A Conversation with Elizabeth
1999
State Holiday

Note: There is a two-week gap in emails at this point. I don’t know if no emails were sent or if they were not saved. It picks up again the day after Valentines Day which I’m sure was not much fun for me with Julie not living with me. I probably sent her a dozen roses.

From:          Elizabeth 
To:            LMixson@PEC.com
Sent:          Monday, February 15, 1999 9:43 AM
Subject:       State Holiday
 
I think I was the only person going to work from out of my apt. complex this morning.  It is a state holiday and most places follow a long.  I could have used a day at home.  It just feels that I need one more day in the weekend.  If I study most of the time, then I need an R & R day, so this morning I really felt like lounging in bed.  Otherwise, I don't mind working a state holiday, as the traffic is so light, and the resident program is state affiliated, so those students aren't much in evidence in the library either.  If you get a chance, I really recommend seeing Life is Beautiful.  It is a foreign film, but is one of those which is so good that after a while you're not even aware of the subtitles.  My experience with foreign films on the VCR is that they don't come across well on the small screen.  It was an absolutely incredible movie.  That was my one treat for the weekend, plus I watched the X-files, which I thought was sort of oh-wellish.  I felt as if there has been so much buildup over the years for this conspiracy and then it sort of fizzles, or appears to, but I presume it may come roaring back.  The writers, however, may be preparing for the termination of the show by having to wrap up everything, or transfer it to movie format. 
 
Because the weather turned very, very cold, 25ish, and I knew it would, I thawed out my Christmas turkey during the week and cooked it on Saturday.  I did something rather different though.  At first I had planned to just roast it whole, but I didn't want to deal with an almost whole left over turkey.  So what I did was carve it up.  That worked extremely well.  I boned and rolled the breast into a roast, with herbs stuffed inside.  I stuck the legs (which I don't like too much and which are tough) into the crock pot with onions for a sort of stew.  I took the two thigh pieces and baked those with garlic and lemon, etc.  I roasted the wings sort of crisp to nibble on. Then I took all the odds and ends of pieces and boiled those right away for soup and broth.  The soup turned out excellent.  Basically all I added was a garbanzo beans and tomatoes, plus about a jar of picante sauce, which I have discovered is the secret to making wonderful soups.  All in all I was pleased with the result.  In fact, I may never roast a whole turkey again.  I liked the fact that I could make the soup at the same time, or virtually, without waiting for the leftovers, although I did let the broth cool overnight before making it, so I could remove the "fat" from the broth. 
 
A friend met me at the movies and I took her a jar of the soup.  So other than my kitchen adventures, going to see Life is Beautiful, and the X-files, basically what I did was study.  Peripherally I realized it was Valentine's Day, but there aren't any love interests in my life right now.  At one point I wondered how your's was going.  I think I thought about you when I was doing the turkey because once you fixed a dish called "deviled turkey legs" and it was quite good.  Elizabeth

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