Monday, August 26 2019

Dear Journal,

Good morning, everyone. What a beautiful morning. Not conventionally nice morning - it's chilly, the sun isn't out yet, and it looks like it's going to rain pretty much all day. But after a long, humid, buggy summer, the change is welcomed. I've been dying to wear a hoodie to work again, and today I may get my wish.

I had a wonderful weekend. We got plenty of outdoor time, cooked some good recipes, and had plenty of moments to recharge. Yesterday's gnocchi turned out really good, and it was pretty easy to make. I used two spoons to form the gnocchi, using that technique where you pass a little wad of dough back and forth until it forms a pillow, then you just gently shimmy it into hot water. The first few came out a little rough, but I got the hang of it. Once all the gnocchi were made, I browned them in butter on cast iron. The brown looked pretty cool against the green (there was lots of basil ground into the dough, I promise it was supposed to come out green). Not only did I redeem my first gnocchi attempt, but now I have a recipe that uses a whole container of ricotta cheese. And I also know how to find the ricotta at my grocery store. For some reason, it disappeared from the usual cheese wall, making me question if it was "out of season" or if ricotta was actually hard to come by during certain times of the year, but they just moved it over by the cream.

I'm pretty tired today. I must not have slept very well, I'm having a hard time getting any thoughts going this morning, which is why I'm finding it easier to just focus on what's currently in my stomach instead. Today will be the first regular work day I've had in a while. Instead of running stand-up for the interns and handing out work, I'm going back to just being a regular guy on my team. I'm looking forward to laying low today. I'm going to knock out some individual work, and maybe even listen to a podcast or something. Then I'll sneak out somewhere for a quick bite.

This week, I think I can't avoid planning for the reunion. I had the week wrong in my head, which earned me a whole extra week of putting it off, but now it's actually two weeks away and it's time to get the ball rolling.

For dinner tonight, I'm planning on making some Philly cheese steak sandwiches. I watched a video last night - it just involves searing a cheap steak in olive oil, then cooking it on a bed of onions. It all gets cut up and mixed with some cream cheese and peppers, then baked on a sandwich bun. Since our dog Ziggy was born near Philly, we joked that she's been dying to have a cheese steak again since moving to the land of cheese heads, so this is partly inspired by her hometown.

I think the coffee is finally kicking in. I feel quickened with life, and suddenly I'm feeling motivated enough to shave this morning. I've crossed that definite threshold that separates "indifferent, the style choice" from "indifferent".

Hope you all have a wonderful day today. This morning before heading out, grab your favorite hoodie. It might still be a little too warm for it, but you can always take it off later. This morning, we can together live in the delusion that fall is here.