Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Doubt, More on Our Trip, New Laptop!!

Last night we watched Doubt with Meryl Streep and the young actress Amy Adams whom I believe plays Julie in the movie Julie and Julia. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, have wanted to watch it for a while now, but we both found it very slow in the beginning so Matt gave up on it, pity because it ended up being a very good film. Meryl Streep has always been one of my favourites except maybe in Mama Mia (more on that later). Friends assure us that Julie and Julia in which Meryl plays Julia Child, is also brilliant. Now we are at September 13 and I dragged Matt into Morehead City's Wal-Mart store - on the way we called in at friend's to see if they would be in later, they were just off to church but said call about 3 and they would give us dinner - to buy me a new laptop. You have to understand that Matt is basically anti computers, he doesn't use them (except for one game) himself and doesn't see why I need or want to. If anything happens to me he will keep accounts in a book once more etc. etc. However, he didn't know what to buy me for my birthday, he knew my old laptop, which a friend had given me a couple of year's ago, was now defunct (well the mouspad was) which isn't bad after 11 years I guess, so agreed we should purchase a new one which, as he now says, is my birthday and Christmas present for the next 10 years. I don't think so!!! I hadn't planned on spending so much, but they showed me some cheaper ones which didn't take a CD so one would have to buy peripherals, then they showed me a Toshiba Satellite L355 which was around $430 on special; we decided to go for it. It is actually a more powerful machine than my desktop back home. It has a 250 GB Hard Drive which to me, who once used a computer without a hard drive at all, is quite incredible. The very first HD I had was something like 500 megabytes. Of course it has wifi and a DVD player and is loaded with Windows Vista which I guess is already outdated, but it is fine by me. We went back to the cottage and dropped into Food Lion to shop for some more "stuff" and bought a couple of sandwiches. Had them with a beer at the picnic table which was very pleasant although there seems to be more traffic this year than before. I can shut my ears to it, but Matt doesn't seem to be able to do so. For some reason I was very, very tired so decided to nap before going to our friend's and nearly overslept as Matt fell asleep watching some TV. Got to their home and they were so very welcoming it was wonderful. We went out to their screened porch and sat talking and it seemed like eating continuously as well as drinking a beer or two. He drives for Frito Lay so I asked for some plain chips (just what I need) and then they brought out veggies and dip, followed by cheese and crackers, then tiny clams in a sauce which were wonderful, I pigged out. I didn't think at the time, but in the days when Matt used to clam regularly, he would have been fined for the smallness of these clams, I wonder how they got away with it. I just came across something called fingernail clams - seems they are an Asian clam and threatening the clams of North America. These could certainly have been fingernail clams. After all this eating we went in to dinner!!!! We had barbecued salmon with linguine in a clam sauce, broccoli and garlic bread and by now were drinking wine. Finished up with a chocolate cake with 7 candles (bit short) which they lit and sang Happy Birthday to me after which I blew them out. Don't think I remembered to wish. They also had a card and a gift for me, what great friends. Even their pets remembered us and were all over us. On Tuesday we have arranged to go for lunch at a new place called MacDaddy's which was designed and now managed by their daughter. It also includes a 10-pin bowling alley. We invited them to come and have dinner with us on Saturday. Appropriately, here is a recipe for grilled salmon which I found on Mexican and Barbecue Recipes. Grilled Salmon with Lemon and Dill 4 salmon steaks or fillets Serves 4 Marinade 1 large lemon, juiced 1 teaspoon lemon zest 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 teaspoon dried dill 1 clove garlic, minced Directions: Place salmon in a shallow, non-metallic dish. Combine marinade ingredients and mix well; pour over salmon. Cover and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours. Turn salmon over halfway through marinade time. Grill salmon directly over medium coals, basting with marinade, for about 4 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily. Have a great day.

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