New Fridge

New Fridge
Originally uploaded by mrswonderful

Ahhhh, summer! Look for a blissful fruit entry soon!

Meanwhile, I got a new house in a new town and bought a new fridge. We're taking our time getting to know one another. I'm starting off with a nice summer cocktail.


Vodka Lime
cubed ice (or crushed if you have one of those through the door things AND I DO!)
1-2 jiggers Grey Goose vodka (of course you keep yours in the freezer. Duh.)
Splash or three of limeade (Simply Limeade is THE best, bar none)
Squeeze of a lime wedge

Stir. Let the ice roll around lazily. Smell the lime. Sip. Enjoy.

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It's hard to imagine that soon there will be rotten produce in this beautiful fridge, but alas, that is the fate of the bunch of cilantro that never seems to get used up.

But for now, it's a honeymoon of shiny white, chilly vodka and limeade.

Dallas Bound

D Magazine touts the finest chicken fried in the city (Dallas of course) as the CFS (waitress code) served at Ozona Cafe. Well, I happen to know where Ozona Cafe is, and it's in my neighborhood pretty much.* But I'm also torn: for the first official Texas feed, I really do think catfish should be on the menu. I had a lovely grilled catfish at Good Eats, pretty much just down the street from Ozona. These fine establishments are both on Greenville Avenue.

Now, if I can just withstand the broad expanse of west Texas once more, where the food delights that await come in the form of Grandma's cookies with a "best by" date in the last quarter, McDonald's fries fresh out of the (really, no REALLY it's trans-fat) and maybe a Kashi granola bar that I snagged at the last minute at Target in El Paso.

And as much as I'd like to be fair, and give Abilene a try once again, after 30 years, I just hope sincerely, and will plan assiduously to drive right on through the City Set On The Hill. Why? Because there's always Stephenville. (That's a regional joke. Readers from the area are spewing coffee on their monitors right this minute.) (I think they have teh INtarwebs in Abilene yet? S'ville and S'water, fer shur.)

Ok, so Abilene has Taco Bueno. So does Fort Worth and probably Dallas. But the original TB of my hidden college days is in Abilene, and if forced to stop for gas, we may partake, though I will couch the event heavily in the folklore and mystery that I simply refer to as "The Dark Time." (No, that is NOT when Jimmie Johnson was Dallas Cowboys' coach... he was the Anti-Christ, though). The Dark Time refers to that hole on my resume where the three and a half semesters (yes, a half, people... more like two weeks) that I matriculated .... ahhhhh, no, I just can't admit it.

Back to Dallas. Yes, back to Dallas I go. The highways are pretty much the same, but all the faces, places and colors are different, so I'm going there for the first time, again.

I'll be sure to ritually eat a chicken fried (or catfish) on Friday, and will snap a photo of the very first big-haired gal I find.

* NB: Texasisms will begin to creep into my writing and speaking voice almost any minute now, with alarming frequency. After talking on the phone to my insurance agent, I swear I was back in Texas already. She has that soft indescribable twang that makes you cock your head just a little, and think back to Ann Richards' silver foot comment, Molly Ivin's excoriation of all the boneheads in Texas, and even Mrs. Six Million Dollar Man, Farrah Fawcett (before she was ruint by Hollywood). And my mother.... who developed quite a pretty good Texas twang after 30 years of living there.

Moving Day

The Spooon is moving! Well, not the blog, but the actual household where all these fabulous foody things happen is getting packed into boxes and put in a truck today, and headed to BIG D, Dallas, Texas.

It's been largely a one-woman show, with box taping help from the lovely assistant, Wonder Boy. My neighbors were happy to start lifting .... the stuff in my front yard when I left the house. Gone is the pile of edging stones that I was leaving for the new buyer. Gone are the numerous items that I intentionally left out for the freecyclers, but also gone is about 1,000 pounds of furniture and miscellany that I won't miss (thanks to Salvation Army and Friend with Truck).

NOT gone are some old garage shelves that have seen better days. I suppose the shabby chic thing doesn't extend to previously trash-picked items. Hrmpf. My salvation on those is that Big Trash Day is coming next week, and I hope the buyer will be ok with leaving them out there to be hauled off.

I'm hiring movers who will be schlepping the stuff into a truck, according to interstate spec, but all the packing, sorting and leavetaking of various items has been me, and I felt it had to be (I had so much crap). I started with the pre-packing so I could show the house, but then gradually, every nook of the house had to be turned out into three "buckets": Keep, Thrift, Toss.

The intrepid Rachelle was on hand for much of this. She is the Friend with a Truck. And she gladly accepts this role. Every village has a Friend with a Truck (ox and cart, rickshaw, something with wheels to carry big stuff). She saved the day, too, by taking a number of useful items and redistributing them amongst freecyclers (she has a much better relationship with those souls than I do). She did the HazMat run, as well. For her trouble, her entire family will now have new(er) bedding! And a new CAR!!! (oops, sorry, no car, just lapsed into Johnny Olson/Price is Right mode).

As for food, there will be no spread, no breakfast buffet, no juice and coffee. As a child, we had the movers in quite a bit, and I do not recall ever cooking or eating on Moving Day. If time allows, I may dial up some pizza to share with everyone. The idea of donuts... shudder. It's an ethical dilemma: donuts will kill you, but it seems to be the international language of People who Lift Heavy Stuff.

I'm about maxed out on the stress levels and what I REALLY need is a good crew who is intent on doing a fine job for the HUGE amount of money I'm forking over... and a nice stiff vodka and tonic.

Someday, soon, I will blog the reinvention of the Aspic & Spooon's new home. Sure you need a place to sit and watch TV, sleep or bathe... but the heart of the new Lizard Lodge will be the kitchen and dining room, appropriate painted in food-colors: mustard, paprika, oregano!

The next entry will be (with luck) a review of road food, or perhaps of the ritual catfish feed once we are happily within the Dallas city limits. Hang on to yer hats, Texas, Baby Sister is a'comin' home!