Substance Optional

Sitting here wondering about what I should blog about...one suggestion was that I blog about not blogging. I really have been bad lately. I'm not sure why - the likely culprit is laziness. I just haven't felt passionate about anything in particular. Or had any really wacky dreams (actually, Friday night I dreamed that the grant Jeff was writing to VHDA needed to have an original recipe as a component...in the dream I couldn't convince him that they only wanted the recipe - we didn't have to include the actual food. He was using a food vacuum sealer to package up the pasta to include in the 3 ring binder. I guess that was a wacky dream.).

But it isn't a very good excuse - since my regular readers know that a lot of my posts are about nothing in particular. Sometimes they wind their way around to being about something. Sometimes not. It is very unpredictable. So here are a couple of random thoughts/observations/synaptic misfires...

- we continue to host a foster cat (Avocado). But our "permanent" (she hopes) cat continues to be inhospitable. Though our pleasant little guest cat ignores her, Rude Cat makes the most ungodly noises whenever 'cado comes around. I believe we have found a potential "forever home" for Avocado. As much as I have enjoyed the visiting cat - I think I will enjoy going back to being a single cat home. Two cats are twice as much work! Maybe a little more than twice as much.

- tax season is underway but most of my people have been slow pulling their information together. They should remember that "failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."

- tonight we had shrimp roasted in their shells. It is funny, last fall when we were at the beach Mom and I scoured the internet (on our smart phones) looking for a recipe for shrimp that left the shells on (besides steaming and boiling...we are accomplished at both of those) and could find nothing. A couple weeks ago I opened an email from Cooks Illustrated and there was the recipe! Cooks Illustrated is far more than recipes - it is truly cooking for food nerds. Not only does it tell you the best way to make a dish, it tells you the whole trial and error that the test kitchen went through to make it the best way. I was incredibly fortunate that Mom did the hard work (de-veining without removing the shells) and was just starting to brine the shrimp when I got home. I got to take a relaxing shower and then have the fun of watching them broil in the oven! The only "downside" to the meal? Mom made the best cocktail sauce ever (read: enough horseradish to curl your nose hairs) but the shrimp were so fantastic without it - I was torn between eating the shrimp with and without it! Thankfully I struck a balance. (whew...I know you were worried!)

- I have three "time-waster" games on my phone. I should probably pare that down to just one - because that would give me more time to blog! I can't decide which one I would keep though. I have something called "Dragon Gem" which is a Bejeweled-type game. Get three like gems in a row and get points, clear the whole board and move on to the next level. Each level has a possible 3 stars - you have to be quick and clever to get all three stars. I force myself to earn all 3 before I let myself go on to the next level. It is a demented sort of masochism.

My newest time-waster is "What's the Word?" You get a screen with 4 pictures and a series of letters...you have to figure out what the word is that all four pictures relate to. Sometimes they are very easy...but if I hit a brick wall, I get so frustrated I consider uninstalling the darn thing. Or, like last night, I spend an enormous amount of time wandering through pages and pages of "cheats" to find the answer. Well, I guess "cheats" shouldn't be in quotations. Cheats. But once I find the missing answer, I no longer feel like jumping off the roof. The last time-waster (and probably the one I would keep) is Coin Dozer. Yep...just like the game at the fair/arcade! You know, the one that always looked like 100 quarters would fall if you could talk your Dad out of one more quarter! At least this isn't real money. I play it in elevators, checkout lines, or when I'm stopped on Rivermont Avenue (waiting for construction traffic...not with blue lights behind me. Unlike my Mom...).

- I feel sure that one of my blog followers is considering sending me a comment about the fact that I used the numeral "3" AND the word "three" in the random thought above. Yes, Ida, I can feel it! For the record I do know that numbers under ten (or is it twenty?) are supposed to be written out. Well, maybe I need to brush up on that rule. Thanks for being my favorite proofreader.

Well - there's a post. I'll try to be better about not creating beaten hamster deserts. I just have to remember that substance is optional.