March is Here!

...and it came in like a lion cub, if not a full-blown lion! The children are out of school & thrilled about that. The snow was enough to make my honey fishtail 3 times on her way in to work, but the roads look clear now. Of course, with the cold I have had, I have not been out, even to get the mail. I finished Jeffrey Deaver's Praying for Sleep and started a book called The Hot Flash Club. J wants me to go to the doctor, but I think she will just tell me to drink plenty of fluids & get plenty of rest. I am drinking lemon-ginger echinacea from Knudsen's & hoping it will help.

Despite being sick over the weekend, it was a fun one. Here's what I wrote for my lists:

Friday night, we went to dinner at The Winds. We had our usual waiter & it was fun to laugh with him. The food was excellent. For her appetizer, J ordered seared scallops with a walnut-kumquat marinade. I had the cheese service, which was great...Pierre Robert (a wonderful French triple crème that J likened to smelly feet), Humboldt Fog (one of my favorite domestic blues, and about which J said, "Why do you eat things that taste like the underside of a man's scrotum that's been living in a nursing home for 14 years???"), a manchego & a parmigiano (both of which J adored), and a really interesting goat cheese with an ash rind...all accompanied by medjool dates & quince paste.

We each had a cup of their beyond-exquisite cream of mushroom elixir...I mean, soup. We split a bitter salad with a pumpkinseed oil dressing. For our entree, we split rosti-crusted bass served with lemony green beans. Dessert was dark cocoa mocha ice cream with a shortbread cookie.

After dinner, we went home & went to bed, sleeping in until 8 Saturday morning. We had breakfast (the banana walnut pancakes are phenomenal) at Clifton Mill (www.cliftonmill.com), then poked around my hometown's shops. We got some good coffee at Dino's, then headed to swimsuit shop at Target. The lack of selection in my size is always frustrating, especially when J has such a wide range to choose from. But, I did find a nice suit.

After our shopping excursion, we had dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse...it was late enough that we didn't have to wait 2 hours. After bleu cheese steaks, we headed home.

Sunday morning, J tried to talk me into staying home in bed with hot tea while she went to church, but we both ended up going. Then, we went shopping for book group food & spent the afternoon cooking.

There was a game "night" at church from 4:30-6, so I whipped up some guacamole & we gathered together our favorite games (Scattergories, Imaginiff, & Magnetic Poetry) for that. J spent the time playing Magnetic Poetry while I got whupped at Trivial Pursuit by our pastor...finally, someone willing to play with me!!! I whupped him at Scattergories, though. LOL!

Back home, we finished cooking our Australian book group fare. We had read "The Road from Coorain" by Jill Ker Conway. I made Australian meat pie & scones (which we served with double Devon cream). We also laid out some basil crackers, sheep cheese, and thin almond wafers. With this, we served Foster's beer, some Shiraz from Australia, and hot tea. The food was great & the discussion was, too. Most of us hadn't enjoyed the book, as it was quite bleak. But, we did have respect for the writing, since it very effectively made us feel the bleakness!!!

After choosing the next book & rounding up children (our boys are friends with some of the other women's boys, so it makes sense for them to come on over, too), we said farewell to our company & hello to bed!

Then, yesterday, I spent the day in bed with a box of pink tissues, a book, & a few cats. I got dressed when J came home from work wanting to go to Bob Evans for dinner. It was a blustery night, just deciding to snow rather than rain, so the comfort food was perfect. Our waiter was quite good, too...friendly & down to earth.

We tucked in to bed as soon as we got home...J rising only to put the kids to bed 45 minutes later. It's nice that they are old enough to be left to play without direct supervision.

I am still not feeling 100% up to par, but I am so tired of being in bed that I am going to take the boys to the grocery & cook some good Cuban food for dinner.

Blessings,
Daria