waiting for the muse

The Stars Are Tellin' Me---

You may roar like a lion if you feel that someone is threatening your financial stability today. Although you may be driven to confront a powerful person, make certain it's necessary before you start something that could become quite intense. It's helpful to remember that winning an argument isn't as important as getting your point across.

Hey, after the last 'threat' to my financial stability (ha) nothing can hurt. And anyway, I could use a little 'intense' for a change.

Today I bagged goodies from merchants for the Special Olympics auction this weekend. We had 120 bags to fill with special deals, dog poop bags, beer can sleeves, and some actual things of value. Capital Grill had donated 8 huge gift baskets with amazing wines and gift certificates so we loaded them in the cars and headed back in for lunch where I indulged my carnivore self with carpaccio. It was good, but frankly would not beat the carpaccio at Brio where they bring it out on a huge platter. But what the hell, even small amounts of carpaccio are good. Had to then bring all the stuff back to the club where the auction will be held, unload, and drag poor self home.

TY was watching all his channels at once while clicking through the remote so I asked for the on-demand Rubicon I missed Sunday night. Love that show! Molly was needy for attention, and I knit a few more rows on the yellow Euroflax. Got a huge box of stuff from Dick Blick that I now will wrestle over to the studio- frankly I don't remember what I ordered because the rest of the order came in a week ago so it's like a surprise party opening it.

I solved the problem of the boring background on the current piece in my sleep last night- my best thinking time is that span between 1 and 5 when I am unfortunately flopping around thinking about what I need to do. Anyway, I need clouds and movement, I need detail, it needs ATTENTION! So I am diverting my thought processes back to the background and off the rusty bridge over the Hudson. Clouds- I need moving clouds. Comin' right up, Muse. Thanks for taking the time for the visit to clue me in. I've missed you lately in those early morning hours. Come back again, y'hear? How about soonest!

Next project is to make a batch of Su Boereg using a recipe I found online the other day using, of all things, egg roll wrappers. I learned to roll out the dough on Aunt Gladys' little formica table right after I got married. The deal is that it has to be think enough to read the newspaper through- and as that thinness approaches, all the menfolk crash into the kitchen for the reading test. The dough is then parboiled, like lasagna noodles, and flashed into ice water, then onto a towel to dry before layering with butter. Copious amounts of butter! Actually recently a country style phyllo dough has become available in the specialty stores in Watertown, and because it works perfectly well for boerek I haven't experimented beyond. Regular phyllo also works in a pinch. Anyway, I want to try the egg roll wrappers to see if it is a usable substitute in a pinch. And even if it isn't, a tray of mediocre boerek is a whole lot better than no boerek! And since Aunt Gladys is coming for Thanksgiving this year, I would love to have it. The thing about Armenian Thanksgiving is that things are a bit different. Cranberry sauce comes in a can and you push it out the back end like a clogged drain. The turkey is stuffed with white bread, and along with the mashed potatos are the traditional rice pilaf, the usual yams with marshmallos, and a big dish of corn because 'that's what the Indians ate'. (Their story, not mine.) I tend to make my own rules and they follow blindly along because, being a Yankee, I 'must know' about what pilgrims ate. They think I walk on water because I make gravy in the bottom of the turkey pan. SO, this Thanksgiving I will regale them with su boerek. I'll take pictures and it will make you weep...