This Morning Was A Long Time Ago

[howeird]

I thought I slept well until I saw the time was 12:15 am. Pit stop, then slept till 7-something. I can't remember if Spook was on the bed then, or just at 9 when I turned all the lights on. She pretended to enjoy being petted, actually purred, but it didn't last.

Up, showered and all, took meds and drove to the community hall for the monthly birthday/anniversary party. Much to my delight, it has been taken over by a couple who love to do it, and in addition to store-bought cake pre-sliced and paper plated, there were home made cookie-like objects which were very sugary and nutty and wonderful. The hosts were in green, since St. Patrick's birthday is this month. There were shamrock coasters and a green party hat (1 per table).

My table accumulated people who had gone on various Inside Passage cruises. Interesting. I've wanted to take this trip, but Time & $...

Next stop, Grocery Outlet for the few items I didn't have or making Penang Curry Meatballs. ground lamb, ground beef, minced garlic. While I was there, also got grapes and chicken drumsticks. Wanted wings, but their packages were too small, organic and over-priced. The one thing I thought they would have, panko breading, they didn't.

So on to Lucky's, which had 6 varieties of panko and other breadings to choose from. Bought the house brand. Only needed half a cup, but got two boxes anyway. Because I may use them on the drumsticks later. Also stocked up on lunchtime steamer bowls and scored a pair of pans with lids in which to make/transport the meatballs.

Home, plugged the car in, got set up to make the meatballs. It was a much more ornate recipe than the last one. It called for mincing cilantro, lemongrass, Thai lime leaves and garlic, galangal and adding them to the meatball mix. Last time, it was just the meat, filler and egg, and letting them cook & get their flavor from simmering the meatballs in the curry sauce (curry, coconut milk, starch added later to thicken), panko, an egg (I used liquid eggs). I minced the cilantro with scissors, but the lemongrass, galangal and lime leaves I used the new spice grinder on. Lemongrass does not like being minced.

I had defrosted the last batch of Penang curry sauce, but it was watery, so I added corn starch and ran it through the microwave a few times to get it creamy. But first I had to scoop out a bunch of micro meatballs (the size of an olive pit) and set them aside.

The meatballs were baked in the oven at 400° for 15 minutes (two batches), then the sauce was poured over them. Taste test was "good enough".

Delivered was a webcam to replace the mismatched one in the front of the house. I added it to the network, but my router was refusing to port forward it, so I left it in place because it was time to head to Milbrae for the Peace Corps alumni annual meeting & potluck.

I got there 10 minutes early, so helped set up the food tables. Apparently the agenda was setup 3-4, socializing 4-5, business meeting and keynote speech by Mike Honda 5-6 Dinner 6-8. Teardown ~ 8.

Three of my favorite old friends were there, but I talked to several others, and sat next to a very attractive woman who had served on a remote island in the Philippines, learned a rarely used language there, and helped cure the local fishermen of using explosives and cyanide. I like this new crowd, there are a lot of hot women, also many enthusiastic leaders of all ages.

The food spread was great, lots of different kinds of food from all over the world. Definitely a full dinner. My meatballs went quickly.

Before I left, I got a chance to talk to Mike Honda, and let him know I was in a show with his niece, whom I follow on FB. He said she alarmed her family by postponing her law studies to be in Carousel, but now she has her degree and is doing good works. And is expecting a baby. Actually, I think she already had the baby. But I may be confusing her with someone else with a similar first name and theater connection. Nope, checked Facebook, the baby girl is a few months old.

In his speech, he gave some good ideas on whom in Congress to contact to try to get funding for Peace Corps. Mike was in the Peace Corps in the 60s, and he mentioned some current reps and sens who were volunteers. Joe Kennedy III for instance.

Home, too late to make it to Bad Movie Night. So here I am writing this early.
Figured out why the new webcam wouldn't port forward. It had signaled it was a UPnP object, so the router thought it was already tied up. It's available on the web site again.

Two egg creams later:
Plans for tomorrow:

Figure out why the laundry room lights show up on SmartThings Hub and Alexa, but not Google Home.
Move the cat tree from the guest room to the piano room, and the linen rack from the piano room to the guest room. A lot more work than it sounds.
Coffee at my local Peet's with Janice at 5 (her choice).