At My Kitchen Table
Experienced readers will know that I am not worrying about turkeys or large groups of guests today. I am, rather, on out of town, this year to St Croix, in the US Virgin Islands. It will be my first proper Caribbean experience. Everyone says, "Oh, how great! Sun and sand!" It is very pretty, I expect, but there won't be any audible surf, which is for me the only reason for spending time near a body of water (other than the bodies of water that we have right here at home). I have been told that there is a very nice outdoor bar where I'll be staying, on a terrace, from which one gazes across the harbor at the town of Christianstad. Well, that I can manage.
I just found a video singing the charms of St Croix tourism. I'd have liked to see my face when the presenter said, "A good way to explore St Croix is to rent a four-wheel drive vehicle..." I love the history of all those little islands. Even being a US possession hasn't restored the driving to the right side of the road.
Kathleen will be taking pictures with the EOS Digital Rebel that she bought, pre-owned but unopened, at eBay last week. Because the CD drive on my ancient Vaio laptop, which I never use anymore except when we travel, is kaput, I had to copy the Canon software on to an Iomega Thumb and go from there. Then I had to figure out how to work the camera, because there was no point to taking it if we couldn't see the pictures on the spot, was there? As it turns out, the CF or memory cards are "optional" with the purchase of new EOS cameras, and Kathleen's did not come with one. So I had to cannibalize a Power Shot camera that I bought two years ago for our Istanbul trip - for Kathleen to use. In order to get the CF card out of the old camera, I had to read the Spanish-language manual, because the English-language manual was nowhere to be found. (Eventually I got the PCMCIA hang of it.) Having installed the Power Shot's software on both computers some time ago, I was disconcerted when the EOS installation was interrupted, as it was quite often, by a message telling me that there was a newer version of the software on my machine! This setup ate up no more than two hours of the day, but I was obsessed, and I triumphed. That was good. Kathleen picked up a big CF card on her afternoon rounds, so we're set.
The old laptop will be replaced early next year. Kathleen will choose it, for it will be her personal computer at home. She needs one. She has just about doubled her wardrobe for less than $500 at eBay in recent months. That's cool, but you don't pull it off without attending to dozens of auctions at a time. Which may make your significant other unhappy, because he's got entries to write and Gmail to check. The new machine will bring us up to date on connectivity. It will be interesting to find out how well wi-fi works in the apartment. M le Neveu always gets great reception when he's here, and we haven't even turned on our wi-fi router yet!
I'm getting to love this virtual kitchen table of mine, where I seem to spend most of my time not talking about cooking. The first thing that I'm going to do when I get home is log on to FreshDirect and order three pounds of plum tomatoes, two large Vidalia onions, three Granny Smith apples, and a big can of College Inn beef broth. These are the principal ingredients in a soup that I got through all of last winter without making - a first in fourteen or fifteen years. (possible autobiography title: How I Found Myself At My Blog And Stopped Cooking.) I'm also going to try that simple but extraordinary bread that was written up in the Times and then hailed by the far more trustworthy Thomas Meglioranza!
Whatever they tell you, don't fall for the "macerated cranberry sauce."
