The houseparty continued this morning though, for me, it got off to an abrupt start. Gayla said last night she wouldn't be going out for the paper before I was awake, so I didn't remind her about the alarm system. About 7:15, I was dozing, hearing those earlybirds chatter but far too comfortable and sleepy to get up when the alarm blasted me out of bed. She'd gone for the paper. So we lingered over coffee and cinnamon toast, and then Jordan called to say she and Jacob were coming for breakfast, but she had to get him home by ten--long story. So I cooked, making Welsh rarebit, something my mom used to serve on Sunday nights. I fixed it some when the kids were young, but I remember one night when a teen-age Colin looked at the toast on his plate, covered with thick cheese sauce, and asked, "This is dinner?' In spite of the fact that many people refer to Welsh rabbit, it has nothing to do with four-legged bunnies. The name comes from the Welsh caws (rare or barely cooked) pobi (a bit or small serving). Mom used to make it with whatever beer she and Dad had in the house, but I found a recipe in Gourmet for doing it with Guiness Stout--and was lucky enough to buy a single bottle instead of a six-pack. You make a white sauce with flour, butter, stout, and water; season with salt and pepper, Worcestershire, and dry mustard. At the last minute, you add sharp cheddar and let it melt. Spoon the sauce over toasted peasant bread--I used sourdough. Best thing I learned was a quick way to pickle onion slices: heat 1/4 c. vinegar with 2 tsp. sugar, add onion slices, and when it comes to a boil, remove from the heat and let stand. Delicious on the rarebit.Works best I suspect with red onions. Jacob had two "awful waffles" and Jordan and I succombed to second servings of rarebit. She admitted it sounded familiar. By 10:30 everyone was gone, and I felt like it was three o'clock in the afternoon. Frittered away the morning and did something I never do--skipped lunch, but I was so full! I'm a big believer in breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and even when I eat brunch, I usually eat something--maybe just cottage cheese--for lunch but not today. Didn't miss it. By the by, Gayla told me this morning that Gourmet has ceased publication. I took it for a while, but the recipes were often too complicated and I prefer Bon Appetit, which is my bible. Still, I miss the idea of Gourmet, and I wonder what Ruth Reichl will do next. I love her books!
And I had a light supper from the "cook with what you have" school. I had bought scallops yesterday, so they needed to be used (I have so many leftovers, I kind of regretted that). But I sauteed them with a couple of large mushrooms, sliced, and a slice of onion; made a salad of watercress (left from decorating the rarebit), blue cheese, tomato and lemon with just a slight splash of olive oil. So good.
Some grammar things that have bothered me of late (or always): don't they teach in school that the punctuation goes inside the quote marks? It should be "The boy said hello." And not "The boy said hello". Same is true for everything except semi-colons and colons; if the sentence is a question that ends with a quote, then the question mark goes outside; otherwide, inside. And it's 1990s, not 1990's. There's nothing possive about it. Same thing: she got As in school, not A's, etc. And finally, I'm reading a great mystery that I really enjoy (not naming so as not to embarrass either the author or editor) but the protagonist keeps saying she wishes she could get "ahold" of something. It's get hold, not ahold. Now, when I'm trying to write western dialogue, in a pale imitation of Elmer Kelton, I may write "ahorseback" but it's a deliberate thing. I know better. Ahold is not the right word.
And finally I wish the Republicans would shed bitter partisanship for just a bit and rejoice that an American president won the Nobel Peace Prize. We should be proud for our country, instead of wrangling about he hasn't been in office long enough, he just got it because he isn't George W. Bush, etc. Hey, folks, this is America--united we stand, divided we fall, and folks like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are doing their alarming best to divide us. Pray for worldwide peace for all, and pray America can be a leader in achieving that goal.
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