And now onto our regularly scheduled program......

 

The Festival is done!  I have been enjoying the ability to schedule my own day's events.  

It was a great event, and I believe we experienced a record breaking turn out.  We sold out of many of our pastries, including the tsoureki (sweet bread).  The items we have left over will be given to our GOYA chapter for a fundraiser they have this coming Sunday.  We made way too much baklava cheesecake, and not enough kourabiedes.  Why do the popular ones have to be the ones that are so darn messy?  There's no getting away from baking those without powdered sugar on your clothes and shoes.  I think we also had chocolate dipped paximadia left over too, which is surprising.   

 

 

This is the scene before the official opening....which doesn't include the variety packs, or the two refrigerators packed with the cheesecake.  

I also had greeting and single baklava sales duty.  Wow, it was really busy on Sunday, when supplies of everything else were running low.  It is a bit exhausting.  

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Not sure if it was stress or allergies, but I have had these ugly red splotches on my neck and face.  The dermatologist has theories on what could be causing them, so I had more biopsies this past Monday.  They are tiny punch biopsies, but you should have seen the dressings I walked out with.  Ugh.  In the meantime he gave me an rx for a cream to put on twice a day until they get the results from the lab.    Luckily they disappear if I wear makeup, so I don't look like a plague victim, haha.
 

Of course, we have all the International Balloon Fiesta traffic, and beautiful sights like the splash and dash.  From what I gather, it is not easy to do!  This is not my photo, but it is taken here in Albuquerque.  We are all grateful for the rains we had weeks ahead of the event, as the Rio Grande is not so grand when it's dry, and it has been dry for months.  

 

 

I tried my hand at making Japanese milk bread (named so for the obvious ingredient, haha).  It is, well, different.  You take a small amount of flour, water and milk and put it over a low flame, stirring until it is thickened, and once cooled you add it to the rest of the dough.  It looks like 4 small loaves squished together into a loaf pan, and that is exactly what you do.  Not sure if it's a traditional process, or if it contributes to the structure of the dough, but it's yummy.  Soft on the inside with a thin crispy crust.  I will try again, but this time I'll be more mindful of getting the mini loaves closer to the same size....not that it makes any difference in the taste!  

 

****In today's mail, was a wonderful letter informing me that our current Medicare Advantage plan will end as of December 31st.  Our immediate reaction was panic, but after a few hours of discussion with them, and other Advantage plans, we felt a little better.  I won't be able to see the primary care that has been seeing me for years, but truthfully I was beginning to feel less thrilled in the past couple of years.  The main problem is medications.  Because I just recently refilled the most important ones, I won't be able to refill them toward the end of December.  So, right after my new plan (which I haven't chosen as of yet) goes into effect, I will be scrambling to find a new primary care to have these prescriptions refilled.  I'm contacting my physician to see if there is anything that can be done, but as far as I understand it, the insurance won't refill a prescription if they determine you have at least a week's worth.  And as the stress wears off and my brain starts working again, I think of my hematologist and a couple of other doc's I see occasionally.  The thought of changing all of those physicians makes my skin crawl.  

 

Isn't getting older so thrilling?  I asked the representative from our current plan why they decided to terminate their plans ~ because it isn't just our plan but all their plans.  And of course, it's money.  Not surprising.  

 

Here's hoping I can fall asleep tonight!!

 

Love, 365