Gluttony Day

A small holiday in which those who do not have daily access to Zingerman's come to my house and we cook. My Faillen brought pears and kale from the Kzoo Farmer's market (of which I have fond memories and trust me the few fond memories I have of Kzoo are precious!), then she, Garth & Kassia, Me & Petey shopped in Kerrytown, we mostly followed each other around and juggled bags of deliciousness giggling and fantasizing about food porn.

We hit the spice store first and only spent about $40 in there. (Smoked salt, sweet Spanish Paprika and two new colors of pepper... oh hey by the way??--don't snort freshly ground white pepper--NOT a smart move!)

I am sure our comedy troupe was amusing to the general public as we were trying to translate Rollo's instructions (via phone while he laid new flooring at their crib) and not get distracted from THE LIST. Last year we didn't make a list and while everything was incredible--it was...haphazard. This year we had a plan! An actual menu! The chicken, slab bacon & roast beast (grass fed of course) from Sparrow. I love it when Bob Sparrow smiles at me like I am his best friend. Gorgeous Shrimps from Monahan's, salmon from Tracklments.

When I found the red peppers I yelled back to Kassia & Vicky --I FOUND THE PEPPERS!--I know I startled a poor mortal when she jumped about three feet straight up from the fruit stand! But, she had a great sense of humor and yelled right back-- "I found the mushrooms!" Petey & Garth thought they were going to go to the deli w/out us but we womenfolk redirected their cute little asses right back over there and Faillen affirmed the truffle tradition.

Everybody has a dish--Kassia inspired the pesto shrimp & chicken skewers & Rollo finally achieved the chocolate covered bacon we have all been lusting after, and Faillen made a butternut squash risotto with purple Kale. Zoli made Minestrone soup. Izzy was in charge of the fondue into which we dipped challah, banannas, dehydrated raspberries and Zingerman's marshmallows into luscious dark chocolate. She also made her first pastry crust for the pear and cranberry tart. (we forgot the sugar--but it was very light and flaky and married well with the pears) Garth & Pete roasted a slab of bacon over an open fire and then smeared the unctuous dripping onto crusty bread. I was actually alarmed by that and kind of avoided the whole flammable fat on a stick game.

So we snuck in a game of Scrabble (Kassia won) while the beast roasted--OMG! I didn't tell you what we did to the roast!!
A coffee spice rub! Which was a new thing for all of us! For a four lb roast we mixed four tablespoons of freshly ground dark roast coffee, and then one tablespoon each white & red peppercorns, garlic powder, onion powder, & dried sage. That mix just smelled like BEEF--succulent gorgeous meaty YUM. Cooked that puppy til it was fork tender.

We had cheese and bread and wine and beers. It was awesome.

Damn pleasant

Petey drove by our new polling place at 7 this morning and the traffic was lined up 1/4 of a mile outside of the parking lot. I waited till ten--a slow time at the polls and in an effort to not add to the potential car congestion I rode my bike.

It is such a lovely fall day here in Washtenaw County. Unusually warm and bright, colorful leaves and blue skies. A great day for bike ride. I was filled with HOPE as I peddled past the three McCain signs on my route. I knew there were more Obama mama's a mere 2.9 miles away. I would flaunt my rainbow handle bar streamers and my crazy green ways, maybe set an outrageous example of independent thought for the folks who vote in the way of their grandparents. I took perverse pleasure in the sheer number of Green Party candidates listed on the ballot. I smiled as I filled in my bubbles.

Still... It was beyond weird to not go to Estabrook--I have been voting at Estabrook since 1994. I have even judged and observed voters there. But today at Roberto Clemente Elementary--I simply stood in line between one 20 something goober (I shall call him Bubba) and his mom (they completely epitomized the uneducated rural stereotype) and an 18 year old who was voting for her first time. The pride in her mom's face was evident and tho Matt and I didn't have the added drama of helping someone from our race to make history, I do remember the first time HE voted. It is right of passage. I felt all warm and fuzzy when the new voter slipped her ballot into the machine and the workers applauded. Quickly the whole room joined their applause and we welcomed her into adulthood.

I didn't recognize any of the worker's faces (in contrast I knew everybody by name at Estabrook; and in fact could predict how they voted from their yard signs!) but I was pleased to see that there was huge range of voters, soccer Moms w/toddlers in tow, elderfolk, quite a few ladies wearing hijab. Several leathery farmer types--it was comforting that they weren't all "Bubba" types who thought voting for medical marijuana was gonna let them get high legally. Nope, my new neighbors seem pretty damn diverse, and pleasant. The last time I got to experience a huge group of suburbanites was at the TWP meeting for the park last winter. THEY seemed rather...mmm... homogenous.

within 25 minutes I was sporting a new "I VOTED" sticker and was unlocking my bike for the quick trip home.

I can't wait to watch the results roll in. I have a little worm of worry. We have a lot of McCain signs around here. I KNOW that A2 is gonna be solid--but it will be exciting nonetheless.

balance

HOLY CRAP what a cluster F@#!

1-75 by 16 mile is NUTS!!! I hate traffic. By the time we got home from a "quick run" to Macy's to get a rug it was three hours later than we expected. We were both like NO MORE CAR!!! So we vetoed going to Kate & Vickie's party in Kzoo. We suck. I was especially sad when I got Tinn's phone message. He made it sound like he was going to go. So no Jay & Silent Bob this year.This sadness was pushing toward cranky despite Harold's being the most awesome rug salesman in the world. We got a great deal on a rug (75% off!!) No lunch (on purpose cuz I was saving calories for party treats that night) But...Then we got lost by Gorman's furniture store and went up and down the same road three times-- but we did finally start designing from this base to create our very own unique special one of a kind settee for the library. It should be here in 3-10 weeks. So good karma for the library bad karma for the social life.