j u n e . 2 0 2 3

spring is springing all right!

     we have so many plants close to producing right now!  the snow peas decided to bust out their pods today! 

     I had the opportunity a few years back to watch live in our headquarters interior patio the tribute to one of the Intel trinity, Andy Grove.  on the first day of June, the tribute to the last member of the trinity was held in the front courtyard of our headquarters.  there was even a flyover - actually several flyovers, as that building is under the SJC flight path! :-O  these are some of the shots from the event, some taken by me the day before when they were setting up, and others during the event from the windows of the building above the event (we did not get our invitations ;-)  ) 

my view from the third floor, while they were setting up

  

my coworker's view from the second floor, during the event.  yes, that's our state's governor! 

     our CEO has known Gordon for many years, and was able to visit him near the end of his life.  you could tell this was such a moving and emotional time for him, and the tremendous affection that he had for his hero. 

     our building had a special "wrap" put on the windows which will be up for several weeks I'm sure. 

     We took in a small harvest of the snow peas and I made stir-fry for Saturday dinner! 

 

     and for Sunday dinner, I cooked again, because I was having a craving for chicken mole.  I paired it with some cilantro lime rice, and made a sort of sangria with fruit juice and white wine.  when I posted the picture on FB, one of my theatre friends asked me for the rice recipe!  since it was so easy I was happy to oblige. 

     I didn't quite make it for memorial day but I decorated the rustic winter door wreath (leftover berries from the Christmas wreath on a grapevine ring) with ribbons and flowers for our red, white and blue months. 

     one of my three gardenias bloomed.  I'm so excited to be growing these in my home's garden for the second time in my life! 

     Craig went on a business trip one week, so I was on my own for cooking meals.  I made the seared scallops in lemon butter again, and threw together a garden salad with our home grown snow peas, plus cilantro, celery, scallions, capers, cornichons, and sundried tomatoes.  the dressing was the oil from the tomato jar and the vinegar from the capers jar, plus a healthy sprinkling of Everything Bagel sprinkles of sesame seeds and seasonings.  

     the jalapenos have popped out on three of the four plants.  

     last race of the triple crown is the Belmont, so I made a Belmont Jewel to enjoy while watching the pre-race telecast.  

     this was the horse that would eventually win and break some records that needed breaking. 

     and for dinner I whipped up a big pot of my mom's "Nana 'Sghetti" and smothered it in shaved parmesan and snipped fresh basil.  SO good!!  Craig got home from his golf game in time to enjoy a plateful himself!  

     for Sunday dinner I made the garden salad again, baked some purple cheddar biscuits, and then sautéed some Sweet and Spicy New Orleans Shrimp to make a light healthy meal.  the recipe for the shrimp was a new one for me, and definitely a keeper. 

     one of my attorney colleagues has asked me to help her team by doing voiceover for two more training sessions for important legal information dissemination.  our creative team scheduler planned a two hour session for me, but I got the ~15-20 minute script recorded in just 26 minutes!  the audio engineer was so impressed with my organization, preparation and my performance skills that he said, I "better be careful or we'll tap you for other opportunities!"  

     one lunch hour, I did a little walkabout in the back yard, making a video of all the various plants that we have growing so far.  it's almost 12 minutes, but it's fun to see:  video 

     we've agreed to take turns cooking dinners, but some days I seem to cook a couple (or three) days in a row.  this evening I was craving chicken mole, and I saw a new recipe idea, Mexican Street Corn, so I whipped up a variation of that to go with our Mole Friday feast.  that would be a mint julep to wash it down, with freshly grown mint from our garden!

     I cooked another Truffle Shuffle meal on Saturday, with a different chef this time, Chef Anna from Ukraine.  we prepared Uzbek Manti (or pork filled dumplings) with Ajika Sauce!  spicy hot and delicious!!

     the work is never-ending in the garden, but we finally got to install the waterfall among the snow peas and sunflowers.  the gentle splashing makes the constant harvesting of snow peas oh so pleasant.

     Juneteenth is now a company holiday so I celebrated by making red food which is traditional to the holiday.  these are red velvet waffles with cream cheese topping.

     it had been several days since either of us had picked the peas, so we had a triple harvest!  not one to waste, I tried my hand at pickling a good portion of them.  if I do say so, they were scrumptious!

     for this meal we shared cooking duties ... Craig was outside at the grill, and I made air fried sweet potatoes tossed in sweet chili glaze.  the green beans were the first from the garden! 

     maybe not Taco Tuesday, but Campfire Cookout Tuesday?  I prepared the pre-marinated carne asada that Craig buys at the big-box-store, plus a can of chili beans, and biscuits made from scratch, as well as the yummy Mexican Street Corn salad on arugula.  washed it all down with cerveza.  

     while I didn't have the shuffle-team source the ingredients for me, I did shop for all authentic ingredients to make their chicken Pad Thai recipe.  Janet and I joined the class - again together but separately - and got numerous shout-outs from our favorite Chef Tucker!  Craig said it tastes like the pad Thai he's had before, so it's a keeper! 

    as I was cleaning up after dinner, a theater friend of mine passed away.  we had been watching his progress on FB since Monday, as he had told us he was going in for surgery and asked us for prayers, juju, and whatever else we wanted to offer up for him.   by Thursday his sister posted that it wasn't looking good and asked us for prayers again.  

     Joyce and I met Ted in 2006 when he was staging one of his original compositions, and our director from Joseph was in it.  it was called Dot You about the dot-com bust, and was so funny, scathing, relevant and clever that I went to see every other show he put up too.  (Decembrance, Poptimists, Out of My Head / Out of the Trunk, to name just a few.)  then he directed A Day in Hollywood / A Night in Ukraine at our theater, and Joyce and I of course worked on the tech crew.  she even got the "role" of Sonja Hennie's legs on the raised leg walk ... until she hurt her knee at the Halloween party that year ... a harrowing story for another day.  and because I needed to be her chauffer since she was in a knee immobilizer, my own injury of a fractured foot - we dropped the 200 pound set wall on my foot during scene change at intermission - went unattended for eight months before I had it x-rayed and diagnosed!  but there were other excellent memories from that show, and friendships made that have lasted until now.  

     my favorite "experience" with Ted was working on Snoopy together.  from the moment he asked me to produce, until the last costume was returned to him - with an extra costume that I had made to his exacting specifications - it was a labor of love. I was blessed to be able to help him realize this particular dream. Ted knew that he was not only getting a producer, he was getting a costumer 🙂 I spent several hours searching for just the right Linus shirt with perfectly proportioned stripes. I made repairs and modifications to his Lucy dress which he had from a previous production. I designed, crocheted and added (then regularly reapplied) feathers to Woodstock's little mitts so that she had those fluffy appendages every night.  and I constructed Sally's dress from pattern to finish, including painting every single one of those dots individually onto the fabric!  none of the fabrics that I saw in stores had dots big enough for Ted!  and I did it all because he asked me so nicely.  🙂 Ted, you will be missed by SO many. ❤ rest well, my friend, rest oh so well.