Tree Trimming

Apparently it takes a village. I was pleasantly surprised that they didn't use chain saws at all, except to remove two very large branches from one tree which we don't really expect to come back.The only time we heard them was when they fed the limbs into the chipper. They took most, though not all,  of the brown branches and leaves off the oaks which frame our view over the neighbor's  cleared lot.* It also revealed the burned trees on her property so I think we'll be looking at brown leaves for some time to come. That's our fence down in the bottom of the swale so anything on the other side of it is on Dorie's property. She's not planning to rebuild, so this may be our view for awhile. 

One evening when I was staying in Bali with friends who live there, we were lounging around on their lanai  one warm evening (much like this evening, only a bit more humid) and trying to decide what to do about dinner. Nobody felt like cooking, or had the energy to walk into a restaurant in town. As we were having a rather indolent conversation about what we should so, Jean said, "Well we can either go out to eat, or we can have peanuts and potatoes...." We opted for the latter and actually managed to throw together quite a satisfying meal. Now when John and I find ourselves in the same position (which seems to be quite often these days) we often decide to have 'peanuts and potatoes', another way of saying we'll fend for ourseves, peering into the fridge, picking through the pantry and making a meal out of whatever we find. There is no prep, aside from maybe heating something up. We often end up eating totally different things. I might have leftover chicken fried rice, some lox and cream cheese on Triscuits and the last of a jar of pickles. John might use up last night's  pasta bolognese, some leftover chili and the last of the roasted broccoli. 

It turns out that everybody does this from time to time, but everybody seems to have a different name for it. Some friends who live in Oregon call it a 'goof-off dinner', I've also heard it called scrounging, scavenging or foraging. My mother referred to it as 'eating promiscuously'. 

We do usually sit together and eat, sometimes even at the table, with silverware and a glass of wine. I am about to do the next best thing, which is to make a some kind of a barely cooked vegetable pasta sauce using the half and half I bought by accident because the carton is only a  half shade lighter blue than the 2% milk I meant to buy, some left over fettuccine and maybe an egg or a bed of arugula.

I'm curious....when you don't feel like cooking or going out to obtain food, what do you do. And what do you call it? I'm sure everybody has a story.

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