Another warm night

Queue gave me a ride from work to pick up my car, which was waiting for me at the car place, already done by mid-afternoon.

[shameless plug] Ideal Engine is a very good car place. I was pleased that not only did they fix my car, but they were nice about it, too. They gave me estimates that were accurate, and they were pleasant to talk to when I went to pick it up. I am impressed, and very likely to return when I next need car stuff done (though I hope that won't be for quite some time...)[/shameless plug]

I stopped off at Star Market on the way home, intending to get two things for dinner. Of course, this turned out to be impossible when I found not only blueberries but cherries and grape tomatoes on sale. Unfortunately, they no longer have loose mesclun at that store.

Finally home (some days it's so nice just to come home, even if it is really hot in my apartment), I started cooking.
I turned the leftover turkey from Shabbat into turkey soup, adding also carrots, onions, sweet potatoes, and kale (because it was there, and I wanted to use it somehow.... I rather wish the farm director liked kale just a little bit less....). Now I'm thinking of it as Thanksgiving soup, since it has turkey, sweet potatoes, and cranberries (since the turkey had been cooked with cranberries). It's too hot for soup, but it was time to do something with that stuff; I can freeze it later.
I experimented with chocolate chocolate bread pudding, using both chocolate chips and cocoa powder (and sugar) mixed in with the eggs and soy milk. Also some allspice and vanilla, and some of the challah that had such nice texture this week. I am pleased to report that this experiment got a definitive thumbs up, and will likely be repeated. (Ended up not bringing out the fruit, since this was so appreciated...)
I reheated the sauteed veggies from Shabbat (onion, yellow summer squash, red pepper, turnip greens), added a minced garlic scape, made a frittata with added farmer cheese and black pepper.
And I assembled a salad: more minced garlic scape, minced chives, halved grape tomatoes, pine nuts, 2 kinds of lettuce from the farm, some basil, some radiccio, with some fresh pepper grated over before some balsamic vinegar and some olive oil drizzled over.

Queue, Hrafn, and Cthulhia came over for dinner, and we decided to eat on the porch (facilitated by Hrafn rearranging the stuff I have scattered out there... Thanks.), since outside was more breezeful, despite the fans inside. And it was a comfortable time talking and eating; I'm glad people came over. It's been far too long since I've had a non-Shabbat open-ended dinner.

Current Mood: contented, also tiredly Luddite, having been woken up by the downstairs neighbors' noisy window air conditioner..

Toll rant

When the Mass Turnpike was built, it was made a toll road, to defray the cost of building it.

At least 2 or 3 years ago, they took the tolls off the last couple of exits in western Mass. I assumed this was because things were (finally) being paid off, and would be part of a gradual change to no tolls, since that's what whatever politician said at the time of the announcement. Additionally, not much money was raised from western Mass, so it was a cheap way to make western commuters happy.

So I was surprised when I went out there (going to Kripalu) to find that even though there are no tolls for those exits, *there are still toll takers* who are there to take the tolls from cars that started farther east, and to let the people from the free exits through, once they handed in their ticket showing they'd entered the Pike at a free exit. This, I just don't understand. Maybe they weren't getting a lot of money from those exits, but if you're still paying the people to sit there, wouldn't the tolls collected at least defray the cost of having those people there?

Yesterday, the Pike tolls in the Boston area doubled. There's a (possibly temporary; it's only guaranteed until the end of the year) discount for people using transponders. This is the first time the Mass Pike has done this; New York and other states have done this for years, trying to keep traffic moving in addition to getting their money.

Anyway. Why did the tolls double, when presumably the Mass Pike is getting closer to being paid for? To pay for the Big Dig, putting the Central Artery in Boston underground. And that bothers me. I would be perfectly willing to help pay for this (mismanaged, etc, as it's been). However, the commuters heading into Boston on the Central Artery, the very highway being worked on, do not have to pay. There is no toll on that road, and no one has suggested one. Instead, people commuting from the western suburbs have tolls doubled (oh, and the toll for the harbor tunnels has also increased). Heck, I barely drive in Boston at all, and I'm paying more than someone who drives there every day. And that annoys me to no end.

I don't understand the people in charge of the highways in Massachusetts.
t

Veggies, week 4

This week's bounty includes:

a bunch of garlic scapes
a head of red leaf lettuce
a head of green leaf lettuce
a head of another kind of lettuce
a big bunch of mustard greens
half a dozen cute tiny purple-topped turnips
a small head of cauliflower
a bunch of bok choy

Noticeably absent: any kale.

Is it hot enough for pizza?

Last night while people were over, I got a call from a woman in the minyan I don't know, asking me to a party/dinner to celebrate the marriage of 2 people I barely know (by sight, pretty much). For some reason, I said yes (well, the lack of other plans to night probably had something to do with it).

I showed up at the appointed time, and was of course far too early. I felt awkward, since I didn't know the people there. This was not helped by the geography of the basement apartment, which was long and thin and hard to navigate with all the furniture in it. People started arriving, and I realized that although I recognized a handful of them, I didn't know any of them, except for two guys I used to be closer friends with. I tried my usual tactic of retreating to the kitchen, but that pretty much failed, since it was an assemble-a-pizza sort of thing. So I did chat with some people, but it felt really strange, knowing nothing about them when everyone else was comfortable with one another. I think the gf of one of the guys I knew was also a bit uncomfortable in the same way... we ended up talking, and I think they might come over sometime (after their vacation in Russia). Plus, there was a lot of the "Jewish geography" sort of conversation ("How do you know so-and-so?" "Where did you learn?" etc, rather than conversation about ssomething), or chitchat about people I don't know, most of the time.
Drip drip drip. Sweating. Not quite as bad as at the Kendall Cafe, but it came close, even with the fans on, since the oven was on pretty high for the pizza. I finally got tired of pretending to be at the edges of conversation, made my thank yous and good nights, and headed home (sorely disappointed that it wasn't just a little bit cooler outside...). I still don't know why I was invited. It's been a long time since I've noticed feeling so out of place at an event, either.

(Side note: I've never thought of avocado, or raisins, or pine nuts as toppings for pizza. Oh, and having pizza toppings out for a couple of hours in a hot kitchen on a hot night can lead to pre-melted cheese....)

[later addendum: and it sounds like I missed a fun evening at the Diesel for this, too. Dang.]