taz_39 | Tootsie Layoff Orlando Part 1

The flight from DC was just fine.

I'm really beginning to appreciate Southwest airlines. Why can't EVERY airline let you choose your own seats?
Like most people I prefer an aisle or window, but frankly it doesn't matter which seat I get as long as I'm no farther back than the wings. Being nearer the middle or front of the plane helps quite a lot with reducing the dipping sensation that causes me to get airsick so quickly. This time I was able to get a seat just about 10 rows back with a lovely elderly couple, and this made the flight so much more pleasant.

They were holding hands and didn't say a word to each other. It was sweet, and it made me sad for my stepmom.

Jameson came to fetch me from the airport. We hugged and got caught up, then Josh (our key 1 on tour) joined us because he lives in Orlando too and he and Jameson go way back. We had a good chat while waiting for our luggage.

Back at the house I immediately started a load of laundry and threw myself into cleaning.
It's not that the house is THAT dirty; Jameson had cleaned somewhat while I was gone.
But for one thing, I just like things cleanER than he does. And for another, I consider it important for me to hold up my end of our symbiotic relationship: he pays the bills, and I clean and maintain things and buy a portion of our necessities. Right now he's having to take over a large part of my "role", and I feel bad about it (although I know he doesn't mind). So I want to clean when I get home, and not only that I want to do it right away so it's not a lingering chore on what's supposed to be a relaxing week off.

So I scrubbed the shower, and wiped down the kitchen, and swept and mopped the tile floors.
Jameson had vacuumed, washed the sheets, and cleaned the main bathroom recently, so I left all that alone.
He also decorated the front of the house for Christmas! And look! Bonk, the Defender of the Hedge, has a new friend!!

I love that Jameson has added her, and that he decorated!
Debating what her name will be. So far I've come up with "Whickerdoodle", "Clove", and "Nog" or "Noggy".
We ordered dinner from Bento and watched a Holiday baking competition on Food Network, then drifted off to sleep.

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Tuesday I had a lot to do. In the morning I continued checking my dad's emails and discovered a few new accounts, nothing drastic, just more login information to record mostly. I checked on my plants. The lemons are almost ready, maybe another month and we can have lemon squares or another lemon meringue pie!

Most of the rest of the garden is kinda trashy, but it is winter after all and plus I can't maintain any of it while away.
The vanilla continues to astound me. It's approaching the top of the tree. Wonder what it'll do when it gets there.
Still no signs of blooms, but for now I'm just enjoying that it's so happy.

(LJ is not embedding from facebook again so you can either follow the link to my fb or watch fullscreen to see the video.)

I ate breakfast while Jameson did his work, and I did some repacking as well. I needed to restock on N95 masks and some medications, and added a winter coat since we'll be going to Des Moines soon. I removed my neck pillow since I never seem to use it, and left my Tootsie coat as well because I haven't been wearing it. I switched out a few shirts and two sets of pajamas to prevent wearing them out on tour. Then I grabbed a jar of the roselle jam I'd made last time I was home and wrapped it up tight to be shipped to one of our production team who helped me a lot during bereavement leave.

When Jameson was done with his work we went to Target together. Mostly this was for me, for my groceries for the week and ingredients for making coffee cake and snickerdoodles. Back home we had lunch, then I went out again to ship the roselle jam and visit both Kilwin's and Walgreens for fudge, peanut brittle, and stocking stuffers. Back home again where Jameson practiced a bit while I wrapped his presents, then we had Greek for dinner and watched tv while Jameson started on this massive Lego project: a replica of the Colosseum in Rome! He's doing it all in fast motion with a timer near the bottom and posting it to TikTok. Here's the first installation:

TikTok by @pianoboyce

We had been waiting all day for a package in the mail. Jameson's mom had made us cookies!
And--in what has become the typical Murphy's Law of 2016-thru-2021--we received the deeply disappointing notification that the treats had been delivered...to the wrong address. Jameson filed a report with UPS, but it's unlikely he'll get the package back. The worst part is, it probably had his stocking in it too :(

Well, I had been planning to make coffee cake and snickerdoodles anyway, so I decided to also add peanut butter blossoms because I know his mom had sent them. And tomorrow I have a car appointment in Winter Park, so I will get up extra-early so I can hit a grocery store for the ingredients (and some more stocking stuffers). I only need smooth peanut butter, eggs, and Kisses, so even if it turns out he'll get his package it's not like those ingredients will go to waste. It's unfortunately all I can do right now to counteract this bad luck.

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Wednesday. I got up early and drove to a dollar store for Christmas bows. Found some stocking stuffers as well.
Next, Total Wines for mini-bottles, another great stocking stuffer.
Then to the dealership where I nearly fell back asleep again while they checked out my car, finding about $300 worth of work to do in the form of a fraying serpentine belt, a pretty complete inspection, and an "AC EVAP refresh" which may or may not have been necessary but since I live in Florida (bugs, mold, small reptiles, plant clippings) I think it's fair to do once every few years.

About the time I was paying and leaving, Jameson texted to say there'd been a Christmas miracle!
Someone DID return our package! Not only that, it contained our Christmas presents in addition to the homemade cookies.
Jameson's mom would have been REALLY upset to lose those! We were both very grateful to UPS for making sure the package was delivered to us in the end.

I came straight home and enjoyed a peanut butter blossom cookie :)
Then we just chilled for a few hours until dinner time, for which we decided to try Gyu-kaku Japanese BBQ!

If you've ever eaten shabu-shabu or fondue out at a restaurant, the concept here is similar.
Our table had a small round grill in the middle, and we were each given tongs and some plates of nicely marinated meats and vegetables.
We would grill our own food and enjoy it fresh off the grill.
It was a lot of fun to "cook" like this, and the different marinades were very delicious, most were not too salty (Jameson has a sodium sensitivity that we need to look out for). There were many cuts of beef including filet mignon, ribeye, hanger steak, and sirloin, all of which were wonderful. But our favorite of the night was easily the calamari. This wasn't the tiny breaded fried rings you're used to seeing as an appetizer. This was thick rings cut from an adult squid's mantle, and they were tender and sweet with a beautiful texture. We loved them so much, it was the only thing we ordered seconds of all night. For dessert we had a s'more each, and a small tray of fruit sorbet cubes. Did I eat too much, yes. Was it worth it, YES. Japanese BBQ is awesome.

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Thursday was my baking day :)

I wanted to make coffee cake for us to enjoy, and some snickerdoodles because they're one of Jameson's favorite cookies.

The coffee cake came together easily. You just make the crumble first using white and brown sugar, a little salt, melted butter, and cake flour. While that cools you basically make a cake batter with buttermilk as the liquid.
Batter in the pan, crumbles on top. Bake for 40 minutes.

It was still warm when we dug in. Flavor-wise, I've got no complaints. It tastes like a decadent yellow cake with crisp sweet crumbles all over, yum. The only thing I'd change is I'd like it in a smaller pan next time so the cake rises higher. The recipe called for an 8x8, and I've got a 9x9 or some 9" pie pans. 8x8's seem really hard to find unless it's the disposable foil version.

Next I put together the snickerdoodle batter. Again, very easy: pretty much a sugar cookie batter with the addition of cream of tartar. But the recipe said to "refrigerate dough for 20-30 minutes". I only make cookies once per year, so sometimes I forget the important stuff, like WHY we're refrigerating the dough. I should have known that 30 minutes would not be enough to chill the dough. I should have remembered that the reason you chill cookie dough is to solidify the butter and prevent spreading and flattening of your cookies.

But I forgot all of that, and pulled the dough out of the fridge after 30 minutes even though it was not nearly chilled enough. I made dough balls and rolled each ball in cinnamon sugar. And put them in the oven, where they promptly spread and oozed into a solid cookie mass. Sigh.

I only realized my mistake after putting the remaining dough in the freezer while waiting for the first batch to bake, and then watching the cookies made with the actually cold dough. They spread a lot less and ended up looking "ok" (see above photo). Of course they still do taste good, but I'm annoyed with myself for making such a stupid mistake.

I boxed up the prettier-looking cookies for the neighbors, along with some of the fudge from Kilwin's and a jar of roselle jam. I kept an eye out for the neighbors all day but didn't see anyone. Guess I'll try again tomorrow.

Later in the afternoon Jameson asked if I'd like pizza for dinner, I said sure. He mentioned Marco's and how much he's enjoyed their pies lately, and described their larger-than-average chicken wings. "But I still like YOUR wings better!" he exclaimed.

I checked my clock: 3pm. Hold my beer.
I hopped in the car and drove 30 minutes to Whole Foods for fresh chicken wings and our favorite Buffalo sauce from The New Primal. 45 minutes return trip through theme park holiday traffic, but that's still beating the rush hour, which would have been 1 hour 20 minutes (says I, from experience). Seasoned the wings and threw them in the air fryer. They were done right as the pizza arrived.

Assuming no covid catastrophes, I've still got six months of touring left.
So while I'm home, I want to make it special. And remind Jameson why he misses me :p

Tomorrow we have Jameson's company holiday party at Universal Orlando. We think they're not providing food (covid) so right now the plan is to eat at Cowfish Grill. I also hope to try butterbeer for the first time.

On Saturday Jameson has orientation with Disney. Did I mention this? He's been offered a sub piano position with the Disney on Broadway show at Epcot. He's extremely nervous about it, but I'm proud of him and happy for this opportunity for him. He's been really down on himself lately, and I want him to see himself as others see him: amazing. Dedicated. Highly skilled, and more than capable.

That night we're going to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert at the Amway. We've seen TSO live many times, and it just never gets old :)

Then Sunday will be our faux "Christmas", in which he'll open some of his presents and I'll open all of mine, and we'll eat Christmas cookies and maybe some fancy tacos. I couldn't ask for anything more.

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