Still Chillin At Two Below

8:20

It's 7:46, the sky has lightened, a fishing guy in out on the ice, and all is right in the world.  Evie just came downstairs, ready for coffee and we are ready for the news, and waiting for another scary often nonsensical Trump tweet, a sad part of each morning now.

Thursday was not your typical Thursday, with temperatures ranging around zero most of the day, making it difficult to be outside for long.  I made it to a fairly crowded yoga class, then on to an almost empty Aldi's to pick up some ribs for our Sunday Super Bowl dinner.  I did not linger, just picked up the four or five items on Evie's list and head to check out.

I was home around 12:30 and Evie had made a pot of mushroom barley soup simmering on the stove for lunch, a good choice for such a chilly day.  She was heading off to the Y and a stop at T.J.'s but made me some avocado toast before taking off.  And my routine rarely changes, lunch while watching another episode of FNL, some reading, a nap, and then onward to the rest of the afternoon.  I am enjoying switching back and forth between two books, one on Lake Erie, the other, a Daniel Silva thriller.

A Blue And White Afternoon

Evie was home by 3:00, with some goodies from TJ, even a couple of pairs of sweat pants for me which, alas, are too short.  I rarely can find sweats long enough.  By the way, I woke yesterday morning thinking of Wienerschnitzel for dinner, so earlier in the day, Evie had pulled a pork tenderloin out of the freezer, let it thaw, slice and pounded it into half inches slices and breaded them.  So before frying them, I washed some red potatoes and put them in the oven while Evie made the salad.  We then relaxed for forty-five minutes with a glass of wine until it was time to saute the Wienerschnitzel and have dinner.  It was just what I wanted, Wienerschnitzel topped with butter and lemon, potatoes, salad and a side of applesauce, also from the freezer, no dessert needed.

We decided to watch the much acclaimed, Academy Award-nominated film, ROMA, a paean by Alfonso Cuaron to his childhood.  Sad to say, we did not much enjoy it.  Set in a white, middle-class family, we follow the life of Cleo, their young, much-loved maid, a peasant from the ghetto.  It's slow moving, lingering on one frame after another, which critics love no doubt but we found boring.  We actually laughed at a couple of the most startling scenes, both revolving around the maid's boyfriend.  Perhaps I would have loved this example of cinema verite twenty years ago but last night both of us were bored, a couple of low-brows.  We then happily ended the night with Colbert and another episode of The Great British Baking Show, a 'high brow' reality show.