that is that and this is this -- you tell me what you want and i'll tell you what you get

I was supposed to have Heather and Salim over for dinner tonight, and I spent much of my time off and on throughout the day preparing for their arrival. I ran to Whole Foods to buy the meat and a couple of other items for my beef bourguignon, then stopped at BevMo to buy some brandy and a bottle of wine. I cleaned my bathroom, vacuumed my living space, took out the trash and the recycling, and generally tidied up.

Making the beef bourguignon reminded me how much I love to cook. The initial ingredients are simple: 2.5lbs beef (such as a chuck roast), 1/2lb bacon (because bacon belongs in everything), two yellow onions, a pound of carrots, a bit of garlic, some thyme, and a tablespoon of tomato paste. Step one is to brown the bacon and then the beef; step two is to cook the onions and carrots in the fat from the meat. Step three is my favorite, though -- you pour half a cup of brandy or cognac into the pan and set it on fire. I didn't come close to singeing my eyebrows, but the fire burned for a long time, to the point that I started to worry that it might damage the stove canopy. But that step adds just a hint of char to some of the vegetables, which contributes to the complexity of the dish. Then, you put the meat, thyme, and tomato paste into the pot, add a bottle of red wine and a couple of cups of beef broth, and put the whole thing in the oven until the meat is tender.

It was at the end of the first phase that I looked at my phone and realized that I'd missed a call from Heather several hours earlier. It turns out that Salim has food poisoning (the guy ate anything and everything across India, China, and a variety of insalubrious foreign dining establishments and never got sick, but he gets sick in America?!). Heather offered to come by herself, but instead I rescheduled for tomorrow night -- the beef bourguignon will actually be better after sitting overnight, and I hadn't cut up the salad veggies or made the mashed potatoes yet, so there was no harm done. Finishing the dish tomorrow will be easy -- you add a bit of butter and flour to thicken it, saute a pound of mushrooms to add to the dish, and add a pound of frozen whole onions that totally make the meal outstanding. Mmm.

So when I found out they weren't coming, I was at a bit of a loss for what to do next. I spent an hour on the phone with my parents, since dinner tomorrow will interfere with my regularly-scheduled Sunday afternoon phone-home time. Then, I spent three hours finally framing and hanging the nine 8"x10" photos that I had ordered in August or September. I bought the frames several months ago, and at the time I bought two different styles for variety. One style was straightforward and easy to use. The other style was designed by Satan himself and could be featured on Armageddon Week on the History Channel. I should have known better than to pick a frame with pending patent -- really, frames have been around for centuries, and the usual style seems to hold up pretty well. You know how most frames have little swiveling closure tabs on the cardboard backing that you can twist out from under the frame itself to lift up the cardboard and replace the photo? Well, this one had eight locking mechanisms that you had to pry up from out of some deep metal channels; when that was done, the eight spring-like pieces between the four metal sides and the cardboard/glass lost their tension and popped the whole frame apart. So then you're left with four separate metal sides, eight half-moon shaped springy steel components, and the challenge of trying to reengage the pressure system without breaking the glass front of the frame.

I succeeded eventually, but I broke a fingernail, bruised my thumb, and have tiny glass shards on my carpet from where the metal frame pieces chipped away at the glass edges. Then I hung the photos on the long wall by my bed. Hopefully there won't be a major earthquake while I'm living here; I'm suddenly having visions of the frames exploding and sending metal components all over my sleeping form.

I spent the rest of the night reading LIFE IN THE ENGLISH COUNTRY HOUSE. I ordered the book while I was home during my sabbatical but never read it; it turns out that it's one of the most engaging and informative books I've read in awhile. Then again, perhaps it's only engaging if you have a deep and profound interest in English culture, and particularly in domestic arts, architecture, and society. But I read the overall intro chapter and then the chapters on 1720-1770 and 1770-1830, flagging many things that I intend to go back and put into my database sometime soon. If I ever decide to write medievals or Victorians, I'll have to go back and read some more; the author chronicles developments in English country houses from the first medieval castles to the twentieth century estates in decline. There are also tons of illustrations, paintings, etc., which is a good complement to the other two or three books I have on historical English architecture and design.

Okay, clearly I'm a total dork since that's how I chose to spend my Saturday night, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I suppose I should go to bed, though; I've got stuff I want to accomplish tomorrow morning, and I'm meeting Tom for coffee at two before coming home to finish the beef bourguignon and make a salad and potatoes. Have a lovely Sunday!