jaysaint Getting it all down on paper…

Displaying my typical inability to moderate myself I’ve eaten at least some of every single thing I bought to today. The asparagus was absolutely beautiful and the only child in me was wishing Damon didn’t like it so I could have his. I had to settle for saying that I wish I had 50 more stalks as an appetizer for 100 stalks after that.

Now I’m wrapped in a blanket on the couch. The windows are open, even though it’s dark and brisk. I like the little chill that blows through every once in a while. I’m reading and idly playing my way through my Netflix and TiVo queues. The first season of Northern Exposure is on right now. Chris in the morning still gives my heart a little flutter, even though he’s sort of greasy and shacked up with Bo Derek now.

I’m reading two books. The first is The Poisonwood Bible. I’ve read it before, but I’m doing it once more for good measure. I like it, though I find it a bit much in its recreations of the girls’ malapropisms. The other book is Outlander which is unabashed pulp historical romance. I don’t indulge too often in the genre. Not because I’m above it but because it’s usually done so poory (in my experience) that I can’t hang in. But when I find a fun one, I’m in love. I actually tuned into this one via an abridged version on tape. The main characters are a Scottish man and an English woman and it was worth the download just to listen to the reader shuttle back and forth between the two accents.

The Isham Street greenmarket is back in business. This is big news for the neighborhood as it puts a huge variety of beautiful produce, cheese, fish, bakery goods and meat (if that’s your thing) right at our fingertips.

I snagged James and Charles and we walked all the stands. I came home with sweet yellow apples, a loaf of organic sour rye bread, organic horseradish cheddar cheese and onions. In addition I’ve got a heavily-onioned foccacia and asparagus (picked yesterday) that will do for dinner tonight. All of it is from upstate farms and is fresh from vine and field.

While I was putting aside supper for tonight I decided to take care of tomorrow as well out of existing stock. I sauteed onion, green pepper, garlic and jalapeno seasoned with brown sugar, salt, pepper, allspice, oregano and cumin. I threw the lot into the crock pot with a bunch of black beans. I’ll cook it up all day and let it sit tomorrow, which will make it even better. When it’s time to eat I’ll mix in a few cups of white rice and chop up the rest of the mangoes and toss them in for good measure.

I love those days when the kitchen just calls my name.

An added bonus is that Damon can’t believe his luck that his wife loves to cook. When I went to Connecticut two weeks ago he told me he’d miss me as I packed. I countered that he would not miss me, as he would reign supreme over the music, computer and movie-watching. And he said that I was right that he would enjoy this very much for a day, but would probably quickly get sick of eating popcorn for dinner.

Many times people who stay with us give us little gifts, bouquets of flowers and other dainties. These things are all so appreciated, and not actually necessary in order to be invited back again.

But my friend Anne, who left this morning, set the bar so high that I can’t imagine how anywould could top her.

We got a box of cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery (Lazy Sunday!) and a big chunk of honey-scented soap from Lush.

I’m eating cupcakes as fast as I can on the strength of the argument that the fresher they are the better they are.

Have I complained yet that the cold medicine has to be taken on a full stomach, and must be taken every three hours? Normally the edict to eat every three hours is about the best news I’ve heard all day. But being sick-ish kills my appetite. So the one time I can eat so frequently and insist it’s totally necessary is the one time I don’t want to do it. Unfair. I don’t actually have much in the way of food guilt, but I still hate to waste this.

Damon, on the other hand, has gone into another one of his exercise bonanzas. He’s doing really well with this one and tonight when he took off his shirt I was startled that I hadn’t quite noticed how far along he’d gotten. He’s quite studly.

It seemed like I had something else to say when I started this post, but now I can’t remember it.

I can’t decide whether to complain or be delighted. I’ve caught a cold. But this time I had the sense to start taking Zicam right away. Now I know at this point normally my nose would be painfully raw and I’d be begging Damon to wander the city until he finds the tissues with lotion. I’m congested and kind of itchy-throated and tired, but I can tell that just three days in I’m starting to get ahead of it. But I am stuffy and icky, so I’m still wanting to complain.

Far and Away is on tv, and that’s helping too.