the remaking of a kitchen

wow, a busy couple of weeks! so much going on that was good, seeing lots of friends and relatives and just have a good, fun time!
on friday the 4th, we stayed over night in omaha on our way to ft collins. it just happened to be the alumni banquet for the school and celebrating 50 years for the class ahead of me. i went with kay lynn and mary beth and saw so many old friends. i really wanted to connect with those friends ahead of us and was able to do that. i hope to be able to keep in touch with some of them after being able to see them face to face. several of them don't live that far from us and are on our way to nebraska, so it's possible.


an unexpected treat was seeing my cousin jo......i forgot that this would be an honor year for her, so we got to visit for a bit and our tables were next to each other so we could communicate back and forth. her roommate was there too, so we had to talk about them coming to our apartment to visit when they were freshman. great fun!

Labels: beth and john, friends, kay lynn and mary beth, nmh

this was a busy busy week. i returned home from a visit in california and then had a one day turn around before we left for nebraska on wednesday. i slept in so it was a late start, and although we arrived in the midst of the commuter traffic it wasn't an issue.
don's cataract surgery was thursday morning and that went well, so we went for breakfast after wards. i was able to catch up with my with my friends lea and janelle and had a fun visit with them. we haven't seen each other for several years so that was great.
we went for the post surgical visit on friday and don was pronounced healthy and well enough to attend the saturday football game. i went off to lunch with friends kay lynn, midge and liz and we talked and laughed for almost 3 hours. then don and i were off to lincoln for the rest of the weekend. the game was not a fun time although i got to see friends lea and dave and ryan who was home for the weekend. really nice....that part anyway. gotta believe the team remains a work in progress! sigh.
on sunday met up with kari and her family at holmes park and joined in the making strides against breast cancer with kari's team. we were invited to brennan's birthday celebration but felt we needed to get on the road instead. we arrived at 9 pm, a good 7 hours drive.
today it was yard stuff....don mowed and i pulled out the dead tomato and pepper plants, and dug up my garlic. i moved all the pots (with dead plants) to the concrete thing for delivery to the shed in the next few days. tonight is an edina reads presentation at the library, so i am helping with that.....kao kalia yang reading from her book THE LATE HOMECOMER.

Labels: cataract, family, friends, stride to prevent breast cancer

we went to a chinese new year party on saturday night. we've been previously and it's always fun. the deal is everyone brings their chopping board and knife and gets to work. the menu includes egg rolls, pot stickers, ham fried rice, bacon chicken wraps, barbecue pork, szechuan shrimp and various purchased dessert treats. i confess that i took my equipment, but i didn't chop.....i served, i hassled and i washed dishes. surely enough???
it's a good way to catch up with old friends and to meet some new people that i'd like to see again.

Labels: chopping, food, friends, washing dishes

we are back, it was a busy, but fun filled week in nebraska. we had a nice drive to omaha and after a few false starts met up with angela and kishin in time to watch the obama acceptance speech while they had dinner and we had an appetizer and a beer. (we'd eaten earlier) we soon discovered we had like political leanings so all was well. it was so great to see angela again and to finally meet kishin.
on friday we drove to columbus and met john and julie for lunch and a good start to the alum proceedings. lots of laughing and giggling. the first evening's event was across the highway from our motel so we walked over and were soon greeting friends and trying to be sly in reading name tags of those we didn't recognize. there were quite a few classmates in attendance which was pretty encouraging. the discouraging part was that out of 108 of us, 32 have died. there were 5 elementary schools, and out of those 11 were from my school. scary!! a few of were obviously struggling with various physical complaints, but everyone had a good time.
after we ate we were all invited to carroll and jane's recently remodeled victorian, and it is gorgeous! we had snacks and dessert as well as beer and wine there and visited with all the people that made it to that venue. as we were leaving, i was thrilled to notice my handmade bowl that carroll bought YEARS ago at a local art fair sitting on a table. :)
on saturday about 30 of us met for lunch at duster's and had good food and a good visit too. we wandered from table to table gabbing away. when we left there i took a photo of angela standing by the front door of the apartment that belonged to her family until they moved 52 years ago! we dropped kishin and don back at the motel so angela and i could have a tour of the old stomping grounds. we drove around neighborhoods she remembered and by schools and houses of friends etc....a good trip down memory lane.
that evening brought a few new attendees and we also lost a few to football or other events. everything went well.....prenty had been asked to talk about those who had "passed on" and she did that and read a few poems and other readings. the food was good, and we all visited some more becoming reacquainted after all these years. it was a pretty special weekend for all of us!

Labels: friends, old friends, reunions

this has been a pleasant week. i am continuing to feel good and that is a treat. i had lunch with kay and lee and we had a good long visit afterwards.....good for all of us. i miss the two of them when they are gone for most of the winter. we ate at maude's and i enjoyed this meal a lot. it was a smoked salmon blt.....just delicious! it was accompanied by a fresh green salad with a citrus vinaigrette that was perfect.
last evening i went to the gallery for an opening and was pleased to see a couple of my pieces displayed prominently. hopefully ann will get some nibbles on them....i guess people like them, but not enough to have to own them as yet.
one of the clay artists at the opening was a former neighbor at the hx center show. it was so nice to see him and to see the growth evident in his pieces and hear about his family and their life together. he is just one of the world's good guys. i have one of his tea bowls in my collection, and i'd like to get another one of these days.

Labels: artists, friends, lunch

i'm back from my week in tucson and trying to catch up on sleep. we were on the go from the time we arrived to when we got on the plane. this year the motel actually had rooms for us, two rooms even. that is two steps up from 2007 for starters. we had to wait a couple of hours for the rooms to be cleaned, but it happened and they were ready when we returned from a quick shopping trip. we had nearly an hour to shop at one of the shows before it closed. not bad! judith conned me into my first purchase in that brief foray.....actually 2 purchases. one a silk purse for me and the other a gift for someone. both were pleasing and so it all started quite well!
the next morning after a fairly lousy night's sleep we headed for downtown and were able to find parking in the hotel arizona ramp which is handily close to everything in that area. we discovered later that it was also considerably cheaper than the parking lots next to the other show tents. the treat for the first morning was the opening day of the german lapidarists from the idar-oberstein area. beautiful and unusual work that is a joy to behold! i restrained myself and made no purchases, just enjoyed looking and watching as others made their choices. eye candy to the max!!
the next morning we started seeing friends and talking over the things we'd seen and what they'd seen and deciding on where to look for the best deals and material. that's one of the fun parts....seeing friends. judith and i look for different things, but i enjoy looking at the things she is buying, enjoying them vicariously since i have no need for stones any more.
i found several things for gifts and some things for liz and of course things to use in my own work. one dealer was ridding himself of his strands of small cabochon beads in various gem materials and i got some of those, and in fact did buy a couple of cabs in interesting material.
we went to a pearl dealer and i ended up with a strand of gray keshi and even showed my pearl collar to the owner. he asked if i would send an image of whatever i make with HIS pearls. said he'd never seen anyone use pearls the way i did and he's been in the business for 50 years. my friend lee picked me up one morning after i'd driven judith to the show of the day and parked the car. we then drove to see our friend kay and her house which was new to me. it is lovely, and bright with color on the walls, in paintings and textiles. lovely southwestern hues and catch the light and make for a very cheery home. we had sandwiches on the patio and sat in the sun which was a delight after the deep freeze back home. i managed to get a bit more sun than needed and had a red neck (not a political statement) and face for several days. that night we went to dinner with friends at poca cosa and that was great. everything was delicious, altho the sea bass was overcooked. ah well....otherwise a delight.
judith found some great things for a client and other things that she had on her list for her studio. always searching for the goodies. i found a jacket, well SHE found the jacket and finally talked me into buying it. i love the color and it fits well. her last comment was 'jini, your aunt wants you to have it!' now i really couldn't fight that one.....i know lee would have agreed! :) i bought a bunch of beads from my favorite bead person there, and will probably call her to get a few more hanks in a couple of colors that were sadly depleted. i also spoke with the woman from a wonderful bead shop in fort townsend, wa, and will be receiving some gray seed beads in the mail from her. she said she somehow ended up with a great selection in that color, and that is exactly the color i was hunting. she offered me a deal if i just accepted her sending me one hank or tube of each gray she had in stock....i said YES. we had dinner two different nights with mike and mary at sweet tomatoes and that was fun. i don't get to visit with them very often so that was especially enjoyable. this restaurant is mostly salad stuff and that was just what i wanted. yum.
on saturday evening, we left the shows early so we could see our friend steff and then make a quick stop at the obsidian gallery. had a quick bite of cheese and greeted a few friends then headed to lee and bill's for dinner. it was a lovely evening. excellent food and conversation. they are such great hosts!!
the trip home went well after a delayed departure from the motel. we did make it in time, but not without a bit of anxiety on my part. i worried about getting the car turned in, getting boarding passes and checking luggage. i claimed one of j's three and carried on two of mine so we didn't have to do a last minute mailing stop. it all worked! whew.
it's good to be home, although predictably i have a cold after being in the recirculated, germ laden air on the plane. i drank lots of water, washed my hands, but i guess i am just too prone to colds and stuff to get off scott free!
i haven't added one bead to the piece i'm making since being here, BUT, the wash is done! i have the first draft of the eulogy completed and spent most of yesterday afternoon choosing pictures to use for the slide show. that feels good, although i will probably do a bit of editing on both before i am done.

Labels: beads, friends, gems, pearls, tucson

monday evening i accompanied two friends to an art opening at beaujo's wine bar. the artist was friend to both of mine, but i hadn't met her previously. she paints charming oils of children and birds and confided that she came to be an artist late in life, having spent most of it teaching french at the university level. i like what she does and liked her too.....the four of us plan to return to beaujos for lunch before her show ends in march.
we left the opening and proceeded to d'amico's for dinner.....carefully trodding on ever more slippery sidewalks. talking, laughing and eating over a couple of hours was great, and we plan to do it again of course. they had some suggestions for don and i to check out some museum displays and we will do that.
they came to the house prior to the art show, because carol is thinking of a kitchen redo. showing it off and explaining where we started reminded me all over again how much i love the kitchen and enjoy working in it. cooking is so much more fun when there is room to move, places to store things, and appliances that make for good results. i feel very lucky to realize i am using my dream kitchen every single day!

Labels: dream kitchen, friends

the neighbors came for dinner on sunday evening. for some unknown reason i went a little nuts and used 3 new recipes and changed another i hadn't made for several years. i think my kitchen was visited by a crazy person! the appetizer recipes were pretty great.....a parsley hummus that was green with a bit of a bite from tahini, cumin and cayenne that i served with sugar snap peas and caulifloweretes, and blue cheese and caramelized onion squares that were impressive!
a simple romaine and grape tomato salad, my old standby pork tenderloin with cranberry/rosemary sauce, and a new one....roasted sweet potatoes and yams with fingerling potatoes. you could choose the herb seasoning to go with the minced garlic, and i used thyme and sage.....they were good, but a bit mushy as they cooked quicker than expected. next time i will use a slower oven and finish with increased heat to get a little crusty edge, or maybe just cut the taters in bigger pieces than recommended. we had the old stand by trader joe sourdough rolls instead of the popovers i was originally planning. (i do have SOME sense i guess!) for dessert, gary contributed some date bars that were fabulous, and we had some of my pear ginger bread and food for the gods, my grandmother's recipe...little samples of each. when i made it the day before both don and i thought the latter too sweet, but it didn't seem so when served. i substituted dried apricots for the dates and it was a good thing, although i love it with dates too.
we served the appetizers in the kitchen which was fun.....brian had made some key suggestions when the remake was in progress but hadn't seen it with completed back splash tile and wood floor. all in all a really great evening. have to do it again, but next time using familiar recipes for heaven sakes!!
we all had a great time visiting and talking about travel....they've been to paris 3 times and we've been to london twice and so we both learned a lot. we probably need to visit paris with phrase book in hand of course!

Labels: food, friends, good conversation, new recipes