Here and there...

In the social obligations department, Galina "voluntereered" me to attend what amounts to a Mardi Gras evening tonight with all of our Russian friends.

"Wait!" you say. "Aren't you a little late for Mardi Gras?"

Okay. Call it Carnival or Shrovetide, or what have you, but according to the Russian Orthodox calendar, this coming Wednesday is Ash Wednesday. I just call the runup to that day "Mardi Gras" out of habit.

Galina is, of course, still in New York, so I guess I'll have to represent the both of us. (It's a dirty job <grin>, but someone's got to do it.)

* * *It may be strange for a resident of Texas to say this, but I first ran into Frank's Red Hot (Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce) in the dining hall at Area 95 in Baikonur,Kazakhstan. Used in moderation, this condiment is—in my opinion—superior to, say, Tabasco™ sauce, because it adds heat without trying to permanently disable your taste buds.

As it turns out, I only just noticed that French's (which owns the brand) has a tag line printed on each bottle of Frank's, which reads

I put that on everything^®

Saints preserve us!

In my humble opinion, anyone who puts anything on everything he or she eats is almost certainly suffering from some kind of eating disorder, be that "something" Frank's hot sauce or common table salt.

That said, I noticed—during the campaigns I supported in Kazakhstan—that some people pretty much did put Frank's on just about everything that went down their gullet. Hmmm.

* * *This coming week offers the possibility of "a whole lotta stress going on."

The translation "plate" is still full, and it threatens to become fuller.

My third (and last, as far as I can tell) leukapheresis and subsequent infusion are scheduled for this coming week.

Assuming I survive the voting during this week's "Friends and Rivals" version of therealljidol, I have no idea where I'll find the time to write the next installment of my story. I fear that if I don't put it in my schedule, it'll never get done.

At any rate, I went to sleep late last night (at almost midnight) and rose at my usual 4:45 am, which means I got all of up to (but not quite) four hours of shuteye (since we lost an hour to "daylight savings").

I need to take a nap, I think.

But not until I've made some eggplant "caviar" (a third batch, prepared using yet more eggplants I've gathered from the garden). According to Galina, I'm not supposed to bring anything but myself to this evening's Mardi Gras gathering, but I'm not the kind of person who does that kind of thing. I will show up with a covered plate, just like everyone else, and I intend to surprise people with my cooking, tonight.

But I will have to take a nap between now and then, somewhere.

Cheers...