cabbage though.) DS made a potato galette which is a crisp-on-one-side, baked-in-an-iron-skillet, potato cake with rosemary in it. It was delicious, pretty, and such a nice complement to the tender beef and crunchy green beans. My Irish soda bread (which is really more of a big biscuit) was a hit as was the NY-style chopped salad. HZ made a grasshopper pie in a chocolate cookie crust served with a dollop of whipped cream and shaved chocolate on top. (That disappeared so fast I didn't get a picture.) I'm not a mint fan, so I held out for one of her mocha cupcakes with 7-minute frosting and drizzled chocolate. 
We talked and laughed, had a little cheese and crackers to start,toured the new chicken coop, and made most of the food disappear, all between 5 & 8 PM. Next month was supposed to be our turn but HZ wants to make Easter supper so we'll switch. We're all hoping that their WZ & ADZ will be home (hint, hint--DIL1, pass this along if it'll help lure them this way. thanks.). I volunteered to see if I can't make one of the bunny cakes that Mom used to make for dessert. Ooh, I just had a brainstorm--I'll make a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting (bunnies like carrots, right?) and press shredded coconut on the
outside. It'll be perfect. Fun too. HZ and I agreed (cue the mutual back-patting) that we're in the minority as far as mother-in-laws (mothers-in-law?) go. Turns out her friends are a bit bemused that we all get along, just like some of mine are. We're very different but we enjoy each others' company. IMHO, people expecting everyone to be the same, or like them, is part of what's going haywire with our society today. It's more interesting to sit and share different perspectives, don't you think? Anyway, the Malcolms, Zander-Malcolms, and the Zanders had a fine time last night. (Too bad WZ & ADZ and DD & DIL2 don't live near enough to get us all together once a month, or even quarterly.)March 25--Peru, Moche or Wari, Tunic. Jane had never been one of those self-consciously artsy poets. She was one of the people who melted into the background at gatherings. If you looked closely you could see that she didn't miss much, and you knew she was storing thoughts and characters away for later. All that changed when Arnie took her to Peru. No one was sure what had happened to make the change and Jane never said, but her work was different, deeper and more visceral. She changed the way she dressed too. The most dramatic garment was a tunic made of cotton and alpaca. It was soft and warm, yes, and Jane's clothes had always been about comfort, but it was the vivid colors and designs that signaled the biggest change. She had always dressed in subdued blues and greens, but the red and yellow made her come alive.
A-a-and it's time to get a move on. The sun's out and Spanky should finish the painting today. Maybe not the closets but the rooms. I want to confer with him and make sure he's planning to paint the stairwell. It's the original bright yellow and rather jarring anymore. Now we just need a tenant, but that'll happen. I plan to post new pictures once the work's done and that should lure them in again. Right???? Stretch your muscles and your minds today, chitlins.
--Barbara
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