Ah, Suburbia

My thoughts on this Saturday:

- Yard work is fun for about an hour. You start off thinking how liberating it is to work in your own yard, feel the earth between your fingers, listen to your favorite tunes, and tend to your own garden, so to speak. It's a Nature sort of thing. After that allotted time, it just becomes a burden.

- Growing up, I used to think soccer was the most worthless sport; we called it Commie Ball. I was the typical American who foremost required his sports to value eye-hand coordination. Until I lived in Portugal. On our days off, we did not play baseball, basketball, or even football. We played futbol. I was athletic and arrogant and naive enough to think it was easy. It was, until I tried to run and kick at the same time. Watching the two FIFA games today, I remembered why it's the world's most popular game.

- Go ahead, call me Shallow. I had to run to Lowe's today to pick up some home improvement items, one of them being a new propane tank for the grill. I enjoy being That Guy - the guy who walks straight from the parking lot into the store without having to stop and look at the grills wishing and hoping and thinking and praying one were in his back yard. I already got my baby.

My father-in-law begins many of his observations with "Every man oughta... [own a Corvette, go to the Masters, drink scotch, etc]. I'll start a little smaller. I think every man oughta grill.

- As I write, I have a halibut marinating in a homemade concotion of orange juice concentrate, bing cherries, grilled poblano peppers, and whatever spices looked good at the time.

I also have a mango sorbet churning on the back porch and potato salad in the refrigerator. I'll finish it off with a tomato and three-cheese casserole I found in Bon Apetit whose recipe needs some tweaking. I do that with recipes I come across; I cannot follow one exactly how it reads. I always think I can do it better.

I saw a Sonny Rollins quote today that is apropos of my approach to cooking (and life) - "I'm a guy who makes things up as he goes along, so nothing's ever gonna be finished."

I told Melissa today - I may be difficult to live with 90% of the time, but I'm a helluva cook.