i made an attempt at making a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. despite the simplicity of the recipe, i've never made one before and went online searching for a tutorial. i sort of followed this recipe. i buttered the split top whole wheat by first melting the butter in the pan and then using the bread to soak up the butter (the butter was not soft enough that i could spread it on the bread any other way). i put down a layer of swiss cheese followed by two slices of krakow ham. i spread some mayonnaise on the other slice of buttered bread. i then grilled the sandwich until both sides were crispy brown. it tasted surprisingly good, although the swiss cheese didn't particularly melt (it was soft however).
i met my mother at the porter square michael's to get some more yarn. they had the red velvet caron cakes yarn for my godmother's project, but they didn't have jellyroll color my mother wanted (royal icing was a close match but not identical). after we finished buying i biked back home.
i had some leftover smoked ham in the fridge i wanted to get rid of. suspicious of their safety (they felt a little tacky), i grilled them in the pan before eating them mixed with some sichuan sauerkraut. i also had half a dozen cream puffs and half a carton of old strawberries.
paula got in touch with me again, invited me to the dinner party after the wedding. i sort of just assumed there would be some kind of dinner event, but realizing it now, i wasn't sure if i wanted to go. for one thing, i wouldn't know anyone there except for paula, whom i only casually know. if karen doesn't go to it as well, i won't know anyone.
i went to the community garden to water my plants. somebody (most likely the gardener next to mine) had planted a shovel in my plot, as well as a small gardening trowel. the construction on the new playground renovation is currently undergoing, which meant the formerly peaceful community garden is now a loud and profane (i overheard a few construction guys swearing at each other) construction site. i noticed a lot more people have planted tomatoes. while their store-bought transplants look healthy and thick-stemmed, my indoor-raised transplants all look thin and sickly, barely alive. i'll have to reconsider my indoor growing strategy for next season, maybe more lights. there was a woman there hopping from plot to plot. at first i thought maybe she was stealing plants, because i also saw her digging in the DMZ, but she didn't look like the type of person who would steal. maybe she was putting in her 2 hour of communal garden work time.
in the evening i began making my chicken caesar salad. i bought 3 large chicken breasts which i split into 6 pieces. grilling them on the foreman (with two fans operating to blow the smoke out the window) took an hour. the secet is thin cutlets, which need to be pounded flat as possible. there were a few thick cutlet pieces that took an incredibly long time to finish cooking. when karen finally came home after 9pm, i was sitting in front of the tv with a huge bowl of salad. i don't often eat salads, but occasionally my body gets a craving for something healthier. but when i do go salads, i make it a mansize salad and i add some much unhealthy ingredients (store-bought dressing, croutons, parmesan cheese) that i wonder if i negated any health benefits.