Picture Sunday

Yep, I told you there wouldn't be one, and there isn't much of one, but how could I disappoint my throngs of readers with no Picture Sunday?

As I mentioned earlier, this was our annual TheCompanyIWorkFor girls' weekend. We've been doing these for several years now, where we all go away for a weekend and basically shop and eat. In the past, the shopping part hasn't been all that great, as I wasn't much of a shopper. News is, I'm still not much of a shopper, but the long days pounding the pavement weren't nearly as exhausting as it's been in years past.

The first day was The Mall. It was fairly boring, as malls are fairly boring, and I ended up buying almost nothing. A few nail items, a lip exfoliator, and a couple of bracelets (more about that later). Then today we hit Kohl's and Target, where my money flew away like I was in a wind tunnel. Got 3 pairs of trousers, a shirt, a light jacket, socks, a couple of pocketbooks, a hairbrush (for those times when I want to de-curl), and a few small other things.

Picture number one, and an explanation about the bracelet.



This is a snippet of a picture that appeared in a Picture Sunday some time back. It featured my favorite bracelet, the one my mom bought me. Well, at dinner Friday night, wouldn't you know it - I lost my bracelet! There was a point in the proceedings where I heard something drop to the floor, but there were crayons on the table we were all drawing with, and I just figured it was a crayon and didn't give it a second thought. When I got back to the hotel, though, blammo - no bracelet. I called the restaurant that night, and they hadn't found it, and I went there in person the next day to ask, and even look around our table, but to no avail. Gone, in a puff of smoke. I was heartbroken. Still am, to a point.

On Saturday, I bought a couple of bracelets, one on a sale rack I liked, and this one, which was more expensive than my original bracelet, but still not as cute. But I got it as a kind of colorful replacement.



So, I drank martinis all weekend - well, not all weekend, just at dinner - and found myself flirting with various and sundry waiters. Ron wasn't catching on in the least, and since he was at the restaurant where I lost my bracelet, I accused him the rest of the weekend of taking it. In fact, I'd say he's wearing it as we speak. Tom, the second night, was much nicer, and I'm sure he'd never take a girl's dropped bracelet and keep it as his own. My co-workers seemed to be morbidly embarrassed by all this and spent a great deal of time rolling their eyes, to which I say, "Lighten up. Geez." Like either of these guys will ever see me again.

Now, a funny thing happened while we were gone. The Big Snowstorm of the East came through. There was no snow in Winston-Salem, but Saturday morning there was a fair amount of ice on sidewalks and in parking lots. You'd have thought a blizzard had come through town. We were watching TV - everything was canceled. Every church in North Carolina canceled their services, well, except the one who held theirs on a five-hour delay. Listen, if I have to wait five hours to go to church, you can just forget it. I mean, football's already started by then. I thought it was a little odd that a church where you go in and dance around with rattlesnakes would cancel services because of a little ice. Oh, they of little faith.

It was sunny all the way home, till we got back to B'field. Then there was snow and ice in earnest. It didn't look like that much till I went outside to snap a few pictures. Then I realized the snow was up at my calf, which I came back in and measured and it came to about 7 ½ inches. Here's the front of the Poderosa, snowed in...



...and the backyard of the Poderosa, snowed in.



But now I'm home and warm and relatively dry. (My feet are still a little wet from my foray outside, but they're by the space heater here, so they'll be toasty in no time.)

And now for this week's recipe du jour. You're here on a good day. We're starting a new series! Ladies and gentlemen, a little applause please, Series 6! And it's a pretty good series. And believe me, it excites me to no end to introduce the first of Series 6 to you, with that Stalwart of the Chinese Buffet - Egg Foo Yung!

OK. Now, first of all, they spell it wrong. Well, I think they do. I've always spelled it "yung" and though it appears as "yong" in a few places on the 'net, "yungs" outnumber "yongs" by a wide margin. Also, I'm always right, so that ends the argument.

Also, Egg Foo Yung plays into the first joke that Mr M ever told me. In person, anyway. We were in the Indian restaurant, and he actually said to me, "How do you make Egg Foo Yung? You take a young egg and you foo it." Apparently that one was really big for him in the 2nd grade or so.

As Foos go, this one doesn't look that bad - let's go to the card. OK, fresh spinach, that's so you can lay your Egg Foo Yung on it and make it look special (how come they don't just whap something down on a plate like we do in real life?), cashew vegetable salad, and mandarin sherbet (which, being the hick I am, I pronounce "sherbert"). It's a regular Chinese festival!

Happy week, all.

Betland's Olympic Update:

*Sadly, Johnny Carson has died. There was a time I watched Johnny avidly, and a time where I found his show exceedingly stale. But I guess that goes with all shows. One thing I must say though, I not only admired Johnny for what he did in his career, but for what he did after it. He wanted to retire, he retired, then he stayed the hell out of the public eye. There aren't many in the business of show who do that, they can't give up the attention. Johnny always said he wanted "I'll Be Right Back" on his tombstone - wonder if that'll happen. Bye, Johnny.