Canned, Polished, and Replete

All the sauce is in the jars, all 22 pints of it. It took 5 hours for the last one to plink but they all sealed too. Then I had time to go have the flipped off nail replaced and the whole shebang filled and polished before showering, dressing, and going to Titletown Brewing Co. where my DS and DIL were hosting a Beer and Food Pairing class. I'm not a big beer drinker but I was interested in how food it was meant to be eaten with would change how it'd taste. I must confess that mostly it just smelled and tasted like beer but I did like the Porter that my son invented and brewed. It tasted like coffee and chocolate, two of my all-time faves. I thought we'd have little mouthfuls of food, like tapas, but we had full portions of curried squash soup (yum), salmon stuffed with spinach and wild mushrooms served over rice pilaf (double yum), bacon wrapped pork loin in cherry glaze with roast brussels sprouts and white & sweet potato galette with Gorgonzola (triple yum), and dark beer gingerbread with cinnamon whipped cream for dessert (to. Die. for.). I mostly just sipped the beer, asking for what my DIL calls a "no, thank you" portion, which is what she learned about at Girl Scout camp, it's just a taste to try something new, but I enjoyed it, even the beer. It was a fun evening.

November 17--Capri. Luca stood on the headland, his eyes on the horizon. He knew that shops could come from any direction but if he were in charge he would come around to the west and sail in when the setting sun blinded watchers on shore. His fingers flexed, clenching and unclenching on the ram's horn he wore on a leather thong. He was anxious to be the one to blow the first note, the one to raise the alarm. He had spent time finding wood and kindling so that he had a fire laid just in case the ships tried to slip into the harbor in the night. He might be too young to fight but he was determined to do his part to defend Capri.

I need some sunshine, people, so if anyone can figure out how to shove these thick gray clouds over, let me know. Thanks.
--Barbara