A St. Patrick’s Day surprise

With Jamie and Eden

This is yesterday's blog today because we thought my phone had died. It didn't--I guess it just needed a vacation. Anyway today I could get to the picture Jamie texted me of our supper last night, which involved a lovely surprise—Jamie’s younger daughter, Eden, my second grandchild now a high school senior, met us at Pacific Table. Drove all the way from Frisco to surprise her grandmother. She had told me a week or two ago that she could now hug me since she had covid in January and had lots of antibodies, but I didn’t expect her to put it into action. I was so glad to see her and hear about all that’s going on—she got her acceptance today to UC Santa Barbara, so she has been accepted several prestigious places but is still waiting on a couple of others. Meantime she, once a shy kid, now sparkles with self-confidence—and long, light lilac fingernails. I simply adore her.

Eden is a vegetarian, has been for years, so Pacific Table was perfect—she had a grilled artichoke, sushi, and cucumber salad; I had the fried oysters with Caesar salad; and Jamie—frown—had a hamburger. Who goes to a fish place and orders hamburger? He said it was good though—and half of it came home, along with his jalapeno cole slaw. Best part: we had a wonderful visit.

So that was why we had our St. Patrick’s Day dinner a day early, because Jamie knew that Eden was planning to “surprise” me tonight. Last night we were Irish to the core with a delicious and bountiful supper—corned beef, potatoes, and carrots, the meat simmered most of the day and the vegetables added judiciously throughout (it doesn’t take baby carrots long to cook but oh, my, did they soak up flavor!). Jamie proved to be masterful at sautéing cabbage. I chopped up what I thought was a goodly amount, and he scoffed, “That will cook down to nothing.” Though I swear I remember adding sour cream, he wanted nothing but butter, a lot of it, and salt and pepper. The result was cabbage sweet and good beyond imagining! I thought my plate looked over-filled, but I ate every bite and am looking forward to leftovers.

We did have the predicted storms last night, about three a.m. Lots of rolling thunder, a bit of lightning, a bit of rain, and, thank goodness, no hail. The wind blew and blew, and I sat for a few minutes watching the patio umbrella—it was unfurled, but still wobbling in the wind. My spray of green pinpoint lights, a Christmas holdover, is still on at three in the morning, and sometimes I get mesmerized just looking at it in my half-sleep state. Spooked by the weather, Sophie parked herself right by the bed and stayed there, except when I went to the bathroom, in which case she followed me so closely I was in danger of tripping.

The wind is still blowing tonight and the temperature falling—not cold, but with the wind a bit brisk. A good workday for me: I sent off the Handbook of Texas entry on socialite/sculptor Electra Waggoner Biggs and I did some semi-coherent writing about Helen Corbitt, of Neiman-Marcus fame. Also reviewed the publicly available images on Corbitt through the Texas History Portal—lots of good recipes. How can I ever cook them all? That project may yet take shape in my mind.