Sun Dried Oily Garlicky Goodness
July 27, 2025
Last night, we dropped a few dozen cherry toms on two trays in the dehydrator. Fourteen and a half hours later, we had these beauties. Wrinkly and still a wee bit soft. Then, into a jar with a couple of garlic cloves, some kosher salt and covered in olive oil.
Some do them in the oven at a low temp, which I believe is a lot faster. We’ll see how these go. We’ve done them in the past, but dried them too long and they were hard. Mighta softened in a jar of oil. The summer is young and the tomato plants are prolific; we will experiment.
I Should Spend More Time on Insta
July 26, 2025
Because when I do, I see great photos of nieces and/or their offspring.
Here’s one of Maia, Tim, Ted and Diana.. everyone’s looking pretty spiffy:
Another of Maia and Tim (they run a martial arts academy in Virginia).
And here are a couple of River and Mags, who, from the looks of it, recently attended a cowboy camp:
All’s Well That Ends Well
July 25, 2025
Yesterday, following my breakfast/lunch with John and Elliot, I headed to Pleasanton to see Aunt Joy and Heidi. This was kind of a big deal, as it had been a few years since I’d seen Aunt Joy.. a major figure in my life from the time I was a wee child (when she married Uncle Vic), until relatively recently. I have no real idea what got between us, but something seemed to. As mysteriously as that apparent rift arose, so did it vanish when she called me last week and we set up a time to have dinner. It was as though those non-communicating years didn’t happen. Grateful for that.
Aunt Joy and I had about an hour to visit, then Heidi dropped in. Conversation and catch up continued, we ordered dinner in (from De La Torre’s) and had a great evening.
Hard to believe.. Aunt Joy’s going to be 90 in October. Who’da thunk?
~~
I took off about 8:00. Just as I’d gotten onto the 680 heading north, I pulled off again in order to set up a podcast to listen to on the way home. I was making my way back to the freeway and at an intersection when my car totally died. Like one moment it was running and I was listening to Pod Save America (those guys keep me sane), the next it was radio silence (so to speak). Nothing worked. Dead.
Long story short: I immediately called AAA. As I was doing that, a police officer saw me and came around to provide a buffer so I wouldn’t get hit from behind (my hazards didn’t work either). AAA arrived about an hour later and couldn’t jump my car, so called a tow truck. Another hour went by. Jason the tow truck driver arrived, loaded my car, then we headed to another part of Pleasanton to pick up another stranded driver (a mariachi musician from Sacramento). Such an odd happenstance.. two broken down vehicles in Pleasanton at the same time both needing tows all the way to Davis and Sac. I rode back in the cab, the musician rode back with a friend who’d come down to rescue him. Everyone was nice and cheerful. Jason dropped me at Hoffman’s (we still call it that, even though it’s now just AAA Automotive of Davis), Jim was there to pick me up, and we got home about 12:30.
Postscript: we learned the next day that the problem was a loose battery cable and once reattached and the battery recharged, I was good to go. Just 94 bucks to figure all that out. Jim’s embarrassed because he was the one who bought a replacement battery a few months ago and installed it himself.. and was thus the one who neglected to tighten adequately the cables. But I don’t blame him one bit. I’m just glad the car’s okay and I’m home. And also glad I had dinner with Aunt Joy (and Heidi, who I do see more regularly). All’s well that ends well, right? On so many fronts.
Here’s my car, quietly sitting at a red light (many red lights over the course of a couple hours), as the sun set on a lovely day!
Here’s the police officer, and then the backup Community Service Officer who took over for him when he needed to get back on his beat:
Here’s my car getting hauled up on the tow truck bed (almost two hours later):
And here’s the other truck that we pulled behind us… quite the rig.
Shop Talk
July 24, 2025
The first part of this day involved a trip down to Berkeley to hang out with John Higgins and Elliot Margolies.. two esteemed former colleagues — community media legends, both. Rapid fire convo was had. That was a fun breakfast!
We are certainly older than we used to be! I was the last arrival.. and when I approached Rick and Ann’s (our oft chosen restaurant), I thought: look at those two old men sitting on that bench.
Sigh.
With age comes wisdom, I guess. I can absolutely say that we had some pretty good observations about the world of community media and its evolving mission.
Eggplant Smile-Worthy
July 23, 2025
That was today’s garden haul: rosy cherry tom cheeks, basil eyebrows, tomato eyes, chard hair, strawberry nose, eggplant smile.
This also made me smile. Bigly.
But this! This was the smile worthiest thing I looked at today.
Hi and Dry
July 22, 2025
First, here’s our garden haul yesterday, strawberry hair edition:
Try not to think about the time it took to form the head with all of those rolly polly cherry tomatoes. But do know, I have fun amusing myself with my garden art. LOL.
The zucs were a late addition… and kinda don’t really make sense. Just chalk it up to garden whimsey.
Also, while you may not hear it, this fellow is saying “hi” with the golden twinkle in his eyes.
Okay, next up: Dry.
I cut into this mango last night only to discover it was not ripe enough to use in our salad.. but now that it was peeled and cut, what to do, what to do?? Overnight in the dehydrator was Jim’s solution. Jim’s really branching out in the dehydrating department!
Like we discovered with unripe plums: an unripe mango yields unripe dried mango. But these are (er, were) pretty good! Next time we’ll shorten the drying time in order to achieve a chewier result, but I tell ya, this dehydrator is showing a lot of promise.
A New Era of Smoofies
July 21, 2025
I’m a smoothie-a-day person. Around here, they’re known as smoofies, don’t ask me why. I guess smoofie has become my own little endearment for a concoction I look forward to with excitement each and every time I make one (as I said, nearly daily).
Anyway. My formerly trusty blender gave up the ghost a couple weeks ago… I wore the damn thing right out. So we finally took the leap and bought a Vitamix. I think it is a good investment. This thing is so powerful, my smoothie’s done in like 6 seconds (I like them crunchy). Seriously, push the button and the ingredients swirl and fold together in an instant. It’s quite a sight.
Today was smoofie #3. Same formula for a while now (though they have evolved over the years): 3 cups of ice, 2 cups of water, 1 banana, 1/2 cup of blueberries, 1/2 cup of applesauce, and a large scoop of chocolate protein powder. More or less. For the time being, I’m forgoing the chocolate chips, peanut butter and honey, though I miss those ingredients! Trying to bring my weight back down to normal (and have a long way to go), so being sensible. It still tastes great to me.
PIctured above and below is the inaugural smoofie.
[Note: After posting this, WordPress offered three blogs with similar themes — as they do — and provided a link to a blog I wrote on June 6th of 2016.. the night of the California primary, as a matter of fact. The subject was smoothies, and included was a list of ingredients I used back then for my daily smoothies (interesting). Also, I used the same endearment when referring to my smoothie. Seems I’ve been calling them smoofies for a very long time!]
LAX
July 20, 2025
Check this out:
LAX was built in 1953 (or thereabouts). This is the so-very-familiar Sepulveda tunnel. I’ve driven through that tunnel my entire life… each and every time we went to LAX. Still there, of course, though the landscape’s done and there are a lot more cars, a good percentage of which are electric and hybrids.
Matt and Michael flew into LAX this morning on a flight from Helsinki, as a matter of fact. His comment to me — in response to my text asking if they were home yet — was “LAX – ugh.” Because, wow.. LAX is huge, crowded, and pretty much a nightmare to navigate in and out of.
But wow, huh? Seventy two years ago. I’m at this point in my life where images from my youth look so vintage and impossibly old. I’m starting to feel like one of those old people who’s seen a lot of progress over their lifetime.
Food Porn
July 19, 2025
From blistered shishito peppers and rosemary cashews washed down with a French 75, to a perfect, summery peach crisp with whipped cream, we ate well at chez Sarah&Gabe tonight. In between appetizers and dessert, we had…
…. a refreshingly fresh gazpacho with basil/goat cheese “ice cream” (this picture was taken before the basil leaf garnish was added) …
…. shrimp sauteed in olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes.. and other seasonings I imagine, but didn’t see …
… mushrooms that were sauteed in a vinaigrette (whose ingredients I missed), then impaled on a skewer in descending size order and mounted on a cube of french bread (the Spanish way). The master at work…
… we also had a traditional Spanish tortilla española with a deeply flavorful tomato sauce ….
Here’s the spread:
…beneath the trees…
All in all, a luscious meal, in a relaxed setting, with lively conversation, on a warm summer night in the California foothills.
Friday Afternoon at Peets
July 18, 2025
Here I sit in quite the state of which little path should I walk down today? I am overwhelmingly behind on my so-called daily blog (curse you, vacations!) (I love you, vacations!). Can’t decide if I should blog the vacations that are most moist in my memory (or is that moistest?), or should I go back to the first holes in my 2025 documentorama and start there? My inner OCDiva tells me to go back to the first hole and proceed methodically from there. That strategy is met with a deep sigh that sends me instead to the NYT Spelling Bee to see if I can find a few more words (Queen Bee is such a tease), or to my inbox to cull a few hundred now-dated urgent messages from Robert Reich, Jess Craven, Rick Wilson, Robert Hubble, Pod Save America, Heather, Mike, Jim (not my Jim), Peter (not my Peter), Dan, Don… etc. (and this would skim but a fraction of the 4000+ emails in my inbox of dread).
Sooo…
Instead of doing the #1 item on my todo list (or partake in any of its super satisfying distractions), I will take just a short moment to comment on the political fetish du jour.. the Epstein Files.
As I was driving to yesterday’s John Lewis Good Trouble Lives On gathering in Woodland (it was excellent, maybe I’ll even blog about it, if I ever catch up), I was literally on Main St, approaching Heritage Plaza (site of gathering), when the story broke about the salacious letter our puerile, potty-mouthed president sent to his convicted sex-offender buddy Jeffrey. (Whatta perfect pair they are.) I admit to all manner of giddiness upon hearing the early phases of this story!
Two hours later, I’m driving home… and picked the story right back up. Giddiness level still high!
For my Lifeofwry record, the moment we are in:
We’ve had a couple weeks now of Epstein Files news. Musk, bless his heart, brought this story back to life as his bromance with trump started to fall apart and he took to the twitters to vent his anger (thank goodness for ego maniacs who can’t help but put their psychoses on full public display). He teased all kinds of incriminating information about the relationship between trump and Epstein and began calling for the release of The Files. This ignited the far right Magasphere who believed NOT that their dear leader was implicated, but that the files contained, as trump and his people had promised, a mother load of titillating revelations about high level democrats. These guys aggressively campaigned on this for months leading up to the 2024 election. Elect trump and the truth will come out about Clinton and, well, everyone who’s anyone. He promised he’d reveal The Files. Now in office, his personal lawyer, AG Bondi, said she had The List on her desk!
These guys are so full of shit.
They throw the reddest of red raw meat to their base. The red-faced nutcase online Maga influencers then light these conspiracy theories on fire and they spread through crazy town, inspiring their people to come out of their basements and vote. FOX entertainment does its part to amplify the conspiracies and make sure no republican is left behind. trump, of course, wins, thanks to this poor, misinformed, misdirected aggrieved buncha folks who don’t really know anything about current events, history, how government works… it’s just a nightmare. There were enough of them to put him over the top. He claimed he loved them and would fight for them. Of course he said this; he needed their votes. And he got them. And just like in his first term, he fights NOT for them but for the billionaire class, but he continues to keep them on his side with culture war garbage. He uses, to great effect, propaganda that convinces them to fear the other, to hate our government and institutions, to believe dems are evil and hate our country (and them). He bombards and blinds them with this sewage. They don’t even notice that the programs and services they’ve relied on are all disappearing. It’s stunning.
I ramble. We know all this.
But the thing is, now these guys are mad. They were promised the goods. They gave trump their vote and now they want their spoils. But trump doesn’t want to give up The Files (wonder why?). These guys are hilariously torn… they love him, don’t want to think he’d do them wrong, so they’re looking for a fall guy.. and that appears to be Ms. Bondi. It’s just all so rich. She does whatever trump wants, waaay overcommitted, and now she’s stuck holding the poop. He skates away. Maybe.
It sure looks like trump doesn’t care about the base. He’s thrown them, bigly, under the bus (they’re now — according to his desperate, wretched posts on truth social (shudder) — weaklings, and stupid, and he doesn’t need their support anymore). trump’s lashing out at party leaders who think releasing The Files makes sense, he’s lashing out at the influencers and their grubby followers who want The Files. The whole lot of them are torn. They love him, they’ve been with him. He’s letting them down. He’s calling them names.
I think he doesn’t care. He got what he needed from them: to be elected president. That way 1) all his legal troubles vanished (#1 reason for running, to stay out of prison); 2) he has the platform and the tools of retribution he craves to level against Biden and anyone, anywhere who opposed him or embarrassed him; 3) he’s able to enrich himself and family through the stratosphere and beyond; 4) he can (rightly, disgustingly) claim the mantle of most powerful human on earth, abusing power left and right, cheating, bullying, manipulating his way to a level of power orders of magnitude beyond anything any of us have ever experienced — here in our humble little former democracy, and elsewhere.
All he ever wanted.
I think he doesn’t care about the poor schlubs who voted for him. He never liked them anyway. He only needed them. I think he can now rest, play golf into the sunset, let others run our collapsed government and gutted democracy. Maybe a disease will provide 1) the excuse to step back, and 2) engender sympathy. Jim disagrees. Jim thinks he does care about the midterms, about holding majorities in the House and Senate. He’s got three more years to rule. I think nope. I don’t think he gives a damn about the country or about the government he tanked. I think he got his immoral butt ugly bill through, got his tax cuts, implemented a mind boggling escalation in deportation efforts (his legacy), and twisted his dull dirty knife into the hearts of democrats everywhere. I think that’s it. He’s free and immune (thanks to his pals on the formerly supreme court), he’s rich and getting richer, the entire world is bending a knee to him (seriously baffling and mind numbing), he’s getting back at all who made him feel small…. his work here is done.
Who cares if he drew a crude picture of a naked woman with a sharpie and signed his name in her pubic hair in a 50th birthday card to JE in 2003? Who cares if he and his pal Jeffrey shared a secret (their obvious shared penchant for raping young girls) and he wished for his friend more wonderful secrets each day? We might, but he doesn’t. (Can you imagine, some republican pundits are saying his sexual behavior is baked in and nobody cares? Can you further imagine this is generating more support for trump at the moment, not less… that the republican instinct is to circle the wagons in support of their guy as the media piles on yet again? Tragic.)
I don’t know, really, where this goes. Does this all signal a rupture in the Magaverse? Declining support for their dear leader? Or does he slip out the back jack, his usual unscathed? Will the dems overplay this hand? Prolly will. But shouldn’t he be called out? Shouldn’t decency prevail? Shouldn’t justice emerge at some point? Shouldn’t accountability finally happen?
(She screamed into the void.)
Life of Wry 