No Sewing Day

When I got up yesterday, I knew it would be a long day with lots of driving. I had physical therapy in the morning, and then I drove across town to drop off Big Bertha at the shop for adjustment and maintenance. It's an expensive proposition getting a sewing machine serviced these days. During my drive, I took off from a stop sign...not fast, mind you...and the sewing machine fell flat on its face. I pulled off to the side to have a look and set her upright again. Checking the buttons on the front, I was happy to see nothing had broken. Oh, but wait just a minute, because when I got her into the shop, I learned she'd not just fallen flat on her face. She'd actually rolled to her top, which broke the bobbin winding assembly. The poor guy in the shop actually cut himself on the exposed blade of the cutter there. Oops. And all of that to say the whole assembly has to be replaced to the tune of around $125. Sigh. Oh well. I think the money trees will be blooming soon, right?

So anyway...if you read yesterday's post, then you know I was going to give a try to this little Funny Side Up egg mold from my friend Wendy. 

And this was really fun. I first cracked the eggs into a custard cup. I didn't want broken yolks, and I figured I'd have a better chance of getting them positioned into the eye cups. And that worked great.

We like our eggs "basted" rather than sunny side up, and so when they'd cooked enough, I poured a little water into the pan and put the lid on. When I judged they were ready, I removed the mold and Voila! 

I'm saying he probably drank a little too much of the Easter punch. So funny. Mike was busy making the bacon while I was cooking the eggs. It took one strip of bacon to make the "embellishments." This was actually easy, and...clearly...very fun. Thanks, Wendy. 

After breakfast, I checked the seeds. Holy moly! One of the sunflowers has already sprouted! This one is apparently an overachiever. Nothing else is happening in any of the other pots.

But now they have a snazzy new grow light, so those puppies should be jumping out of the ground any second now.

It was time to get ready to leave. My second PT session was fine. He started with massage to my shoulder this time. It hurt at first, but after he'd worked on the different areas for a while, it actually started feeling better. It felt better even after I left, and it feels better this morning. I have some new exercises in my arsenal now, and so I'll do those this morning. I really dislike the time it takes to go to PT and to do the exercises, but it is helping. I'll try to whine less about it for now.

Mike grilled a flank steak for dinner last night. Our diet said we could have some tomato bruschetta as a side. I made this tried and true Bruschetta al Pomodoro. This is my own recipe, inspired by the best thing I ate during a trip to Italy many years ago. I forget where I had this the first time, but it was so delicious, I think I ordered it at every meal during my trip. Also, they made the *best* grilled eggplant in Italy. When I came back home, I was inspired to purchase an Italian Cookery book from America's Test Kitchens and try to replicate some of my favorites. This was one of them.

The bread is toasted, then rubbed with cut garlic and drizzled with olive oil. Then, it's topped with the "pomodoro," which is "tomato" in Italian. It's a messy finger food, best eaten outdoors where the droppings can just fall to the ground. When you're eating it inside the house, it's important to lean well over your plate because you will not eat it without things falling off. It is totally worth the mess, especially when you have home-grown cherry tomatoes to work with. Here's my recipe.

Bruschetta Al Pomodoro

Recipe by Barbara Stanbro

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided

6 fresh basil leaves, shredded

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons capers

1 pint fresh cherry tomatoes, quartered

Salt and pepper, to taste

8 slices baguette, toasted

Directions:

Mix 1 tablespoon olive oil and next 5 ingredients (basil leaves through salt and pepper) and set aside.

Slice baguette diagonally 1/2 inch thick and brush each slice liberally with olive oil.

Spoon tomato mixture equally over baguette slices and serve.

* * * * *

Super tasty. After dinner, I noticed the star magnolias are very nearly opened. I expect they'll open all the way today.

My friend Lyn informed me that these are edible. I looked that up because it was news to me. As it turns out, they are edible. In fact, most magnolias are edible, although the pink ones are not very tasty. You can read more about that at this link from Handmade Apothecary.

While I was out, I noticed some of the flowering plum trees are starting to bloom as well. It was low light when I took this picture. I tried three times to get it in focus. This was the best of the bunch. 

I'll try again today when I have brighter sunlight. On the other hand, the daffodils seem to have given up the fight to be blurred in all of my pictures.

I was up early this morning. Sometimes I wake up with my brain abuzz with what's going to happen during the day, and there's no way I can get back to sleep. Sadie was itching to get up into the clubhouse. There's a mouse up there, no doubt, and both kitties have been stalking it for at least a week. This morning, Smitty took advantage of her absence, and he was my slow-stitching cat for the morning.

Today I'm seeing the hand specialist. I don't know if he'll be able to offer anything that will be helpful, but he will give me information of some kind. I don't care whether it's good or bad. I just want to know what kind of outcome I can expect from this. As I've mentioned, my thumb has been almost completely ignored by every medical professional I've seen since the day it was broken. When I was in the emergency department, they splinted and wrapped it without even disinfecting the cut that was there. And, honestly, isn't disinfecting a cut about the bare minimum my thumb deserved? Well. Hopefully, this new guy will take its injury more seriously. 

So I'm hoping I'll get home early enough to do some sewing today, but not really counting on it. These things invariably take longer than expected. Two thumbs up for the prospect of sewing today.