Pips & Spitz & Choo, Choo!

What a blur October was! Following our fantastic week away and kitty-filled homecoming party, we had a quick week at work, a weekend, and then BAM! Enter swine flu.

My poor sister and her husband came down for a visit and a trip the ever-awesome Maryland Renaissance Festival, an annual tradition for more years than I care to count. She wasn't feeling great, and by Sunday, she was getting pretty sick. We didn't know what she had, but Monday, Cam, two of our friends who we'd spent the weekend with, and my Dad all dropped like flies. It was kind of nuts how fast the H1N1 came on, but now that we've seen it through, I can report a couple things. First of all, it's pretty yuck. Across the 5 sickies, the worst symptoms were significant fevers, extremely sore throats, coughs and congestion, and torso and back pain, which seems to be this bug's hallmark. Most of them kicked it in about 4 days, though my sister and my Dad are having a bit of a harder time with it. And, then, my Mom got sick too, after most everyone was on the other side.

What's weirdest to me is that I haven't gotten it. I nursed Cam, working from home, I shared food with my sister before we knew the score, and did everything all the sickies did last weekend. But now, it *seems* I'm out of the woods. I was paranoid as all get out last week, of course, particularly because I had plans this weekend to go to a friends "cabin" (read beautiful 3 bedroom house) in the Pocono mountains. I didn't want to miss out, but more than that, I didn't want to typhoid Emma all my friends.

Cam and psmee convinced me I was being a little crazy with the paranoia, so after taking my temperature 5 times throughout Friday, I got in the car and headed north. I took it twice more on the drive because I'm a total freak, and then, in the clear, met up with the girls. We had an incredible weekend of food and wine and laughing like crazy, and I felt fine throughout. We also played a full game of Mexican Train Dominoes (is the name offensive? It's the official name of the game, like, on the box, but it's got to be offensive, right?), one of my absolute favorite games. Turns out the little dots on the dominoes are called pips, which one chica misheard as spitz, so there's a fun fact.

So, I guess time will tell if I made it through the swine flu unscathed. I'm optimistic, and hopeful I may have even pirated a few of Cam's hard-won antibodies. I'm still getting that vaccine if I get a chance, though!

Back To Reality

Hey Mom?


I'm cold. Really cold.


Me too.


You don't even know.


It's so cold I have to tuck my nose into my tail.

Yeah, that's right, we're home! And when we got here, it was more than 20 degrees colder here than it was at the beach, and pouring rain. Enough to make a girl turn around and run South, but we persevered because we knew our beloved monsters would be excited to see us. Plus...


...we had beautiful red drum fillets to cook, which we caught just the day before! I got Cam a half day on a charter fishing boat as a sort of an engagement present, and it was a blast. We -- plus my Dad -- caught about 40 bluefish, these 2 drum, and all kinds of other fish too small or too junky to keep (flounder, black bass, grouper, pinfish, lizardfish, sea grunts). The red drum's a regional specialty, and Cam just broiled in it olive oil with salt and pepper, delicate, simple, delicious. I improvised a weird little recipe to use some beautiful Swiss chard and some leftover ciabatta.

I prepped the chard (learned a new method from a Cooks Illustrated video - hold the chard by the stem, and with a sharp knife, just slice down one side of the stalk, then the other, clearing the leafy part clean off the woody center. When you're finished, stack the leaves and leaf bits, then cut in slices. Worked like a champ.), then sauteed it simply with minced fresh garlic (seriously... If you use the jarred kind, chuck it out the window. Fresh garlic is the only garlic. Garlic powder is acceptable in certain applications, such as steaks before grilling, and garlic salt, in egg salad.), salt and pepper and olive oil. After 7 or 8 minutes, it was still chewy but tender. I took it off the heat, stirred in a big hunk of goat cheese, then spread it on toasted ciabatta.

Tomorrow we return to work! I'm packing a freshly baked apple cake to maybe cast a little of the attention in a direction other than the third finger on my left hand. Any bets on how well that'll work? Maybe I should also print out all these kitty pictures as an added distraction.

Vacation, All Is Right

What a beautiful day.



The ferry ride took nearly three hours, which we spent the first part of on the deck watching the mainland disappear. Wary of the sun, we headed to a shaded part on the starboard side, where four men who were traveling together could not get over the awesomeness of this.



What are these things called, anyway? At any rate, a bit later I headed inside and immersed myself in Born Round, while Cam peered at the horizon through his binoculars. He ran back inside to get me when he spotted a sailboat, and the water tower, meaning we were getting close. By the time we reached the island, it was nearly 90 degrees out.



We had the whole afternoon to do what we would with before meeting my parents and checking into the house, so we made our way to the pub with its beer list as long as my arm and college football all around. A couple beers and a crabcake for me, a couple beers and a tuna steak sandwich for him, and we were sufficiently fortified to explore. We found a little lake access beach and poked around picking up hermit crabs, then had a glass of wine at a cafe with wi-fi -- our phones, somewhat happily, don't work here, so Cam called Dad on Skype to get an ETA.



We met their ferry after poking around in another inlet, then came home for beers on the porch, shrimp pasta, and then, sleep.

This morning I woke up to "Good morning, beautiful. When you're ready, it's a good morning for a run." So we pulled on our socks and sneakers and headed out, then home for breakfast, and now, football.



Next up is a walk on the beach and some fishing for Cam, and tonight, we're grilling lambchops, and roasting Hasselback potatoes. I think my stomach's growling already!

Beach Food

Quite soon (keeping it vague for all the robbers who spy on this quasi-anonymous blog. There are creeps/grebes out there!), Cam and I will depart on an incredible trip south to the beach. The beach in October - possibly stormy, still quite warm, and the fishing should be great. We're just a smidge excited.

We'll be spending a week in a huge, beautiful house on an island with my parents. The view in most directions is acres of marsh, and a ways off, the ocean. Last year we only got to spend 3 days there, but this time, we get a full, luxurious week. Cam just reserved our ferry, and Friday night, over cupcakes quartered and shared, Mom, Dad, Cam and I began to outline the food plan.

The food plan is crucial, of course! First of all, since our destination is an island, grocery items are scant and pricey. And secondly, I'll state the obvious: In my family, the food matters a lot, as does the drink.

Per our rough sketch, Mom and Dad will head up two or three dinners, as will Cam and I, and then 1 or 2 we'll go out for. More on that in a minute. The four of us like to play breakfast simply -- I'm practically married to my oatmeal with pumpkin puree, Mom and Dad like bananas, and Cam likes eggs and toast and bacon. For lunches we'll pack plenty of salad and sandwich supplies, to be supplemented with dinner leftovers. We're packing in steaks and lamb chops, shrimp, and pasta, and we're hopeful for fresh fish caught in the surf. I've got a bag of potatoes and a bag of onions in a bag by the door, ready to go. I plan to make a batch of granola.

Oh, and then there's the wine and beer and scotch. Yes, we've got that covered.

So, a question. What else should we bring? What beach snacks do you consider essential? What desserts would pack nicely, or would be easily made in a well-stocked but not-my-own kitchen?

A Breeze

Last night when we got home from work, Cam got busy putting frosted film on the window in the shower, so we can bathe without shocking the neighbors. We had a pillowcase over it for a while, but the mildew was becoming unbearable. Anyway, in helping him, I learned how to open the windows in our place in such a way that you can flip them flat and wash the outsides. I knew they had this feature, but hadn't mastered it, but now I've got it. So while he finished the film and moved on to the blue room to hang shelves, I made my way from window to window, sliding, flipping, spraying, washing, wiping, and flipping again. Now they sparkle, the raindrop residue and the kitten noseprints are gone. In the bedroom, I left the tops open and propped myself up in the bed, listened to a great mix a friend passed along and enjoyed the breeze. Today's commute was cool and breezy, fall-like, and when I walked into work I remarked about it to my colleague, who has an infant son we call Pico. He too was moved by the breeze - last night, he scooped up Pico and headed outdoors, just so Pico could feel it ruffle his hair. "Pico," he said, "that's what a breeze feels like."