- Grandparents stopped by for awhile this afternoon, and it was a really nice little visit. They'd been visiting family in Cassadaga, and took Tom and I out for lunch. Grandpa seemed to be doing really well, which made me happy.

- Tom and I.. well, actually, mostly Tom, super-cleaned the apartment today. I picked up a few things, then started washing dishes. While I was doing that, and then cleaning the sink and table, Tom picked up the living room, swept, vacuumed the one carpet in the apartment, and even attempted mopping the kitchen floor (which he got annoyed with after about five minutes and quit). It looks so pretty. The re-arranging we did awhile ago really made a big difference down here, and we've been really trying to keep boxes and things from piling up in the living area. (Thus, the spare room.. well, hey, no-one needs to go in there anyway, right?) So within an hour everything looked awesome, and it makes me really happy.

- Heading over to coworker Samantha's place for a small (I think) party later tonight. I'm hoping to talk Tom into coming, but I don't think it's going to happen. Sam is one of my favorite people on the planet, so though I'm not usually a going-out-places person, she never has to twist my arm very far. I'm going to try out Heidi's artichoke dip to bring with me. I have yet to make a dip recipe that really works, but this seems fairly fool-proof. While I was getting ready to make a quick run to the store (QUALITY IS GOING TO CLOSE SOON! NOOOOOO!!!) to pick up the ingredients, Tom came downstairs. He was both bored (as noted in a previous post this afternoon) and hungry. But not hungry enough to make himself something. I took pity on him and flipped through some recipes, and realized I had most of the stuff on-hand for:

- Polish Style Lasagna. Which tastes exactly like pierogies - but without the serious hassle of having to make buttloads of little pierogies. And who doesn't have random extra lasagna noodles laying around? (At least I assume other people have this problem? that you always think you'll need a full box to make lasagna, and you only use half or two-thirds, and then you have some left, and then the next time you go to make lasagna, you still think you'll need a full box...) It is definitely important to add cheese to this - I grated some sharp cheddar onto each layer. I also threw a few green onions, garlic and paprika in with the potatoes, then threw smoked paprika and parsley on top when it came out of the oven. Tom pouted to find there was no sour cream to dump on top - which would have been a plus, but I think it's perfectly good without. (So does he, given the fact that the silly thing's about a third gone now.) Definitely a keeper recipe, pierogi-flavor is seriously addicting.

- And, as mentioned, my Quality Markets (the grocery store that is a three-minute walk from my apartment) is going to close, for real this time, and I am really, REALLY sad. Tops recently bought them out, and for awhile it looked like they were going to keep it open - just stocking the Tops store brand rather than the Quality store brand, that sort of thing. Buuuut, when I went in today, there were signs all over for an upcoming EVERYTHING ON SALE STORE CLOSING, and I overheard a cashier say they were going to be open maybe another month. I am heartbroken. Largely for the convenience-factor - it was so wonderful having something right there when I just needed one more onion for a recipe, or ran out of coriander unexpectedly, or whatever. Also, their bread was cheaper than Tops. Tops is still not far away - I think it takes barely ten minutes on my bike to get there. But it's far enough that I would not be able to get a jug of milk home without issues. sigh.

- Whittling is harder than I remember it being. I wanted to get a little twig to use as a fastener for my little mohair sweater-let (which I will post a pic of one of these days). I've been using an antique stick-pin (from the family hand-me-down stash of random jewelry bits from the shop my great-grandfather once owned), buuut, I get a bit nervous about having this three-inch long sharp thing on me. And I finally poked myself with it today. So, picture in pattern book showed a little twig holding the sweater together, which I thought looked cute. I thought, well, I can get a little twig, and then maybe carve a little spiral into it, that will be easy, right?

Yeah no. It probably doesn't help that my twig is from a shrub, not really a tree, so it was a bit weak. Also, it was small. And my random little jackknife has been floating around in my stuff for probably fifteen years without being sharpened ever. Got the bark off, smoothed out the knots, and tried tracing a little line.. and it just looked awful lmao. So, I am leaving it as a little bare twig. Pretty much anything will hold lacy mohair together, so I'll test it out tonight.

Labels: art, being social, cooking, crochet, family, friends, life in general