Dance, dance....

Found just the email I've been waiting for - the fifth (5) couple confirmed for the Level One Ballroom class; and the dancerCIZE is all set with 11 paid participants - so far. I may have #12 next week. And the 4th and 5th cabins for the January Caribbean cruise are, or are about to be, booked. Britt and Truby Max have found two other singles, so each has a roommate and ones that dance. Wonderful, Wonderful...the fall term is shaping up.

At the moment I am testing an Espresso Martini - trying to duplicate the one enjoyed on the Alaska cruise. 'Googling' same got me dozens of hits; but I prefer this one from Italian Cooking and Living on foodtv.com.

1 shot freshly brewed espresso
1/2 ounce Kahlua
11/2 ounces Stolichnaya Vanilla vodka
3 espresso beans for garnish

I bought Vanilla vodka but I'm using Creme de Cacao instead of Kahlua. This time. Next time I'll try another version and I skipped the bean garnish (?). The bartender on the M.S. Oosterdam could whip this up in a flash and it was so smooth and cool after an intense gym workout. I know what you are thinking: I don't drink. True. But....I would like to serve this as an aperitif for Christmas dinner and I must perfect the mix-recipe first. Someone has to do it??

And besides, EF is not home. This is MY Thursday. EF leaves for an OLLI class, has lunch, gets to band practice by 3:00 pm then heads to the Carolina Club at 5:30 to have dinner in The Grill and make the Portfolio Investment Club meeting at 7 pm., coming home about 9 pm. This is MY ONE Thursday of the month to be home all alone and do whatever I want.

Jan, my sister, just left - post-surgery boot on one foot and cane in hand. Her heel spur and plantar faciitis keep her from walking and waiting for a heel procedure to heal. She left with some of my cast-off books to read during recovery. We enjoyed some iced tea with cheese and crackers - she loved the brown, rice-wafers found at Weaver Market in Carrboro! Jan is currently on the Y committee for the Silver Harvest Ball in Burlington, NC, Sunday, October 6, 6:30 - 8:30 pm. We danced there last year and I thought they did a splendid job but EF is balking at going this year. He's done with dancing (?).

The number one aim for today: REALIZED! Get into making the "fancy-scrappy-one-of-a-kind" jacket that I've been procrastinating about for months (years really). Well my long range goals are seeing progress - there's nothing like delayed gratification is there? As of this writing the sorting, editing, fabric audition and piecing process has produced the fronts (2). OF course there is still the back and two sleeves to create. The fronts are not the easiest but the most creative fun. The sleeves will be the challenge - getting the curve of the upper sleeve to fit the body of the jacket will take some effort. That and getting the sleeves long enough to have a turned-back cuff. The color scheme: why GREEN of course, actually so multi-colored with reds, yellows, blue and aquas that the whole thing will be a 'designer' model. The lining will be a pale green, chambray fabric that has been waiting eons in my stash for some purpose.

Plus I spent most of the morning Online searching "Villa Barbaro" "Veronese" and the work of Georges Rousse for the Durham Project. September 10th was the premier of a documentary film showing an French artist creating 'unusual spaces' within old tobacco warehouses. See: http://www.rousseprojectdurham.com/
This is for the Aesthetics class at OLLI. I have several questions and some questions of historical context for the professor but that can wait a week or two. I don't want to infuriate the poor man too soon....

Meantime, back at OLLI, our reservations for the OLLI Retreat at Blowing Rock, October 21-24 (Duke Fall Break), have been confirmed, as are our reservations at the WestGlow Spa for Wednesday 10/24. The NC painter, Elliott Daingerfield (1859-1932), built the house which now serves as the central lodge for guests at WestGlow (rated 7th of the 15 best spas in the world) http://www.westglow.com/. Daingerfield is one of my long-range goals: delivering a lecture [or course] on a North Carolina painter who enjoyed a national reputation at the turn of the 20th-century and has been nearly forgotten in the seventy-five years since his death. Once called "America's Millet" his works are in most major U.S. museums but who knows his name? I hope to photograph the expansive vistas that he so often painted.

Driving home on Thursday, 10/25 we may stop at Bernardin's in Winston-Salem for lunch. See: http://bernardinsfinedining.com. Why there? The fresh, grilled tuna steak on a bun is the best lunch choice, their menu offering Continental dishes with just a hint of Asian flavors. We cannot get there often but it's worth the wait.

Oops! I'm out of martini. Better see if there's any left in the cocktail shaker.
Until tomorrow, bb