Life Lately
For y'all who are more interested in what I've been doing than what I've been reading online:
Life is rolling along. It has pretty much 3 main elements: 1) work, 2) Boise, and 3) solo time. Every once in a while other exciting things happen, like an upcoming weekend in a fire tower with some RARE peeps and then a weekend skiing/snowshoeing/bumming at Mt. Bachelor with some RARE peeps. And I talk on the phone with people sporadically. You, too, can call me - anytime! I am usually not doing anything! I will usually talk for longer than you have the time to talk!
This weekend I went to Boise for Z's orchestra performance. As per routine, I waited to call him 'til after lunchtime, after spending a morning busily making banana bread for my week's breakfasts (meh, not the most successful new recipe, I still need The One) and a pumpkin pie (just 'cause I wanted to). I called, I got no answer. I did some more stuff, baked the pie, called a few more times. No answer. I packed my stuff and headed over anyway.
(changing tenses)
I get to Z's place and his car is there so I knock on the door. No answer. Huh. I decide to take a walk, thinking he must be out for a jog or something. 15 minutes later I call again - and get a sleeeeeepy hello back. Turns out dude decided to nap. All afternoon. Hey, nobody ever said we were peas in a pod... We then had just enough time to whip up some ramen-with-fresh-veg-and-few-flavor-packets and get dressed and go (woo hoo tuxedo!).
But anyway. The program:
W.A. Mozart: Overture to The Abduction from the Seraglio
Richard Wagner: "Forest Murmurs" from Siegfried
John Corigliano: Voyage
Aaron Copland: Three Latin American Sketches
Robert Schumann: Symphony No. 3, Op. 97, Rhenish
(changing tenses again)
I particularly liked the Corigliano and the last two movements of the Schumann. Even better, I didn't fall asleep - or even get sleepy. Those who have attended orchestral performances with me at Dartmouth know that I had a tendency to fall asleep during shows back then. I think it was just sleep deprivation, though. Have I mentioned how nice it is to actually be able to sleep 8 hours a night after 4 straight years of being chronically unrested?
Afterward Z and I went to the orchestra's post-show reception, gorged on finger food, I met people, charmed them, etc. Heard some hilarious Idaho stories from a lifelong Boise resident and enjoyed people-watching. Afterward we headed to The Milky Way with some of Z's orchestra friends for a martini.
(you know, in retrospect we should have taken a picture in our dressy attire with martinis.. alas, I forgot)
So there's this restaurant in Boise, The Milky Way, and they serve what's been repeatedly voted the best martini in Boise (which means, really, all of Idaho and probably the general 10-hour driving radius). And, yes, it was as good as they say it is. Here's an approximation of their method, along with a similar recipe for a gimlet (I need to try this, 'cause I love a good gimlet).
Even better, though, was the bread pudding.
Y'all, it was beyond belief. Tender and buttery and sweet-but-not-too-sweet.
Never have I ever.
(There was also a delightful lemon tart involved in the evening. BUT THE BREAD PUDDING!)
Eventually we were too tired for intelligent conversation and we sacked out for the night and woke up and ate frozen waffles (sigh) and just talked for a long time and then I drove home and then it was dinnertime and then it was bedtime and then it was another Monday.
And now it's Wednesday, tomorrow's Thanksgiving, and is it me or is the time really flying?