1. Right away this morning, after finishing my puzzle and blogging routine, I fixed my contribution to tonight's family dinner. Christy assigned each of us to make a citrus dish and asked me to make a rice or grain offering. I decided to make lemon couscous, using Israeli pearls. First I roasted the couscous. I then zested two lemons and juiced them. I heated up some olive oil and added minced garlic and took it off the heat when it became fragrant. Into the pot with the garlic I added three cups of chicken stock and the lemon zest and lemon juice along with the roasted couscous pearls. Once the liquid boiled, I turned the heat on low, put the lid on the pot, and then roasted a handful of almonds.
When the couscous were done, I realized I'd put too much liquid in the pot. I strained the extra liquid, put the couscous in a bowl, topped the couscous with the almonds I'd roasted, and further topped the dish with orange segments.
2. I fixed this dish in the morning because I spent much of the afternoon at The Lounge with Cas, Ginger, Seth, and my laptop. Today was our fantasy baseball draft day. Four of us were able to meet at The Lounge for a draft day party. The other four members of our leagues couldn't make it.
It was fun watching each other make our draft picks. We all participate in two fantasy leagues and during the break between the two league drafts, pizza arrived and the draft party also became a fun and delicious pizza party.
A couple of people have asked me how I think I did -- did I draft solid teams?
I have no idea.
I'll find out how I did once the Major League Baseball season swings into full action and see if either of my teams compete very well.
3. The citrus blow out at family dinner was a success. Debbie made little citrus kabobs on toothpicks, combining a piece of orange, a little chunk of cheese, a mint leaf, and a dab of blackberry preserves. Carol contributed a mandarin salad from Betty Crocker. Christy fixed orange glazed chicken thighs. For dessert, Christy baked a lemon pound cake and served it with limoncello.
We talked about a lot of things as we dined, including what we plan to do with Copper and Gibbs if/when I have transplant surgery. We also reminisced about those harrowing days in November of 1999 when I contracted bacterial meningitis and Christy, Everett, Mom, and Carol all traveled to Eugene, arriving about the time I was released from the ICU. We'd planned a family weekend on the Oregon coast over Veteran's Day. That didn't happen. But a lot of other stuff happened at the hospital and tonight a lot of stories emerged, many of them things we could laugh at all these nearly twenty-five years later.
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