rainy sunday

We cooked hamburgers on the grill yesterday for Peter and Tiffany and their dad whose birthday was the day before. Tiffany has always been a good eater and now that she's pregnant I try to have fruit and good things around for her to eat and some to take home. They told a few stories about their growing up years, and I was amazed at what they remembered and how different their memories were.

Ella joined us about 3:00 and kept us entertained until about 9. At 8:00, the clock chimed and she said, "It's 8:00 and we forgot to go for a walk!" I think it was an accident that she got the time right; she's only 2 but we laughed. I tried to get her to go for a walk earlier but she didn't want to wear her shoes and she wanted to ride in our stroller. She didn't seem to believe that we didn't have one...maybe it's like the television. She can't believe we don't have one of those either. Regis took some cute pictures so I'll try to post the slide show at the bottom.

In the picture where she has her hand by her ear, she's using a rock she found in the garden for a cell phone. I love it! She has plenty of old cell phones to play with but still has the imagination to use a rock. She dialed my neighbor to see if we could come and see his fish pond. She also liked playing with a stick and a piece of garden art, a fat round frog that she called her baby. Who needs expensive toys?

Ella likes books and loves to have me read her favorites. I think it's interesting that she knows when a book is too long or complicated for her. She stops paying attention and tells me to get another one. Two of her current favorites are Little Golden Books that Tiffany and Peter had and also loved. Some of the pages have tape and they're very simple stories but we read them over and over.

We're trying to organize our stuff to leave for Rochester at 5 a.m. on Tuesday. Regis is mostly doing internet research and I'm mostly doing lists. We've decided if he had been a car, they would have recalled him after the surgery he had in 1999. It seems like lots of people have to have that procedure revised. He says, all in all, he has no regrets. Back to my lists. I have a list of things to do tomorrow, a list of things to bring, a list of people to call, and a calendar. Regis will probably throw his stuff in a backpack and be just fine. I like to anticipate every possible circumstance and try to be prepared for it. It does not make for light travel.

One of my neighbors was using a sander this afternoon. He had on ear covers to protect him from he noise but he didn't provide those for the rest of us. The sander made a high-pitched whine that almost made the house vibrate. Very annoying. I had to take a nap on the couch to steel myself against it.

My other neighbor, the good cook, brought over a plate of fried green tomatoes last night. I've seen the movie but never tasted the real thing. They were very good. Here's a simple recipe:

Fried Green Tomatoes Recipe

3 medium, firm green tomatoes
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup milk
2 beaten eggs
2/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs or cornmeal
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 Cut unpeeled tomatoes into 1/2 inch slices. Sprinkle slices with salt and pepper. Let tomato slices stand for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, place flour, milk, eggs, and bread crumbs in separate shallow dishes.

2 Heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil in a skillet on medium heat. Dip tomato slices in milk, then flour, then eggs, then bread crumbs. In the skillet, fry half of the coated tomato slices at a time, for 4-6 minutes on each side or until brown. As you cook the rest of the tomatoes, add olive oil as needed. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

I bought some tomatoes for our burgers yesterday and they were, as most store bought tomatoes are, horrible. The skin was like plastic wrap. I don't know why they bother selling those thing. They should be used for ammunition in a war instead of for possible food. I saw a show on PBS once about large-scale tomato farming. The tomatoes rode up a big conveyor belt and were dropped into a truck. No wonder they have to be the way they are. No real tomato could survive that journey unscathed.

One of our neighborhood dogs has cancer and only about three weeks to live. She's getting to do all the things she liked to do but usually wasn't allowed. She eats scraps from the table, gets her own bowl of ice cream, and lays in the sun for hours. It's like Molly has a bucket list.

Speaking of movies, we watched Spiderman 3 the other night. If you are ever tempted to rent this movie, back away from the shelf and call help. It was the worst acting and the dumbest plot ever. I wanted to give it up after five minutes but that's how I am. Regis is willing to persist, thinking it will get better. It didn't. He may be out of commission for a few days so I put To Wong Fu, Thanks for Everything on the top of our Netflix queue.

Well, maybe more later.