Sunday's Tale

Woke up Sunday morning at 7:30. I had a "sleep interruption" last night and ended up reading from 1:00 AM to after 3:00 AM. Put on a pot of coffee and walked around the house, scratching and thinking about the day.

I was in an unfamiliar, odd situation. I had literally nothing to do today. I mean, the house was totally clean, the laundry's done and, other than empty the dishwasher and wash the pan left to soak, there's nothing to do. Wait a minute, no, I still have to clean Newt's home and file my taxes, but that's it...

My aimless wandering was cut short by the sound of the phone ringing. It was Carla, calling to chat. We talked about yesterday and she asked if there were a lot of leftovers. I said some, but I sent them all home with Jeremy and Jyl. I said I really needed to heat up my grill and dry it out, though (remember it ended the day yesterday with a thick coating of snow) so would they like to come over for a cookout? She checked with Jake and said; sure, they would be here around 3:00 PM.

Finally, something to do!

Checked my recipes and made my choices, now off to get a few things at Farmer Jack's. Got onto Plymouth Road when I noticed the car was bumpy and pulling to the right (San Jose is all bumps, so I didn't notice it at first). Pulled into the gas station and the front passenger tire was almost flat! Pumped it up, (praying I hadn't broke the bead), got the groceries and then stopped at Murray's Auto for some "Fix-a-Flat" for tomorrow morning, if needed.

My daughter, M_____ (the hairy one), called and we talked a while - me, holding the phone with my shoulder while I prepped food. But, by 2:00 PM, there were two steaks, covered in a mesquite marinade, sitting in the fridge, Beer-Baked Beans in a two-quart casserole dish baking in the toaster oven, and Sweet Bourbon Baby Back Ribs slow-cooking in the oven, waiting to be finished off on the grill. There were also 6 ears of sweet corn, soaking in the galvanized tub (I know they won't taste "great", but I am always hopeful).

Jake and Carla showed up. We chatted for a while, but around 4:30, decided to get serious about dinner. I fired up the grill and Jake got busy. The ribs came out of the oven and onto the grill, basted with a mix of store-bought BBQ sauce and 1/4 cup of bourbon, and the sweet corn in their husks were cooking. The corn got pulled and replaced with the two steaks.

Meanwhile Carla set the table. We had a brief disagreement when she wanted to use paper plates. I explained to her my one and only philosophy of life: you never drink champagne out of a paper cup! So, regular plates it was.

Then, we ate. Steaks were great. Ribs were awesome and the sweet corn was, well, no better than you would expect from early sweet corn from Mexico or where ever they get it in April.

We cleaned up and then they left. I checked to see who won the hockey game (we did! Sorry, Canada) Then read for a bit, watched some TV and finally went to sleep.

Damn! Just realized I never did clean Newt's house or file those taxes...