Live at The Fox!

Yes, Chris and I saw Loreena McKennitt last night! "Magical" is probably the best word to describe her performance, and the performance of the nine other musicians with whom she wove the musical web. If you like her music and ever get the chance to see her perform live, do yourself a favour and go for it. The only way you could be disappointed is if your fellow concert-goers were annoying.

*commence rant* What is it with people? Why are they so stupid and obnoxious? Though the liner notes clearly asked people not to use any kind of recording devices (and there were signs as well), some morons right near the stage were using flash photography. Hello!! Do you not know anything about how dangerous it is to use flash photography with onstage performers? They can forget lines, at best, and fall, at worst. Also, it's just plain rude. I thought that Loreena handled it very well, though, never losing her cool. Two other things that got me were the food and people's clothes. Now, I am not a snob. People who know me well will tell you that. However. There was just something so bizarre about watching folks trundle into the beautiful Fox Theatre with their hotdogs and huge tubs of popcorn. Whaaaa-t? I'm sorry, did I get confused and this is TURNER FIELD?? As if I want to smell your disgusting hotdog while this ethereal music is trying to take me to another world! As for the clothes: I'm not saying that they have to be expensive, because the good Lord knows that mine aren't. But I was raised to believe that you should dress appropriately for the event in order to show respect for it. I mean, ok, there was nothing WRONG with the jeans and flannel shirts, but I just thought, "Hey, let's show a little respect for the performers and the theatre by dressing up a bit". I dunno, I guess I'm crazy. Chris was wearing jeans (as he does to just about everything) and he's rolling his eyes as I type this. I'm just saying. The final thing that got me was the clapping. Yes, of course, we should clap to show our enjoyment of the music. But on some of the quieter pieces, it would have been nice to have had a moment between the end of the music and the clapping in order to just let the music hang there. But no! It was as if people weren't even paying attention to the music, they were just waiting for the moment that they could begin clapping. sigh Ok, look, I'm an awful person, and a freak. I accept that about myself. *end rant*

In any event, it was a great anniversary present to ourselves (4 years on 11 October, go us!).

Hope you have a great day,
Kimberley (your resident blogosphere freak)

That's MRS. Slacker to you, buddy!

9:16pm. All is pitch dark in the python-stalked environs surrounding Tallulah House (well, as dark as it can get with streetlights and porchlights-- we are a safety-conscious community after all!). However, within Tallulah House all is well as the scents of vanilla candles and Chris's chocolate ice cream, duly drowned in chocolate sauce weave seamlessly, and the punkish joy of Joey Ramone's "What a Wonderful World echoes through the Geek Room. The Ramones for our sweet, little old lady, Tallulah? Sure, why the heck not! lol

Seriously, this is my favourite version of this song. If you haven't heard it, try and give it a listen. I'm taking a little break from the Pink Martini album "Hang on Little Tomato", more for Chris's sake than mine. He is just as baffled by the way I can listen to the same music over and over, as I am by the way he can watch "Band of Brothers" over and over. Ahh, the things you discover about people AFTER you marry them, muwahahaha! *smooch, sweetie, love ya*


So. I know the question that is burning in your mind-- no, don't try to deny it! You want to know whether or not I managed to get the rugs steamed and/or the fence painted. Well, the answer, dear reader, is "no" to both! Oh, the shame! I burn from it *sob*

The only thing offsetting my shame is the amount of other projects that I did manage to do, including dismantling the settlements of several Clutter Monsters. Surely you've met the Clutter Monsters? They move in while you aren't looking and build vast cities of stuff that you vaguely recall buying or getting in the mail. Anyone know what I'm talking about? Well, I've had several of these, just driving me nuts! Today I said, pointing my finger dramatically, is the day! I pounced, sorted, cleaned, threw away, and loaded a bag for the Salvation Army. Once the dust settled and I looked around I saw lots of empty space (oh, and lots of dust, too). I was very glad to get that project off the list. Now the good luck and chi may flow freely without tripping over the architectural folly of the Clutter Monsters :)

I also made potato salad today. I'm from the South, and potato salad is a BIG DEAL here. There can be a lot of controversy about it (my mother has yet to forgive me for not including eggs and green bell pepper), so I'm really putting myself on the line by sharing my recipe. But hey! That's me, dashing adventurer with a hint of Albert Schweitzer thrown in *shrugs modestly*

So, Kimberley's potato salad recipe:

Ingredients

• Several potatoes suitable for baking (choose the amount by how much you'd like to make)
• Mayonnaise
• Sour cream
• Herbes de Provence, dried
• Pepper, freshly ground
• Hungarian paprika
• salt

Directions

• Fill a large cooking pot with water and set to boiling
• Wash and chop the potatoes into medium sized cubes (I always leave the skins on, for the vitamins and texture-- much more rustic and hearty, I think).
• Peel and chop one large onion. Set aside.
• Add the potatoes to the boiling water and cook until done, but not mushy
• While the potatoes are cooking, choose a bowl for the potato salad. Go ahead and put in a big spoonful of both mayonnaise and sour cream. Add the herbes de Provence, pepper, paprika, salt and onions.
• Drain the potatoes through a collander (Make sure that there's a pot underneath catching all that tasty potato water-- there's your base for a lovely potato soup). Rise with cool water to stop them cooking.
• Add potatoes to the mixture in the bowl, and stir well, making sure to coat the potatoes with everything.
• Enjoy!

In between all of that, I played with the canine denizens of Tallulah House, gave some vague thought to the work to which I'll be returning all too soon, AND most importantly, finished up one of my "Pay It Forward" gifts, huzzah! Now, now, I won't be telling whose it is, but I *do* plan to get it in the mail tomorrow!

So, yeah, basically it was another day of slacking-- whaddya gonna do about it ;)

Hope you've got something fun planned for tomorrow,
Kimberley

Do-nothing Days

Its 4:16 on Tuesday and I've been completely lazy yesterday and today :) I did get out yesterday and buy the much-anticipated blue paint and had a funny conversation with the Absent-Minded Hippy who works in Paint (very funny, but probably a lot to explain). I also bought groceries-- badly-needed groceries.

Note: Its a very curious phenomenon: I am the only person in our house who is imbued with the necessary mystical powers to enter a grocery store and buy food! The gods truly smiled on me when they bestowed such a rare gift ;)

Don't get me started on how nauseating I found buying pulled pork for Chris. Oh, wait, I'm already started! Much to his delight, Whole Foods installed a BBQ bar a few months ago. I try to get him a different thing each time I go, but boy howdy, does it gross me out. Everything's hot on the bar, and the smell is overpowering. Only for my sweetie would I endure such horror! (lifts hand melodramatically to brow ala Sarah Bernhardt). If none of that diatribe makes sense, maybe knowing that I'm a vegetarian helps.

But except for cooking dinner last night, that was about it. Oh, I also dropped my car off to have the tires rotated. I had fully intended to paint the fence, but the wood was still soaked. I won't complain, though, as badly as we need the rain. I can hear my buddies over in the UK groaning at the thought of RAIN! Sorry, guys, but we really do need it here in Georgia.

Today, except for installing our new Aquasana filter system , making the bed, washing some newly aquired glass insulators (thanks, Mom and Dad!), doing some laundry, and making a delicious cabbage-thingy (recipe below), I've done absolutely nothing. After all of my recent activity, it seems a little weird. I had fully intended to get the carpets out of the attic and steam-clean them, as well as paint, but somehow the whole day's gotten away from me. Ah, well, maybe tomorrow... or, if the time-warping daemon continues to plague me, maybe not even then!

Here's the recipe for the cabbage dish. Its one I modified from something I got at one of my favourite restaurants:

Ingredients

• 1 small green cabbage
• 1 small red cabbage
• 1/2 small bag of baby carrots
• a good handful of snowpeas, or sugarsnaps
• rice wine vinegar
• flax seed oil
• sea salt

Directions

• Chop the cabbages into medium-sized pieces (if you only want a little, use half of each cabbage. I say go ahead and use all of them, 'cause this will go fast and you'll just find yourself back in the kitchen chopping again!)
• Chop the snowpeas/sugarsnaps-- not too small!
• Shred the carrots
• Combine the above ingredients in a good-sized bowl (you'll need room to mix everything together, so make sure the bowl isn't too small)
• Pour rice wine vinegar over them (how much depends on how much you like rice wine vinegar. I advise starting out with a little and adding more, if you like)
• Add a little bit of flax seed oil. You can of course use olive oil, but flax seed oil is better for ya!
• Add a bit of sea salt
• Stir everything and mix well

This salad can be eaten immediately or chilled and served cold. Its good both ways.

An absolutely fabulous cd to listen to while you're making this dish, or doing anything really, is "Hang on Little Tomato" by Pink Martini, a delightfully retro chic band with lots of talent. Give it a listen and let me know what you think.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you've had a great day!
Kimberley