Sunday

I woke up at 5:15 AM on Sunday, but decided to go back to sleep. So, I did, waking up for good about 7:00. Before I went to bed last night, I had closed and locked all the windows except the one in my bedroom (I left that open with the burglar locks on, so you can’t open it more than five inches). The house was a bit chilly, but it smelled like Fall.

I got the dishwasher loaded up and turned on. Then I washed the big pasta pot and my Wustof by hand. I made some coffee and then made my breakfast.

I refilled my weekly pill box and wound the clock. Then I shaved and showered. I got a call from B___ with a few more questions about the car repairs. Then we talked mostly about the upcoming Fall projects we both need to get done (his are worse as he has to get his boat ready to be hauled out).

After we hung up, I started the second load of weekend wash (bath towels, hand towels, bath mat and my bath robe. Then I headed out for an errand.

Since I was reminiscing about the dimming of summer and the coming of fall, I decided a blow-out barbeque was in order.

So, I went to Westborn and picked up some thing, both for today and for the coming week. For today, I picked out a beautiful 1 1/2-inch bone-in Delmonico steak, four ears of Michigan sweet corn (they were eight for $1.89, but I can’t eat eight and I am not that impressed this year with Michigan sweet corn. It’s not as “sweet” as I recall; I assume because of the drought), and a small tub of redskin potato salad (making potato salad for one is not only time-consuming, but you end up throwing away a lot you just can’t eat).

I also got another small jar of Red Pelican Hot mustard, some Westborn salsa (I still have a lot of corn chips left, but no salsa), two Granny Smith apples and three Gala apples (for afternoon snacks at lunch), another jar of McClure’s dill pickles (still on sale) and eight ounces of fresh mozzarella (for chicken parmesan, later this week).

I finally found Melissa’s Williams Jalapeno cheese spread (so we WILL be having a pretzel fest tonight). And, I got the ingredients that my daughter-in-law, Jyl sent me to recreate the Roka Blue spread from my youth. Her recipe called for the following:

1 tub (8-ounce) Philadelphia Cream Cheese Spread
1/4 cup Athenos Crumbled Blue Cheese

Mix until thoroughly blended.

Add up to 1/3 cup water, 1 tablespoon at a time if thinner consistency is desired. For added tang, stir in 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar.

Now, of course, nothing is that easy. I could only get the Philadelphia Cream Cheese Spread in a 12-ounce tub and they did not have Athenos Crumbled Blue Cheese. So, I bought a 0.485 pound tub of Westborn Crumbled Blue Cheese and will adjust the recipe as needed. I’ll let you know how it turns out but, thanks, Jyl. My Mother would thank you, too, if she was here (I believe it was her favorite, too).

Back home again, there was NO sign of that “slight” chance of rain between 12:00 and 2:00 PM, so I dragged out the hose and set it up to water the front yard (More for the newly planted grass seed and rose bush than the grass). I set the timer for an hour and changed into shorts and a tee shirt and started the last load of weekend wash. The second went into the dryer.

I noticed I had a voicemail and checked it. It was from my daughter, Melissa, so I called her back and we talked (again for a long time). During our conversation, the timer went off, so I went outside and shut the hose off.

When we finally hung up, I was exhausted, but instead of taking a nap, I started to clean the house. I got the main bathroom spotless and noticed it was after 5:00 PM and so I went out and changed the oscillating sprinkler to the square head and moved it closer to the new arborvitae and turned it back on, setting the timer once more.

Then I rough chopped a hard boiled egg and added it to the store-bought potato salad (that’s the one thing missing from Westborn’s redskin potato salad). I took out the steak and heavily salted and peppered it, letting it come up to room temperature.

I went out and fired up the charcoal chimney on the state park grill. While the coals were getting hot, I took out the second load from the dryer and ran the third load through another rinse cycle (these were my work clothes and I didn’t want wrinkles).

When the coals were ready, I cleaned the grate and put on the sweet corn. The timer for the sprinkler went off about then, so I shut off the water and reeled in the hose. I put the work clothes in the dryer.


I grilled the sweet corn perfectly (if I might brag a bit) and then oiled the grates again. I threw on the steak and let it get a good crust on one side before I turned it. When I did turn it, I tried a trick Melissa told me today and added some of those blue cheese crumbles on top.

When it was done I pulled it off to rest a bit (the corn was already husked and in the microwave to keep warm). I hung up my shirts and pants and just then Jake called.

We talked for a while, long enough for everything to get cold. But, that wasn’t really a problem. I warmed up the steak and an ear of corn in the microwave and ate dinner watching TV.

The steak was excellent and the blue cheese was an interesting taste twist. But, it was too big to eat the whole thing when combined with the potato salad and sweet corn. So, once it cooled, I put about half of it in a baggie and in the fridge, along with the rest of the sweet corn.


I watched TV until I was tired (I’m going through Longmire and Breaking Bad withdrawals) but I did try Melissa’s pretzels with the Williams Jalapeno cheddar spread and, she was right again. Excellent snack!