Gourmet Honey-Braised Cheddar and Monterey Jack Pate
1. Pour 1/2 cup shredded Mexican-Style cheddar and monterey jack cheese into a bowl.
2. Microwave approximately 30 seconds, or until it is mostly melted.
3. Squeeze 1 1/2 teaspoons honey, or to taste, into one corner of cheese bowl.
4. Eat with a fork.
I headed out to the pool around 7:30 this evening. It was still over 100 degrees and I didn’t have to cover myself in sunscreen, so it seemed like a good time. I picked up the mail and read a letter from a friend and two pages of my new O magazine. One of Oprah’s dogs died unexpectedly after choking to death on a plastic ball when on a walk with somebody else. I shed a tear and thought about 1) the horror that person must have felt at having just let Oprah’s dog die a terrible accidental death, even though there’s probably nothing he could have done and it was a freak accident, and 2) what I will do when my dog will one day die, probably within the two years, tops. Unless we die together in a fiery car crash…
Just as I was getting in the smooth empty pool a couple came out with their young daughter and they played around at their end while I paddled around my end, trying not to be annoyed by the girl’s inability to pronounce her r’s. She was happy and bubbly and a child’s shrieking laughter is music to our ears and everything, but seriously, buddy, the sign says “quiet enjoyment at all times”, and some of us are trying to relax here.
They were probably equally disappointed to find they didn’t have the pool to themselves either.
I didn’t get into bed until 4 o’clock on Friday, having returned home ten minutes prior. I went to dinner and a birthday party with some new friends (good work, Okcupid!) and we played games until 12:30. Then several people left and the rest of us stayed, just hanging out, for several more hours. I was ready to leave hours earlier but my ride was not, so I stayed and enjoyed myself and hoped that the rest of my household decided not to wait up for me and had gone to sleep at a reasonable hour.
Dinner was at Green, a new vegan restaurant that made me feel preppy and mainstream and somewhat lame. Two employees had a distinctly Suicide Girls-esque appearance, with dyed black hair and vintage thrift store dresses and tattoos; more than one customer sported dreadlocks. One young woman was wearing a black corset top over a tank top to go along with her whitish foundation and black eye make-up and lipstick. We made eye contact and she glared me at for second before I sheepishly looked away. I imagined that a man with very long brown hair and Birkenstocks, reading the newspaper while he waited for his food, was part of a traveling Renaissance fair group during the fall season.
I was disappointed in the Thai Peanut rice dish that I ordered - too spicy and too much sauce, not enough rice and tofu. I will definitely go again to try out several other menu options that appealed to me. And everything is vegan!
I’ve kept my eyes open all evening and now I can shower and go to bed. It is going to be an amazing stretch of 11 hours all in a row where I can sleep and sleep and sleep.
So I’m going to go see “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” tonight at 12:01. That puts me in bed at roughly three o’clock in the morning for a total of slightly more than four hours of sleep. I already know it’s a bad idea. I’m hoping it will be so little sleep that it’s actually kind of ok, especially with lots of caffeine to start the day.
Also in the past couple weeks I have seen “Ratatouille” and “Transformers”. That’s my year movie quotient right there, plus I’ll be going to “Harry Potter” again on Friday for a friend’s birthday. I can’t remember the last time I saw this many movies in the theater in such a short period of time.
