Doodling for Stress Reduction

 

On Mondays via Zoom, I participate in a class where we spend  a half an hour doodling our stress away. 

The theme for this week was "light". The quote in the tangled bulbs reads: In the chaos be the light.

T Stands for When The Lights Go Out

We finished running errands late in the afternoon. Then Himself dropped the suggestion of going out to dinner. No cooking? I'm in! We debated about where to go. The Post Office Pub or The UxLocale. The Ux won the toss and as we were driving there, I got a ping from the electric company that a power outage occurred in town with some 2,000 homes effected. Our house was right in the middle of the outage map. 

Well, no electricity to cook so a perfect excuse to eat out.

I started with an unsweetened iced tea with lemon while we looked at the menu. So many choices. I was having a hard time deciding between Chicken Marsala or the Get Figgy with it: white base pizza, fig preserves, sliced tart apples, prosciutto, arugula, balsamic glaze

Then we saw Chef Elaine had two tasting menus offering small plates like an Italian fancy dinner. Soup, an appetizer, a pasta dish, or soup, an appetizer, a pasta dish, and a meat dish.

Tasting Menu 1

Tasting Menu 2

With Tasting Menu 2 I could didn't have to decide between two things. I could have them both, sort of

The restaurant was cozy and decorated for the season with paper stars and twinkling lights. Chef Elaine came over to say hello. She greets a lot of the guests, but it makes you feel special to have the chef take time away from her busy kitchen. 

For my soup, I ordered the Haddock Chowder with smoky bacon. Perfect for such a cold evening.

Now regular readers will know that Himself doesn't like to get in the act of my taking pictures of food. I had to laugh when he insisted I take pictures of his choices. For his soup, he chose the French Onion with Beef Marrow. He liked the fact that cheese was melted on the toast instead of on top of the soup. He said melted on the toast made it much easier to eat.

Don't you just love Chef Elaine's mis-matched china?

For his appetizer, he chose Crostini with Sautéed Mushrooms. I chose the Fig and Honey Ricotta Crostini. That took care of the Figgy pizza I wanted. 

My pasta choice was Tuscan Shrimp served over orecchiette (Little Ears in Italian).  This little pasta was my grandmother's signature pasta.

Every week Grandma made tons of them by hand. Only in the Italian dialect she spoke, we called them capellini (we pronounced it coopellini, Little Hats after the round, broad-brimmed hats the priests wore in Italy) We used to tease her that she made enough macaroni (pasta was an upscale word) every week to put the Prince Pasta Company out of business. 

So I not only got a delicious plate, but a warm, fuzzy, memory of my grandma.

I forgot to take a picture of the pasta dish Himself ordered. Sausage in Vodka sauce also over orecchiette.

We both got the Chicken Marsala for the entree. Now, Chef Elaine calls the tasting menu small plates, but honestly there was so much food, I only ate half of the Tuscan Shrimp and only managed a bite from Himself's Chicken Marsala. We got boxes to take the rest home.

There wasn't even any room to muscle down a Cannoli or two. We thought out of all the times we have eaten here, the items from the tasting menu were the best we had ever eaten. By the time we got home, the electricity was back on.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Monet and Me

are admiring some of the happy mail that has arrived.

All the way from Scotland, Tiggy sent a beautiful card she printed on her Letterpress printer. It makes me want to go to her Wee Hoosie to learn how to use the printing press.

For those interested in stamps, Royal Mail issued a stamp with the Three Wisemen. Tiggy also added some fun stamps on the front: a Christmas tree with red mittens and a Gothic letter C, her first initial and mine

on the back, a cheery reindeer

Cardinals on the return address stamp was a dead giveaway to the card from blog buddy, Finnbadger from Envelope 100. 

Finnbadger used the Winter Landscapes stamps. Kudos to the post office where you mailed your cards, Finn. A very nice and clear Christmas tree postmark.

I just loved the postcard you sent me of the Nativity scene.

My Christmas pageant is more crowded and I don't have any alligators. To those wondering, Godzilla isn't immolating the scene. He's using his atomic ray to warm the stable.

Robin, another blogger bud, usually makes her own Christmas cards. She said when she showed her designs to her family, they told her the designs were "wildly un-PC or downright offensive". I would have liked to have judged for myself. I do love the card you chose. Just wait until you see what I wrote inside your card! 😹

Thank you all for brightening my mailbox.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Early morning moon through the trees

Martha bedazzled his walker

Red sky in the morning

Inside the hydroponics garden: cherry tomatoes

potential eggplants

lettuce and dill

This morning the red sky warning is snow.

How does your garden grow?

Happy, Little, Time Waster

 

Line Rider - Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy - Tchaikovsky

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. I saw a red-headed woodpecker at the bird feeder

2. The Young One sent me a recipe for sausage and chickpea soup. So delicious

3. I visited Teague on Tuesday instead of Thursday because weather and being under the weather kept us away for two weeks. We had a fun day catching up, going out to lunch, and visiting a bakery.

4. I've been wondering where the cardinal pair has been. I saw the female cardinal in the Japanese maple tree so I'm glad the cardinals are still around.

5. A month or so ago, I bought an item for some Christmas presents, but couldn't for the life of me remember where I had put them. I looked all over. I looked 4 times in the place I thought I had put them, but the fifth time was a charm! Now I can finish packing up the box to send to the Young One and her SO

How was your week?

TBT Reprints from CJ's Whine and Cheeze

  In 2003, Ma had a stroke. Dad was her full time caregiver until he he had a car accident that totaled the car. So in 2006, I became their chauffeur among other jobs.

At the time, to deal with the stress of running two households and working, I kept a blog entitled CJ's Whine and Cheeze. Egged on by some friends who enjoyed the first read through, you'll see your part when it comes by.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Stamp of the Weeble

We had just dropped the Eldest off at work.

"I need to go to the post office."

Himself paused a the edge of the parking lot, tongue sticking out, brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to figure out which direction the post office was in.

"The Sutton post office."

He snorted.

"What?"

"You sound just like your mother! 'You have to take me to the Framingham post office,'" he mimicked.

"Hey! It's not like I'm mailing a sweepstakes entry or sending a request to Nostradamus! I have to make the 3pm truck." I had an oversized package to mail to a client.

He laughed .

"Jan will take care of me."

He laughed again.

"Shut up, and take me to the post office."

"Yes, your Weebleness."