Sunday, May 24, 2009

weekend accomplishments

when the possibility of blog camp transitioned from fantasy to reality, i took at look at this little slice of hallway hell and panicked a bit:


but, thanks to the tidying frenzy which preceded my sitting down and getting to work, and an entire day of effort on the part of husband during which he put in a new floor, it now looks like this:


and i can tell you that is a big relief! and we now have our very own room in which to iron. which makes us feel strangely posh. but probably isn't really that posh as long as we're doing the ironing ourselves.  which are are.

* * *
other than that, i invented a new recipe for rhubarb-strawberry cake. it was necessitated by discovering quite a ways into a rhubarb-strawberry crumble that i didn't really have enough brown sugar. i've never invented a cake recipe before, but it turned out pretty well. this is a shot before i discovered the thing with the brown sugar.


those two mangoes in the upper right of the picture (looking suspiciously breast-like) were diced together with some red onion and served over grilled halloumi as an appetizer last evening. they were the really good kind of southeast asian mangos and are almost buttery in texture. they kick those green ones from south america right out of the kitchen. no comparison. tho' there was a twinge of guilt involved in the carbon footprint of buying either one. however, that was eased by the taste of the velvety sweetness mingled with the salty halloumi all smoky from the grill. yum. and gone too fast to get a picture of it.

* * *

after getting down to work this afternoon (thank you rain), i finished three articles and got a good start on three others. now there are only three to go (because yes, it was nine, not seven). but the night is young and there is much caffeine in the house, so i will soldier on.

but first an after-dinner walk in the evening sunshine, since the rain of the day cleared up around 4 p.m. the world was fragrant and green and so alive.  even the dandelion seeds were luminous.


thanks to all of my procrastination, the house is tidy, the laundry is done and put away, ditto the dishes and nearly half my work is done. i have that sunday evening feeling--when you feel relaxed and ready to face whatever the week brings and even have optimistic thoughts that you'll start running tomorrow. the sunday evening feeling is that good.

21 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Weekends of four days are the best and with the sun shining & bbq, they are SUPER. Enjoy your sunday evening.

Molly said...

very productive and all sounds lovely - especially the halloumi! good luck for your week, hope those other 3 articles have bent to your will ...

Tara Thayer said...

Wow on that new floor. You go, husband. And what sort of fabulous cover for you ironing board do you have there? Looks like Lotta Jansdotter, almost.
And...thanks for saying something about those mangoes. I didn't want to be the one to mention it.
You are a very good procrastinator, Julie. Very good.

kristina said...

wow, you've kept busy! procrastination works wonders... ;-)

julochka said...

admittedly, it helped that it was a four-day weekend. :-)

the ironing board is just from ikea and the cover is whatever comes with it, tho' they do use cool designers, so you never know. :-)

Dutchbaby said...

There are a kazillion varieties of mangoes. When we lived in Indonesia as children, our favorite was a small mango variety that you ate when it was very, very ripe. We squeezed the mango to a pulp, bit off the end, and sucked out the juice. Delish! I don't know if it was the official name, but I think you understand why we called it the tet-tet mango.

Delena said...

Can you post your recipe for the rhubarb cake! Excuse my food ignorance, what is halloumi?

Maggie May said...

what a lovely post. you got SO much done!- cleaning AND article writing, impressive. we have been procrastinating all morning on cleaning.

julochka said...

Delena--no need to plead food ignorance--it's a greek cheese that's rather hard and holds up very well when grilled--it doesn't melt and fall through the grill. it's white and quite salty--it actually reminds me a bit of cheese curds if you've ever had those (tho' i don't know how well they'd hold up under the grill). :-)

Maggie--it was a 4-day weekend, which made it much easier to accomplish lots. :-) and i procrastinated all day on friday and most of saturday.

Seaside Girl said...

Wow - you got such a lot done. You have given me a halloumi craving. :-)

Mari Mansourian said...

don't you just love getting things done, well done you did accomplish a bunch, i too am a procrastinator... but when things get done, oh i have that "just got out of the shower, fresh and clean" feeling. it's great. now enjoy the rest of your day. :)
speaking of greek cheese, have you had kefalotere, it's best served fied up and flambed with ouzo. the dish is called saganaki (yum), you can use kasseri too.

Nalina said...

Procrastinator, huh? That makes two of us and plenty more! High five! Still, it's great when you finish you're work and have nothing to worry about. You've just motivated me to finish this ginormous pile of work I have making itself comfortable at my desk. But I'll get to it after dinner. ;) Maybe I'll have some of that ripe mango sitting on my marble countertop. Good work my dear!

Janet said...

I have a cluttered spot like that in my house. maybe i need to plan a party or invite guests over for a weekend - that would sure get me motivated!

rxBambi said...

I'm silently thanking delena for asking the halloumi thing...I was thinking fish. And about the "breasts"...I did a double take. thanks for clarifying. I really really want to be at blog camp but you can bet I'll be there virtually. Tell me what wine and snacks you'll have on hand and I'll have my own dang party :)
ps- totally jealous about the husband doing the floor thingie, mine jsut procrastinates, then fumes when I hire out. Men...

Lynnae said...

The actress Meryl Streep said you will always remain humble as long as you do your own ironing. The room is a nice touch though!

Delwyn said...

Hi Julie,

Your white dandelion on the green sum up the productive weekend heading into a fresh week energised feeling .

We have a few diferent mago varieties too and use them a lot with fish or chicken...and then theres mango macadamia icecream!

I also love haloumi and rhubarb...not together...

Happy Days

Char said...

looks yummy for sure - love discovering new ways to put stuff together. the new floor looks great.

Liz Fulcher, The Fragrant Muse said...

...yeah, but where did you hide the boxes ;-)
The floor is great! What's it made of?
I adore those green lamps! More IKEA?
Don't you find that the more you get done, the more you are energized to get even more stuff done....

Optimistic Pessimist said...

Glad you mention the boobs in the background of the rhubarb-strawberry cake picture. I was thinking it and hoped I wasn't the only one who thought it - and then you mentioned it.

Just Jules said...

I love your tags almost more then the post! and way to go on clearing out the boxes - and you are posh!

Amanda said...

Did you say "you'll start running" tomorrow, maybe? Really? Seriously? Pleeeeease?