(no subject)

jb98 and my partners are still asleep, but who can blame them, since we were up until 2? (It's 10 now.) Soon, I will head over to stonebender's, but I would like to wait until jb is conscious first so I can say good-bye. If you have a chance to meet her on Sunday, you should grab it. Besides, klwalton will be cooking. I can barely believe I'm letting myself miss that.

Yesterday was a really good day. First, I made brown-rice cereal for the girls, then someotherguy and sogwife and I went to Long's to use sogwife's employee discount. Oh, my goodness. We're really gonna get our money's worth out of this.

Next, picked up jb and headed to Berkeley, where we first stopped and had cocoa (I had steamed soymilk -- like the latte without the coffee!) with stonebender. They geeked about assistive technology while I admired them both. Then we split up and jb and I went to the Cheese Board. Oh, my.

jb got some Cotswold (amazing stuff!) and some good havarti. I ended up with two soft cheeses -- one called D'Affinois, which is like brie but better (soft, double-cream, mmmmm), and one that's a really soft jack. Spent around 10 dollars for two huge wedges of excellent cheese. This is my new favorite store.

Then on to the Berkeley Bowl, which I show off to everyone who visits me. We bought blood oranges and tomatoes and basil and lots of other stuff, including a gluten-free brownie mix that was a big hit.

After we came back to my place, someotherguy and I took a lovely, smoochy walk, and then jb headed off to her friend's. While she was gone, my boy helped me clean house and rearrange the furniture. We're battling ants, and my stalwart darling advanced our front line so that they're almost gone.

For the party, we put out the following stuff and then hoped people would show up:

Tomato/basil/olive-oil salad
Slices of good salami
The good cheeses, mmmmmm
Wheat and rice crackers
Gluten-free brownies
Tea/coffee
Italian soda stuff

For dinner, I broiled a few steaks and baked some butternut squash. All the food was a big hit. There was not much left at the end of the night.

The best part of having people over is, of course, the people. kwamee showed up first, and I found out that not only hadn't he heard the "Tapestry" album (I played it for him), but he had never played Yahtzee! someotherguy and I fixed that while jb knitted. He's a nice guy; I'm glad he had a chance to relax after a rough day.

While we were playing, dryadgrl and Connor showed up. We finished our game, then hung out for a while, and wild_irises, alanbostick, and K came along. Good group; good geeks. Eventually, sogwife came home from work and had some dinner, and much schmoozing was had.

The end of the party is always my favorite part. This is why I throw parties at my house -- because I'm always there for the end. This time, it was my sweeties and I, dryadgrl, a sleeping Connor, and jb98. We stayed up until 1 talking about all manner of things. I just loved it. What a wonderful couple of women, and I loved their easy affection with each other. And jb even washed the dishes! Talk about your perfect houseguest.

Anyway, it was a really good Friday (Dead Jesus Day), and I will treasure it.

(no subject)

By the way, the gluten-free brownie mix came from Namaste Foods. A woman who does in-store demonstrations for the company was behind us in line at the Berkeley Bowl, and recommended that after trying the brownies, we make the spice cake and add a grated carrot.

(no subject)

I am being so silly, because we have three minutes before our jelly is supposed to be reinverted, and my only thought was "Let's go post about our jelly!"

stonebender and I just made citrus jelly. I hope hope hope it turns out. Yay!

stonebender points out, and rightly so, that what's important is that it's jelly made from his citrus from his very own trees. Meyer lemons and juice oranges. The stuff is the color of sunshine, and the house smells sunny and happy, and who has a better life than I do?

Back after it's jelly.

(no subject)

Ohmigod. We just tasted the little bit of jelly that wouldn't fit in the jars. It's SO good. It tastes like it smells -- like sunshine. So proud and happy!

(no subject)

Oh, and here's the recipe we used for the jelly. We'll let you know how it turns out. [Edit: But we used the inversion method on the Certa package, which is to say we skipped the boiling-water bath and just poured the stuff quickly into jars, screwed on the tops, inverted the jars for 5 minutes, then flipped them back over. According to Certa, this works for high-acid jellies, but nothing else.]

Ahhhh

Got to stonebender's and he says to me, he says, "I have a *plan*." Dun-dun-DAHHN!

Good plan, love. We went to the coffeeshop and read for a couple of hours between admiring cute neighborhood toddlers. Then we came home and I made meatloaf, penne, and asparagus. Then we made citrus jelly. Then we sat (are sitting) around like married folk, listening to Crowded House and working on our computers (he's organizing his comics, something he's wanted to do for a while). I'm taking more oranges and lemons home so I can make more jelly. It will make good gifts, and berkeleyfarm is first in line, if she wishes.

Good, good day. Went fast.