Life comes at you at a reasonable speed before braking slightly, adjusting to a comfortable pace bef

[zesty_pinto]

So July comes to a close and I've earned three paychecks so far of extra work. I feel fitter than ever, like I can go out dancing or whatever.

Michelle is feeling it too, but not as well as I am. She's experiencing the beginnings of carpal tunnel. I told her that the brace she wears looks punk rock and I think she's amused at that.

We barely catch up on shows these days. In my spare time when I get home, I now play Moonlighter which is relatively fun.

Last weekend we catered to Michelle's parents who wanted to come over to show their relatives that they can take a vacation too (I wish I was joking, but no, one of their relatives is showing endless videos of themselves on a cruise ship).

True to my form, I wasn't entirely sure as to where to take them, but we found a few ideas: it started with eggs.

There's a farmstand around here that's pretty good; lots of variety and some decent produce in general at a good price. It took us around Stowe, where we would stop at Alchemist Brewery because her brother seems to be hoarding Heady Topper now (I still have no idea why when he's not an IPA person).

So to Stowe we went. The hype of Alchemist's may finally be dying down as the parking wasn't ridiculous this time. I ended up hanging out contemplating the feasibility of buying a hoodie with art I wasn't the biggest fan of as her parents enjoyed sampling the brew and bringing several cans over. It wasn't as bad as the time we did it, thankfully.

Then it was off to the scenic highway: a road that is nothing but hiking trails all around and has rocks that force the road to wend like a diverted stream. We traveled through as her mother kept taking photos (though to be fair they were really shutterbugging it all throughout the day) and then before we knew it it was off to Johnson!

No wait, we took the wrong way. It took awhile to convince Michelle, but soon enough: it was off to Johnson!

So yeah, I got to replenish a decent amount of my salad stuff and they took more photos as they admired the farm. They carried chinese eggplant which gave me some ideas for a meal later on (yeah, by the way they really wanted me to make a meal as they donated to use a couple pounds of short rib for some Korean barbecue and a lesson on how to make it).

We went off to Burlington through detoured roads and then it was off to eat at a Mexican/Honduran/Filippino place! Then a ship sunset cruise that we got a two for one deal on.

The cruise itself was... I mean it wasn't anything really exciting: it was a ferry where you were waited on during the three hours as it floated across. The views were nice, but I dunno, I felt kind of jaded about it around these other folks. Maybe I need to get into macro again next year.

We head home that night and just relax and then the next day is rain and a trip to a berry farm! Oh, but not just any berry farm: this one also is a cider producer that makes some of their favorite drinks.

We picked raspberries; I have to admit, their variety is interesting as they had a domestic type of black raspberry and an albino "golden" strain.

Then it was cider, cider, cider, eggs, and back home where I basically tried out a mix of recipes.

The short ribs are easy because the marinade does most of the work.

Because Michelle's mother was more familiar with Portuguese techniques, I figured Chinese might be more appropo. I made a variation of spicy eggplant with silk tofu, some basic zucchini stir fry, and fried rice out of some cured meats and spam.

Needless to say, it was four people, so I made enough for eight. This basically was our dinner for the rest of the week.

Monday had us going to work tired.

This weekend? It was relaxing. Maybe a little too much relaxing, but we spent most of our time doing little errands and staying indoors for the most part. Then it was hunting for a bakery that makes the most addicting lemon squares but we can not seem to find anywhere.

I'm happy to say that despite leaving late, we made it there before their normal hours.

I'm also sad to say that we arrived there to see a sign they were on vacation until basically today.

No problem, we found a nearby supermarket whose proximity allowed us to get a lot of their stuff. Two packages of lemon squares are in the freezer and I think Michelle finished off the other package.

Gardening
I got a weedwacker for the community garden and I have no idea if it saw any use yet.

The garden is really starting to grow out and I want to show how it looks but I've just been too preoccupied. I still haven't seen any beans yet, but the zucchini are fruiting. The Orient wonders are finally starting to shoot runners, thank god. The Kentuckys are already starting to really infest the other side. I might have mint coming soon. The tomatoes are still on the small side though, sadly.


Oh, I worked a bit on the gift that I'm getting for Michelle's parents: I need to rebuild a Lego soccer foosball set. That's going to take some extra time to accomplish.

This week has been dragging but at least things are moving.

I know this is a jumble of words, but I'm also doing more work. Will try to catch up later.

Also, this adminsitration is a lolfest.

Comments

[padhopper]

The sunset ferry ride sounds kinda nice actually.

[zesty_pinto]

Ha ha, it might have been too touristy for me then. Alternatively, if you ever find yourself gracing your presence in the Green Mountain State, the package deal is usually available on jumponit.com!