Wowsa, What a Weekend!

I had a fantastic weekend. Friday night was Family Night at the Reinhardt-Miller household. We made pizzas ranging from your basic pepperoni to my favorite smoked salmon/goat cheese/anchovies/capers/red onion one. Adrian worked the crowd, bestowing smiles as favors to all his aunts, aunties and Tía. We all fawned over him, tickling him to elicit those oh-so-cute belly laughs and playing with him until bath & bedtime. After our boy went to bed, we continued our revelry by playing a few games of Catchphrase. I don’t know why Tanya is so lucky, but she doesn’t know how I guess her clues, either. We’re a great team, TT! Our new folks attending Fam Nite were probably less than impressed with our zeal for Catchphrase, but once you’ve been Tanya, and won a few games in a row you’ll find that it is quite addictive.

I started packing up my apartment on Saturday. I have to be out of my place by Halloween, so it was time to get cracking. Packing is one of my favorite tasks, right up there with cleaning the bathroom, getting a root canal and being abducted by aliens. I’ve put it off for as long as I can. I am happy to be moving, though. Frank is excited to be acquiring a live-in chef with a Netflix account. J I broke it to my father on Sunday that I’m moving. I may be knocking on 40’s door, but it’s still hard to tell my parents that I’m going to be living with my boyfriend. Why is that? As the youngest child I must have an ingrained need for their approval and blessing. Well, they don’t quite approve but they know that at my age I’m an adult and can make my own decisions. They like Frank and know he is a good man, and that is the most important part. On the other hand, they were thrilled that I had sold the Granny furniture. I’d been holding on to a bedroom set that originally belonged to Great Aunt Cissy (obviously of the anglo side of the family) and then to my grandmother. I sold it to someone I work with who was very happy to get a full sized bedframe with headboard & footboard, the matching chest of drawers with nifty wheels on the legs and vanity with little stool. I can only wonder if my great aunt and grandmother will make any visits from the other side to the furniture’s new home. It’s been their inclination over the years to, ahem, check in, so to speak. Pretty damn scary if you aren’t used to it. Caveat emptor!

Saturday night I made a fabulous meal for Frank and Corrie. I’m housesitting, and am taking advantage of the large kitchen and a Big Green Egg, a smoker/griller that is based on the Japanese kamado clay-fired stoves. It is a large, heavy, thick ceramic egg shaped grill and smoker. It is perfection! I grilled a chicken breast for Corrie and a salmon filet for us and the flavor really is a cross between smoked and char-grilled. The asparagus and Portobello mushrooms were equally flavorful. For dessert, I cored and sliced an apple, added a tiny bit of butter and some extra dark brown sugar before wrapping it all up in tin foil and placing it on the cooling Egg. In the house, I’d made toasted ciabatta bread with herbed goat cheese for a starter and baked polenta rounds topped with diced tomato, basil and capers as good carb side for Frank. He had a 10 mile race on Sunday and needed to carb load. Dessert was great, but I’d have killed for some vanilla ice cream to top the apples. Mmmm!

Sunday morning found me at the Pervasive Powercharge bright and early. I learned that following the crowd isn’t always the right thing to do. You know how it is, you’re going to some big event but didn’t look closely at directions. If you’re like me, you’ll think “I’ll just follow everyone else. All of us can’t be wrong.” That line of thinking has now been proved untrue once all the occupants of about 45 cars realized we had parked in the wrong place. Luckily, we had plenty of time before the start and found it amusing instead of stressful. It was turning into a beautiful morning and all was well. Frank and his running partner, Hang, had a terrific run. Hang’s boyfriend, Jason teamed up with me as support staff and we rushed off before the start to make the first of several mad dashes to vantage points around the race route. Our first stop was at the top of a very steep hill on Spicewood Springs. This hill was one that I couldn’t walk up without exertion, much less run but when our runners topped it, they looked cool and were running smoothly. In fact, each time we saw them they were making it look easy. Once again I’ve made a mental note to go by a party supply store for noisemakers instead of bruising my hands clapping for hours. Maybe I’ll be more prepared at the next race.

They finish the race at the same time, according to the results website, but we know that Hang finished 1/10th of a second ahead of Frank. Way to use the girl power, Hang! The official times are listed for Hang, racer number 768 overall and Frank, racer number 769 at 1:35:48. There are a lot of things I can do in an hour and a half, but running 10 miles is not currently one of them. Since they are so competitive I’ll just throw myself into the fray by declaring that while Frank and Hang may always outrun me, I can read faster and retain more of what I’m reading than either of them. Nope, we haven’t tested that, but I’m certain of my skills. At any rate, they showed us once again what powerful athletes they’ve become. Congratulations! No pressure, but I’m expecting you both to run the marathon in less than 4 hours.

Sunday night was my usual burgers-at-the-Can evening. It was super busy, due to the AIDS walk earlier that afternoon. In between customers Margie and I caught up on current events in our lives. I didn’t feel like drinking, despite offers from several regulars to buy me beverages. In fact, by the time 8pm hit, I was more than ready to leave. I did stop by Whole Foods for an avocado gelato and to buy some smoked mozzarella. I know I rave in person to all of you about the avocado gelato, but seriously, you need to try this treat. It is delectable. And no, it does not taste like frozen guacamole. It is a light, luscious flavor and you will become a fan if you only do what I urge and at least ask for a sample when you’re in the store. You won’t be disappointed.

What did you do this weekend?