vidalicious.com

Kind of a random website. Check it out, and hang there for at least 30 seconds.

I’ve decided to make Candied Meyer Lemon Peel ala Chez Panisse with the left over peels! They are delicious chopped up and added to Meyer Lemon Souffles, or as an after dinner sweet dipped in chocolate.

My neighbor has a meyer lemon tree which he never uses, so he lets me take whatever I want. This morning I turned some into a quart of juice. I’m not sure yet what I’m going to make. Some ideas: meyer lemon curd (for a tart, or to mix in with fresh whipping cream to top strawberries), Lemon Presse (basically a french lemonade in which you combine the ingredients yourself at the table), Moroccan preserved lemons, Meyer lemon souffle, Meyer lemon marmalade, and candied meyer lemon peel.

The tree, stump, and broken bush have all been cleared out. Its time to prep the ground for new plantings. We will most likely get the same kind of tree which is an Australian Willow, then plant some drought tolerant plants in the bed around it – probably lavender.

It seems the tree was getting too much water and the base was starting to rot out. When we moved in to this house someone had already installed an irrigation system in the yard. We ripped out what we could by hand, and the stump grinder finished the work. So the area now is clear and ready for some drought tolerant plants. I’m thinking of doing a Mediterranean/Napa style garden. We’ll see.
At any rate, I’m embracing the new start the storm has forced on me.

It is a super stormy day here. There are trees and powerlines down all over the city.
While sitting here at my computer we lost one of our beloved trees. 8-(

It was my favorite tree and such a perfect visual block to our 3 story neighbors.
The tree will be greatly missed.

Its hard to tell from the photo, but the tree also took down part of the fence. The post is broken and the fence is way out of whack. I’m not sure when the rain will let up and we can take care of the damage. Hopefully by next week.

I finally finished knitting a pillow case for a large throw pillow. It wasn’t really that difficult, but it did take some time. The yarn is Cocoon, by Rowan. On the back I used some vintage wooden buttons. I am really pleased with the outcome.

I made these stockings last year.
One for each of us, then a smaller elf shoe for the dog.

Last night Dallas and I went out for a leisurely Sunday night dinner to Universal Cafe. It is pretty close to our house, but it was cold so we decided to take the bikes and make the journey faster and more fun. On the way there I realized I had two flat tires. 8-( I guess I hadn’t ridden the bike since I worked at Range. Oh well, at that point we were already half way there so I just pushed through trying not to cause too much damage to my poor bike.

Dinner was tasty and we left feeling satisfied and ready for a nice ride home. We started over to where we had locked up our bikes and noticed only one remained! I couldn’t believe it. My bike was gone. The cable was clipped and my bike was gone. It was an awful sinking feeling. We knew better than to lock up the bike with only a cable lock, but we were only going to Universal, and only for an hour or so. Crazy.

So Dallas unhooked his bike and we began our walk home. We had only made it a few steps when a group of people rounded the corner on their way to Universal. As usual, I was listening in on their conversation… “I remember once I had my bike stolen…”. I turned around and had to bust in with my story. “Really!?, My bike was JUST stolen from in front of the restaurant.”. They told us that they had JUST seen a guy riding a bike holding an extra bike next to him!

Holy Cow!

And Dallas was off!
He disappeared down the street and several minutes later came back around the block with my bike in tow! My husband rocks. 😎

Photos of BMan ’07 are posted. They have actually been posted for a while, but you would only know that if you had clicked the “My Photo Gallery” link on the right column of this page and browsed for yourself.

This photo is of the Double Rainbow that appeared one day. Pretty cool.

I’ve been picking up some shifts doing catering work. No on-site stuff, just cooking in the HQ kitchen. Its been fun. I am even secretly enjoying my brand new burn.