Flotsam and jetsam

This Makaibari Estate autumnal Darjeeling is too malty. Thank goodness I've got some backup Nagri 1st flush. I really need to see about getting some China Keemun in the office.

It's day three of Cowgirl In Skirts. I love these bright, psychedelic colors, and I'm especially psyched because when I was trying these on Saturday afternoon I was thinking (despite my beer gut) that I've got kind of nice legs. Of course, I'm currently highlighting them with flakes of peeling skin. oooooooh. I was going to switch to capris tomorrow but I think I'm going to try to just wear skirts for two more days just to say I did.

I had a meeting with my boss and my boss's boss, in with BsB told me, "I'm beating Hugh with your data stick." I'm pretty sure it's a compliment. He also referred to the sausage grinder of development, which I said was more like "a giant toliet bowl ... no matter how big you make the bowl, we ain't getting a chicken down a four inch pipe."

It's a strange kind of evil

I have succeeded in getting ANOTHER person to go to the ballet with me ... BWAH HAH HAH HAH HAH! Soon the world will be SWARMING with rabid ballet fans!

BWAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!

PS: And who wouldn't want to go and see this? Rar!

Cowgirl's pasta au pistou

I read a recipe for soup au pistou in the New York Times and was inspired to make this:

2/3 bag of the good dried pappardele (add to boiling water and cook normally, but aim to have it done about two minutes before you're ready to serve) - enough for two
a frozen Isernio's sweet Italian sausage I had stashed in the freezer (sliced and sauteed in a cast iron pan)
some of that frozen bell pepper mix (about 3 T, mixed in with the sausage when it's about half cooked)
three to four tablespooons of cooked, chopped tomatoes out of a can (because that's what I had) - add in when peppers are done and avoid the juice
two to three tablespoons of some kind of bean (I used cannelini, see above)

When everything is warmed through, add two heaping tablespoons of pesto and stir. Mix in with the pasta so that it doesn't stick together. Put in the pretty bowl from Orvieto and give it a nice dusting of fresh ground parmesan. Make note to buy more parmesan as it has become insufferably hard. Eat.

Now I'm going to trim my rosebushes, as it's still light outside.