If I wanted to live in the Rainforest...

Rainy Day Color Infusions

I would move to the Rainforest. Don't get me wrong, the Rainforest is just great. But I don't currently live in the Rainforest. Or so I thought. Lately, with the daily thunderstorms and hot humid weather, sans le soleil, I am begining to think that I should be looking for wild monkeys in the trees, colorful frogs in my yard, and learn how to use a blow gun. Every day I am covered in a slime of sweat and humidity. I dread the sun's arrival, because, frankly, that just takes it up a notch. Sure, my retinas are leaping with glee, but the rest of me is all, like, DAMN, ENUFF O DAT. Anyone who knows me well, and that is a small group, knows that Julia in heat and humidity is more like Dr. House on a bad day. Without the medical degree.

I am still recovering from the weekend. I was home late from a wedding we catered on Plum Island, all wound up, past midnight. 2 AM rolled around...yup, still oogling the ceiling. 5AM up with the critters. Another coffee-laden stumble around the neighborhood and a well-deserved nap later I was still narcoleptic. I think this is in part because I was dehydrated. When working an event time is crunched up, the heat was a factor (one of the guests kept telling us she was cold, so we had to close the door to the outside, making the kitchen very hot) and stopping to rehydrate is difficult at best. When I get dehydrated, the first thing to go is my brain. And, if you did not know this, the effects of dehydration can be felt up to 4 days later. So, yeah, sipping fluids and rest is the plan. Today's job du jour is dog walking, and I will try to stay juiced up and cool, as the 85 degree, 80 percent humidity and rain continues.

Like I said...rainforest. Perhaps I should don a loin cloth. That would certainly make me a welcomed sight in the corporate suburbs, eh? So Very Keen.



Your Daily Dose of Cool Things:

Calgon Take me Away! Click Here to read more about Green Inn on the River

Your Daily Dose of Wonderful Design:

Click Here to read more ab out Nick Foley's cool lamp design

Your Daily Dose of Inspiring Words:

Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours. Ayn Rand

Your Daily Dose of Wicked-Good Food:

Cool Cuke Soup

I make it a habit to keep the peelings and veggie bits of refuse in a bowl when I am prepping food. I keep a pot of water on the burner and toss in the dregs as the bowl gets full, resulting in a very tasty stock, which I freeze for future use. This past week we did a high tea event, which meant we had lots of cucumbers to peel and watercress to stem and chop. I put all the cuke peels and watercress stems in a pot with the left-over scallion bits and made a very light and delightful stock. We had left-over thinly sliced cukes, too. I took it all home, added some sea salt and chilled it down. It made a wonderful summer soup! I topped mine with a dollop of fat free organic yogurt, but I suspect that sour cream would be oh-so-delicious!