observations

Had a dinner party last night (Tuesday) for Kay and Madhu (Kay is actually something like Khosalia, and I can actually pronounce it, although I can't spell it, but evidently nobody else can so they call her Kay), Kay's parents visiting from India (Mithra and Mohan, and Kay looks like her mother Mithra), as asll as Nicholas and Roxanne McKetchie and Nick's mother from Trinidad but visiting from DC. It was the first dinner party I've ever done with a totally vegetarian menu, at least the first one for ten people. And I confess it wasn't totally vegetarian; one of the appetizers was anchoiade, which has anchovies, of course. Other than that, there was not even any chicken broth. And as usual, I didn't manage to decide what to actually cook until about 4:00 in the afternoon, which always makes it interesting, and I never manage to clean the house, set the table,... I really do need to change my M.O.

Menu: beet bruschetta (Mario Batali...from an actual recipe and it's GOOD) made with red and yellow beets; anchoiade; garlic soup (Perigordine); fettucini with veggies, various mushrooms including morels, three types of bell peppers, garlic, onions, shallots, herbs, mushroom soaking water, white wine, etc., with parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes; and stuffed tomatoes, stuffed with tomatoes, breadcrumbs, cucumbers, shallots, a bit of garlic, oil and vinegar and parmesan cheese. Also bread, wine. They said it was great, but I'm not convinced.

So Ted Kennedy has died. That's a blow, but I suppose not surprising. I haven't been watching much news lately, but when he didn't attend Eunice Shriver's funeral I figured he was in really, really bad shape.

The visit to the PT guy was enlightening and depressing. I need to look at the MRI again, because when I did it before I didn't know what I was looking at. Trouble is, I can't find it since we "cleaned up" the house yesterday... I'm supposed to stop doing things that hurt my shoulder because according to the PT, every time it hurts, it's rather like picking a scap off a skinned knee; I'm re-injuring it, and it has to start healing all over again. This is one of the reasons it's still such a mess. Ignoring pain, etc. is easy to do for awhile, but I'm learning that it's a thoroughly bad idea.

On other fronts, you'd think it was August or something...it's 89 degrees, maybe 90, and the humidity is close to that. But the Rose of Sharon we planted before the wedding is blooming like crazy; I think we need more. There were gobs of this blue and lavender Rose of Sharon in France. I love the stuff; once it starts blooming, it seems to do it forever.