7 Friday Quick Takes: Hottest Friday of the Year

--- 1 ---

Edmund's lovely, kind, amazing reading tutor met with him for the last time today.  She is moving out East (I did warn her about the fisher cats).  We are very sad.

 
She gave Edmund two books, one is Geronimo Stilton:  The Haunted Castle, and the other is National Geographic Kids:  Weird but True 2, 300 Outrageous Facts, which he began reading in the car on the way home, and is still reading it to me as I type.

• More than 2 million animals fly in airplanes each year.
• Forest fires travel faster uphill than downhill.
• A sand castle in Maine stood as high as a three story building.

As a going-away gift, she is getting a hand-written letter from Edmund that says something like, "Thank you for helping me with reading.  It is so fun."  This makes me tear up.  A lot.  I know she'll touch many more lives out East, but damn, we're going to miss her. 

Thank you, Lord, for putting her in our lives for a time.  And please send us some more angels soon, cause You know we can't do this on our own.

--- 2 ---

Fourth of July here saw record temps causing some wussier townships to cancel their fireworks displays.  Not so around here, not so.  No wusses in this town, noontime parade went as planned. 

We went ahead with our plans for multi-family fun and had a ridiculously good dinner, with great friends.  Then I forced them all to march a half mile to see the fireworks. And we walked all the way home.

My definition of fun might not be the same as yours.   I had fun.  I just hope those were beads of sweat and not tears on the faces of my friends.

--- 3 ---

What was for dinner you ask?

Everything I made is a tried and true recipe from my BFF though not my CPF (close personal friend), Christopher Kimball.  Last week's Cucumber Salad reappeared, alongside the French Potato Salad that can be found in your America's Test Kitchen cookbook.

I also adapted the Grilled Spicy Lime Chicken with Black Bean and Avocado Salad from the June/July 2005 issue.  I omitted the chicken, doubled the amount of salad ingredients.  This turned out great.  A double batch of this black bean salad was a normal amount for our crowd, unlike the coleslaw.  (If you clicked through this recipe link, please know that my UD-English-major heart loves the blog name Ezra Poundcake.)  ARggh.  The link doesn't work, so try cutting and pasting this into your browser.  http://www.ezrapoundcake.com/archives/1841

WARNING:  Even though the buttermilk coleslaw recipe from the America's Test Kitchen cookbook says one batch serves 6 to 8,  THIS IS COMPLETELY FALSE.  Six to eight people never consume 2+ lbs. of cabbage ever.  So do not make the same mistake I did, and calculate a party of our size would need at least a double batch.  For if you do, you will be ridiculed all night, followed by nightmares of vats of coleslaw.  It's still haunting my fridge and will for many days to come.

Oops.  I just read the recipe that I linked to, and she says one batch calls for one half head of cabbage, or 1 pound.  So, I might have accidentally quadrupled the cabbage part.

Anyone want to come over for some coleslaw?

--- 4 ---

Susan and Lucy are going to leadership camp for a week in Wisconsin.  In other words, I am losing my left and right hands for a whole week.  I will miss them sorely.

And even though I still have plenty of super cute stationery to send them mail, I know that they will be too busy to write back.  But I will write to them anyway.  If Baby J lets me.

This is Lucy at the local pool 12 years ago.

This is Baby J at the same local pool last week.

---5---

Speaking of Baby J, she herself speaks.  She says "belly" and "daddy" among other things.  When we go to the public pool, she points at all the men, waves and shouts, "belly-daddy-belly-belly-daddy-daddy-belly." 

Nope, not awkward at all. 

--- 6 ---

She also says "Hi" and "Bye."  Whenever we walk into someplace like a store or a library or something, she yells, "HI!"  and waves both hands.  When she sees someone leaving the store or library, she hollers, "BYE!"  Her personal vocation is to bring smiles to Villa Park, Illinois.  She could get a job as a WalMart greeter.

--- 7 ---

I hope she puts on some mad welcoming action tonight when Peter gets back from the Civil War trip.  Between power outages here and in DC, and my waterlogged phone, I've had radio silence for many days.  The Chef got a phone call yesterday, which he totally deserves, you know, because he gave birth to him after three months of bedrest, and breastfed him for over a year.  I better have some missed calls when I get my phone dried out, or he may be going to college in state.

 

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!