mandatory relaxation

Don's dad is downstairs working on hooking up the last of the wiring for the HVAC. Installation Guy is set to come out and finish up on Monday -- but I don't care. I'm not worrying about it.

I'm under boss's orders to take a "stress-free" day off tomorrow -- he told me I'm not even allowed to check my work email (not so easy -- I'm a total email junkie). I'm not to work on Anapurna stuff either, says "boss" Lindley (unless it's totally stress free, that is).

So I went to the grocery store, got a pint of Haagen-Daz chocolate ice cream (full fat, even), and then came home and put together a huge bowl of pasta salad, an equally large bowl of pickled eggs, and a bunch of cut up vegetables with dip. Tomorrow, I'm going to stay in bed until noon, and then stay in bed some more and watch my favorite Food Network shows (I'm a huge Barefoot Contessa fan). I'm going to snack on food that's already made, that I don't have to worry about -- and that's cold. I might play some video games; I might not. I'm not going to leave the air-conditioned rooms upstairs. I'm not going to correspond with anybody, I'm not going to answer the phone, I'm not going to talk to anybody but the cat and maybe Don. Total shutdown, here I come.

And, in case you're curious --

Pickled Eggs

2 jars pickled beets
4-6 hard-boiled eggs

Empty the jars of beets into a big bowl (juice included). Peel the eggs and nestle them down into the beet juice. Add a little water if the eggs aren't submerged; try to get the beets to spread out and cover them some too. Refridgerate at least overnight; the longer they soak, the better they get. You may have to add a little vinegar later if they aren't sour enough for you.

Recipe courtesy of the lovely inhabitants of Chez Brinkley, ten blocks over. It's infinitely expandable. The bigger your bowl, the more you can make. Just add another jar of beets!