After dinner, we decided to watch Hulu. When she was last here, Emily helpfully hooked up the Hulu box to the TV so I don't have to watch on my computer. You can watch other things with it, such as Netflix, but I only have Hulu. I wonder if Ann's Netflix would work here? Anyway, I introduced Deb to "Scandal." If you haven't seen it, try it. It's great drama and you could call it a soap opera except that these people talk really fast -- no pregnant (or otherwise) pauses. I especially like the fact that the President (of the US) is having an affair with a black woman who is just gorgeous and his equally beautiful white wife tolerates the situation until ... well, you should really start from the beginning!
Yesterday, Saturday, went by in a whirlwind. I woke up at 3:30 a.m. or some other ungodly hour (does God sleep? Probably not, huh?) and figured, 'Might as well throw in a laundry or two.' So I did and played on the computer. That explains why I slept all the way until 9:30 a.m.! Deb and I decided to go for Dim Sum Breakfast at the new place in Town. It was closed due to fire alarm maintenance. So we stopped across the street to see the Farmers' Market. Flowers anyone?
Incipient peach jam.
Kinda looks like a quilt, doesn't it?
I have to admit my total ignorance here: I had no idea that (below) this is what turmeric looks like. I've only seen it ground up in a jar! (What would you do with a pound? Yeah, I know, dry it and grind it up.)
More stuff I didn't know about. I wish they had husked one so I could see it. Is it really like a cherry? Or a tomato? Maybe Phyllis knows, I'll have to ask her.
This farmer below must have gone to a Waldorf School -- look at the beautiful presentation!
Now THIS is kale! That person is not really that far away, so you can see how big the kale is. I think kale is going to take over the world. We're going to have to start planting linguica to make it afraid of becoming Portuguese soup.
More education for me: that's Elephant's Head Amaranth. "Amaranth is the common name for more than 60 different species of amaranthus, which are usually very tall plants with broad green leaves and impressively bright purple, red, or gold flowers." Previous quote from the Whole Grains Council. "Like quinoa, amaranth is an ancient, protein-packed seed. The tiny poppy seed-size "grain" was a staple of the Aztecs and Mayans." from "The Kitchn."<-- Obviously, that's the seed. What you see below is the flower.
Below is my all time favorite bread: 3 Seeded. I didn't buy any because I still have some store-bought 3 seeded bread. Sometimes I need those preservatives!
Who can resist such cute bok choy? They were really small heads and I'll bet they were very tender. I believe they are from Mr. Chang's Farm. You can read about the farm here: http://organicchiberry.com/about_chang_farm.shtml. Dr. Chang is not a medical doctor, he's a PhD.
The Farmers' Market was partially shaded by this gorgeous baby of a tree.
Then it was off to the Route9 Diner (Hadley, MA) for brunch. I'm here to tell you that "Irish Eggs Benedict" is wonderful! Who knew a diner could make a perfect Hollandais Sauce? (Or maybe they buy it in a can, but I don't care -- it was great.)
Then we headed off to our great adventure of going to Costco in West Springfield to buy "big food." However, being the perfect tour guide, I had to inform Deb that this would be her last chance to stop at Mr. Doughnut (even though we were both stuffed). It was then that I reconfirmed that Deb is my daughter because she said, "There is always room for a doughnut."
It was a fabulous pumpkin doughnut that was much better than Dunkin's pumpkin doughnut. (My apologies to YaoYao who is dieting for her Army physical. Close your eyes, Yaoyao!)
When we got to Costco, one of their taste tests was -- you guessed it -- pumpkin pie. It was so delicious that I wanted to buy a pie. Deb said, "Ma, do you see the SIZE of that pie?" I was in the throes of pumpkin fever and screamed, "Can't we give it away after we have a piece??" Deb, being of sound mind, talked me down and we moved on to the next taste test. That was PIEROGIES!! Man, they were good. The guy hawking them said when they were gone, there wouldn't be any until next month!! (Everything he said had at least two exclamation marks with it!!) I told him that I was glad we had made it in time for The Great Pirogie Festival!! He said, "It's Pierogimania!!!"
After that, we went clothes, shoe, and beauty supply shopping. I got some blouses and nail polish, sort of. I say sort of because the nail polish is a package of stick on nail polish. I have no idea if it will work. We zipped back home and had about two hours before ...
We drove to the Elks in Ludlow for the SEIU 888 fundraiser for the Shriners Children's Hospital. The meat spaghetti sauce was superior to any I've ever had in such a setting and the snowflake rolls were yummy. Usually, I don't care for them because they are tasteless, but these were good. Deb said, "How do you know they are called snowflake rolls?" I said because, 'Someone who knows everything told me -- and the Big Y knew what I was talking about when I asked for them.' That's the name of that tune.
So, as you can see, yesterday went by in a flash.
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The Kanegasaki Farewell Dinner on Wednesday went off without a hitch. The food was delicious, I didn't create an international incident by insulting anyone, and the ancient guy with a cane didn't fall over and die. All in all it was a great, if exhausting, experience. I'll be ready to do it again in ten years! (The libraries originally signed the agreement ten years ago and they re-signed an agreement before dinner.)
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Today's the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival in Orange, Mass. I wonder if I can convince Ann to go? Do they make art with garlic? On their web site, they say, "Orange is the new green." Ha ha. Actually, there will be a lot of solar vendors there. I would like to build new with solar because retrofitting is so expensive. I said that to Deb (who is LEED certified) and she said, 'What many people don't realize is green means small.' I was saying that if I had the money, I would be building a small development for BabyBoomers that is handicapped accessible and green. Deb thinks BabyBoomers won't accept smaller digs. Well, we already are if we go into assisted living or go from a house to an apartment.
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By the way, I'm a little more at ease with my phone now. I have been using my Google calendar faithfully. Now I just have to remember to charge it. I'm wishing I could buy more memory for me, not my computer.
Ciao.
I forgot to say I love farmers markets but we don't get them where we are. I would have to drive either three or four hours to get to one. It's the only down side of living in the bush. Never mind my friend Ted has his own vege garden and is always giving me stuff. Only trouble he's been away fishing since the beginning of September. He'll be on the 11th of this month.
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