Friday, May 23, 2008
My eyes are INSANELY wonky this evening. They've been pretty well behaved for a while, so it's very weird. Constant changes in focus, and they feel all strained too. I have no idea what set them off. My throat feels good today, though!
Posted at 9:44:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
We're flying to Maryland for Memorial Day weekend (January's grad school graduation party; she is the man!) and I am excited. The JMTs and I also have rezzes at Cafe Atlantico on Sunday, with our men. And the weather forecast is nice.
Sara got my package today (already!), and she called on the phone to say how much she loved it!! (She called it "tops!") It was Dean's cell phone, and he was at work, so I didn't get to talk to her, but he told me all about it later. Ha!! I'm so glad she liked it. :-) The bottom of the box has my map of New England on it. (I'll bet you didn't know that Long Island looks like a crocodile, did you?)
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Posted at 9:37:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I made a Dano's-style fresh catch sandwich with my shad, and it was good! I put on both light meat and dark. However, after I ate it I decided that shad is so good that it's best served straight, so you can really taste it and nothing's covered up by the roll, tomato, lettuce, and tartar sauce. (Not like a boring ono, which does well in a sandwich.) I had tons of shad left over, so I'll have to eat the rest for breakfast tomorrow.
I cooked the shad on top of the stove for the first time (instead of in the microwave), and it turned out perfect.
On-the-Stove Shad Recipe, for Future Self:
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Lightly coat the fillet with flour, shaking to remove any excess. Place shad in the skillet, skin side up, and season with sea salt. Cook for about 2 minutes or until the flesh starts to turn white/dark. The fillet sort of separated into pieces, and I turned the pieces over and cooked them for 3 or 4 more minutes, until white/dark. Some parts cooked faster than others, so I moved them around in the pan until they looked done and even. I also added some extra melty butter on top. When it's ready it should be super moist and delectable.
Very weird and beautiful weather today. Huge fluffy thick clouds covering an intense blue sky; rain then bright sun, rain then bright sun, over and over, sometimes both at the same time. The taste of fiddleheads goes perfectly with shad.
Posted at 5:43:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Got the shad! When I arrived at Hale's the old lady greeted me as "The milt lady!" Heh. Then she asked, "Is that what you want today?" but I told her today I wanted a fillet. (And yep, I did call first to make sure they had them, using my new Hale's contact on my Treo). Me: "How are the milt sales going?" Her: "Not too well..." then, "There's not too many people that like it." Poor ol' milt. I did notice they had milt listed on their whiteboard, for $5 each. $7 each for roe. Oh, and the Rocky Hill Ferry is running now! It was crossing when I was there. The ferry is cute.
Went to Rocky SBUX after (since it's on the way), and there was a New York Times in the already-read papers stash, with an article about shad! I snagged it. Shad Festival with no shad! Poor Hudson River shad!!!! That made me sad. :-(
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Posted at 8:00:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
No shad to be had; they were all out of fillets for the day. Shad tomorrow? Lucky for me, I didn't actually go to Hale's; I called Hale's on the phone to make sure they were open, using the number posted on their sign in front of SBUX. The old lady answered: "Hale's Shad." Calling Hale's is handy! Must add Hale's to "Contacts" on my phone! Very very good foam today. Spoon, too.
Image to the right is the first illustration in the Child's Bible. Cool, huh? It's hard to scan properly because the pages don't open flat. I read Genesis last night. Adam has very cool hair/beard (and his head isn't connected to his body). The Old Testament is weird.
I think I'm going to try to get more shad today, because now I have fiddleheads to eat it with! There was a big pile of them at Shaw's yesterday, so how could I resist?
Posted at 12:45:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
My sore throat went away, but then it came back. I'm going to run out of horehound drops!
Totally weird and fantastic happenings last night. I was browsing my bookshelf for something to read in bed, and I came across my super cool Paulist Press "A Child's Bible," which I got at some thrift store a year or two ago. (I thought I talked about it on ALB, but I searched the archives and can't find any reference, so I guess not.) It's the old testament in paperback from 1969 (published in Great Britain, with British spellings) and has the absolute greatest illustrations by Charles Front and David Christian. That's why I snagged it. The style of the pictures is so cool, and there are zillions of them! Very very colorful, very very 1960s. (I'll try to pick out a good example and scan it in later when I have more time.) I massively wanted the New Testament to go with it, but when I looked online I could only find an updated combo version (old + new) which has different, more contemporary style, illustrations. Blah. I did determine a New Testament with illustrations by Charles Front existed, but it just wasn't anywhere to be had. I've searched eBay a number of times since then looking for it, and had in an active search order, but there was never one up for bid.
So anyway, after randomly taking my Child's Old Testament off the shelf last night, I randomly checked eBay again, and there WAS a New Testament with illos by Charles Front up for bid, right then!! It was ending in 12 hours, and was super cheap, with no other bids placed on it. Now it's mine. Wow. How cool is that?
Monday, May 19, 2008
Customer at post office: "Nice fish!"
Posted at 4:34:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Me: "Thanks! It's a shad!"
I finally got the new Tropical Fruit stamps today! Actually, I was at the post office for a completely different reason (just to get my shad box weighed so I could start figuring out what stamps to use on it) and Shruti told me the tropical fruits were in. She knew I wanted them. I said, "Oh goody!" or something of that nature, and she went in the back to get them for me, even though they just got them in and they weren't really ready for sale yet. I heard her explaining to the protesting Cindy, "But they're for Laura! You know, [my address]." The post office people know I'm loopy and love weird stamps, but I guess they mostly know me by my address and my face, not my name.
My throat is mostly better now. I'm positive the culprit is pollen of some sort.
I want the dragonfly stamp when it comes out. And St. John (Trunk Bay)!
