Dan and I went to the Farmer's Market yesterday and among its many delights was a table piled high with the most beautiful and fragrant basil I've had in a long time.  (Caprese salad for lunch anyone?)  We enjoyed fresh vegetables from the market for both lunch and dinner.  Quite delightful.

Today, we rose early and Dan got a little golf in before his morning commute--joining me for the front 9 in the wee hours of the morning.  My normal "Golf on Monday, Chemo on Tuesday" partner, Renee' is in Hawaii at Hale Honu, so it was nice to have Dan along for a change.  The back nine was a lot of fun to play solo.  Lots of decisions to make when you're playing golf alone.  Do you play two balls for the practice? (Yes, I did.)  Do you really have to count all of the sand strokes if no one's around to see how many you took?  (Yes, I did...except for one where I was distracted.)  So I posted a 112...could have posted a 114 more legitimately...not my best round by far...but not my worst by an equal distance.

And I got to enjoy the birds, the scenery, the serenity of playing on my own and the joy of making a par on a tough par 5!

I spent the rest of the day cleaning up my in basket (yaay!) and now am about to join Chad for dinner.  I am both looking forward to my infusion tomorrow and also feeling a bit apprehensive as the neuropathy begins to approach the point where the doc recommends a vacation from that part of the arsenal.  But I've got my Ipod stocked up with new videos and a book I've been listening to on tape.  I've got my stack o magazines to take with and my prayer quilt.  And my angel-friend, Erik, on his way to shepherd me through this round.

Oh, and a lovely Laguna Niguel evening blessing me with a cool breeze.  Nice weekend plus one.  Thanks be.

We had a very nice, if chilly, morning at the State Fairgrounds near Cary.  Evey weekend there is a flea market at the grounds and so we browsed the antique booths, a very nice kitchen shop, bought some fudge and and headed outdoors. 

Kevin found a box full of wonderful old photographs (which I spent this afternoon browsing through...fascinating stuff) which he bought.  Dotty bought a hat to ward off the chill.  Then we slowly but surely made our way over to the funnel cake/deep fried twinkie stand. 

I have long said that I wanted to eat a deep friend twinkie at least once in my life.  We can definitely check that box!  Here's the recipe as I observed it for those who want to try at home.

Ingredients:

Frozen Twinkie
Funnel Cake Batter
Powdered Sugar
Oil
 
Take the frozen twinkie and insert a popsicle stick into one end.  Dip the twinkie into the funnel cake batter, allowing excess to drip back into the batter bowl.  Put twinkie in hot oil and cook for two minutes on each side or until golden brown.  Remove twinkie from oil and sprinkle liberally with powdered sugar.

Enjoy.

I have to say that I never truly understood the words "sugar rush" until 15 minutes after eating the twinkie!  Woohoo!  Click here for a link to a friend's website wherein a photo of such a twinkie exists.

Then we came home, I wrote my 1500 words (the Shimotos just got word that they're going to Manzanar and Lenn's broken up with his girlfriend, Ami.  This was just fine with Ami since she'd developed a crush on their mutual friend, Miro).  Dan fixed lunch for Dick, Dotty and I as I wrote.  Then, sugar rush long since past, I took a nap.

We're off to enjoy dinner and a sleep over with Steve and Kevin.  Tomorrow, we will celebrate an early Christmas with Ken and Cindy.  I'm hoping to see her studio as well.

In the meantime, I need a new "I must do xxx at least once in my life."  Kevin's suggestion was "get a hole in one."  (My reply?  If I make it that wish, I should live forever!).  Any other suggestions?

Signing off from North Carolina (in a bit of insulin shock, I'm sure).

There's something sensual in preparing a savory fall meal--the multilayered, rich smells of the kitchen, the low murmur of bubbling broth, the decadence that comes from consuming things one normally wouldn't eat.  To sum it up: Yum!

Yesterday morning, I rummaged through my Williams-Sonoma Complete Seasonal Cookbook in search of a recipe that would incorporate the fall vegetables now showing up in the market.  At a friend's house on Sunday, there was talk of a coq au vin recipe and so when I ran across "Coq au Vin with Autum Vegetables," it was a lock.  I had plenty of time in the afternoon, so I'd be able to tackle the complex recipe without feeling crunched for time.

The recipe goes in four stages: preparation of ingredients, browning the chicken, simmering the chicken in wine and stock, straining the broth and cooking the vegetables while keeping the chicken warm, then thickening the sauce and combining all the ingredients in the pot.  It took me about two and a half hours, start to finish, with lots of dishes washed along the way. 

But it was such a creative, wonderfully aromatic dish that it didn't really feel too much like work.  Plus, while the chicken was simmering, I got to sit with Dan and enjoy the evening.

I made the mistake of telling my trainer yesterday morning that I was preparing coq au vin for dinner, so he worked me extra hard...turns out that was a good thing.  When I put the recipe in my "recipe builder" calculator on www.myfooddiary.com, it calculated 900 calories per serving.  Eeep!  I'm not sure how accurate the calorie count is because a good portion of the sauce is not actually consumed with the chicken...but there are things in the dish like bacon grease, butter (Don't read this Sally!), and chicken skin, that would support the high level of saturated fats in the count.

Of course, these are balanced out by yummy, good for you veggies like rutabaga (thanks to my Mom for helping me find one by pointing me to a particular grocery store which will remain nameless in deference to family members), parsnip, carrot and turnip.  And then that's counterbalanced by the bottle of red wine that goes into the sauce.

Dan called late in the afternoon and said he wouldn't be needing dinner since he ate a late lunch at his charity golf game...so he smelled everything but didn't taste it yet.  Tonight, we're having leftovers so if he likes it, despite all the turnips and parsnips, it will become a staple entertaining recipe, I think.  Meanwhile, I'd better hit the gym and work extra hard today!