La Quinta, California: Just in case you do not know, our new hometown is pronounced LAH-keentaw. There are many interesting translations from Spanish to English. The actual translation is "the fifth" - but usually the word refers to a second home or villa... maybe named after fancier inns that appeared every fifth day on a long horse/wagon journey in the wild-wild west? No one knows. Just a bit of lore for you (and me) to ponder.
Today nearly seemed like a normal day. A day that would happen if we were not still moving/adjusting to a new home. Dave went for a run. I went for bike ride. Still unsure of this neighborhood, Dave told me I covered over six miles when I told him my route. It was already over 100 degrees when I headed out. I went slow, and there are few hills. Due to fitbit not clocking bicycling miles, I have less than 8000 steps (and no stair flights) today.
Our bar stools were delivered today! Getting down to waiting for the last few items. The cushions will need to be re-covered. I will add this task to my list. We only ordered two, and they are not very imposing. No one will ever sit in them, but they swivel, so short girls can perch without too much difficulty.
We are still having trouble with the wifi, so I will have to make an appointment (again) with Spectrum. I know the probable solution to the problem, and sadly, it requires moving the wall unit of DT's office furniture.
Rat farts.
One more thing: the summer between Lisa graduating from high school and moving to DC to attend The George Washington University, she spent in Paris, studying French at the American University. We went to visit her (of course) and visited The Louvre Museum while we were in Paris. We purchased a print of the Mona Lisa (of course) in the gift shop (the museum will ship it to your house!) and had it framed. It was on the wall of Lisa's bedroom in our Portland house since 1999.
This framed piece (we had it framed in gold to match the frame on the Mona Lisa painting in the Louvre Museum, so it is a bit gaudy), sat alone in the hall of our new house, leaning up against a wall. Nowhere to place this piece. It just didn't seem to go anywhere. I was about to sell it on eBay or NextDoor. Then, DT had a brilliant idea. Yes, the Paris-themed powder room is all black and white and all the hardware is silver... but isn't (the very Italian) Mona Lisa living in Paris? What if you were sitting on the black toilet in our powder room, only to be face-to-face with the Mona Lisa - straight outta Paris? I always thought it would be clever to say "I am going to Paris" instead of saying I am going to the toilet... but DT has now re-named our powder room the Louvre-tory. Dang, that guy is so clever.
The Mona Lisa is now hanging in our very-Parisian powder room.
Dinner tonight was a new recipe, again from The New York Times. (Now that I have my cookbooks in the house, I will be able to cook from them - wait for it.) Chicken-Zucchini Meatballs With Feta sounded like a great idea, and it didn't take that long to put it all together (which I did around 3p). Three zucchini. One zucchini is grated into the ground chicken or turkey, along with grated shallot, panko, spices and herbs - then rolled into meatballs. The other two zucchini are sliced and roasted along with the meatballs. The whole thing is served with a sauce consisting of olive oil, lemon juice, spices, and crumbled feta. It was good. It was way too much food (recipe serves 4) for two people, though we did eat all the roasted zucchini.
We probably didn't need a salad, but... MUST. MAKE. SALAD.
A perfectly ripe tomato with red onion and Kalamata olives, with - I can't stop myself, Judy - another avocado rose.
This avocado rose looks like it came out of bundt pan? I think I rolled it inside-out?
Adding shredded zucchini to the meatballs did make them moist, and I suppose it would be a good way to sneak veggies into the diet of veggie-haters? It was good, but maybe I will not add this recipe to the annual rotation. I'm just a huge fan of poached meatballs. Baking them just dries them out - zucchini or not. Maybe I will try adding shredded zucchini to my beef meatballs the next time I make spaghetti and meatballs? Someone remind me, okay?
Until my next update, I remain, your Parisian correspondent.
DT cracks me up! Louvre-tory.