Topaz well knows the fresh hell that is having two sisters.
La famiglia has been scheming to get us all to Disney for my fiftieth birthday. That is fine with me, so long as no one expects me to turn up, too. I was reminded of Brendan Behan.
I was court-martialled in my absence, and sentenced to death in my absence, so I said they could shoot me in my absence.
The whole notion has made me cranky and teeth-gnashy. Grrr.
Gigi said, “Everyone don’t forget about me!” So I climbed into the treehouse and remembered.
Let nothing stop you from seeing this video. PROMISE ME.
Via everyone’s friend Barbecue Bob:
We’ve been playing this video for the past half hour and the house is humming, baby.
The delightful things I see on the mental teevee screen sometimes make it to actual teevee.
The crazy things you loved as a kid may not have been greasy kid stuff.
Portrait of the Artist and Her Friend.
Photo by Pete
Today’s rolls were rounder and taller than last week’s and the flavor is better.Downside: the dough was too wet as I was mixing and I grabbed whole wheat pastry flour out of the cabinet, giving the rolls a gritty texture. Plus: delicious; minus: gritty. I’m learning!
Very tough week at the Handmade House. We’ve had our fill of people surprised by the duplicity of obviously duplicitous people and neighbors sandbagged by lawyers doing what lawyers do. I, for one, welcome the start of gin & tonic season.
Miss Sasha made me a tutu for my birthday. Drusy, of course, could not wait to try it on.
The weather: I am under it. Fortunately, here in Brigadoon, weather changes seven, eight, even nine times a day. So I’m optimistic.
Pete: How about hamburgers for dinner?
Tata: That sounds great. You should make rolls.
Pete: You should make rolls.
Tata: What? I could swear you just said I should bake something.
Pete: Use my bread recipe.
Tata: I guess…I guess I could. I could do that, right? I could!
Pete put his recipe for whole wheat bread on the kitchen table and watched from a safe distance as I added flours, salt, herbs, dry milk, butter and water to the mixing bowl without injuring myself. I covered the dough with plastic wrap and we went out for a fantastic bike ride on a sunny day. Later, I punched it down, covered it and took a nap. Finally, I divided it into six more or less equal roundy-squarey globs. Then I turned over the compost heap and when I came back, the globs looked like rolls. Pete and I stared at them. We preheated the oven, sprinkled dried onions and wheat germ over top. Pete told me to get that water spritzer I use to tame my Mediterranean mane and spray water inside the oven before putting in the rolls to bake. So I did.
Believe it or not: edible!
We pulled one apart to taste it. I couldn’t believe it. This wasn’t even hard to do!
We spent our Sunday bicycling on the towpath around Carnegie Lake. The awesome is unpossible to describinate.
