Rainy Days and Tuesdays

I know it's supposed to be rainy days and Mondays that "always get me down," according to Karen Carpenter - but this is Tuesday and it's raining and raining.  I'm not really down, just want to share a few things that are on the edge.

Bob made leek pesto on Sunday night and marinated the shrimp in it and then grilled them outside.  You remember Sunday - it was sunny and I got a bit of a tan.  Leeks are special to us because they were right under our noses on our hillside for years and we had no idea what we were seeing.  A friend, Mike, told us about them - to look for the leaves that are similar to tulips, then gently pull them out.  The bulb is like a garlic or onion with its own special flavor.  Since then - just last year - Bob has become a leek fiend.  This year we had to wait longer for them to be ready, but now there's a plastic container filled with them in the fridge.  The shrimp are lying on the leaves, just for presentation purposes, in the picture.  He also made a leek and potato soup that was magnificent.  Thanks, Mike, yet again!

I've wanted to say thank you to Kimmie, my sometime godchild and Alex's babysitter, for a while now.  I rarely see her any more, but she told me at her grandmother's funeral that she reads my blog and I know will read this.  She sent me this amazing card after Koko left us last month.  Bob opened it before I got home and he was excited.   "This looks just like Koko!" he said.  And it does - even though Kimmie never met her.  I keep the card with others on our bulletin board in the kitchen, and every time I see it I think of them both - and Kimmie's pug, whom I've never met.  And how far we all have come over the years.  Good thoughts.

Lastly, thank goodness for Panera Bread!  I had a broker's open today at my new listing at 158 Shire Way in Camillus and offered a chance for a $25 gift certificate to Panera Bread - so of course afterwards I had to go get it.  (Jeannine Larose from our office in Skaneateles won it - she doesn't know yet.)  I went to the other opens in Skaneateles - the ranch on Crow Hill and Peter Babbles' listing on Hawthorne Woods - and then ran back to Camillus.  I had earned both a coffee and a pastry for my many times there, and chose a croissant.  I made phone calls and texted and sent e-mails on my new iPhone and never felt like I was sitting too long.  The rain poured down outside, but inside the fire kept us patrons warm.  I can't wait until the new Panera Bread goes in by Staples on Grant Ave in Sennett!   http://www.panerabread.com/