After several days of comfortable purposeful isolation, I emerged from my solitude this weekend to do several things with several people. Saturday I headed over to the new place of bronzite and pezzonovante to try and help with the move-in. I baked ginger molasses cookies, bought jugs of lemonade, and brought a bottle of wine as a housewarming gift, as that is what Italians do when somebody moves into a new place. As it happened, quite a few people came out to help John and Tom deal with all their stuff, and there ended up being too many cooks in the kitchen. I was sorry I couldn't be more help, but hey, cookies and wine are a contribution, right? I considered hanging around out of the way in case there was something I could do, but I wasn't loving how this one girl I didn't know who was there was barking orders at everyone, so I decided to just clear out and not have to deal or be a hindrance. Hope everything ultimately went well.
In the evening Marissa and morethings5 came over to hang and have dinner with me. I really enjoyed the last time we did that and wanted to see them sometime, as well as with all the kosher people gone I wanted to eat with people who would let me cook something really trayf. So I made pork chops in sauteed apples and onions with rosemary corn cake and brussels sprouts. I was incredibly pleased with how the chops came out, mostly because I remembered that pork is best when it's brined before you work with it. It's a very lean meat that has a tendency to dry out, so letting it soak in a salt and herb solution will keep it juicy after you cook it. This is also a useful technique for turkey, which has a similar problem, so I'll actually be able to use this cooking technique with my regular dinner crowd. It was also really nice to talk to them, both them together and just Marissa after Kindness went home. I don't think I've ever had a chance to really talk with just her before, and I was always sorry about that because I've always felt that she was the kind of person I could tell things to. I hope I can entice her out to Waltham again sometime soon. I'll have to figure out another tasty dinner.
The next day I met twilighttremolo for sort-of lunch and for wandering around Waltham. She is another friend I've wanted to spend real time with and get to know better, and I had a really nice time doing that yesterday. I wasn't quite sure what I would say going into things-- I have a tendency to worry I will be holding people prison to conversation they're not really interested in --but she was very easy to talk to, and I very much liked doing it. One of my favorite things to do with somebody is walk around talking about things, so it was nice for me to just wander through the suburban parts around here. Good exercise, good time, and with good company. I will have to see that this happens more often.
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