use real butter

Hi folks. After that flurry of posts I went dreadfully silent. Sorry. I have been really ill with a capital P for Pain. You don’t know weight loss until you’ve been on this program. I blame that Saturday afternoon buffet…

I’ll get to your emails in due time. I shall reply to all comments as well. Meanwhile, Kaweah is sad that no one has taken her for a crazy hike lately, but seems rather content to snuggle with the sicko (me).

how could you not feel better with a cuddly pup like this around?

My wisdom to you: stay away from Asian buffets with smudgy sneeze guards in small mountain towns.

Jeremy has been busting ass more than usual for the past 8 days on work stuff. That and he was simultaneously taking care of me after my last chemo. Poor guy was feeling stressed out, exhausted. So I asked him if he’d like to catch a movie today. Jeremy loves to go to the movies. Just loves it. I could go either way and my tolerance for crappy movies is far far lower than his. He worked from home in the morning and drove me into Boulder to catch Iron Man - because we are both comic book adaptation whores. [I not so secretly covet Dark Phoenix’s telekinetic and psychic powers.] Thoroughly entertaining movie.

After the flick, we stopped at Chez Thuy for a delicious lunch of soft shell crab, pan-fried noodles, and crispy duck.

i had a craving for crunchy

seriously good flavor

The food at Chez Thuy is always great, but the service… Each time I’ve been, the female wait staff is just grumpy as hell. They act as if you are single-handedly making their lives suck. They grunt at you, don’t make eye contact, and have a look on their face as if they are constipated. This baffles me. The male servers on the other hand, are so sweet and pleasant. This also baffles me.

After picking up groceries, I was done - wiped. I should be recovering my energy any day now, but apparently not just yet. Luckily, my driver was kind enough to pull over a couple of times on the way home so I could photograph more blooms. The leaves on the trees are glowing like brilliant yellow-green gemstones right now. I feel so alive to feel the warmth of the sunshine and enjoy the cool air breezes.

lilacs

I love lilacs. I was first made aware of them when I used to hike the San Gabriels out of Pasadena. The wild Ceanothus (California Lilac) littered the trailsides in white, pink, purple every spring. At Cornell, the lilac blossoms and their heavenly scents ushered in warmer weather and the exodus of the undergraduate population from Ithaca. I relished walking home through the Arts Quad, inhaling the delicate perfume, the Chimes ringing out the close of the day with enough light left for a run along Fall Creek.

some nice ones by the justice league center

Further up canyon is my absolute favorite Tree. Yes, this one particular tree is my favorite in Boulder Canyon. I have admired it for nearly three years now, but it is this time of year when it explodes in its true glory.

of course, a cherry

First, it’s huge. Second, it is situated right around the bend (coming from either direction) and the sudden appearance of this tree - loaded with blossoms overhanging Boulder Creek - is a happy-making sight. I’ve made mental notes to myself in past years to stop and shoot it, but always managed to miss the window of blossoms, having a camera on me, and not being in a rush to get someplace. I got a few shots off today, but more than anything, I just enjoyed standing on the narrow shoulder of the road, admiring my beloved tree.

For some reason the spring bloom is ever more precious this time around. Well, I know the reason. Perspective is important.

I am spazzing out just like I always do the night before chemo. I started my steroids today, which make me hyper. I drank a cola tonight (I rarely do, but caffeine helps to reduce this crazy swelling I get right about now) and that makes me hyper too. Last time this happened I just rattled on and on all night while lying in bed. My mouth was running 100 mph at poor Jeremy who was trying desperately to catch some shut eye, but he’s too kind to tell me to shut it… or maybe he just knows it’s pointless. There I was, “bluhluhluhlubluhluhluhluhbluhluhluhbluh…” until I finally got up and turned on the computer and eventually went to sleep out of boredom.

Luckily, I took advantage of my spike in energy and made a shit ton of food tonight after dinner. I had an ungodly amount of egg yolks leftover from the petits fours, so I made a quart of matcha green tea ice cream and another quart of coffee ice cream - all for Jeremy. The man loves his caffeine. He drinks two large mugs of dark roast coffee and can fall asleep within the hour. That’s crazy. I wash a coffee mug and I don’t shut up all night. I also cooked up a batch of laab for the guy. It’s always a little frenzied right before chemo. Because Jeremy spends the next 4 days working, cleaning, taking care of me, taking care of the dog, I feel it’s the least I can do to prepare a bunch of food for him ahead of time. He’s got a lovely red curry waiting for him in the fridge too.

Another regularly scheduled event either the day before or day of chemo: big dump snow day. Why? It could just be some periodicity in the parade of troughs that march across the continental US this time of year. Or it could be Mother Nature flipping me the bird. Either way, it’s one more thing I’ve had to just suck up and accept. We had 4 inches on our deck when we grilled dinner this evening (yeah, great planning on my part), and the forecast is for another 8-12 inches tonight. $%#^&@*~!

j-man does his thang

marinated beef skirt steak kebabs

The kebabs were fabulous. If you see kebab meat in the grocery store - don’t buy it. They use some crap chuck cut. What you should seek out is the skirt steak. In beef, tenderness is inversely proportional to flavor. The most tender cuts like filet mignon have okay flavor. The toughest cuts like shoulder, rump - great flavor as long as you slow cook the hell out of them. Skirt and flank are a happy medium for grilling, particularly with a marinade. I cut up a pound of skirt steak and sealed it in a ziploc with the juice of 1 lemon, 3 tbsp of olive oil, salt, pepper, and some oregano. 24 hours later… skewer those lovelies and grill on high to rare (okay, rare for me - you do what you want). That is some happy carnivore fare.

But back to our bipolar weather. Yesterday was hot in our town. Like 60F. The good thing about the warm spell was that we could finally give Miss Stinky a bath. Yes, Kaweah has been sporting a serious stink lately. No longer! Now she’s soft, fluffy, and smells of lavender (Buddy Wash and Buddy Rinse are teh best dog shampoo/conditioner).

she hates the baths

don’t feel too sorry for her

Okay, and back to dinner tonight. [Can you tell I’m spastic right now?!] I had an extra lemon chiffon cake from making petits fours, because you can’t make THAT many petits fours without becoming a little homicidal. What better way to use it up than to make some faux strawberry shortcake. I don’t think I’ve ever made real strawberry shortcake, I just take extra cake I have lying around, macerated sliced strawberries, and freshly whipped cream (add a little vanilla and almond extract for that “oh!”)…

oh, how can i NOT plate it?

top with more cake, more cream, and a garnish

I confess, I took a nibble. I’m supposed to avoid strawberries, but I couldn’t help it… just like the time I ordered a salad because if I didn’t get some raw greens I was going to run outside and gnaw on the hedge. Strawberries taste of warm weather - like the time we had just gone backpacking in Kings Canyon NP and were driving back to Pasadena on the 99 through California’s San Joaquin Valley on Memorial Day some 14 years ago. We (Jeremy, myself, and this other fellow who is what you’d call a human Golden Retriever) stopped at a roadside stand and bought a flat of strawberries for $7. FOR $7!! These were the kind that bled juicy goodness at the slightest touch, they were so ripe. We ate them all while crawling through the Grapevine with the rest of Los Angeles. It looked like murder. Then we got stomach aches. But it was worth it… and so was this.

Well kids, that’s all I got and that’s all you’ll get for a few days. Be good.