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zesty_pintoI volunteered to do a bunch of stuff. In particular, I had this idea for a target game using rope and a laminated sheet and some water guns.
I was trying to figure out the cleanest way to do this and this involved many trips to the garden to test this out. Then it involved figuring out how to make the targets align properly. Then it involved how to make the perfect hole to run the rope through.
Between this, I made chili, like an all-beef chili. This is because the picnic also had a bit of a potluck theme going, so I decided to do a nacho bar.
I filled up a 40 ounce tub with pico de gallo.
I also made pulled pork because Michelle thought I should do it, but it turned out I made a lot of chili. The freezer has a block of the chili and all the pulled pork and I think we'll be good for protein for awhile as a result.
Soon the picnic comes around. I'm tired, partly because it's been a long week, partly because we stayed up late last night catching up on season finales.
So we head out with a cooler that needs to be filled with ice, a tub of meat, a few plastic tubs to hold the other stuff to go in the nacho bar, some water guns, their respective bottles, everything. Michelle even asks me, "Is this everything?" and I give a hurried "yes" between reminding myself that we keep paring knives in the car (long story).
The road is a relatively quiet one. The weekend has been throughout the state as apparently all the cool kids wanted to come over and embrace the green mountain state, and they did so by flooding every freaking place we went to. Even the supermarkets were not immune as I imagine vacationers came to stock up on food for their week. Even our cul-de-sac was not immune as a car adorned with NJ plates regularly parked around us for the week or so to live in an apartment that our neighbors (whom are barely around anyway) own, while our downstairs had some brethren driving over show the pearly whites of a Quebec license.
Sunday though was a little different. Maybe it was the end of the weekend looming over, or the call to church, but just as likely, it could have been that the weather was so freaking hot. The sun had conquered the sky and few clouds dared to show up and for its merciless time, we all suffered the oppression of it being just. too. damn. hot.
So a trip to the supermarket was a bit of a muscle memory for an already tired brain regarding what I wanted to get. Shredded lettuce? Oh yeah, that. Avocadoes too, sure. Do I want red onions or green? Better go green, ha ha.
So we get everything, along with six bags of ice that are stored in the least likely place to find ice, and we get to the park and as we unpack, I came to a conclusion:
I forgot to get chips.
Who the hell forgets to get chips for a nacho bar?!
So I grab the keys, swearing to myself, and drive back to town. I find Cumberland Farms, grab two big bags and head to the car and as I sit down and toss the bags to the passenger side, a revelation came to me.
I forgot the salsa too.
Yes, the salsa, the stuff that I spent part of my weekend actually MAKING.
I swear to myself out loud (I think some of the people parked around me noticed this) and I rush out, grab the generic bottled crap that I never would approve getting, and then went back to the park.
People are liking the nacho bar idea, even despite how I was improvising chopping with a paring knife with a blade as long as my thumb tip on a plastic bag that worked as a cutting board. I feel some pride, wounded by the fact that I just left 40 ounces of salsa that I rarely eat to begin with.
Remember how I said how hot it was? Yeah, it was too bad hot for most people to leave the gazebo all this stuff was set. I decide to work on the water gun targets and then realize: I forgot the god damned targets that I spent two weeks designing and troubleshooting as well!
Two weeks of work for nothing!
After realizing that a two hour trip back and forth for laminated sheets was not worth it, I finally decided to use some paper plates. With the power of duct tape, I create a temporary target. It should last... a few hours of use?
Well it wasn't worth being worried about anyway because it was really too hot for anyone to really want to play any games. There was food though. Oh man, was there food. They anticipated 50 or so people to come, and I think we had food for 70. How many actually showed up? Maybe 30.
My shrunken stomach (see previous post) made this experience one of a parable of gluttony, for I wanted to eat everything, but my stomach stopped me after one dish. First world problems for the win.
So not much happened in the end, but on the bright side? Cleanup was easy. We finished up by 3, which was when we decided to start cleaning up according to the itinerary. Plus, I was bored and my janitorial powers were furious to be abused. I unleashed my inner Roger Wilco and cleaned with reckless abandon! Ha ha ha!
And that is why as I type this I am eating a taco salad three days after the fact.
I was trying to figure out the cleanest way to do this and this involved many trips to the garden to test this out. Then it involved figuring out how to make the targets align properly. Then it involved how to make the perfect hole to run the rope through.
Between this, I made chili, like an all-beef chili. This is because the picnic also had a bit of a potluck theme going, so I decided to do a nacho bar.
I filled up a 40 ounce tub with pico de gallo.
I also made pulled pork because Michelle thought I should do it, but it turned out I made a lot of chili. The freezer has a block of the chili and all the pulled pork and I think we'll be good for protein for awhile as a result.
Soon the picnic comes around. I'm tired, partly because it's been a long week, partly because we stayed up late last night catching up on season finales.
So we head out with a cooler that needs to be filled with ice, a tub of meat, a few plastic tubs to hold the other stuff to go in the nacho bar, some water guns, their respective bottles, everything. Michelle even asks me, "Is this everything?" and I give a hurried "yes" between reminding myself that we keep paring knives in the car (long story).
The road is a relatively quiet one. The weekend has been throughout the state as apparently all the cool kids wanted to come over and embrace the green mountain state, and they did so by flooding every freaking place we went to. Even the supermarkets were not immune as I imagine vacationers came to stock up on food for their week. Even our cul-de-sac was not immune as a car adorned with NJ plates regularly parked around us for the week or so to live in an apartment that our neighbors (whom are barely around anyway) own, while our downstairs had some brethren driving over show the pearly whites of a Quebec license.
Sunday though was a little different. Maybe it was the end of the weekend looming over, or the call to church, but just as likely, it could have been that the weather was so freaking hot. The sun had conquered the sky and few clouds dared to show up and for its merciless time, we all suffered the oppression of it being just. too. damn. hot.
So a trip to the supermarket was a bit of a muscle memory for an already tired brain regarding what I wanted to get. Shredded lettuce? Oh yeah, that. Avocadoes too, sure. Do I want red onions or green? Better go green, ha ha.
So we get everything, along with six bags of ice that are stored in the least likely place to find ice, and we get to the park and as we unpack, I came to a conclusion:
I forgot to get chips.
Who the hell forgets to get chips for a nacho bar?!
So I grab the keys, swearing to myself, and drive back to town. I find Cumberland Farms, grab two big bags and head to the car and as I sit down and toss the bags to the passenger side, a revelation came to me.
I forgot the salsa too.
Yes, the salsa, the stuff that I spent part of my weekend actually MAKING.
I swear to myself out loud (I think some of the people parked around me noticed this) and I rush out, grab the generic bottled crap that I never would approve getting, and then went back to the park.
People are liking the nacho bar idea, even despite how I was improvising chopping with a paring knife with a blade as long as my thumb tip on a plastic bag that worked as a cutting board. I feel some pride, wounded by the fact that I just left 40 ounces of salsa that I rarely eat to begin with.
Remember how I said how hot it was? Yeah, it was too bad hot for most people to leave the gazebo all this stuff was set. I decide to work on the water gun targets and then realize: I forgot the god damned targets that I spent two weeks designing and troubleshooting as well!
Two weeks of work for nothing!
After realizing that a two hour trip back and forth for laminated sheets was not worth it, I finally decided to use some paper plates. With the power of duct tape, I create a temporary target. It should last... a few hours of use?
Well it wasn't worth being worried about anyway because it was really too hot for anyone to really want to play any games. There was food though. Oh man, was there food. They anticipated 50 or so people to come, and I think we had food for 70. How many actually showed up? Maybe 30.
My shrunken stomach (see previous post) made this experience one of a parable of gluttony, for I wanted to eat everything, but my stomach stopped me after one dish. First world problems for the win.
So not much happened in the end, but on the bright side? Cleanup was easy. We finished up by 3, which was when we decided to start cleaning up according to the itinerary. Plus, I was bored and my janitorial powers were furious to be abused. I unleashed my inner Roger Wilco and cleaned with reckless abandon! Ha ha ha!
And that is why as I type this I am eating a taco salad three days after the fact.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-26 10:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-30 07:23 pm (UTC)Pulled pork is good stuff, but you have to really get it at a place that understands how to barbecue it or how to make it yourself. It's the breakdown of the collagens in tandem with the crispiness of the crust that adds to its range of textures, in my opinion. I never buy the store stuff otherwise. In all honesty, I like it because it's ridiculously cheap and easy to make once you know how to do it.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-30 09:30 pm (UTC)And like Poutine ... Pulled Pork sounds like it has to be done just so. One of my brother's friends made it at a BBQ. It was so gross. Soggy meat topped with mushy cold slaw on a bun. I just didn't get it.