Survival (I'm back!)

This has been a very long week. A very good week, but a long one. And it looks like a lot has happened while I was gone!

I have been at a chamber music workshop for the last six days. This involves playing music all day with different people every day, and performing in a concert every night, and then playing more music with different people after the concert. It is one of the most fun things I get to do. I have been doing it for nearly 10 years. Thus comes the catch - these are people I only get to see once a year and we have at least one awesome thing in common so after the playing and the concert and the more playing, comes the extensive drinking and catching up and, oddly enough, playing of many rounds of cribbage. And then an 8-hour drive home.

My point? since I got home last night I have been tired and unproductive and sweaty (it was in the 60's there, it is in the 90's-100's here). I have been catching up on the blogs but I am so behind that I am tempted just to skip ahead to what everyone is talking about now.

And speaking of what everyone is talking about now, I think I will be skipping the culinary therapy. I just like to cook too much. I am thinking maybe I can consult? If you don't know what to do with something, I can usually refer you to a recipe or at least give you an idea... for a nerdy example, I managed an hour or two volunteering at the co-op this a.m. before needing a nap, and picked up some groceries. Thus, dinner tonight was supposed to be a mushroom ragout over sauteed polenta squares with fresh salad greens from the garden. It still awaits, and will be delicious for dinner tomorrow night. But tonight I am going to bed. I enjoyed the cooking process and it will keep just fine (esp. as I haven't picked the greens yet). But I regularly use the stuff in my fridge, clean it out and keep it stocked. I have developed a reasonable habit of eating well and the toast benders are now a lot fewer and farther between ;)

So for my first suggestion, this recipe is fantastic, not nearly the pain in the butt that it sounds like and relatively healthy while still tasting rich and creamy without any dairy. Matt loves it and once it's cooked it's not at all bad lukewarm with a sandwich when it's hot out. Although that may be a personal weirdness of mine, I know some people who hate soup in hot weather but I am not one of them. I am particularly waiting for my green beans to start showing up so I can make some minestrone! Anyways, I will catch up and start following along with everyone's adventures again, but right now I need to go pass out. Good night, all!