My concern revolved around the fact that on Columbus Day, 2009 we folks in Minnesota got a bunch of snow. It was a wimpy snow as snowfalls go, but nonetheless it bore down upon the psyche of the hardy souls who gird their loins for the tough months ahead sometime in after the next holiday we government workers get - Veterans Day around Nov. 11.
We knew the snow was coming as it got cold this weekend. The temperature dipped below freezing and when I got up to get Vinay ready to go umpire in Inver Grove Heights, the temperature was hovering at the freezing point. He seemed confident and pleased that it was cold as he felt sure that he could get to the field and as an umpire - make the decision to call the games because of cold weather thus saving the agony of having to umpire four games on that cold and blustery morning.
I guess Vinay does not read or listen to Garrison Keillor when he talks about the hardy folks who live in Minnesota. When we got to the fields some 45 minutes away, we saw a happy bunch of players leaving the park. Vinay casually (and concealing an inordinate amount of glee) asked if their game had been cancelled because of the cold. The response was, "Oh no, we are the team that got eliminated in the first round of games at 8 a.m., the next set begins in 10 minutes! The dark, gloomy, dank and cold day only grew danker and colder for Mr. Vinay. He resolved to speak to the coaches of both teams only to find both coaches vigorously working their teams into a lather and getting them set to play. I drove home and drove back at 2 p.m. to pick Vinay up as Naveen (who was to umpire all four games but gave up the first two as he had to work the early shift) came to take over from him. The picture above is one of Mr. Vinay umping the final inning of the second game, so four hours after he took the field.
The day before all this - I am working my way back chronologically - was Saturday, Oct. 10 which also coincidentally was Vinay's 17th birthday. We 'talked' him into staying home from the Home Coming dance so he could participate in get together with a bunch of our friends and one of his buddies. We did give him the opportunity to have his friends over, but he chose not to. Some kids think that their parents are so uncool. I guess we are one of them. Reality will strike some years down the road, just as it did Mohan our eldest! Anyway, we had invited an eclectic group of friends for dinner to enjoy a uniquely Dutch pastime called the "Gourmet Zet" dinner. It basically involves cooking your own meal at the table.
This is how it works:
Cut two pounds of steak,pork, and chicken into thin bite sized pieces. Cut a packet of bacon slices into half, take 1.5 pounds of ground beef and make mini-burgers, slice liver into bite-sized pieces (optional), and uncooked shrimp and scallops. Then chop carrots, green onions, broccoli (into small florets), chinese pea pods, some corn, chopped garlic, thin slices of ginger and cilantro (chives and parsley are optional)and a dozen eggs. Set all of this on trays on the table. Each dinner guest will have a small frying with a burner below. The table is set with a number of different sauces - we had ketchup, teriyaki sauce, sriracha hot pepper sauce - carambola sauce, Barabados hot sauce, pick-a-peppa Jamaican sauce, Thai sauce, Barbecue Sauce, and three or four other hot sauces and a homemade bottle of serrano chillies and capers in vinegar. Once the pan is hot, the guests were asked to make their own meals using any or all of the ingredients they could fit in their fry pan. We had lots of wine and beer and a large pot of rice. It was a blast! We must have been at the dining room table for more than two hours, chatting as each small portion got cooked. Everyone was responsible for their own meal and all present enjoyed their meal immensely.
The evening was topped off with folks wish our birthday boy all the best and we served ice-cream cake to cool off all the lively palates that had come alive with the different sauces available for the gourmet set meal.
All in all, it was a busy weekend. Oh, I did get to visit the dentist today and she said my teeth looked great and that I was doing a good job following instructions. If she only knew! And before I wrap up, I was looking for some extra set of keys that Naveen had made and for some reason we were unable to find it and as I looked through the back of my chest of drawers - lo and behold, I found my wedding band that had been AWOL for about four years! We had gone through the house with a fine tooth comb and had not located it all this time. All is well that ends well. I have to go teach now. Catch you on the rebound! Sorry about the disjointed thoughts. Have to get to school fast!
