Scary for Many Reasons
Oct. 29th, 2023 08:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taz_39I had felt sort of run down on Thursday night, so let myself "sleep in" until 7:30am.
I worked, practiced, and meant to do more like trim the banana trees or clean the bathroom but instead caught up on little things that were popping up like distracting weeds.
Writing a review for the UPS Store (the manager asked me to, I go there pretty often.)
Looking for haircut photos, because I got a reminder for a cut that I'd apparently scheduled for tomorrow and I'd specifically promised to bring photos for the hairdresser this time.
In relation to the haircut, realizing that Halloween is almost upon us and if I want to get us some pumpkins I'd better do it after the haircut, and planning the return route to swing by a local farmstand.
Preparing the brussels sprout salad for dinner tonight. You're supposed to buy a bag of shaved brussies but they didn't have any, meaning I had to take the time to shave my own (easy to do but time consuming.)
And receiving a big wad of information from My Fair Lady: an updated contact sheet, updated route sheet, dress code, instrument shipping options, schedule for tech week, flight bookings to accept/decline, and a link to the cast website which has all sorts of good stuff like our weekly travel sheets and ticket request forms and such.
I had been wondering how so many people were joining my Foodie Finds when it only got one mention.
Now I think I know: at the bottom of the cast website:
Like, it's a HUGE banner. It's the largest thing on the site. That explains it!
I'm glad it's going to be useful for everyone :)
After getting the pile of information today, I feel much more nervous and excited, it's sinking in that this is really happening.
Am I ready? I don't know! I feel mostly ready?
Before Jameson got home I assembled a pork tenderloin Wellington for dinner.
It's a recipe from Pioneer Woman, and it turned out to be really easy and delicious.
Pork tenderloin (one of the cheapest roast meats out there) brushed with honey, pepper, and mustard, then wrapped in a sheet of puff pastry line with prosciutto, sage, and (oddly) panko crumbs. Brush with egg and bake for 40 minutes or until 145F inside. Cool for 10 minutes and enjoy. The pork was perfect, the puff pastry was kinda soggy on the bottom so next time I'd do this with a roasting pan to give the juices somewhere else to go. I made the judgement call not to salt the meat since it would be wrapped in salty prosciutto, and that turned out to be the correct choice. The brussels sprout slaw was shaved brussies, apples, almonds, honey, mustard, vinegar, parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper. It was good but I felt it was missing something...maybe some dried cranberries or sunflower seeds, I'm not sure. Anyway, we both enjoyed it.
No pics because I forgot, but here's the recipe.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, I slept terribly. Jameson tossed and turned all night so that was part of it, but my brain wouldn't shut off anyway.
I got up early to do some work before driving 40 minutes for a haircut with the same person I went to in August.
She did a good job again, but I still am not getting the cut that I want and probably never will.
I don't know why. I bring pictures and say, "I want this," and when I look in the mirror when they're done it's never what I've asked for. Maybe I would have to get highlights too, or use a specific hair product. Or have a face that's less horsey and ugly.
It's not bad, though, so whatever. Another $70 wasted.
Also if anyone has any tips for adult acne I'm all ears. I've never had it this bad since I was a teen, suddenly there are zits everywhere and I keep getting the huge sore kind on my chin (thankfully none right now but they come in "cycles" if you know what I mean.) I've tried bareMinerals, CeraVe, PanOxyl, Acure, and those rescue dots/patches. Maybe it's due to turning 40 soon. Hooray for hormones. Sigh.
On the way home I stopped at a touristy citrus place along the highway because they claimed to have pumpkins, but what they actually had were loads of gourds and only a few rather picked-over and damaged pumpkins, so I didn't get anything except cringe.
Ok but this fountain is pretty cool tho.
Back home there was a box from my sister Raven, with treats from her trip to Thailand!
Some coffee from a plantation that she got to visit in person, and some fancy honey, and a big pile of yummy candies!
I had a dark green candy right away because I suspected it was pandan (it was!) and it was so good! Google told me it's called "kalamae" or "Kalamay", and is a type of caramel made by stirring glutenous rice flour, sugar, and coconut cream on the stove until it's chewy (just like the dairy cream caramels I made last week.) I can't wait to try all of the others and try to guess the flavors. The pastel ones may be milk candies, which are usually made with milk powder or condensed milk in Asia (think White Rabbit) so I'll have to proceed with caution on those. But I'll bet they're worth the side effects :P
I worked some more, then decided to trim my banana trees.
On the very last dead leaf there was a Cuban tree frog sleeping in the crook next to the trunk.
Invasive, but come on, look how adorable!
I still wanted to cut the leaf...so I did. Ever so carefully.
(CLICK HERE to watch)
After that I went to get dinner for myself (Jameson had leftovers which I'd already had for lunch) and to sus out some pumpkins. I had much better luck at our local Publix, which had a nice display and pumpkins that hadn't been kicked all around by tourist's children.
I was immediately drawn to a squat one with perfect beautiful skin and a twisty twirly stem. Then I wanted a tall one to counteract it, but there weren't really any so I at least picked out a photogenic one with a nice fat stem. Usually I go for the ugliest ones I can find but probably won't have time to really get artistic with carving this year, so plain ones are fine.
Here they are:
I will carve them probably on Sunday, and roast the seeds. Yum!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday felt like a weekend. I managed to log about 19 hours total data entry this week, which I think isn't terrible all things considered.
It was a very productive day as far as getting the house ready for my absence.
I swept and mopped all the tile floors; cleaned both bathrooms; cleaned both showers; vacuumed; washed the bedsheets; made the bed; bought random household supplies so that Jameson would be fully stocked; thawed chicken wings for dinner.
Now all I have to do cleaning-wise is a deep dust, and cleaning up the guest bedroom once I'm done packing.
After lunch I did a little work, and mental decompressing with a cup of mint tea.
When Jameson got home I made air fryer wings, his favorite and the last time I'll get to make them for him until probably Christmas. We ordered a pizza to go with them, and watched The Fall of the House of Usher. This episode was hard for me...there were some scenes that were too disturbing. But I watched anyway because it's fiction, and real people go through worse.
After dinner I decided to try one of Raven's Thai candies. I picked a yellow one. And spat it out almost instantly.
Can you guess what flavor it was?
Durian.
I spat it into the trash, rinsed my mouth out, and ate something else. And sent my sister a catty text for not warning me! Poo-head! She totally did that on purpose. "You would have tried one anyway," she said.
She's right of course.
Then I had to take the trash out because of the smell.
Durian, and the intense smell of durian, is not a joke! Except when it is :p
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday.....oh my GAWD it's Sunday already!
I like...I can't even think. I will be in Boise in three days.
But for once I tried to be in the moment. Because Jameson and I are about to be extremely busy, and he had today off, so it's important to be here and now.
After breakfast I immediately grabbed a pumpkin and got to work.
Here are seeds from one, and the other patient awaiting the operating table!
I got roughly two cups of seeds from each pumpkin. I noticed that the seeds from one pumpkin had thicker shells, so I kept each pumpkin's seeds separate so they could have different cook times. The first thing I did was boil the seeds in salted water. This helps to soften and break down the fiber in the shells and prevents the seeds from becoming chewy in the oven.
The seeds had to dry out for most of the day, so I used that time to carve the pumpkins.
It took a long time and I could have done something more productive, but frankly, eff that.
What a waste to have pumpkins and not appreciate them!
I found some random faces online and chose one for each pumpkin.
Usually I make some wild artistic statement with at least one pumpkin--the most recent was a lumpy pumpkin where I hollowed out the lumps to make them look like boils--but this year there wasn't time for that.
Before lunch I made this guy:
After lunch I made this one. He is more cartoony.
It took me a very long time to do all this gutting, carving, and cleanup. By the time I was done it was almost 3pm. I practiced, but not a lot; at this point there's no point playing the whole show when I'm about to play it hundreds of times. I looked at trouble spots and energetic numbers mostly. Finished with that around 4pm and took a shower while the oven preheated, then seasoned my seeds.
One set of seeds I seasoned with olive oil, paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt.
The other got butter, Lawry's seasoning salt (which has most of the spices listed above anyway), and black pepper.
The normal-looking seeds took a normal amount of time in the oven (about 20-25 minutes).
The thicker-looking seeds took nearly an hour. But in the end both were delicious and not that different from each other, one was just spicier.
Roasted pumpkin seeds are SO good. There's something special about them for sure.
I will pack some to take with my for my first week on tour.
Which is already here, apparently. Yeeeeeeek.
We got dinner from our favorite Greek place, and when it got dark we put electric tea lights in the pumpkins.
Before and after:
Jameson has overnight rehearsal at Disney and won't be back until late, even later tomorrow night. It's like his schedule is reversed from last week. I will go to bed a little early because when he comes home I know I'll wake up.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, here it is. November in a few days. Summer is over for me, and it's time to get back to work.
I am nervous and dreading some things, and excited and looking forward to others.
Which I think is pretty normal.
Tomorrow I plan to get up early and take a trip to Hobby Lobby for a foam cone to put in my trombone bell (I'm assuming it's going to get checked because it's too large for the overhead bins) and to Total Wine for an early birthday present for Jameson. I'll deep dust the bookshelf, and practice, and do a "final" pack-and-weigh of my luggage. Hoping to go for a walk, and if not I'll definitely go for one on Tuesday.
And...I guess that's it. Foodie Finds still isn't done, but there are only a few cities left so I'm not worried about it.
I'll put in a last few days at work. And water my plants. and throw out any food that Jameson won't eat.
I worked, practiced, and meant to do more like trim the banana trees or clean the bathroom but instead caught up on little things that were popping up like distracting weeds.
Writing a review for the UPS Store (the manager asked me to, I go there pretty often.)
Looking for haircut photos, because I got a reminder for a cut that I'd apparently scheduled for tomorrow and I'd specifically promised to bring photos for the hairdresser this time.
In relation to the haircut, realizing that Halloween is almost upon us and if I want to get us some pumpkins I'd better do it after the haircut, and planning the return route to swing by a local farmstand.
Preparing the brussels sprout salad for dinner tonight. You're supposed to buy a bag of shaved brussies but they didn't have any, meaning I had to take the time to shave my own (easy to do but time consuming.)
And receiving a big wad of information from My Fair Lady: an updated contact sheet, updated route sheet, dress code, instrument shipping options, schedule for tech week, flight bookings to accept/decline, and a link to the cast website which has all sorts of good stuff like our weekly travel sheets and ticket request forms and such.
I had been wondering how so many people were joining my Foodie Finds when it only got one mention.
Now I think I know: at the bottom of the cast website:
Like, it's a HUGE banner. It's the largest thing on the site. That explains it!
I'm glad it's going to be useful for everyone :)
After getting the pile of information today, I feel much more nervous and excited, it's sinking in that this is really happening.
Am I ready? I don't know! I feel mostly ready?
Before Jameson got home I assembled a pork tenderloin Wellington for dinner.
It's a recipe from Pioneer Woman, and it turned out to be really easy and delicious.
Pork tenderloin (one of the cheapest roast meats out there) brushed with honey, pepper, and mustard, then wrapped in a sheet of puff pastry line with prosciutto, sage, and (oddly) panko crumbs. Brush with egg and bake for 40 minutes or until 145F inside. Cool for 10 minutes and enjoy. The pork was perfect, the puff pastry was kinda soggy on the bottom so next time I'd do this with a roasting pan to give the juices somewhere else to go. I made the judgement call not to salt the meat since it would be wrapped in salty prosciutto, and that turned out to be the correct choice. The brussels sprout slaw was shaved brussies, apples, almonds, honey, mustard, vinegar, parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper. It was good but I felt it was missing something...maybe some dried cranberries or sunflower seeds, I'm not sure. Anyway, we both enjoyed it.
No pics because I forgot, but here's the recipe.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, I slept terribly. Jameson tossed and turned all night so that was part of it, but my brain wouldn't shut off anyway.
I got up early to do some work before driving 40 minutes for a haircut with the same person I went to in August.
She did a good job again, but I still am not getting the cut that I want and probably never will.
I don't know why. I bring pictures and say, "I want this," and when I look in the mirror when they're done it's never what I've asked for. Maybe I would have to get highlights too, or use a specific hair product. Or have a face that's less horsey and ugly.
It's not bad, though, so whatever. Another $70 wasted.
Also if anyone has any tips for adult acne I'm all ears. I've never had it this bad since I was a teen, suddenly there are zits everywhere and I keep getting the huge sore kind on my chin (thankfully none right now but they come in "cycles" if you know what I mean.) I've tried bareMinerals, CeraVe, PanOxyl, Acure, and those rescue dots/patches. Maybe it's due to turning 40 soon. Hooray for hormones. Sigh.
On the way home I stopped at a touristy citrus place along the highway because they claimed to have pumpkins, but what they actually had were loads of gourds and only a few rather picked-over and damaged pumpkins, so I didn't get anything except cringe.
Ok but this fountain is pretty cool tho.
Back home there was a box from my sister Raven, with treats from her trip to Thailand!
Some coffee from a plantation that she got to visit in person, and some fancy honey, and a big pile of yummy candies!
I had a dark green candy right away because I suspected it was pandan (it was!) and it was so good! Google told me it's called "kalamae" or "Kalamay", and is a type of caramel made by stirring glutenous rice flour, sugar, and coconut cream on the stove until it's chewy (just like the dairy cream caramels I made last week.) I can't wait to try all of the others and try to guess the flavors. The pastel ones may be milk candies, which are usually made with milk powder or condensed milk in Asia (think White Rabbit) so I'll have to proceed with caution on those. But I'll bet they're worth the side effects :P
I worked some more, then decided to trim my banana trees.
On the very last dead leaf there was a Cuban tree frog sleeping in the crook next to the trunk.
Invasive, but come on, look how adorable!
I still wanted to cut the leaf...so I did. Ever so carefully.
(CLICK HERE to watch)
After that I went to get dinner for myself (Jameson had leftovers which I'd already had for lunch) and to sus out some pumpkins. I had much better luck at our local Publix, which had a nice display and pumpkins that hadn't been kicked all around by tourist's children.
I was immediately drawn to a squat one with perfect beautiful skin and a twisty twirly stem. Then I wanted a tall one to counteract it, but there weren't really any so I at least picked out a photogenic one with a nice fat stem. Usually I go for the ugliest ones I can find but probably won't have time to really get artistic with carving this year, so plain ones are fine.
Here they are:
I will carve them probably on Sunday, and roast the seeds. Yum!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday felt like a weekend. I managed to log about 19 hours total data entry this week, which I think isn't terrible all things considered.
It was a very productive day as far as getting the house ready for my absence.
I swept and mopped all the tile floors; cleaned both bathrooms; cleaned both showers; vacuumed; washed the bedsheets; made the bed; bought random household supplies so that Jameson would be fully stocked; thawed chicken wings for dinner.
Now all I have to do cleaning-wise is a deep dust, and cleaning up the guest bedroom once I'm done packing.
After lunch I did a little work, and mental decompressing with a cup of mint tea.
When Jameson got home I made air fryer wings, his favorite and the last time I'll get to make them for him until probably Christmas. We ordered a pizza to go with them, and watched The Fall of the House of Usher. This episode was hard for me...there were some scenes that were too disturbing. But I watched anyway because it's fiction, and real people go through worse.
After dinner I decided to try one of Raven's Thai candies. I picked a yellow one. And spat it out almost instantly.
Can you guess what flavor it was?
Durian.
I spat it into the trash, rinsed my mouth out, and ate something else. And sent my sister a catty text for not warning me! Poo-head! She totally did that on purpose. "You would have tried one anyway," she said.
She's right of course.
Then I had to take the trash out because of the smell.
Durian, and the intense smell of durian, is not a joke! Except when it is :p
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday.....oh my GAWD it's Sunday already!
I like...I can't even think. I will be in Boise in three days.
But for once I tried to be in the moment. Because Jameson and I are about to be extremely busy, and he had today off, so it's important to be here and now.
After breakfast I immediately grabbed a pumpkin and got to work.
Here are seeds from one, and the other patient awaiting the operating table!
I got roughly two cups of seeds from each pumpkin. I noticed that the seeds from one pumpkin had thicker shells, so I kept each pumpkin's seeds separate so they could have different cook times. The first thing I did was boil the seeds in salted water. This helps to soften and break down the fiber in the shells and prevents the seeds from becoming chewy in the oven.
The seeds had to dry out for most of the day, so I used that time to carve the pumpkins.
It took a long time and I could have done something more productive, but frankly, eff that.
What a waste to have pumpkins and not appreciate them!
I found some random faces online and chose one for each pumpkin.
Usually I make some wild artistic statement with at least one pumpkin--the most recent was a lumpy pumpkin where I hollowed out the lumps to make them look like boils--but this year there wasn't time for that.
Before lunch I made this guy:
After lunch I made this one. He is more cartoony.
It took me a very long time to do all this gutting, carving, and cleanup. By the time I was done it was almost 3pm. I practiced, but not a lot; at this point there's no point playing the whole show when I'm about to play it hundreds of times. I looked at trouble spots and energetic numbers mostly. Finished with that around 4pm and took a shower while the oven preheated, then seasoned my seeds.
One set of seeds I seasoned with olive oil, paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt.
The other got butter, Lawry's seasoning salt (which has most of the spices listed above anyway), and black pepper.
The normal-looking seeds took a normal amount of time in the oven (about 20-25 minutes).
The thicker-looking seeds took nearly an hour. But in the end both were delicious and not that different from each other, one was just spicier.
Roasted pumpkin seeds are SO good. There's something special about them for sure.
I will pack some to take with my for my first week on tour.
Which is already here, apparently. Yeeeeeeek.
We got dinner from our favorite Greek place, and when it got dark we put electric tea lights in the pumpkins.
Before and after:
Jameson has overnight rehearsal at Disney and won't be back until late, even later tomorrow night. It's like his schedule is reversed from last week. I will go to bed a little early because when he comes home I know I'll wake up.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, here it is. November in a few days. Summer is over for me, and it's time to get back to work.
I am nervous and dreading some things, and excited and looking forward to others.
Which I think is pretty normal.
Tomorrow I plan to get up early and take a trip to Hobby Lobby for a foam cone to put in my trombone bell (I'm assuming it's going to get checked because it's too large for the overhead bins) and to Total Wine for an early birthday present for Jameson. I'll deep dust the bookshelf, and practice, and do a "final" pack-and-weigh of my luggage. Hoping to go for a walk, and if not I'll definitely go for one on Tuesday.
And...I guess that's it. Foodie Finds still isn't done, but there are only a few cities left so I'm not worried about it.
I'll put in a last few days at work. And water my plants. and throw out any food that Jameson won't eat.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-30 12:43 pm (UTC)I feel your hair pain, I never get the cut I want. I think my hair is just too fine then my own styling skills are just not up to the job
no subject
Date: 2023-10-30 01:56 pm (UTC)I also have very fine hair, so maybe that’s the problem. I should really try growing it out for 2024.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-01 05:36 pm (UTC)