jan milliman

Perfecting our pizza crust and playing with paper.

I met my mother for a lovely lunch at the Highland Diner this past weekend. I used to live right around the corner from this Rochester landmark and spent many an evening there. The menu has changed quite a bit since those days, and I think the breakfast offerings are some of the best in the area. Mom and I both enjoyed the lobster eggs benedict — two poached eggs on English muffin halves with lobster, bacon, and hollandaise sauce with sides of fresh fruit and potatoes. The portions were so big I made two meals out of mine!

After lunch, we took a quick jaunt to Marianne’s Consignments. Marianne is a peach of a lady and her shop is always welcoming. I like meeting the other customers as much as I like the great bargains and cool vintage finds.

I once eavesdropped as Marianne and a spunky senior citizen discussed the virtues of cashmere. “Well, I’m off to Montreal for an anarchist book fair!” my fellow shopper declared as she left the shop.

Saturday night, the Mister and I headed out to the Club at Water Street to see Father John Misty. I knew we were in for an interesting ride when I saw the band passing around a bottle of Knob Creek as the show began.

Lead singer Josh Tillman was all lanky, swiveling hips and sweet twisted lyrics, leaving many a gal in the audience weak in the knees. The brazen flirting from the crowd was over the top even for a rock and roll front man“You can finger pick me!” one gal called out. But Tillman was quick to notice that his requests for a handkerchief to daub at the stitches on his recently injured nose brought outerwear versus the undergarments thrown at rock gods in days of yore.

I had expected more of a reverent, quiet show based on what little I had heard of the band’s recent album, but these guys really rocked the house. Definitely worth a look if they make their way back through the region.

I rounded out the weekend by spending the day making Sunday Gravy from “The Sopranos Family Cookbook.” It took most of the afternoon, but it was worth the effort! We have enough home made sauce for several meals, along with some delicious stewed meats and I think I have a new go-to meatball recipe, as well. Plus, the Mister used the sauce and his newly-acquired bread maing skills to make the lovely pizza shown above.

I did fit in a little time to work on my paper head, too. I’ve been doing a little bit just about every day. It’s been fun to see him take shape. Next up I’ll figure out something fun to do with the Gilda Radner paperdolls my mom gave me for my birthday.

Picture credits go to the Mister this post, except for the head shot.