to do the near impossible. Faire and brunch. We got to Faire as early as always, finished our errands and got out of there and back on the roads. A quick call determined they couldn’t accommodate us in the kitchen, but the cube, a private room off the kitchen was free. Around an hour later we show up and in we go.
You should understand that this isn’t the first restaurant to which we’ve gone after faire in garb, period clothing, including feathered hat and leather boots. We’ve previously been to both the Pluckemin Inn as well as David Drakes. Elements was a little different in that we needed to pass in full view of the main dining room. Since no one was at the front desk when we walked in, and several patrons were craning their necks trying to get a better look at us, we decided to just head back to the kitchen, figuring someone would seat us or we could just seat ourselves. After saying hello to the staff in the kitchen, we ensconced ourselves in the cube which had kindly already been set for our arrival with menus and water chilling.
An amuse bouche of vichyssoise was just excellent and we both wanted more. Unfortunately they were out of the local corn chowder which we both wanted to get. The Husband got potato pancakes with poached eggs and bacon. I got a delicious panzanelle, an Italian bread salad with heirloom tomatoes and Griggstown chicken. I wasn’t feeling breakfast-y at that point and this was rather tasty. Most brunch menus are hard for me- I don’t eat eggs or cheese so that eliminates a lot of options. I know the staff at elements would accommodate anything I asked, but I figured not on a day when they had 50 folks in house, including a bunch in the kitchen for a 9-course tasting.
We decided not to push it with dessert, so just got a check and headed home. On the way out it seems we surprised a table of women when we came out of the cube and passed through the dining room on our way out. It is kind of cool to be able to go to some of the top restaurants in NJ after spending the morning at the Renaissance Faire,
Brunch in Garb
It is always fun to show up at your favorite high-class restaurant dressed in our Renaissance garb, replete with feathered hat and knee-high boots with silver buttons. How the seated patrons cran their necks to get a better view of this strangeness. Then we simply disappear into a private room and they are left wondering…