Kiss My Grits and making dinner.

August 1, 2012

Today was a completely unproductive day. I wasn't able to use my computer until around 3pm. I tried logging on and using another machine but I couldn't access my data to do much work. So basically another lost day of productivity. First thing this morning I had a meeting with Terri, the branch chief. Shortly thereafter I carefully recorded everything about yesterday and sent that to Terri. So from here out I can hopefully move on and administration can handle things however they see fit. Specifics are not necessary, nor will they be shared here. I will say it has been highly stressful and impacted my productivity for a day and a half. However, hopefully my part in doing anything is over or nearly so.

Tomorrow I plan to hit the ground running and try to get as much done as possible. we are in the final portion of the report writing. I have several specifics I have to look up and find from the data. Also confirming a few numbers that were in previous reports that we have different numbers. Validity. It is like a religious mantra :) I actually really love the office I am in. It is nice to have Ann right next door to ask questions and discuss the report and other projects. I haven't been able to talk with her as much lately because my ankle has been getting worse and I have tried not to walk down the hall to her office as often. So this is ideal.

This day was phenomenally stressful. Ann had brought her car knowing that today would be a difficult day. So for lunch I asked where we could get some "comfort food". I wasn't up to trying new things today. Ann suggested a place called Kiss My Grits Southern Style biscuits and barbeque. This was the sign outside the door. It was very cute.

Here is the indoor and outdoor seating.

This place was a small but homey atmosphere. The staff were very attentive but not annoying. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend this place. The food was EXCELLENT. I started with sweet tea. The tea was brewed not instant. It was sweetened with honey instead of cane sugar. It was very tasty. Served in a mason jar of course! I had 4 glasses/jars full. I was thirsty and I miss sweet iced tea!!!

We all shared a plate of fried green tomatoes. They served a warm pimento cheese sauce on the side. It wasn't like the pimento cheese we have at home, it was a melted cheese with pimentos. It tasted good though after trying it I preferred to eat my fried green tomatoes without any sauce. There were many slices and they were coated with a mixture of flour and cornmeal. This was excellent. Not too salty but nice and flavorful. They were crispy and not mushy. VERY good. I forgot to take a picture until there was only one left. It is on the right and the pimento sauce in the bottom center. The left is honey butter that came with the hushpuppies on the top.

 Ann got the fried catfish po'boy sandwich with slaw and the hushpuppies on the picture above. She seemed to like it.

 Lisa got a lunch special of fried catfish, a yeast roll, collard greens, sweet potato casserole and fried okra. There was also a deviled egg. I tried a bite of the sweet potato casserole. it had butter and cinnamon and a whipped consistency which had them been baked. It was good but I was full already. The fried okra was very good. The first okra of any variety that i actually liked.

 I got breakfast. 2 eggs over medium and country ham. It came with grits and I asked them to add cheese and garlic. The cheese they understood but the garlic stumped them. I told them to just chop some fresh or even add some powdered garlic powder to the grits. They were happy to do so and only charged $1.00 for the extra cheese on this HUGE serving of grits. It also came with what they call a "cat head biscuit" because they are about the size of a cat's head. How can I not love a place that has cat head biscuits. It was good (not my grandmother's) but tasted good. It was a dense heavy biscuit and quite large. It came with a side of strawberry jam and honey butter. I ate some of it with jam and some with country ham. Everything was super good and horrible for me.

After we ate we went back to the office. We had hoped my computer could be moved. Ann had gotten tired of waiting and went down to my old office and just disconnected and moved it herself. She set it all up and reconnected everything in the new office space. By the time it was up and running and I made sure the internet connect worked it was almost time to go. I had been trying to call and answer some questions the contractor working on the Filipino data had but couldn't reach her. So I answered my work e-mails and sent responses to the contractor then was done for the day.

Ann was leaving also since it was almost 4:30 so she dropped me off at home. I had a video chat with Scott to catch up on things at home. After that I went downstairs and cooked dinner for Romi, Tracy and myself. I baked 3" pie shells. I diced and seasoned potatoes then stuck them in the oven to bake. Meanwhile I chopped up veggies (green beans, zucchini, eggplant, onion and fresh garlic) and sauteed them since I needed to get them cooked. I sauteed onion and fresh garlic, thawed organic frozen chopped spinach and put those all in the pie crusts. Add shredded cheddar cheese and 3 eggs each and bake.

This is the sauteed onion, garlic, eggplant, zucchini and green beans. I had a little chopped spinach left so I threw that in also. Added a little cilantro also.

 Diced potatoes thrown in a plastic chopping bag. Add one packet Lipton Onion Soup Mix. Shake. Dump onto an aluminum foil covered baking sheet (the sheets here suck because they are abused horribly so you need to use foil). Ideally spray the foil or use no-stick foil or a coated baking pan sprayed with Pam or a no-stick spray. I didn't use anything and they came off the foil with a little effort just fine. I don't like the extra oiliness. These were very good.

 I didn't eat all my quiche. Added the few leftover potatoes and put it in a baggie. This will reheat nicely for breakfast or lunch tomorrow.

I cut the dragon fruit and we ate those while we waited for everything to finish. It is a texture like a kiwi but with a very mild but delicious flavor. Slightly sweet but not overly sweet.

We all sat and watched the olympics while I cooked and we ate. We had a nice time chatting and watching these incredible athletes. Congrats to Team USA swimmers and all the athletes who participate whether they have won or not! What an amazing experience to be part of the olympics.

That is all for today. What a nice note to end the day on. Now it is time to get to sleep since I didn't hardly sleep last night. Tomorrow will hopefully be a wonderful day.

Malama pono, (Take care)
~Melissa