It's been a couple of weeks since I posted anything here, not that too many people check in on a regular basis. First, I was gone for a week and therefore did not have access to my computer, nor did I want to touch any computer during that time. I spend way too much time on it these days.
Then when I returned home I foolishly tried to download something that would have given me access to the major league baseball playoffs. A friend recommended it so I thought "why not?" Why not, indeed! I forgot that my laptop is old, cranky, stubborn and does not like new things. "I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them, Sam I am" could be the motto of this computer. It doesn't even like me to play new kinds of solitaire! Freezes up like a guilty man in front of the judge. Nothing, nada. That's what happened this past week. Nothing, wouldn't load up anything. I could reboot but it just sat there, cursor blinking, defying me, laughing at my feeble attempt to watch a baseball game. At one point I had it in my hands, raised over my head, about to throw it across the room. Sanity prevailed for an instant, I put it down and just walked away. For a week I walked to the library and used their computer or I checked for jobs through my kindle.
Finally, yesterday, a day of rest, the Lord's day to many, I stealthily sneaked up on it, gently turned it on and waited. After about five minutes it loaded Windows. Very, very slowly. But I was able to eventually uninstall some programs that it had tried to load and can now actually use it. It's old and laptops don't last forever. I think, once I get a new job, it will be replaced.
Moving on: Zucchini. This year has been a rather abundant year for zucchini. Not only do friends give me zukes, but the community garden has some out for the taking and we have three huge plants here in my little backyard. Zucchini is like the chicken of the the vegetable world. You can do almost anything to it and it's happy. Steam, bake, broil, grill, saute. With other tasty things or on it's own, it is always serviceable and sometimes down-right delicious. For most of the summer my go-to zuke prep was thinly sliced, tossed into a hot frying pan in which I had just toasted some chopped almonds in olive oil, thirty seconds or less it was done. Salt and pepper, quite tasty. I sometimes sliced it lengthwise and grilled it. I made zucchini bread, sliced it and froze it; now I can take out a piece and toast at will.
But my best preparation was this weekend: zucchini fritters. Fritters are always great but these were so good I ate the entire batch for dinner. If you do it correctly, there is not much oil that gets absorbed, they are actually pretty good for you since they are mostly vegetables and you can sprinkle some finely grated Parmesan cheese on top or top with a dollop of sour cream. I didn't have sour cream but I stirred a little lemon juice and a little Sambal Oelek (chile paste) into some non-fat greek yogurt , used it as a dipping sauce and it was perfect. The recipe is here: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2011/08/zucchini-fritters/ and I didn't change anything except the scallions. I didn't have any so substituted a generous tablespoon of finely diced onion. It was perfect. Two thumbs up, I guarantee you will love them.
Finally, jobs. I have been applying like crazy, but of course no response, except for a response from Whole Foods Market. They advertised for a deli person, which I can do. I applied on-line, got a call the next day. Their side of the conversation went something like this: "The shifts are from 6:00 am to 2:00 pm or 2:00 to 10:00 pm. But you have to be available to work either shift on any given day. Your schedule will change every week. You will get two days off but they will not be consecutive days and they will not be on the weekend, and those days off will also change every week. Are you interested?" My response: "So sometimes I will work from 2:00 to 10:00 and then be back the next day to work the 6:00 shift in the morning?" Them: "Yes, that happens about half the time." Plus I would have to work whatever holidays they are open.
Now, this is for the grand sum of $11.35 per hour before taxes are taken out! Which is certainly more money that I will get from unemployment but it is definitely not enough to pay rent and health insurance. Needless to say, I declined. For one thing, it is simply not enough money. For the other, what would I do with little Cooper? I could probably arrange care for early morning or the evening, at around $50 a day (which wouldn't leave me a lot of take-home pay) but not for a varying shift! Or I could turn him back into the Humane Society, as many people are forced to do. Or I could just say no. I picked door number three and said no.
That's my Monday morning report. Back to the job search, and with the retarded speed of my computer, it's going to be a long, slow slog. Ah well, I certainly have enough time on my hands!
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