Jury Doo-Dee..

I am serving on the "Grand Jury". When the cops in the movies say "The Grand Jury has handed down the indictment"? That's a reference to what I am doing for the next two weeks. Surprise.

It's lucky about the two weeks, all the other people who hemmed and hawed about duty ended up with a four week, eight to five stint. When they came to me, I said I was able to serve with no problems.

My thanks to the presiding judge who must have noticed my pale skin and blinking sun shocked eyes, and let me take the last two weeks of another juror's term they were unable to finish. A two week term of ten to five thirty. Now, who is a lucky Miau-Miau?

My jury (Jury III) does property crimes in the morning and drug crimes in the afternoon. I sit in a little room with these six other people that is Classic Institutional Beige, but with pretty comfy black chairs, a fridge and boiling hot water for tea! I also got this nice lanyard thing that lets me in the employees entrance.

This is how my day goes: The District Attorney working the case comes in the door and tells us about the charges and a little back ground, they then bring in witnesses and at the end the officer who took the report or was there for, or solved the crime comes in and gives us his story. We handle about eight or nine of these cases a day. Some where around one o'clock they give us a two hour lunch.

The cops really do catch things while they are happening, but they all seem to be the stupid crimes. Or crimes so stupid they worked for the criminal and they repeated the scheme until they eventually got caught. Tales of amazing criminal stupidity! I guess speed just rots what little brain the users are using.

Different cops, different people, different story. It's actually very interesting, these sordid stories I help the judicial system adjudicate. But I do wish the pay was better. Ten bucks for the first three days and twenty five a day for the rest. That's almost, an almost new fridge.

Winoz United!

This weekend was the:

Astoria Warrenton Crab & Seafood Festival!

The family (and friends) try to make it up there every year for a bit of camping and wining. It's a much smaller than the seafood fest in Newport that we started out going to a million years ago, and seems to be much easier to navigate. The lines are about one tenth of what they have down south. Though once again this year we didn't take the shuttle due to it not showing up forever. I even had a few songs ready for the bus:

The winos on the buss go glug, glug, glug, glug glug glug, glug, glug, glug
The winos on the buss go glug, glug, glug, as soon as the wine is open!

And,

If you're a wino and you know it clap your hands!
If you're a wino and you know it clap your hands!
if you're a wino and you know it then the wine stains will show it
If you're a wino and you know it clap your hands!

I had some free time before the trip and decided to make up a few of wine glass holders for friends and family, and of course I made a ton of them not knowing who was going to show up. I sold off a few at the show!

Sake girl wanted one!

and people in nascar tuxes wanted one..

Lony's wife wanted one! but ran into my mom and borrowed hers till they could find me to get her own. so she had two for a while..! its hard to take pictures of winos!

nice guy who liked kitties wanted one too!



Maybe next year I'll get a booth!

"o ti mangi questa menestra o ti butti dalla finestra"

You can eat this soup, or jump out the window.

Following along in my obsession with memoirs in recipe, I add this to my list of good reads. Clara is a feminist revolutionary, working for womens rights and the commies in Italy during the 60's. Though her recipes are mostly frugal she comes from a well to do Italian Jewish family. Most of her recipes can be recreated for under five bucks. Here are at least four ways to use canned tuna in oil..

Mimes in black and white..

The children of pardise, or Les Enfants du Paradis, or Boulevard du Crime

Who could make up drama like this today and pull it off? No one..

He meets She when she is accused of a crime and falls in love with her. she whos mother died at 15 forcing her to grow up fast on the streets of paris with out family or friend. She has no home since she lost it when she quit her last "job" and he takes her to his lodgings and gets her a room, unfortunately it's next to an actor with whom she is already acquainted. But he loves her still and gets her a job in his theater where he works as a MIME! and a good mime, not just the stuck in a box, pulling a rope mime, but whom eventually becomes the most famous mime in France, and possibly the world.

Unfortunately she has a very nasty thief friend who get her to get him a room in her lodgings then mugs a messenger whom they think is carrying money and once again the bad girl gets the shaft, and the gendarmes are getting ready to take her in when she whips out a card given to her by a count at the theater, and ends up running off with him. Hussy, or poor?

The mime then marries a girl from the theater. The Poor dear has a boy child with him, but he is still in love with the baaad girl who is long gone with the count.

The thief kills the actor and the the bad girl goes back to the count. and the mime is left fighting through the streets at carnival time where everyone is dressed in his mime costume, chasing her carriage. while his wife and child watch his futile race. Men are stupid.

The end.

Mimes kinda piss me off in general, but I liked this one, he didn't follow people around and try to give them pretend balloons...

someone elses quote of the day..

"I get up every morning determined to both change the world and to have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning the day difficult" -E.B. White

I love Artichokes..

I remember the first one I ever tried. I was about fifteen and my B.F.F.L. Miss J. turns up with an artichoke she steamed instead of her usual Top Ramen hot pot. It seemed only a few minutes before she was showing me how to dip the torn edge in mayonnaise, and to scrape the greenness off the silvery leaves with my teeth. When she made it to the heart it was all I could do not to run to the store and buy more..

These days I make up a bit of mayo and a lemon herb butter. Often after steaming I cut them in half, oil lightly and grill for the last few minutes. It seems to add the lightest hint of darkness to the tangy thistle.

I planted a globe artichoke plant last year and am hoping to get a 'choke or three this season. The way the economy is going it might be the only way I can get them..

Its my Birthday!

I decided I needed to get my nerd on at the Retro arcade for this years birthday celebrations! Nathan made me a flier, and I made my self a Rice Krispie Treat Centipede..

I actually tripled the recipe provided on the Rice krispi dot com site. It actually used an entire large box of krispies two bags of marshies. I planned to use a couple to make mushroom things but ended up not having enough room for them on the board.

I sprayed my hands with oil to help nonstick me but found that a few drops of water worked better. I did have to redip every other ball or two. I was worried I might make them gooey, but they were the usual perfectly treaty goodness.

I used violet Wilson food dye and a few jelly war heads as decoration and sour straws for legs, and antenna. I made 31 pretty good sized portions. All I needed was napkins which made it super easy to hand out. AND no BAKING! Not that I would not love to pop a couple cakes out, and have no idea what the family is going to do when I tell them I can't make cakes this month. I wonder how many R.K. sculptures I can churn out..