Flip-flops, R.I.P.

On rare occasions, I come across a person who is under the misapprehension that people from large families usually have a sort of cookie-cutter sameness. This is a load of poppycock, in my opinion, but your mileage may vary.

As a very minor example, let me share with you one of the personal delights of my youngest sister, Miss V's mom. My sister loves -- LOVES -- shoes. All sorts of shoes, though she is especially partial to shoes with high heels. She's probably got upwards of 100 pairs right now. In fact, she has so many that if she misplaces a pair she usually doesn't notice its absence for months, if at all. She lounges around the house in high-heeled slippers, she loves the idea of exercising in stilettos... you get the idea. In fact, it wasn't until recently that I discovered we were actually the same height; I'd always assumed she was taller, because she always wears heels.

Now, just for comparison's sake, my in-use-until-today flip-flops:
I've been wearing these things around, off and on, since at least 2003. It might be even earlier than that, since I can't remember which summer I picked them up (though I do recall I was living in Utah at the time). My footprints are indelibly etched into the things. They're comfortable, lightweight, slip on easily, they go with nearly everything I might want to wear -- and as you can see, the soles are completely grotty, decrepit and disintegrating at this point, but who looks at the soles anyway, right? So I still wore them. Well, at least until the toe-strap of the right shoe suddenly gave way today. ('Tis sad. Now I must wade through the slough of despond that is the shoe store, hoping to find something anywhere near as comfy for my 7 1/2 W feet to shlep around.)

My personal philosophy is that nobody really needs more than four pairs of shoes: all-purpose tennies for everyday wear and exercise, a simple pair of dress shoes, maybe a pair of boots, and a set of nice-looking flip-flops will get you through 90% of what life throws at you. Anything else is gravy. I'm almost certain my sister would be horrified at this philosophy, but it works for me.

And hey, in almost completely unrelated news, I got stuff from Gretel today! (Thanks Gretel!) Beeyootiful cards which I had coveted for some time. Pix later, as I'm frankly too lazy to hook up the scanner.

Random dinnery goodness

As it turned out, Indiana Squash (sliced very thin and stir-fried with finely-diced bacon, courtesy of the talented CM) was a very worthy side dish last night.

Ah, but that was then, this is now! What culinary wonders lie in store at the Laundry Fairy's abode this evening, you may ask?

Tonight: Japanese curry rice.
This involves peeling and cutting up a few potatoes, a few more carrots, chopping up a big onion, and tossing them all into a hot oiled saucepan for a bit of sauteeing. Then I threw in some leftover pork roast, covered it all with water, brought to a boil and cooked until the potatoes and carrots were getting tender.

Then Miss V opened this box:
That's right, we like our curry ROBUST around here. Grr! Raghr! CURRY!!! HULK SMASH!

The curry roux inside looks a bit like chocolate. V tossed it in with the cooking vegetables and stirred it around until everything was thick and glossy brown. Meanwhile, CM was busy making rice.

So here's the fruit of our several labors:
To tell the truth, it's usually far less formal even than this -- we tend to just put rice in a bowl and dump the curry on the rice. Either way, it's tasty.

This concludes another chapter of Cooking with Soozcat. Tune in next time for Clean Out the Fridge Night!

*koff* *hack*

Yes, it's been over a month and a half since I caught whatever it was that gave me laryngitis, and my lungs are STILL not done with it. I can talk now without sounding like Harvey Fierstein (which, believe me, is a relief for both me and Harvey), but I continue to cough. And cough. And cough some more. Meh.

Happily we have the cure for all distresses:

That's right, a happy little hippie girl! Miss V made her own tie-dyed shirt not too long ago for Activity Days. Here she models it with great aplomb and much boogie-dancing.

Also we received a surprise visit from the suave and dapper Indiana Squash, who -- as the sign says -- is "selling these fine leather peanuts." Hmm. I prefer crunchy over leathery, but am I gonna argue with a squash who carries a whip?

He looks tasty. I think we may have him for dinner tonight.