A mellow day

[elfs]

It has been a quiet weekend so far here at the Sternberg Villa. We watched Teenagers From Outer Space, a charming little cheeseball from 1959 with no budget and very little script. The aliens wore mechanics' jumpers highlighted with duct tape and aimed rayguns that they bought from the local 5&dime. The hero was a softspoken young man who had read banned books on his homeworld and had learned compassion; the villain was a sharp-faced extra who enjoyed using the word torture! far, far too much. The monster they brought was a lobster shown in shadow puppetry. The dame was nice for a 1959 dame.

Me.
Hosted on Flickr!. Click to enlarge.

The wine of the evening was a 2003 Chardonnay from Red Bicyclette. I'm sure there are people who like it, but it only confirmed for me that I am not a white wine drinker. We also played a few rounds of Harry Potter Uno, and Omaha thought I looked "handsome" with my reading glasses on. I'm only 39. It's too soon for reading glasses! Kouryou-chan wimped out of the game after one hand and went back to reading the book she had been involved in before we invited her to play.

I have not been sleeping well. Despite going to bed at midnight, I was up by six. This was fine with me; it allowed me to go downstairs and watch a little anime. I'm so far behind on what I've planned to watch, mostly because I have absolutely no TV time at all in my schedule. I watched a few episodes of I Like What I Like, a beautiful boy-on-boy soap opera set in an all-male college and rife with highjinks. I'd totally do Ran in a heartbeat; why Hashibara doesn't "get" him is beyond me.

We had waffles for breakfast. It had rained last night, a lovely thing really since it's been so dry recently. Maybe the grass will have one last chance to perk up before the cold kills it dead. But this gave us a chance to get caught up on housework: I cleaned the kitchen and fixed the downstairs bathroom while Omaha vacuumed the stairs. Fixing the downstairs bathroom involved replacing the broken valve in the toilet. Huzzah! No more climbing all the way up to the main floor during those late-night Doom III sessions.

Kouryou-chan made her own lunch of egg salad, although I boiled the egg for her, and Omaha made an absolutely delicious dinner of boiled shrimp, pasta shells, diced tomatoes, green bell peppers and shallots all mixed in a combination of olive oil, basil, and a few other herbs. I suggested Romano cheese and Omaha agreed that it might help: the saltiness brought out a lot of the basil flavor. It was exquisite.

Tonight's wine was the Glen Fiona Syrah, made in the Washington Columbia valley. $12.00 a bottle and a steal at twice the price: blackberry and very gentle oak, it has a peppery start that's clearly the product of some subtle champagnation, but which fades rapidly upon exposure to the air. Good with food, you start dinner charged and activated but end mellow and gentle, a quality much accentuated by a surprisingly high alcohol content. One glass was more than enough.

We had bought a Rival brand ice-cream maker from one of those massive "off-hand lots" stores, and it broke trying to turn the finally frozen mass of strawberry ice-cream I had thrown together. I'm not even sure I like the ice-cream; it's too heavy, with too much cream. Although it was good when we first made, it has crystallized a little since then. Bit of a shame, but I ate some anyway. I felt a duty to do so.

Comments

[mundens.livejournal.com]

I Like What I Like is what some of us round here refer to as our "guilty pleasure".
:)

[mothball-07.livejournal.com]

Glasses.. yummy. I love it when j5nn5r wears his glasses... [fading into fond memories...]

re. the strawberry ice cream, can't remember if I suggested this before, but my mom's "secret" recipe is to use a good strawberry kefir. The texture is just about right, there is *no* assembly needed, and the result is impressive with more tang and nuance than a traditional recipe. (Even a custard based one.)

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

I've never had kefir. Is there a particular brand that's good? I have an ice cream freezer, you see, and it's languishing unloved on the top of the baking cabinet.

[mothball-07.livejournal.com]

It's basically a cultured milk drink similar to yoghurt. I get a local brand, and my mom undoubtedly gets something entirely different as she's in AZ. ;) I'd check the health/natural food stores in your area and try sipping a few until you find one you like enough to try freezing.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

Mudd, also 39, went to the optometrist today about bifocals. He doesn't need them, yet. But reading glasses are only a couple years away for him, too. We're all getting old, m'dear.

I like his wire-frames. They make him look very scholarly.

[kenshardik]

Did you watch the MST3K version of "Teenagers From Outer Space"?

"According to Ann Landers, all teenagers are from outer space!"

"It's a DEVO hat!" "It's a planter" "It's Audrey Hepburn's hat from 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'!" "Guys, guys, it can be all these things and more!"

[zonereyrie.livejournal.com]

It is one of my favorite MST3Ks. :-)

[omahas.livejournal.com]

Oh, you mean:

"But what about the TORTURE?!"

Heh. Yeah, we watched the MST3K version (is there any other reason to watch a cheesy sci-fi flick?). I was surprised...this one had something of a plot. Although when they brought out the Gorgon (sp?), and it was a lobster, I about fell out of my seat. LOL!

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Yep, that was the one. "But what about the torture!?"

"Looks like doc left another one bleeding on the steps again."

[j5nn5r.livejournal.com]

you do look good in those.

trust me.

[tonyawinter.livejournal.com]

"Handsome" is a massive understatement. You are smokin' hot geek-guy goodness in those! Yum. :)

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Blush Well, thank you. I guess that's compensation for being called "distinguished" by others.

[wyrdone.livejournal.com]

You know that picture of you makes you look a lot like Bruce Campbell.

[mouser.livejournal.com]

I was going to say that. (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312291450/qid=1126452540/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/103-6445065-5116643?v=glance&s=books)

(But a search tells me I may have to buy this one!) (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312312601/qid=1126452540/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-6445065-5116643?v=glance&s=books)

[elfs.livejournal.com]

I've heard that before. At least no one says I look like Jim Morrison anymore.

[omahas.livejournal.com]

See? See?! Everyone agrees that you look hot and sexy and a little like Bruce Campbell. It's not just me! So there. ;)

[srmalloy.livejournal.com]

Well, I think you look much hotter and sexier than Elf does... but that's just the way I'm wired. I can see your claim in the abstract, even if he doesn't do anything for me personally.

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

Are you perhaps keeping a separate list of these wines, so the curious of us don't have to read multiple years of your journal just to find ones we might like? :-)

[elfs.livejournal.com]

I see I've been terribly lax on tagging my entries with the wine (http://www.livejournal.com/users/elfs/tag/wine) tag like I should be. I'll go back and try and find them all. Google or Technorati should have at least a semi-reliable list. But I don't have one myself right now.

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

You'll have to arrange with someone who's a little closer for the thirty lashes.*g*

Oh, and you're hot. With the glasses.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_candide_/]

Elf! You're kyoooooooooooot!

[(Anonymous)]

Wow, that's who I have on my AIM's list? Your breath taking, very intellectually sexually exquisitely dreamy as your well written artistic fantasies. Yet your married, she must be one lucky diva. I can only dream, what she can't have.

Your such a Dom in my eyes.

Clover~*