Thursday night socializing

But first: there was a boy having a game sale I noticed as I came home from work. His family is moving, and he's divesting. I couldn't help but stop, and there were many games and toys not of interest. But the people were engaging, nice without being pushy, the kid having fun. So I poked through a basket of small items. I *would've* gotten the superball... but the boy kept showing me how high it would bounce, and it got lost.... I did find two other little things that made me think of particular people, so I shelled out the coins, figuring the things were small enough to become geocache fodder if nothing else.

I made it to Pheromone's Art Beat meeting (though late), trying to be a little helpful since I won't be doing anything to help on the day itself. And I realized I haven't seen some people in rather longer than I like... It was cool to hear people's ideas for art food. Hopefully I'll be able to hang around near the cafe and see some of the pieces created...

Off to potluck, with Cthulhia. It felt smaller than usual, but I did get to see some regulars. Highlights included: hearing Cthulhia read a short story about meat-based intelligent life, seeing photos from last year's Burning Man, a discussion of bike safety, seeing the full metric buttload of hummus brought by the third hummus provider, eating lemon ice, hearing about people's upcoming travel plans, getting one clue of the fiendishly difficult crossword devised by the mathematician/cruciverbalist (though I admit "one of a kine?" = "cow" was not one of the harder ones... though much of the difficulty lay in the way the words wrapped, leaving no blank squares); eating tiny tiny tiny wild blueberries picked that day in the Fells.
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GAZUAM! Or, Last Night's Midnight Activities

(No, not *those* sorts of activities!)

I made my reservations last night for flights to/from Norfolk, Virginia, for a most-of-week family reunion mostly with people I barely know.

To say I have reservations is an understatement.

Some of the relatives I know best will not be coming, for one reason or another. I'd hoped to get a chance to catch up, but their lives are good and busy and do not allow this week of hanging around just then.

Of the people coming, there are my parents, who are good people, bu t large doses of them seem to leave me uncomfortably like the sullen 15-year-old me, even when the (more) grown-up me inside is shouting that I don't have to act like that. There are also many relatives I have met 0-1 times in my life. I have no great hol es in my life that these family members (some on the order of second cousin once removed) are likely to fill. I'd not choose to have a vacation with them, except that Dutiful Oldest Child still hasn't figured out how to not feel so guilty telling her moth er she doesn't want to do this when she knows her mother wants her to do it, so she caves, though there are other things she'd rather do with her vacation time than go to North Carolina's Outer Banks in hurricane season.

I believe I am going to be the o nly religious fanatic in residence, so I get to figure out what food I'll be schlepping with me (luckily, no Shabbat is involved). I suspect I'll focus on proteins and some starch, figuring I'll be able to buy veggies and fruit there. Still, a week of not-cooked/cold foods is not appealing, especially when everyone else is likely to be going out for interesting restaurant fare (this is my whine, I can assume that all restaurant food will be interesting and yummy).

I have no idea what activities other than eating and socializing have been planned. I got a AAA guidebook, which should help with suggestions for local attractions, but I have the sneaking suspicion that this would'v e been a great time to read the Robin Hobbs books, if I hadn't already gulped them down this spring. I don't know if anyone will be interested in games, so I'm not sure if I should bring any/what to bring.

Feh. I wish I were looking forward to the one vacation I actually have planned this summer.
t

Dinner menu

Tonight's Shabbat dinner features:

fresh challah rolls, out of the oven about an hour ago, and possibly za'atar and olive oil for dipping
grape juice
london broil in oil-lemon-pepper marinade (My first attempt at cooking red meat in years; hope it comes out ok.)
caramelized onions
rosemary-roasted potatoes and onions with sea salt and freshly ground pepper (Has anyone noticed an allium theme yet? I've used five pounds of onions for this meal...)
a ratatouille variant with onions, garlic, cauliflower, warty yellow summer squash, red pepper, crushed tomato, capers, and basil
fresh raspberries and grapes
sorbet (mango-tangerine or chocolate)

Oh, and one of the food highlights of yesterday was eating the very first cherry tomato of the season ripened on my porch! It was lovely, a sweet mouthful. I hope the rest start ripening soon...