Dazed and confused? Not me. I’m just Lost in the Cheese Aisle.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

THE SIREN SONG OF LABOR DAY

The Missus and I had a pleasant enough Labor Day. Brunch with a few of our friends, followed by several hours of sitting in front of the television set watching the bright red blobs on the weather maps dance across the screen.

The local tornado sirens got a workout. Every half hour or so, they would begin wailing their song, warning us that a funnel cloud was whirling its way through some part of Cobb County. West Cobb - and southern Cherokee to the north - were getting a pounding, thanks to the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee. All told, about four tornadoes touched down in the area. We were more fortunate here in east Cobb, where all we got was a badly needed drenching.

The vile weather meant that the ribs we were going to enjoy for dinner would need to undergo Oven-Cookage rather than being smoked outdoors on the grill. But they turned out fine, thanks to liberal lashings of Billie Bob’s Sooper-Seekrit Barbecue Rub, augmented by a dose of Chinese five-spice and chipotle powder. Fall-off-the-bone tender, they were. Sautéed wild mushrooms and some broccolini stir-fried with soy, garlic, and sesame oil completed the menu.

We may complain about a few things in life. We’re not crazy about the remodeling job we did in the upstairs bath, the house needs painting, et cetera, et cetera... but we’re really quite lucky overall. Our neighborhood has been spared some of the heinous weather we’ve seen here both yesterday and in late April, and our friends and family managed to get through Hurricane Irene without too much difficulty. And we have more than enough to eat. Who says you have to wait until Thanksgiving to be thankful?

1 comment:

Gerry N. said...

I was thinking the same thing the other day. My daugher and her husband are now living just a few miles away, having been transferred home from the cess pit that is Massachusetts, we have a house that is big enough to be comfortable and small enough to care for, plenty of food, and this Summer has been a wonder, upper temps below 75 and lower temps above 60, enough rain, almost always at night, to keep the grass and trees green and dry enough to do whatever we pleased. My chilis and tomatoes are running rampant, I'll have at least 50lbs of Jalepenos and the same of kung paus, the green and yellow bell peppers have produced so many fruit that the freezer is nearly full. I'm gonna have to learn to dry the hot chilis in order to keep 'em. Right now life is pretty wonderful.