Things Happening...

Foundation is shifting daily: it's really a drought in the Metroplex. Will be fixed officially on September 11-12th...yes, two days. I am SO looking forward to it.
Did I mention we survived a couple more of those pipe bursts in our master bathroom? They finally changed an entire pipe including a manifold, so hopefully it will hold. However, according to The Husband, the City of Irving did some work in our area on the mains, and now we have some trouble with the outside watering line in the back yard. Will have to see if I can actually close the water later this evening there, right now the soaker hoses are gently watering the foundation...::sighs::
More travel next week, to Memphis again, training classes for two days.
The Husband starts his adjunct classes next week. Yay!
Got to the Dallas Lush! store last Sunday finally with The Lizard Queen and we had a blast sniffing various lovely-smelling cosmetics and such. If anyone wonders what to get me for Christmas, birthdays etc., they cannot go wrong with this company's products. M-m-m...
Life is good, just very busy. or so I tell myself.

Lovely!

Okay, if you need to calm down in the light of recent events, like me (SOME of those events were the Saga Of The Pipes That Burst Again On Sunday, The Foundation That Breaks The House In Twain, not to mention the Surrender Your Toothpaste Because Of %^&^*(# Terrorists), then get this CD. Now.
She is. Just. Wonderful. And, coincidentally, she is the voice you hear on Leonard Cohen's last couple of albums, starting with The Future and I Am Your Man. This album was co-written and co-produced by her and Cohen.
Her name in Anjani Thomas, and she is wonderful. My blood pressure already dropped significantly after three songs, while she almost makes me weep from the melancholy of her (and Leonard's) lyrics, tunes and voice. M-m-m.
Certain relatives of mine please listen to the sample of Track No. 3: The Golden Gate...

Ha! And again, Ha!

The Husband hates Brussels sprouts. He hates them with a passion, so much so that he renamed them LGBDs (Little Green Balls of Death). He cannot stand them and I was not allowed to cook them in the house, because the scent alone made him nauseous. Which is weird because he likes cabbage just fine.

So last night, while he was at practice, I was rooting through the frezer for some dinner material while the bread was baking and I came across this bag of frozen baby Brussels sprouts. I took them out in an act of defiance, got the wok and the steamer, steamed the little green things for about 10-12 minutes, then wiped the wok out, heated it up again, placed the sprouts in, poured some extra virgin Cretan Sitia olive oil over them, added some Pesto Rosso dried mix (both from the Oil and Vinegar store in the Galleria, a total must for a foodie...I mean they have at least ten different types of balsamic vinegar and twenty olive oils on tap, not counting the ones bottled already)...then I thought 'what the heck' and cut in some Spanish dry chorizo, straight from good ol'Kroger, the only dry sausage I can easily find that bears a vague similarity to the Hungarian sausages of my childhood. Shook the wok a coupe of times, until the Brussels sprouts made that satisfying 'pssst' sound and the sausage bits started sizzling, then took it off the heat and had half of it for dinner with a generous helping of parmesan on top. I left the other half on the stovetop to cool.

Well, The Husband came home after kicking people on the head, sat down by the computer and I was getting ready to go to bed: it was late. And all of a sudden there he comes, bouncing into the bathroom, shouting "You did it! You made them TASTY!!!" and he is holding a bunch of the DREAD LGBDS in HIS HAND and he's EATING THEM LIKE CANDY!

Heh. Behold the power of the cook...:-) I think I just leveled up.