He thinks he's helping

Such a loudmouth! Casper is notorious for "helping" - especially when we're sorting, folding & putting away laundry. This week was no exception. He quickly claimed a box reserved for clothes donations on the bed as his perch and announced to the world this was his domain, and his alone.I suppose the clothes might have been folded and put away faster if I'd actually lent a hand, but taking photos of the cat's antics was much too fun to allow me to focus on much else. At least that's what I told Jamie. And while he didn't argue, I'm not exactly sure he bought it hook, line and sinker. Secretly, however, I think he was just as amused by Casper as me and so really didn't mind all the photo-taking.

Seeing Jamie busy folding clothes a few inches away, intent on the perfect fold and paying him no attention at all, Casper jumped out of the box and sauntered over to "help," which basically means he decided he needed more attention.

The problem was, Casper didn't go back to the box and stay out of the way. Nope. He parked in the center of all the activity. And right in the way too. As if he was in jeopardy of missing out on all the fun!

Jamie scooted him out of the way and Casper eventually reclaimed his box. Not content to merely sit inside, he sprawled across the bottom and began rolling around to find just the right position.

Clearly not receiving enough attention from all this, he sat up to survey the folding activity again.

An impressive backflop with an equally plaintive meow into the bottom of the box announced he was tired from all the effort required in maintaining a vertical position.

Eventually Casper got comfortable again and stayed on his back in the box until the last of the clothes were put away.

A Tangled good time

Today was a wonderful day off - filled with sleeping in, homemade blueberry pancakes made from scratch, and a Disney movie with Jamie and Deborah.

We went to the dollar theater to see Tangled, Disney's latest princess flick (see movie trailers here). And get this - it was good! And in 3D so that was even extra fun.

So the verdict afterwards was two thumbs up and a definite "let's see it again" from me and a "that wasn't too bad - it was actually kinda good" from my guy so overall I'd say this was a successful movie outing. 

It's all fixed now

It was a pity and such a shame. Only three weeks ago, we had a lamp with a broken cord. The base of the lamp was really pretty - however a base, even a pretty one, isn't very useful if the cord is broken. Thanks to a trip back to my parents, some shopping instructions and dis-assembly from a quick-thinking brother-in-law, and lots of expertise and elbow grease from my Dad, it's not broken any longer. And I didn't realize it would be this simple to fix, either. As much as I'd like to take credit for fixing up the lamp, all the true kudos go to the guys. Thanks you! The best part was we only had to go shopping for a few parts and didn't have to buy a whole new lamp.

First we disassembled the original socket. Then we clipped the old cord off near the break and stripped the insulation off the ends of the old and new cords.

This was so we could splice them together and use the old cord to pull the new one through.

Here are the instructions, which came with the new socket, laying forlorn and unused by the side. Typical, huh! Thankfully we never did need these.

Before installing the new socket, Dad tested to be sure which was the negative. It wouldn't work as well to wire it backwards!

I even got to put the finishing touches on attaching the new wires to the new socket.

Ta-da! Good as new. All that's left to do is screw on the switch knob and attach the bracket for the shade.

All done!

So if you find yourself holding a pretty cool lamp with a broken cord - don't lose heart. A trip to the hardware store and lots of help from your Dad and family will get things back to working again in no time!

Catch of the day

While the Basque restaurant (see yesterday's post) felt like stepping back into the old world, the next night's restaurant felt like fast-forwarding into a beach vacation. We were treated to dinner at Pismo's Coastal Grill, and a treat it was.

Inside the door, a huge wood boat is draped upside down from the rafters. The catch of the day lay sprawled on slabs of granite and marble and nestled in mounds of ice just waiting for the next diner to order.

We were more than impressed by this guy's skill as he deftly filleted fish after fish. You could tell this wasn't his first day on the job.

Oh yum! I ordered giant pan-seared sea scallops and crab cakes with creamy polenta and arugula. The scallops were the largest I've ever seen and were so tender they practically melted in my mouth like butter.

 David across the table from me ordered the Iron Pot Cioppino, a specialty at Pismo's. He said it was good to the last drop as he sopped up every trace of moisture from the sides and bottom of the kettle.

The perfect finale to the night was dessert. I can't remember what this was called, however it was a little bit of heaven. Fried banana bread, candied walnuts dipped in dark chocolate, creamy vanilla ice cream, sauteed bananas, and peanut-butter candy topping with a rich custard drizzle...I can't recommend it enough! If you ever get to go, ask for the banana bread dessert. It's so very good and you'll be so glad you did.

Bon Appétit!

This is one of those places

Let me begin with a public service announcement - when someone asks for suggestions on which appetizers to order, you might want to suggest a few ideas and not leave it up to others with more adventurous palets and iron-clad stomachs to decide.

That said, some of the best parts of traveling are skipping past the fast food joints and national chains and discovering where the locals dine, where you get totally unique tastes and flavors in only that particular restaurant and nowhere else. There's a little Basque restaurant in Fresno that's exactly one of those wonderful local places.

After hearing mention from several people about "the little Basque place" we knew we had to find it and see if the food was really as amazing as the mouth-watering stories we'd been told. Deciding on an entree wasn't easy. There were so many really yummy options. Finding the perfect sides and appetizers, however, proved interesting. Someone spied the pickled tongue and the rest was history.

This same someone ordered not one, not two, but three plates of pickled cow's tongue! Oh my. I knew I'd have to try it. No one would let me live it down if I didn't. The plates came out and were passed with much anticipation and trepidation down and around the table. No one seemed to want to take very much and it seemed everyone rather hoped the others would take more but didn't want to say anything.

Oh yeah. That's my plate. And yes, that's pickled tongue sitting there on my plate next to my fork, staring back at me, daring me to take the first bold bite. *gulp* The night stood still right then and there as each one of us went around the table and sampled the tongue, cheering on the others one by one. I didn't really know what to expect, however I didn't think it would be that cold or that slimy. I think I might have involuntarily shuddered when I swallowed and discovered the faded gray color of the tongue directly correlated with a texture I can't even begin to adequately describe. Now that I've eaten it fair and square once, I definitely know this was my first, last and only time to sample that particular specialty.

So now that I've regaled you with the one tiny detail of the meal I didn't like as well as the rest, let me tell you a bit about the real delicacy of Basque dining. The rest of the evening was a lot of fun and the main courses filled the table one after another. The many side dishes flowed 'round while we ate and laughed, sampled a lot of this, some of that, and definitely agreed this little Basque restaurant was a great pick. The crowd favorites of the night were the beef stew and calamari steak. I'd go back in a heartbeat anytime. Just don't order any tongue appetizers for me. I'll save room for the real good stuff I know's coming with the main course a little later.

Not since I was seven...

The last time I got to do this, I was seven. My sister and a couple of our distant cousins were there too. All this came rushing back a couple weeks ago when I was in Fresno for meetings and the World Ag Expo. A few of my fellow coworkers and I escaped one evening and went on an adventure to find the juiciest, freshest, sweetest oranges around, picked straight from the tree. This isn't something you can do where I'm from so it's definitely a treat.

Another coworker kindly led us to her family's orange orchard. She showed us how to properly pick oranges and let us wander the rows admiring all the trees. For country kids like us from the Midwest, Pacific Northwest, and Great Lakes areas used to seeing corn, soybeans, and treefruit like apples, this was a special treat. Right to left, front to back, as far as we could see - all we could see were oranges. Yum!

Sure, you've seen oranges in the grocery store. You've probably even seen photos of orange trees. But have you ever seen the underside of an orange tree? I got to, and just in case you're curious what the view's like, I took a photo for ya. Cool, huh?

Our expert guide showed us section after section of orange trees. Each section (called a "block") was a different variety, and ripens at different times. We decided we'd looked around enough and wanted to sample the wares to see if fruit ripe off the tree really does taste better than what we can buy back home.

Kristen showed us the proper way to eat oranges in the orchard. First, take a large jack knife out of your truck kept just for this occasion and cut the top and bottom off.

 Then cut generous wedges out of the orange and share with your good friends waiting patiently nearby.

Then watch as your friends enjoy the sweetest, juiciest, yummiest oranges they've ever eaten and try to stay clean as the juice drips down their hands and arms. Good luck trying to keep up slicing more wedges 'cause these friends are going to want more, and fast!

Dusk fell much too quickly and we knew we'd better pack up and head back into town.

Kristen and her family were super generous and let us pick a couple buckets full of oranges and tangerines to take back and enjoy in the meeting room the next few days. By the end of the week, there weren't many oranges left so we divvied those up and each took a few home.

If you get the opportunity to visit an orange orchard, do! You'll be amazed by how great oranges taste straight off the tree.

Taste that's out of this world

Thanks to a good friend who had been to the World Ag Expo before, I was introduced to one of the best simple culinary pleasures in life: hot peach cobbler made from scratch and baked in a dutch oven covered in coals, then served with creamy vanilla ice cream. Oh. So. Yummy.

And we discovered the best accompaniment to this mouth-watering peach cobbler is old-time coffee made in a huge old kettle slung over a slow-burning fire like this:

This was definitely one of the best highlights of the entire World Ag Expo. If you ever get an opportunity to go, make sure you stop by this stand and make friends with the cowboys who wrangled all of this together.

After the first bite of cobbler and sip of coffee, you'll be so very glad you did.