10-22-08
Today I made my seafood chowder

Marinate 1 lb of bay scallops in the juice of 2 lemons
8 cloves fresh garlic chopped and sauteed in
2 tblsp olive oil

Dice and add:

I giant whole leek
1 fat stalk of fennel
I parsnip
2 whole carrots
corn scraped from one raw ear
4 stalks celery

1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf
handful of fresh basil torn up, maybe 20 leaves
7 strands saffron
salt and pepper

Stir until the vegetables soften and reduce, then add:

1 giant can chopped tomatoes
1 small can double strength Campbell’s beef broth + 1 can water

A handful of bay scallops for flavor

Simmer 45 minutes, then add the rest of the scallops.  It’s ready when they are done, 5-8 minutes, but I add them and cook another 30 minutes so they kind of melt into the stock.

I love scallops. I know that many larger scallops are actually shark or ray, but I don’t care, I like the taste of all.

My sailor friend Mark and I moved up here together from Miami in 1983.  It was always interesting going about together because he was blind (2 years into it after a sailing accident), so I would describe to him everything we would be passing, so he could visualize the scene.  We both had the same odd, twisted sense of humor, so you can imagine how much fun it was with me doing the describing.  We’d often eat in seafood restaurants and would conjecture about what the scallops might actually be made of.  I’d describe the ray I’d see flying out of the kitchen, with little heart and star shapes cut out of its wings.  Get it?  Cookie cutter?  Wings?  har har I crack myself up.

Mark married my 4th husband and I, I have the video of him standing there with the giant Chapman Piloting & Seamanship book upside down in his hands as he begins reading off the Miranda warnings (it was a law office crowd I hung with back then).  Then his assistant whispers in his ear, she takes the Chapmans and hands him a PDR instead, also upside down, and the ceremony begins.  Mark is a hoot.  He married another ACLU attorney some 10 years back, we are still good friends.

I have all my post office stuff almost sorted out.  Lots of new rules and procedures for sorting, and forms to fill out and apparently I’m the only job in all of Melbourne to use Bound Printed Matter.  But it’s by far the cheapest rate for mailing the magazines, and they typically get there within 3 days.  Cheaper than a driver would be.

I have two more days to figure it out if I want the mailing to go smoothly.  I have figured it out step by step and have to run down to the main post office and spend 1-2 hours there to have them check it and tell me it’s right so I can move on to the next step.

First I have to sort out 4 separate jobs, because each weight counts as a separate job:

Stacks of 50 (9lbs) * Stacks of 25 (4.5 lbs) * Stacks of 10 * Stacks of 6 mags each

So the four jobs have to be kept separated by weight.

Then I have to sort by zone and fill out on a form how many to each zone.
Then I have to sort by zip code and fill out on a form how many to each 3 digit zip.

I have to put the stacks into big white postal bags, weighing not more than 30 lbs (although the rules say and the bags are marked 70 lb maximum).  If the intake guy says 30 lbs, even if that’s because he doesn’t want to lift 70 lbs, I am gonna do it his way because he’s doing my job for me.  Meaning I have learned it’s unwise to piss off the waiter that is getting ready to bring my dinner to me…

So that’s like only 4 stacks of 50’s in one bag; 7 stacks of 25 in one bag.
If my math is close, that will be 8 bags of 25s and 21 bags of 50s.
Wow that sounds like a whole lot less work than I thought…

I’m lucky in that all but 3 packages of mags go thru the Jacksonville 320 station, which means after sorting by zone and zip, I now will tumble them all into the same sack together.

I finished last night getting my labels resorted to zip code, and practiced filling out the forms.

And of course I’ve been calling the post office since 6am when they “opened” and can’t get anyone to pick up the phone…

I will go down there again if I can’t get them on the phone, and also ask when is the best time to call and come in and what their exact days and hours are for the mail to be brought to them.  I can always come when it’s not their busy time, since I’m the boss.

That’s really the only part I don’t like, is we have to take the job in to the downtown main post office now.  Before, they always came out to the house and picked up the pallet of mags for only $14.75 and took it in to the post office.