SORRY, BETTY

Do you remember our friend, Betty, who wrote to me every day to tell me how much she hated every single thing about me and my stupid little life?

Well, brace yourself, Betty.  Because all I have for you today is drivel.  No pictures of stitching.  No pictures of the lovely autumnal decorations that Aunt Chrissy has strewn about my house.  No funny photos of Little Lord Fauntleroy doing whatever it is that makes Little Lord Fauntleroy such an...interesting...companion to one lonely old spinster.

Yes, it's true.  I have been eating my fair share of bruschetta and pudding these last few days, but at least I have a good excuse for it.  I've re-watched Julie and Julia about a dozen times, and one of the opening cooking scenes is Julie making bruschetta for her husband.  You know the one I'm talking about....she fries the thick-cut bread in olive oil and then mixes up some gorgeous heirloom tomatoes and basil.

What can I say?  That sounded pretty good to me, so I did what any normal person would do.  I went to the grocery store, bought about eight dozen loaves of fancypants bread, a truckload of heirloom tomatoes, a small bush of basil, and went to town.  Last night I added crumbled feta just because I could.  Here's the way I perfected Bruschetta a 'la Spinster:

Thickly sliced crusty bread (mine was sliced to precisely 1 1/2 inches)
Good olive oil
Heirloom tomatoes
Fresh Basil
Balsamic vinegar
Feta or Blue Cheese crumbles
Kosher Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Garlic cloves (you need a few really big ones peeled to rub on the bread)

Pre-heat a toaster oven to broil.  Brush bread with olive oil, add a little salt and pepper, and put it in to toast while you're dicing and mixing the topping.  Chop the tomatoes and basil, drizzle on a little balsamic and olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.  Add cheese, if you're so inclined.  Flip the bread over to get the other side golden brown, and when it is, take it out and rub it vigorously with the garlic clove.  Top with the tomato mixture, pour yourself a big glass of red wine (or, in my case Raspberry Ice Crystal Light) and enjoy!

Now as for the pudding....I ate that because I wanted something a little sweet and I had two boxes of sugar free/fat free chocolate fudge instant pudding mix in the pantry and I needed to use up the vat of skim milk that I bought because I swore I was going to drink more skim milk.   (I'm not much of a milk drinker, as it turns out, so any time I can figure out a way to sneak it into something, I'm pretty happy.)

So there you have it.  That's the sum total of the last two months of my life.  I have not stitched or even thought about stitching in so long that it's making my skin itch, but I have promised myself a studio day very very soon to remedy that.

Stewey, as you know, is perfectly fine and is getting PLENTY of evening games of Pumpkin(!) in before the snow flies, and Aunt Chrissy and Bosco are making sure that we behave ourselves and don't do anything too terribly stupid.

What's new with you?