Resin Adirondack chairs

Today was a furlough day for us lazy, overpaid public employees. We spent it stimulating the economy. First, we went over to a cool vintage furniture and reupholstery place on the east side, and made plans to get the wood love seat reupholstered, and the cushions from the lightning bolt couch upstairs re-stuffed. About $1,000 – $1,200, though we didn’t actually spend any of it today.

Then we went to the restaurant supply place to get me a new half-cup scoop, #8. The scoop was only $11, but of course, once there, we got some other stuff – I got a stainless slotted spoon, and Mark got a couple of half sheet pans. Spent $30.03 altogether.

We came home and ate a little breakfast – I had a bagel with melted cheddar and this salsa I made yesterday from a Martha recipe – nicely spicey, a little too garlicy, a little too sweet. On our way back from the eastside, Mark picked up a couple of cupcakes to go from Daisy Cafe.

Thus fortified, we went out again, to Home Depot, to get a new mailbox for East Wash, $17.49. They had resin Adirondack chairs, so we got one of each of the primary colors – the yellow one didn’t fit into the picture above – plus a little tan resin table/drink stand. We already had the green one. Chairs, 3 at $16.96, table $8.96 – with tax and the mailbox, the bill at Home Depot was $81.58.

Proceeded on to Bed, Bath & Beyond, for a new shower curtain and curved rod, like we just put in the upstairs bathroom, for the downstairs bathroom. Sheets & a pillow for Al to take to camp. Plastic tray – can never have too many plastic trays – and a blue plastic drinks bucket, for $4.99, were the impulse buys there. $112.82 at Bed, Bath & Beyond – and used up all of our coupons. Whew.

I have a brunch on Sunday, so I wanted to get some prep and shopping done for that – they’re having spinach crêpe gateau, rosemary roasted potatoes, cherry muffins and cinnamon scones, salad with reduced cider dressing, and fruit.

To celebrate my furlough day, I did a few things I have not done in awhile. I went to the Y, and because I wasn’t at a good time to swim, I did 30 minutes on one of the skier machines. The machine said I only burned 80 calories, but it felt like more than that.

While I was on the machine, the carpet & tile place called, and the tile for my renter’s bathroom at School Woods was in – so I went to get that.  Then I went to Costco and bought a couple of tubs of the organic lettuce that come from god knows where (actually, I am sure it’s CA, from one of the big farms, like Earthbound Farm, that produces vast quantities of greens and is following the new scorched earth around the fields policy that was decreed after the 2006 E. coli outbreak, that seems so totally anathema to organic), a tub of strawberries, ditto on origins, and a lifetime supply of boxes of Kleenex. And a big bag of Kirkland – Costco house brand – munch mix, with nuts and rice crackers and Wasabi peas, that’s really tasty – tho it probably won’t seem so by the time we’ve eaten to the bottom of the giant bag.

I mixed up crêpe batter and let it sit, while I went to drop off the tile, and stop by the co-op to get more frozen spinach, muffin papers, OJ, and a swell new stainless steel ladle that cost a mere $5 for dipping out the crêpe batter.

Then home to indulge in another thing I haven’t done in forever – make mass quantities of crêpes. I set myself up with 2 pans and my new ladle, and played the Incredible String Band. It seems somehow oddly appropriate – since I was doing something I had not done since the days of vinyl – that it took exactly one Incredible String Band record – albeit played from the mp3 version on my iPod – for me to make a 30-egg batch of crêpes. Back in my restaurant days, I think it was usually 36 eggs, but 30 eggs yielded 58 crêpes, a.k.a. almost 5 dozen, which should be just enough for 4 robust 9-inch crêpe gateaux.

Crêpe Batter:

• 6 eggs
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. healthy grate, of nutmeg
• 1/2 cup unbleached white flour
• 1/3 cup ww flour
• 2 TBLS veg. oil
• 1 cup water

Beat the eggs with the salt, and grate in the nutmeg. Whisk in the flour, then pour in the veg. oil and water, and whisk some more – there may still be flour lumps. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour – the flour has to soak up the liquid and swell, and you’ll be able to beat out those last lumps before you cook it.