Monday, June 27, 2011

Summer?

I think..maybe...it's summertime? But I don't want to jinx it and send temps plummeting back down to the 60s. Again.
Tonight I am enjoying one of the best parts of summer. A lemon shake up. The taste of the fairgrounds with none of the carnies! I added a good handful of the mojito mint growing in a pot outside my back door for extra yums. Basically I cut up a lemon, add some sugar, chiffonade the mint and dump it all in a cocktail shaker with a lot of ice and fill up with water. Then shake it shake it shake it and strain into a cup with still more ice. Some minty flecks and possibly some lemon pulp will transfer. Lemony minty icy happiness in a glass. If you are super fancy, garnish it with some more lemon.

I bet I could make a kick ass version with lime, mint (I have quite a lot of mint growing!) and a ginger simple syrup, too.

My new neighborhood is still thrilling me. First of all, we had one of Milwaukee's famous torrential rains on Tuesday night. The kind the news guy calls a 100 year rain. The kind we seem to get every 8-10 months? I got water in through my chimney which has a screen on it but not a proper cap to divert the water, but nothing from any walls or drains or utility sinks. I was beside myself with worry and panic while it came down and J went to check right after the worst bout of it and when he came up and gave me the all clear, I cried. Just burst into tears. I really needed that.
And if being dry wasn't enough on Sunday we were driving down the road and all of a sudden I said to J "What the fuck is that?"
He starts looking around "What? What is what?"
"Oh, it was a sparkly clown. On a Vespa."
"Well, they gotta get around somehow!"
He has a point.

Earlier on Sunday I was in a clean all the things kind of mood so he went to the nearby Green Market to see what they had since it was the first of the season. He came home and reported that there were 5 tables with spinach and strawberries, a lady selling earrings and a guy selling t-shirts with Teddy Roosevelt on them, Which is fantastically random. And then I saw a brown smear in the corner of his mouth.
"Did you eat a crepe? SERIOUSLY? DID YOU EAT A GODDAMN CREPE?! HOLY SHIT YOU SMELL OF NUTELLA AND BANANAS!!!"
"..........."
" OH MY GOD I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU DID NOT GET ME A CREPE!"
by this point he was scrambling to get his shoes on....
"but but but...i thought they might have nutmeg in them...."
pause to consider "did you ask them?"
"I'll be right back.."
"I WANT MAH CREEEEEEEEPES!!!! Why would you not get me a crepe? I love crepes!"
15 minutes pass.
he returns with crepey goodness*.
"So, did the crepe guy wonder why you were back?"
"Well, no, because the two guys in line in front of me were back after going home and their wives found out they had crepes and didn't bring them any, either."
"SEE BECAUSE YOU SHOULD ALWAYS GET A CREPE FOR YOUR WIFE!"

* the tomato, basil, mozzarella and prosciutto buckwheat crepe from Satellite Crepes is seriously amazing and you should stalk them around Milwaukee until you get one. Or terrify your husband until he goes to fetch one. Seriously, they are on Facebook, you can see where they will be.