StephanieL

My sister had to take over hosting duties a few weeks ago; my cousin, who usually hosts, and her family had to go into isolation because her husband was diagnosed with a rare form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and is in the midst of 18 weeks of chemotherapy. The menu: Charcuterie & cheese, avocado deviled eggs, crudites, and mixed nuts as a general nibble "Turkey-in-a-bag" bought at Target. The dark meat was fine; N said the white meat was a bit tough Stuffing Mashed potatoes Mac & cheese Roasted vegetables Salad with shaved Brussels sprouts, pomegranate seeds and other ingredients Dessert: fruit platter, apple-cranberry pie + vanilla ice cream, pumpkin pie + Reddi-whip, cookies

I broke the first rule of repair: make sure you have all of the tools you need before you start taking something apart. My main coffee grinder is still in pieces because at the last step I realized I didn't have this particular box wrench.

Shakshuka with RG King City Pinks; homemade parsley flatbread on the side. I've been told there will be baked apples for dessert.

A Too Good to Go purchase from a local panaderia yielded a lot of pan dulce, plus some rolls, a coconut cupcake and a chocolate cupcake, and a long thing filled with cream cheese and jalapeno pieces. So yesterday afternoon and breakfast today was very carb-heavy, and we still have more for tomorrow's breakfast/lunch/coffee break.

A gray weekend means it's time for chili con carne, using the RG Good Mother Stallards.

N got me an atomizer just for absinthe rinses. It seems to work well when a recipe calls for an actual dash or two.

Pasta e fagioli planned for tonight's supper, with RG Cranberry beans.

Tito Puente Jr. and Néstor Torres at SF Jazz last Thursday, with guests Juan Escovedo (Sheila E.'s brother) and San Francisco legend Roger Glenn. What an amazing show! People were literally salsa dancing in the aisles and near the stage. Of course, they encore'd with Oye Como Va. I really need to go to more Latin jazz concerts.

Here's another recipe that calls for absinthe. The Zeena (courtesy of the book Noir Bar, in homage to the movie Nightmare Alley [the original]) 2 oz. rye 3/4 oz. Benedictine 3/4 oz. sweet vermouth 2-3 dashes Angostura Absinthe Rinse a chilled coupe or cocktail glass with absinthe. Stir the remaining ingredients with ice and strain into the glass; garnish with an orange peel.

I now can't access MF from my work computer.

The most recent RG Bean Club shipment included California Coronas, a new bean akin to the Royal Coronas. I made the newsletter recipe using the beans plus kale, orzo, and canned whole tomatoes. It calls for making a "cheesy topping" out of cashews and nutritional yeast, but since I eat dairy I didn't bother with that and used real Parmesan. I may substitute Pecorino Romano for the leftovers.

Just found out that the husband of one of my cousins, who's just 2 months younger than me, has non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Don't know what stage. Her older sister's husband also died young from cancer. Needless to say, we won't be having Thanksgiving at their house. My sister is probably going to step up to the plate--she has the room.

Well lah-dee-dah.

Yay for Lazlo!

Hey, no spoilers! 😜

A friend of mine sent me a Jersey Shore-themed scratch-off ticket for my birthday, and I won $50 with it! Fortunately, I'll be able to cash it in when I visit NJ next month.

And we're out. Hoping Seattle gets to the WS, because they've never been.

Considering that it's now up to $10 an issue, it's a relative bargain.

Excellent prosciutto and provolone sandwich, on whatever the Italian equivalent of a baguette is (sourdough division). From Toscano Brothers in North Beach, a bakery run by the pizzaiolo Tony Gemignani.

Double mastectomy later this month. After that, not sure what they're going to recommend.

One of my oldest and dearest friends, who now lives 2 time zones away from me, has Stage 2 breast cancer.

I got the Knicks and the Hot Duck ones wrong. I don't really follow basketball and the Hot Duck thing happened after I moved away.

No, but I went to the Giants' Jewish Heritage Night last month and the "Rally Rabbi" blew the shofar then.

Looks like we do. The first thing I did after Yom Kippur ended was turn on my phone and check the score.

I certainly remember the old days, before any galleries moved in. I have fond memories of occasionally going to a certain, ahem, club and being very worried that I wouldn't be able to catch a taxi out of there.