I did a load of towels today, and I threw in our two bathmats for good measure since it had been a while since I'd washed either of them. I washed the load in hot water, because I've washed all of those things many times and didn't think the colors would run. Even though the blue towels kept their colors, the green bathmat bled a little of its greenness (viriditas, perhaps) onto the ecru bathmat. The new color is subtle and consistent throughout, however, so now the ecru bathmat is a lovely shade of peridot. I love it! It still goes with all the things in the bathroom in which it lives, and it's exactly the shade I would have picked if such a shade had been available back when we registered for that one. So it turned out to be a pleasant surprise, this happy laundry accident.

In other news, I'm feeling the effects of post-nasal drip, which is always fun. I've been sneezing a lot in the last week or so, so I've been taking extra allergy medicine. It hasn't been much help, and I've had a lot of snot, which just yesterday began to work its way down out of my nose and into other areas. Yum. My throat feels all mucusy and closed up, and I have the urge to spit a lot. This happened to me last spring during allergy season, and it doesn't feel like a cold or the flu or anything, so I'm not concerned. It's just a gross way to feel, especially since nothing I've eaten today has tasted quite right. I want to be not congested.

I had a fun cooking adventure yesterday; I made orange cookies for a dinner date with Jeannette and Chris. It was a pretty easy recipe, except that the dough had to chill for two hours, and they're like crispy sugar cookies with a hint of orange. Jeannette cooked us some fabulous pumpkin-stuffed pasta (sounds odd, but it's sooooo good) and steamed broccoli and cauliflower, and she also made salad and found some excellent bread and Spanish sheep's cheese at Whole Foods. It was a real event, and everything was fabulously tasty. I credit her with being the driving force behind my expansion into adventurous cooking and eating. If it weren't for her and my ability to search for recipes on the internet, I think we'd still be eating mostly simple, boxed foods, and pumpkin-stuffed pasta would sound really weird instead of tempting. I also never would have learned about spaghetti squash, which is now one of Jack's and my favorite dinners. =) Anyway, dinner with them is always a good time. We were also planning on renting What's Up, Doc?, a supposedly funny movie about a musicologist, which Jeannette insists I must see, but on the way to the video store after dinner, we decided we were too tired and old to stay up late. It was almost 9 p.m. by that point, so Jack and I wouldn't have been heading back to Baton Rouge until 11. As it was, we came back and ended up sitting around and chatting, drinking decaf coffee and munching on my orange cookies while Jack and Chris discussed various nerdy computer things, and it was a splendid evening. I made Jack drive home, and I fell asleep before we even got out of New Orleans. It would be so cool if we lived closer to them so we could hang out more often! But circumstances all around dictate that each of us stay in the city we're currently in, so it'll have to be an unfulfilled wish.

On a related food topic, I tried unsuccessfully to make Joy of Cooking waffles the other night. My dad and I used to make them on occasional Sunday mornings (plus bacon... mmm), and they were always so yummy despite their apparent complexity. I made the batter without any trouble (separating egg whites from their yolks is one of my favorite kitchen tasks), but they ended up sticking to the iron horribly. I seasoned the freaking thing with oil as soon as I got it several years ago, but I've never been able to make a batch of waffles, no matter what kind of batter I use, without having them stick. It's obnoxious. I sort of fell apart and began crying after the waffle attempt was unsuccessful, because I started thinking about all the times he and I had made waffles together and how it should be easy. Jack tried to come in and rescue me, but I shooed him away while I made the rest of the batter into pancakes instead. I guess there are some things that only our parents can do right. In any case, I'd love to know how to properly season a waffle iron, since I don't think I've ever had the instruction manual for this one and I feel that I've failed so far in waffling. Comments? Advice?

Labels: friends, kitchen adventures, my dad

• posted by erica 10/30/2004 05:48:00 PM
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