Back in the saddle again

Conventional wisdom says that if you fall off a horse, get right back on.  Quickly, before the fear sets in, before you have time to think.  Great advice, but when I got knocked out on the ski slopes a few weeks ago there was no question of getting back on my skis.  The paramedics took them away from me, and the doctor (and Wally) threatened dire consequences if I didn't rest.  A lot.  So I rested, and I stewed.  

I thought about not skiing until next year, but I didn't want to go through the whole summer wondering if I'd lost my nerve, wondering if I'd be too scared to ski.  So last week we went skiing.  

At first I was like a little old lady crossing a slippery street on a windy day.  Cautious doesn't begin to cover it.  But I'd rented some hot new skis, and if I wasn't paying attention and driving, I was flat on my rear.  So I skied.  And skied.  And skied.  And I came home with a shiny new pair of skis: 

Volkl RTM in case you care.  Rated best by everyone this year, including me. 

Happy to have the trauma over, happy to have the mystery solved (as in will I ski again, not as in who did the hit and run) and happy to have had some time in the beautiful mountains.

And Wally is happy too. 

So nice to ski together. Fast. Here's to many more years.  

Worth it?

Jan bid on it at a charity auction - a thousand daffodils planted by the best looking and most entertaining firemen in the firehouse. How could she resist?  On a beautiful fall day the ladies lounged in the garden while the firemen dug and sweated and teased each other and planted daffodils.  They marked the one drip line they cut...unfortunately it's not always obvious when you cut the soft drip tubing.  So the first time John turned on the irrigation, it looked like Versailles on a day when all the fountains are running.  Oops.  

Still, I think it was worth it...don't you? 


p.s. Wally has been complaining about the small type - it seems to have gotten smaller lately - anyone else notice this?  Maybe it's just my eyes.

Gas Prices

A neighbor posted this on Facebook (I know, I know...) and its' too good not to share. And because I know some of you don't do Facebook (hi Aileen!) here it is. Feel free to pass it along. If you can't figure out how to do that, call me.

Wish I'd said that...

He’s deeply shallow, Michael said as he steered me past the fiction table toward the back of the store.  I had to laugh - words are his business (he owns Rakestraw Books) and my passion and delight (I am a published author and noted big mouth), and that phrase is especially delicious.  And it got me thinking about other clever turns of phrase.  

How many times have you thought of just the right comeback...the day after the event?  Or thought of the perfect comeback and held your tongue, only to wish later you’d let it rip?  Of course there is always the famous “She needs a speed-bump installed between her mouth and her brain.” We all know people like that. You need to say the serious stuff with care and respect.  But for those other moments, and there are so many of those other moments, here are some inspirations:

Groucho Marx said "I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it." Go Groucho.

Forrest Tucker: "He loves nature in spite of what it did to him." I bet you've dated this guy.

Oscar Wilde: "Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go." And yet somehow they linger and linger...

And for that argumentative yet clueless person: "He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination." Andrew Lang 

When Eric was visiting a few weeks ago he read us our horoscopes in the morning, and we decided to do horror-scopes and mis-fortune cookies.  Now remember this is all in fun, and try not to get your panties in a bunch. 

1. You are the conversational equivalent of spam. 

2. Work on your social skills - or is it is possible to work on something you don’t have?

3. Your cat is cheating on you.

4. That shirt? with those pants? Is your taste really all in your mouth? 

5. They lied. It is you.

6. I love what you’re trying to do with your hair.

7. Focus your energies on becoming a more positive person - even your therapist is sick of listening to you whine.

8. Your search for old friends and long lost loves isn’t going to work out - they’re all busy changing their email and Facebook accounts to avoid you.

9. If you’ve changed your Facebook status more than three times, your real status is unstable.

And just in case we still need a reminder:

10. Being on Facebook is not a real life.  

Coveting Curtains

Wouldn't this be a great place to start the day? The cheery yellow, the crisp blue and white, the lemon trees, the clever mix of patterns...and I love the window.  I don't think you can call them curtains, or drapes.  I guess this is why the term window treatment got invented.

I have an unfortunate bathroom. Not far from the front door, near the kitchen, around the corner from the dining room. You see it as you walk between rooms, and the commode is in plain sight.

Friends have suggested "Close the door".  But that makes the hall dark and gloomy.

"Reverse the door".   Then you'd have to shimmy into the bathroom, and you couldn't get to the sink.  It's a small bathroom, really.

"Hang a curtain from the ceiling. Between the commode and the sink. You can tie it back, you can gather it, you can have fun with it."  Brilliant.  Thank you Cathy.  Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to the Scalamandre website to see about getting yards and yards of this fabric.  I think I'll do the window, too while I'm at it.  

And what are your rainy day dreams?

citrus

It's a good year for lemons:

our trees droop under the weight of the fruit.

And blood oranges:

They are not especially sweet; we are beyond the edge of orange-dom.  But they are better than the regular oranges which are so sour they are unpalatable, even as juice.

Our friend Jane gave is this juicer on one of her treasured visits (Note to Jane - it's time to come back! we miss you)

She is the queen of gift giving, she always nails it (more about that in a later blog) and we have been toasting her with blood orange juice in the morning. 

Delicious, beautiful, healthy...

And as our neighbor Maddy pointed out, they also make great martinis. Ice, vodka, and a splash of Canton Ginger Liqueur for sweetness. Wonderful with chicken. And I have a new favorite chicken. If you've been paying attention you know I loved the fried chicken from last month's Bon Appetit. I'd link it for you but Safari has decided to hide the URL - any suggestions gratefully accepted.

It had a spice rub, and since oven baked chicken is a staple here (think cobb salad, chicken salad, chicken enchiladas) I tried a spice rub on the oven baked version.  I've made it twice in three days. So here's the recipe with thanks to Bon Appetit for the inspiration.

Oven Baked Chicken

Preheat the oven to 350 fahrenheit.

For the rub:

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

4 boneless skin-on chicken breasts - organic and free range if you can.

3/4 cup flour

1 tablespoon cornstarch

2 tablespoons olive oil (or 1 tablespoon olive oil and one tablespoon butter)

Mix all the rub ingredients in a small bowl - sprinkle over chicken. There will be a generous coating of spices - don't be shy.

See?

Mix the flour with the cornstarch in a small bowl, and sprinkle over spice-coated chicken. Press it in with your fingers to make sure as much as possible sticks.

Pour about a tablespoon of real olive oil (read Extra Virginity for the real scoop) in an oven-proof pan. Put the chicken pieces in skin-side down and rub them in the oil to coat the skin. Use the second tablespoon if you need it - I did. Turn the chicken skin-side up and bake at 350 for about 40 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer  reads 160. (thank you Ann- using the thermometer has saved many a chicken from overcooking) 

Mine didn't get brown enough this time so I ran them under the broiler - 

and burned them in spots. Thankfully my husband didn't mind. And they made a great Cobb Salad. So now I have a new favorite week-day chicken recipe - to go with the fabulous fried chicken I blogged about in Fear if Frying. Again, until I figure out the link thing again (don't you hate upgrades?) you'll have to go to Jillappenzeller@blogspot.com and search the blog. 

As Julia would have said, "Bon Appetit!"And she was right.

A Rousing Round of Croquet

If you've never played croquet at Meadowood you're in for a treat. Our second time in two weeks.

An hour with the pro so you learn to be ruthless,

and an hour on your own.  They cheated, we lost fair and square.

The croquet pitch may look level, but it's not - we are standing on the moral high ground.