Finally Friday!

I was wide awake at 5:00 AM Friday morning. Since this is the first day of my three day weekend I should have slept in, but old habits die hard, I guess.

So, I got up, cleaned up and got dressed in my work clothes. I straightened up the kitchen and started to vacuum the living room. But, there's a problem! The vacuum cleaner must have a blockage, because it's sucking the stuff up but then just blowing it out the side. So, I got my big wet-vac out of the garage and got some of the damn cat hair off the couch and rug.

Oh, it's sunny and warm, for a change! So, I opened the kitchen and bedroom windows to let the fresh air in. I went out and watered all the container gardens.

Last weekend, when I was grocery shopping, I grabbed a bag of 8-O'Clock Columbian coffee. But, when I opened it up, I found I had bought whole beans rather than ground coffee. So, last Tuesday, I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond (with two 20% off coupons) and bought two coffee bean grinders (Krupp, $19.00 US, one black and one white). Why two? Well, I'll use the black one for just the coffee beans and the white one only for grinding spices.

So, around 9:00 AM, I was learning to use the coffee grinder. I made a pot of fresh ground coffee and waited for my son Jeremy to stop by. He had to drop Joe off somewhere nearby (Joe's doing an internship the summer) and asked if he could visit for a couple of hours. Of course I said yes, but when he also mentioned bringing bagels and cream cheese, hell, I was sold!

So, he came (with the bagels). We drank coffee and ate bagels and caught each other up on what's been going on. He left to get Joe around 11:00 PM and gave me the rest of the bagels. Thanks!

I started a load of laundry and then went back to cleaning the house (I was a little embarrassed it wasn't totally clean when he showed up, BTW).

I think I'll need something to snack on over the weekend so I decided to make a simple macaroni salad. So, I filled up my pasta pot and brought it to a boil (with four quarts of water, this takes a while).

Meanwhile, I fine-diced 1/4 of a large red onion and one rib of celery and put it in a bowl. To that, I added 1/4 cut of chopped fresh parsley, two tablespoons of fresh squeezed lemon juice, one tablespoon of Dijon mustard, 1/8 teaspoon of garlic powder and a pinch of cayenne pepper.

Back at the pasta pot, I put in some salt and one pound of elbow macaroni. I cooked it until nearly tender (about seven minutes) and then drained it. I rinsed it under cold water until cool and then put it in my big bowl. Don't let this get too dry, BTW!

I stirred in the red onion, celery, parsley, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, garlic powder and cayenne pepper. I let that get happy for a while (at least two minutes). Then I added 1 1/2 cups of good mayonnaise and let it sit until the salad texture was no longer watery (5-10 minutes). I taste-tested it and began adding salt and pepper until it was perfect. Then I put it in my only surviving Tupperware dish and stuck in the fridge for later consumption.

All things considered, I decided a nap would be nice. So, I watched some taped cooking shows until I was sleepy and then took about a two hour nap.

I was hungry when I got up, so I got a bowl of the macaroni salad. It's pretty damn good, but with just a hint of too much garlic (I just eye-balled everything, you see). By the way, if you make this ahead of time and it seems a bit dry, just stir in some warm water to loosen the texture. I watched three taped Iron Chef (Japanese) shows.

I cleaned up the kitchen and started the dishwasher. I heard some noise outside and so went out front. Somebody in the neighborhood is a little early and is shooting off fireworks. While I was standing there, I noticed my old friends, the fireflies, were back! Enchanted, I sat down on the rocker for a while. The night is like soft, black velvet, BTW. But, while I hear the fireworks, I can't see them. Then I realized they are west of me. So, I closed up the front door and headed out the back. Sure enough, there are spectacular fireworks in the western sky.

I walked back and sat in one of the swings and watched for about a half hour until they stopped and then went in to watch TV until bedtime.