Happy Debauchery Day

Today and yesterday were opposites. Friday was a good day. Saturday- bad day. Friday I had the day off of work, so I got to sleep in a little then read for a couple hours. Then I spent the rest of the day cleaning house and grocery shopping in preparation for company. We had a few friends from church over for dinner. I know it's sad, but this was only the second time we had people over for dinner since we've been here (it's been a year and a half) so it was a big deal to us. I was quite proud of my beautiful spread on the table. I should have taken a picture. Oh well.
Anyway, Lindsey and Jason brought a scrumptious salad, which I named candy salad because it had spinach, candied pecans, craisins, feta cheese, and raspberry dressing. It's the best way to eat spinach because you can't even taste it! So for the main course I made some creamy herbed pasta with chicken, with some bread to go along, and then for dessert, key-lime pie. Thankfully the key-lime pie turned out and was delicious. You would think I would know by now from making the same mistake numerous times and from working in a kitchen to read the entire recipe through before you decide to make it. Alas, I had made it before so I just remembered it being very simple. So I get home from the store at 5 o'clock (dinner is at 6:30) and I see that the pie has to cool for 1 hour, and then chill for 3-6 hours! Oh no what was I going to do- make them stay until 11 o'clock to eat dessert? Well I had already completed the filling by the time I read this so there was no turning back. I just let it cool in the fridge and chill in the freezer for a couple hours and it turned out fine. Whew! Maybe I'll learn my lesson now.. but probably not. Most of the time I am more careful at work because I have screwed up enough times to know not to be stupid about stuff.
So the dinner was good, everyone liked it, and we had a good time. After everyone left I stayed up and read for awhile and finished the book I had started that day. I stayed up late because I knew I could sleep in since I didn't have to work until noon on Saturday.

Fast-forward to this morning- I am warm and comfy in bed and am in happy place called sage's sleep land, it is 6:30 and the phone rings. It's Louis, my old mannager from Nadoz- one of the shift leaders couldn't come in and he can't cover for him, so he desperately needs me to come and work until noon. Of course that is the last thing in the world I want to do, especially because it is Saturday, and Nadoz cafe on Saturday morning is well.. hell. We have one breakfast cook, two skillets and twenty omelet orders all at the same time. Ugh! But of course I can't say no because otherwise I'll feel bad if I do. I am a people-pleaser push-over.

So I crawl out my happy place and go, preparing to work a twelve hour shift, since as soon as I am done at Nadoz I have to go in the kitchen and work in Pastry. It's a typical saturday morning, except the rush starts right at 8 am instead of 10, even though it is snowing pretty hard outside (which I thought would slow people down). But that's because it is Mardi Gras today. Almost everyone in St. Louis is catholic, so Mardi Gras is a huge deal. There is a big parade (we get to see one of the floats because our neighbor has his "crew" over to his house to put together a float and party after the parade) and everything, and people start partying as soon as they wake up. Nadoz is right across from SLU and is in an apartment building filled with students, so all day college kids were coming in drunk. It's a pretty sad sight. Our house is only a mile from Soulard, which is where the big parade is, so Jonathan got to watch all the wasted people walking up and down our street. Even the owner of my work came in with his stupid mardi gras hat on and i am pretty sure he had been drinking.. it was only like 11 am. So that's why my title is Happy Debauchery day because that's all Mardi Gras really is. You probably already knew that, but last year was the first time I even really knew what Mardi Gras was all about, since it's not really a big thing in Idaho.

Anyway so by the time I got through frantically cooking breakfast at Nadoz and prepping for lunch, I was already worn out and had to work another eight hours. Thankfully it went fast and we got done early. So now I am home and am grumpy and tired, and poor Jonathan has to put up with me. He's had a hard day too though, because he is helping his professor edit a book, which has been a huge nightmare, since he has to make all these papers with different formats into one format. Jonathan isn't a computer expert to say the least, so it is slow going and his professor is getting impatient.

Well.. i am off.. i have no pictures to post.. so maybe i'll draw you one..