Miscellany

BIRD UPDATE

Up and down, up and down. Because the blood work was normal, he went off his meds last Tuesday. By Wednesday afternoon, his system seemed to have evened out: normal digestion, happy attitude, even a full voice for the first time in over a month! On Thursday morning he was back on the bottom of his cage, cowering and shivering. So, back to the vet we went. He's started a new medication, which has a new antibiotic and something to reduce vomiting. Nonetheless, Saturday night broke the string of fifteen vomit free days. He seemed particularly stressed during his evening drug dose—didn't want to take the meds. I'm chalking up this episode to extreme stress, because he hasn't repeated it since Saturday night. But he has started refusing all soft foods. Sigh. What's a bird mom to do?

WORK

I had an interview on Friday for a contract job in Buffalo Grove. Having contracted off and on for more than ten years, I've participated in more than a handful of interviews and generally see them for just what they're supposed to be: a meeting to see whether the job and the candidate match. I don't have that view of "how can I convince them that I'm the one?" I have the view of "let's see whether this is something I think I can do and want to do." THEN I think about how to get the positive outcome.

This time, however, I was inexplicably nervous the morning of the 1:00 p.m. interview. Very nervous. I still don't know why. But the interview went well: I liked them; they seemed to like me. But I'm not sure when they'll actually be ready to start. Contracting is like that. Unlike "permanent" positions, contract positions are not always available when the company starts to interview. It's always a game of timing. Some companies start interviewing a week after they needed someone to start work; others start interviewing when they get the idea that they might need someone if they get approval for a project--and then they don't get the funding. We'll have to see what happens now.

I also have a line on a contract through a firm that has placed me on contract in the past.

Regardless how and when I get back to work, I will miss my jammies.

FOOD AND COOKING

Like my friend, The Suburban Hausfrau, I have a palate that is both broad and deep. Unlike her, however, I have a kitchen with no room for the things I need to have the great fun I used to have in larger kitchens. So I have a little fun in the kitchen.

Permanent residents on my kitchen counters: coffee pot, airpot, and grinder, small watering can, microwave, toaster, crock of kitchen hand tools (tongs, wooden spoons, spatulas, etc.), a handful of herb grinders. Anything more and I would have no space in which to use those tools. Even my Kitchen-Aid mixer has been relegated to basement storage (along with my crock pots), so I have to bring it up when I need it. Needless to say, I have very few one-trick ponies in my kitchen. So where, although I certainly would like to have one, would I put a nacho baker?

My cooking partner and I have an arrangement. Each is responsible for the evening meal every other night, and can elect to cook, order in, or eat out. Regardless, we each have every other night off. Works for us.

What doesn't work so well is our opposing approaches to equipment and its maintenance and storage. For example, I have an anodized pot that is, without a doubt, one of the best things I ever bought. It's Calphalon's Everyday Pan, which has a fabulous shape (bottom uses whole burner, sides are wider), well-fitting lid, nice thick walls, and ovenability. Great for braising, actually braises pretty fast, fabulous for sweating onions. I have given three of these pans as gifts and they have been used to make everything from eggs to soups. It's a little fussy: you have to wash it by hand. Dishwasher detergents will pit it. Add three minutes to cleanup time. Big deal. My partner will not use it because it doesn't go in the dishwasher. Likewise, I keep a set of five Wüsthof knives that I've had for twenty years, and I insist that they get washed and dried shortly after use. Partner? Won't use them; tends to leave dirty knives sit on the counter, often for more than a day (although this is getting better).

So we necessarily have some duplicate items eating up space in the kitchen, but not all that much. It's just a small kitchen and I have very little patience for having to juggle five items to get to the one that I need.

So I have a little fun in the kitchen. For Christmas, my sister gave us a bone-in pork loin roast from a nice little butcher shop in Milwaukee. I pulled it out of the freezer last week to thaw in time for Sunday dinner. Which I made just like Mom used to. Except that I coated the roast first with thyme and rosemary and then brought its internal temperature to about 155º F (70º C) instead of employing the conventional wisdom of days of yore, which used the "cinder" setting. Accompanied by browned potatoes, french green beans, and applesauce, it was a great comfort-food dinner. Did I mention the gravy? Oh, yeah, sheer ecstasy. Well at 155º, the pork didn't lose enough fat to make a proper gravy, so I did what any good cook of the sixties would have done: I melted a tablespoon of, you guessed it, lard, to make up the difference. Oh, come on, it's a tablespoon. Great rich brown gravy just like Mom used to make. Yum!

WEEK'S MENU

We had so many leftovers last week we had to freeze some of them. The rest we will use up in the next few days. Having survived these many years despite eating foods that some think are too old for human consumption, I still tend to use the four-day rule for most cooked meats. Today's health-foodies, I'm sure, would be shocked. So don't be surprised if my menus use the same entrees four days apart.

• Monday (not my night to cook--yay!) Pulled pork sandwiches with french fries. I'm hoping that something green gets thrown into the mix.


• Tuesday—Pasta, big salad, nice boule. Is Cuisine de France not the best thing to have happened to supermarket bread aisles in the past few years? (And what's with these "artisanal" breads that cost $4.50 for a little loaf or trendy flat breads at $4.00 for three ounces? What—I can't add my own olives and rosemary to bread dough?) I have nothing against spending money on food, but I have an internal value meter that says these things are more about impressing someone than eating well. They make nice gifts.


• Wednesday—Roast chicken with starch of the day and something green (not my night).


• Thursday—Roast pork with plain old corn and maybe some sweet peppers, rosemary-garlic mashed potatoes, and that yummy gravy.


• Friday—Surprise me! (not my night)