PlazaJen: Passion Knit

Today was like a day brought to you on TiVo. (Or, at our household, the Time Warner DVR, which is WAY less catchy terminology.) Pause. Pause. Pause. The first half of the day was in slow motion, and then around 3:00 I FLIPPED OUT and went into high gear, getting showered, dressed, Polly in her kennel, and BAM out the door to SuperTarget. I gave myself an hour, and I was in the car 65 minutes later. But the major question was: What time does CostCo close? I got home at 5:15, called their information line - turns out! 6:00 p.m. Now I was moving at the speed where, on the DVR, the little arrows are all piled up on each other and we are moving at the highest speed possible. Got dog fed. Bruschetta ingredients gathered together. Knitting travel bag assembled. BAM, back out to the car, and I literally drove like an ambulance driver - arriving at 5:53 p.m. Whew! I had a list, I checked it twice, Baron von Trapp would have been proud. I hit a snag trying to find the goat cheese, as my inside voice started screeching, "WHERE IS THE F-ING GOAT CHEESE?!?!" but I found it, impulse-bought a rice cracker snack mix, and got out in record time. (No gay men in front of me buying wine this go-round!)

We had a lovely fondue party, I had a ginormous cranberry martini concoction and got fuzzy around the edges for about an hour. Beer cheese fondue is SO yummy, and just thinking "beer cheese" makes me nostalgic for MinneSOta, where beer cheese soup is a standard menu item. Mmmmmm. It's funny how a few hundred miles make such a significant difference in food habits, choices, preferences! I noticed when I lived in Minneapolis that the selection of peanut butter & jelly was HUGE. Here, not so much. But if you want BBQ sauce, we've got acres of choices!

The bruschetta I made was copied from the same thing my friend Angela made last weekend - easy sneezy and tasty as all get out! Feel free to create your own version:

Bruschetta for a Crowd

6 medium-sized tomatoes, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
1-3 tsp. roasted chopped garlic (it comes in a jar!)
1-3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 package fresh basil, chopped
sprinkle of kosher salt & freshly ground black paper to taste
Mix together, place in a serving bowl.

Fresh goat cheese - place on a serving plate. (We went through almost a whole tube!)

Meanwhile, slice a french baguette into 1" slices & place on a cookie sheet - butter lightly. Place under the broiler until toasty.

Assembly (let people do their own!): schmear goat cheese on a toasted baguette slice, top with tomato mixture, and try not to eat ten in a row.


We also ate teryaki chicken wings (Gordon's family recipe), and had creme brulee AND peanut butter chocolate pie for dessert. I blew up like Violet Beauregarde & the Oompa Loompas had to come & roll me away. Good thing I was so inflated or else I'd want to pick them up! That's one of my deep-seated fears, not OF little people, but that I'll somehow lose all sensibilities & decide I need to pick them up and set them on a counter or something so they can be at eye level with me. And I imagine that they would not like that very much. I imagine they'd clean my clock for even trying. But on the counter is delightful bruschetta! Help yourself!