Well.....

... at least I have solid employement thru the month of October. Bad news... payroll was not notified in time so my next paycheck pays out all my PTO, which means I won't have any for the month of October. I'll have some by the end of October, but that ain't gonna do me much good. Especially since I have a job interview next Friday in the morning and I was planning on just taking the whole day. I'm guessing they'll let me "borrow" against the time I earn by the end-o-the-month, and if I don't make it until the end of the month, well, I'll deal with that when it comes.

Cooking tonight was a Crispy Shrimp recipe from a recent issue of Everyday Food. Pretty good, but would be inproved by browning the panko before coating the shrimp. While I live under the firm belief that there is a 50/50 chance Martha Stewart is indeed the devil or the devil's bride, damn I love Everyday Food. The TV show and the magazine are both great (and minimal Martha exposure, although they're both "martha-esque"). And this time of year always reminds me of one of the first moments I wondered if the woman was joking, on crack or just THAT obsessed with presenting perfection... a Thanksgiving special where she was covering an entire turkey in puff pastry. It looked beautiful, but c'mon.... it's just one of those things that is SO over and above.

And, a major product shout-out.... the new "steamer" bags they have. Oh how I love these things. And when you're a cheap-ass like me, you can usually get away with using them twice. But, they are fantastic at just steaming veggies, and tonight I even did some butter-garlic-chive potatoes in one. No pot, no boiling water.... dice potatoes, thwap in some light butter and chopped garlic, nuke for seven minutes - 7 minutes! - and some damned fine potatoes. Very nice for a night like tonight when my dumb ass forgot about the starch for dinner - I intended on some oven cooked garlic fries - until the last minute. D'oh.

Looking forward... hopefully it'll be a quiet weekend. I really should get outside and do some work in the yard, but that might still be a few weeks out. If I feel like treating myself, it might be a trip to see if I can find a shawl to wear with the new dress I got for the wedding we have next weekend, or a visit to the new Crate & Barrel to get something to sharpen my knives, which are all horribly dull. Exciting, huh???