BRRR!

Sunday morning ... and a good day to hunker in by the fire, the computer and the DVD screen ... or maybe return to the down-filled nest with a book.


I am reading The Sentimentalists.  I wish I were enjoying it more.


I just ordered Eat, Pray, Love (the book) because two people have told me that they felt the book was far richer than the movie.  Me? .... I loved the movie ... so I am really looking forward to the original.


I also ordered a book about how the brain regenerates itself and changes its circuitry even after traumatic incidents.  Who knows what my brain is doing there inside its cracked little egg?


And the third book I ordered was recommended by Mary Ito (sp?) who hosts Fresh Air on Sunday mornings.  I love her choice of music and she invariably mentions movies and books that I too enjoy.  This one is called Wait for Me ... by one of the six strange Mitford sisters ... Deborah the Duchess.  I can't remember all their names but one was a fascist, another a communist, another a writer ... all seemed interesting ... and Mary characterized them with these single nouns. This book is autoiography and tells the story of the author and her sisters.

I also ordered Passchaendale but have to wait for that DVD ... as I have to wait for Barney's Version and The King''s Speech.

I do have to go out at least once today.. and who knows? ... maybe I will enjoy the day and stay out and play a bit.  On Friday I went snowshoeing for about 1 1/2 hours in the woods and was perfectly comfortable exercising out of the wind.  It's much more fun snowshoeing on bushwhacking trails than simply slogging along a road.  


I have to take over the final part of Peter's order and, with it, the instructions for a couple of things but after that I think I will just stay close to the home fires.

Yesterday was an eating day ... in fact we (my guests and I) couldn't finish all the food.  We started with a Lebanese tray of goodies with pita, went on to oven roasted veggie soup, and from there to beef wellington, mashed potatoes and stir-fried veggies, and then to apple cake with whipped cream.  We did not have room for the salads. 

The beef tasted fine but I would make radical changes to the recipe ... FAR too many peppercorns ... not NEARLY ENOUGH filo sheets ... so the beef ended up looking like a blob covered with the wine/mushroom/shallot/ duck liver sauce.  Bits of dingy grey sogginess clung to it.  The whole thing should have been encased in a puffy crust.  The peppercorn cream sauce masked the final product that came to the table ... but I cook with everyone watching and helping so we all knew what was hiding under there!



Before my guests arrived, an entire family came to make decisions about which furniture they wanted me to paint for the newest little boy.  Both little boys were there, the parents of one, the mother of the other and the grandmother of the family.  They decided on a small table with a chair and want it done in gentle blues and greens with animals.  I am looking forward to starting a new project.


Tomorrow I will get the x-ray done .... and next week the temperatures are supposed to moderate a little so I hope I can go out and play.  I hope you are having a great weekend whether you are living in the icebox that is central Canada or some place where the temperatures are balmier.