Red-Handed Jill

cole slaw

egg salad

I try to have as much stuff as possible done ahead of time (as in at least 2/3 of my shopping), so that I don't stress out around the Holidays. Oftentimes, I'm making some of the gifts (one year it was four shirts and two vests, another year, a couple of bathrobes and shirts) so I have no choice but to plan. Throughout the year, when I'm traveling or at a faire or a store and see something that would make a good gift for someone, I buy it then. And online shopping is the best thing since sliced bread! I learned my lesson the one year I put everything off and shopped at the last minute. Never again. Talk about seeing the dark underbelly of society - people are so mean when they are stressed and shopping.

project

Angel hair pasta with marinara.

We'll be down there and setting up on Friday - got the parade in the morning, then tearing down to Fresno afterwards to get there in time to set up hopefully before it gets dark. Afterwards, it's grog and grub time!

In honor of the Halloween/Dia de los Muertos season, my desktop has a picture of an alcove in Jack's and my bedroom. The walls are actually a deep red color. The rest of the bedroom has a similar theme. People ask us if we decorate for Halloween. In our household, that's a wee bit redundant.

It's from Carmina Burana. I got a chance to hear it live in its entirety a couple of years ago. Amazing.

CPA

cool breeze

Those of us from Tales of the Seven Seas are in a parade in Fairfield that morning (well, at 12:30, actually.) It's a three-hour drive from there to Fresno and then we're going to scramble to set up our section of Bedlam before it gets dark. We may be too tired to set up a feast after that. I suspect that we may just hit a local eatery and save the feasting and partying for Saturday. We have LOTS of goodies planned for that.

Trader Joe's chunky olive hummus on flatbread.

soup

As they say in Jamaica: Red Stripe - get it right! When I was in Jamaica, Red Stripe probably constituted most of my useful calories until I made it to Negril. (Although there were a couple of decent restaurants in Montego Bay...) That's a heck of a lot of multitasking, Hurricane! I'm impressed!

nails

iron maiden

Rummy always has the best meals! Right now I'm eating the vegetarian combo (spinach, eggplant and pumpkin stews over rice) from Kabul's Afghani restaurant. This food is so good it should almost be illegal.

exorcism

quest

Definitely!

Thanks Rummy - I had a pretty good weekend, got some things worked out and have Kearny to look forward to, so I'm feeling better.

Homemade pumpkin pie

I belong to the Tales of the Seven Seas pirate group. (T.O.S.S. site) We're a group of reinactors who do history reinactments as well as entertainment. We've done everything from battle sails to parades with our float, the Land Shark to raids on corporate parties and other events. There is a core group which participates in most events and helps with the management of them, but our leader Claire (AKA Poison Quill) has the last word on all things. She has turned an idea into a really fun and functional pirate group.

Barbie

It's a bit of a mixed bag in the SF Bay Area. It's cool right now, but was mild yesterday and it looks like it's going to rain fairly soon. We've been experiencing this mixed-up weather for the last few weeks.