Sometimes it’s great to have a weekend with nothing planned and all the “stuff” that we feel compelled to do can wait until Monday. Better still – have such a weekend and not feel any guilt about it.
So it was this weekend. I woke up thinking “thank god it’s Saturday.” I brewed up a strong pot of coffee, whipped up a super-fruits smoothie and crawled back into bed with my iPad – scanning all the latest great stuff on Flipboard.
As I sold my trusty old Mazda pickup truck, I had no practical means to move a heavy bed from Piney Point. So I bought a comfortable queen size air mattress as a temporary fix (they’ve gotten better over the years). After adding a down mattress pad and a 1000 count Egyptian cotton sheet set, it has proved to be the most comfortable bed I ever owned.
I so pity those poor folks that don’t like vegetables – not only are they missing out on life, they are cutting it short!
After a brief dumbbell workout and a brisk bike ride, I showered and headed downtown to the farmers market. It was comfortably cool and partly sunny. The market is a small event compared to those I experienced in California, but offers a great variety of seasonal organic harvest.
This trip I opted for a medley of mild & hot peppers, Chinese eggplant and bok choy, fresh basil & oregano and beets – just enough for two weekend meals. After sampling some homemade ice cream and taking in the joy of doing nothing, my plan was to head to Cabo Fish Taco for a light lunch. But with the students back (and their parents helping in the move) the place looked a bit too crowded for a fast meal.
A kid fascinated by an old-timer – how rare is that?
Instead, I thought I’d try Café Mekong as it was right next to the Oasis World Market which was my next planned stop. I ordered a bowl of Vietnamese Chicken Noodles (of which I could only finish half) with Thai Iced Tea. I always work up a sweat when eating Southeast Asian food!
Then at the Oasis World Market I picked up a few more hard-to-find herbs & spices and a fresh red snapper fillet. I was back home by 4:00 p.m.
Spicy hot noodles and milky-sweet Thai tea – a perfect combo!
Perfect time to catch up on a little reading and tweak some CFRP furniture designs that I am working on. I order just about all my books these days from Amazon’s Kindle service downloading to my iPad. I did manage to fit a very comfortable Danish reclining chair into the car, which is ideal for reading.
By sunset I took a short walk past my neighbors which are the sheep, horses and cows at the sprawling VT Ag Research Center. They all seemed disinterested in my presence.
Ok – how long does it take to prepare a meal at Carbonboy’s home away from home?
Home again, I turned on the Roku and searched for a good movie to end the night with. About then I uncorked a nicely chilled Delle Venezie Pinot Grigio and prepared the fresh vegetables and fish for grilling. Sure this hardly looks like the typical American meal, but it was fantastic and took less than fifteen minutes to prepare. On whim, I added some Enokitake mushrooms, and they went well with this spontaneous combo!
An entire healthy meal prepared on one grill in less than fifteen minutes!
To many this may sound like a really boring day, but I tell you this, by day’s end there was zero stress remaining, and I slept better than ever. The only thing missing was my Korean sweetheart. These remote assignments are never much fun, but places like Blacksburg, Busan and Querétaro make them bearable.
Add a safflower grilled snapper, spicy left-over noodles and a crisp Pinot Grigio and dinner is served!
