Saturday and another Father's Day!

I woke up at 6:30 AM with setting the alarm. I remembered to open the window last night, so I slept good. The plan is to run errands this morning, work this afternoon and then tonight, Jake and Carla are taking me out to dinner for Father's Day.

So, I'm off to Home Depot to buy door handles and locksets. On an
impulse, I also grabbed 5 sets of glass door handles for the hallway door (I thought they'd look nice and old-fashioned). Then I stopped at CVS to pick up two prescriptions and, after that, I stopped at Farmer Jacks (only 5 days left before they shut the doors). Half the store has bare shelves now (it's so sad) and none of the stuff I wanted is left, but did pick up a bag of frozen shrimp, some canned whole tomatoes, olives and pickles (all, now, 70 percent off).

Got back, but left the car outside. Put down boards on the floor and shifted all the new molding onto them, so I can use the trailer. I hooked it up and now I'm off to Lowes, to buy a new steel door for the downstairs patio I saw in their "Fourth of July" sales paper. Long time readers may remember that the door that's there is wood, falling apart and I can't seem to fix it. I have priced them before at Home Depot, but they run around $300. This one's listed at $215!

I admit I was a bit bummed when I told the guy at "Doors" I wanted the 15 pane steel door on sale for $215.00 and he said, "Oh, no, they're not on sale. That's the regular price!"

When I got home, I unloaded the door and propped it up in the back room. Put all the trim wood back on the trailer so I can park in the garage. Then, I looked at the glass door knobs and realized I would need the part that screws to the door (the back plate? I dunno) as my current door knobs are one piece. So, back to Home Depot for back plates (or whatever they are called). Then went home, only to drive back after realizing I left my cane on the cart. It was still there, although a couple were just then pushing it to the store.

Got back home and tried the back plate or whatever. Problem! No wood to screw into. They cover the hole, but that's all it is: a big hole! Scratched my head a while and thought of something to try. I am seriously regretting that impulse at this time!

Put that on the back burner and got to work installing more things in the kitchen. Wash rag rack, stick blender holder and toaster oven rack handle holder. I think the only thing left is the fire extinguisher under the sink cupboard.

Next, and very important, is to remove the paint off the kitchen tile. I am doing it in small sections so I don't miss any. I have three done so far. But first, lunch. So, I opened up some canned corn beef and made two sandwiches (bear in mind its now about 2:00 PM, as this will come up later as a big mistake).

Decided a nap would be nice, so set the alarm for 4:30 and went to sleep. When I got up, I shaved and showered (again) and got dressed. I left for Jake and Carla's about 5:30. When I got to Jake and Carla's, they were standing outside. So we hopped into their car and drove to Novi and Shiro's and my Father's Day meal.

Shiro's is a Japanese and French fusion restaurant inside the distinctive setting of a 1930's Greek revival mansion. The white mansion was built in 1929 as a gift from Charles Rodgers to his future wife, Harriet Thornton. Charles had the grand staircase (and it IS grand, BTW) designed to fulfill a special dream. Because he had fallen in love at first sight, it was his wish to see a daughter escorted down the stairs to marry her own true love. But, enough about the setting, onto the meal!

For the appetizer, we had escargot and vegetable tempura. Then came the soup. They both had miso soup while I had clam chowder (tasted theirs and wish I'd ordered it). The salad was just so-so with a house dressing that had a lot of ginger in it. They both had saki, I stuck with water (gallons of it, probably from the salty dipping sauce).

Carla's entr�e was the Sushi deluxe. I chose the Sashimi regular while Jake went with the Sashimi deluxe. For clarification, Sushi is raw fish, rolled in sticky rice and an outer coating of a flat seaweed (unless its California-style - then thr rice is on the outside). Sashimi is just the raw fish. I did ask the waiter what kinds of fish I had and I wish I could remember everything he said, but it was like four kinds of tuna (the albacore tuna was my least favorite), salmon and two other kinds that I forget.

Here's where eating that late lunch came back to bite me. I got full before I had finished half my meal! Jake and Carla came to my rescue and ate the remaining fish for me, so it didn't go to waste. But I felt almost as stupid as I did when I tried to use chop sticks, Hey, I was good with them in Korea (but that was probably 15 years ago). Anyway, we left, full and content. Thanks, guys!

I got home about 8:30 PM and did two more sections of the kitchen floor (why didn't I use a stupid drop cloth? What was I thinking?) I happened to look out the kitchen window and noticed that the whole back yard was filled with fire flies. So, when I finished, went out and sat on the front porch. There weren't as many fire flies, but there were fireworks! Somebody was shooting them off South East from my house (which was great as that's the only view unobstructed by trees). It had to be Garden City or maybe Dearborn as they were too many and too regular to be some guy in his backyard. Just as they stopped and I was thinking of going in, a huge moon rose in the exact same spot! So, I stayed and enjoyed that for a while.

I went in and watched a taped show, then went to bed, knowing I have one more Father's Day to celebrate. When I finish with the house, I still need to make a special dish with my Father's Day present from Jeremy's clan: Black Truffles.

All in all, except for those damn glass door knobs, it was a great day...