Litchfield Hills back roads

A Tale of Two Pleasures

First

I do miss my family in Rio, I truly wish we could go there every year for at least two weeks, mmm’kay make it twice a year for at least two weeks. (no mom not more than that cause I also miss my dogs and they usually are miserable at the kennel). Happy now?

Apart from people the things I miss are the silly ones, dishes we cannot find here, mostly because the ingredients are so foreign they don’t even have a name in English for them. 

Above all things I miss bread. Sure there is bread here. Even very good bread. But, and we all knew there was a but coming; somehow it is almost impossible to find Brazilian bread. The kind we eat in Brasil for breakfast, the kind we call “French” there although it has no real resemblance to a baguette. They are made fresh at least twice a day on every bakery.

 True I did not use to eat them that often for breakfast after I grown up, simply cause that would be a no-no in any diet. Every time I go visit my mom I do enjoy it every single morning, knowing too well it will not last forever.

Today I ate Brazilian bread. It would be accurate to call it “American-Brazilian bread” since it was made here, but it had all the goodness from a true Brazilian bread. Thanks to my Brazilian friends, the ones that used to be our neighbors, the “almost impossible” became possible.

There is a town, I would say an hour from here, that has a huge Brazilian population and because of that they have a store that sells stuff from Brazil and even a bakery, now actually it seems there is yet another bakery to cater to the Brazilian need of true bread. Unfortunately we never drive even close to there. We have projects all over but not in that direction and it always seem too much to go there just for my cravings.

Last night our friend came by with a bag with half a dozen breads. I am in heaven. I have to confess it was hard not to have a second bread this morning, only the idea of making it last longer, of having one of those breads every morning this week made me stop.

Second

I never cease to marvel at He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed abilities.

Yesterday I climbed the stairs from the basement dreading to tell He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed that our dryer was dead. I just kept repeating inside my head “don’t kill the messenger”. It was not totally dead, as it still produces heat but the drum would not move.

Brazilian way to any dead appliances is “call a guy”. My people is not into DIY, maybe because there is always a “guy”, because labor in Brazil is not expensive like here, and even if usually “ a guy” will make you wait hours to show up one very seldom will try to solve the problem without “a guy”.

I have to say I am glad I have “my guy”. It did not took him long to diagnose the problem, a broken belt. He did some research online and figure the solution. After lunch he went and bought the new belt, I am proud to say I help figuring out how the belt was installed.

I must admit the actual process was not pleasant; He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed is very good at what he does but not very good about giving directions in a pleasant way, helping him is not always a smooth operation. It did take 3 times (a charm?) to get everything in the proper place but even if not painless it was not a long process.

Having a broken dryer: a pain

Buying a new belt for dryer: $20

Having my own DIY guy: priceless

Liberté, Equalité, Fraternité

We all spend 1/7 of our lives on Mondays so I try not to dwell on the cliché if I am having a bad Monday but alas yesterday took the cup!

I decided to get dinner done late morning, I knew the piece of meat I got the other day would require some 2 hours of slow cooking in order to taste good so I started the thing early. Braising is not on my top choices for cooking but once in a while I like to try something different. This is how I end up burning the meat, actually the whole pan!

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed asked me across our desk, “Are you cooking something? Cause if you are I think it is burning!”

He was very, very right. I did manage to salvage most of the meat and scrap the bottom of my Dutch oven until it did not show any signs of the disaster. The house smell of burnt meat for the rest of the day but He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed was very nice about the whole incident.

How during the process I manage to break a tooth I still don’t know. Not just any tooth but one that will require a crown in the very near future. My only lucky break (no pun intended) was that they had someone calling sick and cancelling an appointment so I was able to go see my “miracle worker” dentist not even 3 hours after the tooth broke.

Sure it was not fun to spend an hour on that chair and I also don’t like the unplanned expense but I have to say my dentist is one of the nicest people I ever met here.

A Monday to remember was not complete before I made some American coffee; well sorry but this is how I call it. It is not necessarily bad coffee but it sure is weak. I like to leave the coffee machine ready for the next coffee, well to be exact half ready as I like to grind the grains just before I brew, but I do fill the water and place the filter ahead. Yesterday somehow I forgot I had already filled the water and did it again, never notice before I saw a weird amount of coffee ready and sure I did not use double the amount of coffee so end up with a big pot of American coffee.

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed decide to make some changes in our household. We decided to reclaim our bed. Matisse is adorable but such a bed hog and lately it has been getting worse and worse, either one of both of us end up having a terrible night because our dog takes all the bed.

We knew it would not be easy but had to be done. We move the normal size crate to the bedroom, since Jack’s surgery a few months ago we gave him the extra large crate, wearing that cone around his head was terrible and the extra space made him more comfortable. The large one is so big we can fit both dogs there we think they like to have their own space. We move Jack back to the normal sized one and now we have Matisse sleeping in his crate too.

The first night was difficult; he was barking and crying a lot. The second night was a nightmare, he was barking even louder and more often. We take turns to tell him to go back to sleep, it felt a bit like being inside a movie, a bad movie. Last night he did complain a couple of times but I guess he finally is getting used to the idea. Was one of the best nights of sleep we both had in a long time.

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed thinks it was a great way to start his birthday. That and the fluffy omelet I made him this morning.

I know Matisse miss his freedom, but we agree it is fairer, now both brothers sleep in their crates!

Liberté, Equalité, Fraternité.

Rainbows and Unicorns

I could blame it on Mia but that would be unfair, true she does keep me busier but the reason for not writing here for a week is a rather bad cold, one of those that makes your whole body ache and your brain turns to mush.

I was trying to avoid a post that would consist mostly of some serious moaning and complaining about how bad I have been feeling for days! As you can see the dreadful post is already happening and you cannot do anything about it, complete with exclamation point and all that jazz (I could stop here and save you the pain but alas I am bad, why should I suffer alone?).

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed told me last night that we should get flu shots this year, we have never done it, and well I have never done it, mostly because every year he says it is a waste of time. I am not quite sure why he changed his mind but I agree with the whole idea even if I was never fond of having any part of my body poked with needles. Mmm’kay there has been some acupuncture sessions years ago, they were not pleasant but the results seemed worthy at the time.

……..

Well it has been a while, and I wrote the paragraphs above last week, then I could not make myself post it because it was just so blah!

I am almost over my cold, have been sleeping much better even if not really well (not that I ever did sleep well even when I am healthy). I have been preoccupied with Mia, since last Tuesday night her dad came by and asked me to go take a look because she was acting strange. Sure she was not herself, and I could feel she was running a fever, was definitively not her perky self. After some examination I notice she had a sore back, she yelped when I touch a spot right center on her spine. So I end up telling her dad to take her to the emergency vet since it was almost 9PM and she was clearly in pain. The next day he stopped by to say she does have a spinal infection, was on pain killers and antibiotics and looking really miserable.

I went to visit her a few times, Wednesday she was a sorry looking pup, would not even get up, her tail was trying to tell me she appreciated my visit but the pain was draining her of any energy.

Yesterday she seemed much better by night time; maybe the meds are doing the magic. She was able to walk a bit around her yard and came by me for a belly rub even if she was uncomfortable to get her belly in the upward position.

I do know that I have been writing about Mia a lot, call it my Mia Mania, but this past week went by so fast I never had time for much more than the regular work load so bear with me if I cannot write about rainbows and unicorns!

Missing Mia

Nip and Tuck

I was always fascinated by how different dog’s personalities can be. It has been very interesting to see how Mia develops her relationships with my boys. We still have problems inside the house, Jack simply will not accept her presence, he barks like he is insane and pants all the time, circling her and making sure she does not move a step away from this tight circle, the limits he establish for her . Matisse is relaxed and even will lie down and let her sniff at him. True now she really is trying to engage him into playing so she nips and teases, well she is a girl!

Every visit I try to let them have time inside, after 7 minutes I give up and take them all to the backyard where things are much nicer.

Luckily the weather has been great and she spends most of her time running after one of the boys, she does not show any interest in their balls, but as soon as they are running to catch she is running after them. Hey it is still great exercise and she does look like she is having fun.

She got mildly interested in an empty soda bottle and some twigs but her attention span is about 2 seconds’ tops and anyway the boys are way more interesting. I am amazed that Matisse let her steal his stones, I mean Jack never did but if he tries to steal Matisse’s ball the big guy just goes and gets it back from Jack’s mouth. Not so with the lady!

After an hour of running around I can take her back to her house and she is happy to go to her crate, when I get back home I can see the boys are ready for a nice nap, and I swear they both look like they have a content smile.

The only problem so far is that Mia shows a tendency to nip. At first I thought was ok, since she was not doing the boys any harm but now she has been trying to nip at the back of my legs if I don’t pay her 100% attention. Of course those small teeth don’t hurt much but I think it is a very bad idea and should be stopped early or it can develop into a nasty habit.

For now when she nips I tuck her into a sitting, let’s hope she is a fast learner.

The Lady and the Bug