Tuesday

I awoke before the 6:30 AM alarm. Grumbling, I threw on a shirt and work pants, my leather jacket and my Canadian toque and took the two garbage bags out to the street.

Do you remember Jake asking how my driveway would drain properly with the addition of the slag? Well, now that we are in the (somewhat limited and meandering) January thaw, I know the answer! When the temps get above freezing during the day, the ice and snow start to melt. But, having nowhere to go, I just have a lake by 4:00 PM. Unfortunately, when the temps dip below freezing during the night, the lake turns into an ice-skating rink! I had to walk the garbage out to the road on the grass, so as not to slip and bust my ass on the driveway!

I grabbed the bucket of rock salt and (carefully) hit all the ice in my drive. We'll see if that helps...

I shaved, showered and got dressed for therapy. This may be my last week. While I won't miss the sore muscles, I will miss the therapists and the other patients. I noticed that back in the day (in my twenties with my busted leg). There is some sort of camaraderie of pain...

I stopped at Meijer's on the way home. I hate to admit this, but I noticed a nasty smell last night in the bedroom. I checked, but didn't see any cat barf or poop (or CaptainK barf or poop - hey, shit happens). Then I realized it was coming from my new humidifier (well, relatively new). I took it apart and found the wick filter had all kinds of nasty slimy stuff on it!

So, I went and bought a new wick filter this morning. I cleaned the humidifier with white vinegar, installed the new wick filter and fired it up. Hmmm... smelled bad before, but now it smells like pickles in there... But, at least I'm not introducing mold into the air.

Since I was at Meijer's anyway, I also bought a pint of cherry tomatoes, an English cucumber and eight ounces of chunk Feta cheese. I got a recipe I want to try.

But first, the dripping faucet. I realize I may have been over-cautious in tightening the new faucet control. Why? Because I have learned the hard way that over-tightening can result in the washers (old school) or now the new "O"-rings, distorting and giving you a much-worse leak.

Have I ever mentioned just how much I HATE plumbing?

But, I took it all apart, shut off the water and tightened it another quarter turn. Damn! No drips!!! Score one for the Captain!

So, I started on tonight's dinner. I saw this recipe for a Greek pasta salad. So, I measured out 12 ounces of penne pasta and dropped it in salted, boiling water (I love that kitchen scale!) for nine minutes (al Dente). I drained it in a colander, rinsed it in cold water and then drained it again.

It was just about that time I notice the damn faucet was dripping again. Only about 1/2 the time, but still dripping... Dammit! So, I turned it off again and tightened it a little bit more.

Next, I cut up the cherry tomatoes (the recipe called for them to be halved and then quartered and I would have if these were grape tomatoes, but the cherry tomatoes were just way too small). So, I only cut them in half.

Then I cut off about 3/4 of the English cucumber (the recipe called for a medium cucumber). I cut it in half lengthwise and sliced it about 1/8 inches thick. Then I sliced up five small green onions. Finally, I took about 1/3 cup of pitted, drained Kalamata olives and sliced them in half. I mixed all that along with the now-cold pasta in my biggest bowl.

Then, in a screw-top jar (I save old pasta sauce jars for this) I put in 1/2 cup of good olive oil, 1/2 cup of lemon juice, and, (since I have no fresh herbs other than flat leaf parsley) two teaspoons of dried basil (crushed), two teaspoons of dried oregano (crushed), five cloves of fresh garlic (minced), a pinch of Kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper. I shook it all up and then drizzled that over the pasta mixture and tossed it to coat.

I put that in my only real Tupperware bowl and covered it. I put it in the fridge (it needs anywhere from two hours to 24 hours to chill). When I want to serve it, I will crumble half the feta cheese over it and toss it.

I warmed up Michelle's soup for my lunch. Hmmm... I'm not sure where she was going with this one. It has a lot of turkey meat, beans and sweet corn. I tried some of it au natural and then added some oyster crackers. It was tasty, but I have no idea what to call it...

I decided to take a nap, so I did. I woke up around 4:30 PM and quickly checked the paper towel I put under the faucet. No drips!!!

I got all dressed up to brave the elements and get the mail. I carefully walked out there and there was nothing. I looked over my shoulder and saw the mail truck about three doors down... I went back inside, finally taking the two new pairs of pants for the paralyzed vets off the porch (Come on, people!) Then, after the mail truck left, I trudged back outside.

Nothing in the mail was worth the effort, BTW.

So, about 7:00 PM, I broke up half of the Feta cheese. Now, we've talked about that before - buying already broken up feta (or blue cheese) seems logical, but the taste suffers. So, I took the 8 ounces of feta cheese, cut it in half and broke that half up. I added it to the Greek pasta salad and plated a big bowl of it.

Holy Moly! That tasted good! It needed more salt, but otherwise it was perfect!! And, I admit the lack of salt was my fault. I figured with the feta cheese and the Kalamata olives; it might already be too salty. But, I figured wrong.

Okay, so try this one. It's damn tasty!

And, I got a lot of it left to enjoy!

I watched a little TV and then read a magazine that came in the mail today. Then I went to sleep, content...