Purging

Once I start purging, look out!  The dogs are nervous they won't have a bed to sleep in tonight. With that new big armoire that we were gifted with yesterday other stuff has to go.  Is there a limit to weight for trash companies to haul away? I have ten bags of good books for nursing homes.  Some lovely puzzles to go with the books.  The recycle bin is full already.  It's the library that is getting the clean out and reorganization. Andy is shuffling back and forth as he looks with longing as I bag his OSU notes and old paper back texts.  He'll never do it on his own, so I have to be the hammer or we are going to find ourselves labeled hoarders. I've never been called that one and I feel little sentiment when it comes to ephemera that has not been touched in years. At 82 Andy has collected four years of class notes and used books for his classes at OSU and he is signing up again for fall term.  He rarely misses a class and while it is admirable, there are times when I need him to miss a class to help with something. He is the teachers' pet before the class is over and they are always happy to see his participatory presence in their classrooms. He's da man.

Our guests left this morning and I am not cooking today.  We have so much food in the fridge it scares me to look in there.  Tomorrow I am starting on the second exploration of ribs with doctored bottled sauce.  None of them tastes exactly the way I want, so I start adding. 

Matt gets all of his wisdom teeth removed Friday.  It is a big deal as many of you must know.  I hope we get to keep Madeleine during his recovery but then everyone wants to watch that little gem of a girl.  I lure her with Sofia books and have a little library of 12 books that fit her fingers just right.  They are board books so she cannot tear the pages.  She does love her books. 

Old fashion fry-up

Sometimes I feel 'country' and today is one of them.  Andy brought home this very large head of cabbage, not because he likes it, but because it pleases Beth and me.  I am fixing it with pepper bacon, fried potatoes, corn off the cob, and cabbage, of course.  I've sprinkled in this and that and tasted as I went along discovering bottles and jars of seasoning for a dish never to be duplicated because there is no recipe. This picture is the beginning of the fry up.

Today we have company and tonight, hopefully, we can dine outside.  There are many different dishes and one can select whatever appeals. But first it is lunch around 12:30 when company arrives with chicken and noodles, this cabbage dish (which will be seen again when Beth gets home,) or corn chowder...yes, I had to make it again because the batch intended for today is gone, gone, gone.

In just now, we are getting a large piece of antique furniture given to us so I have to scramble to find where to put it.  Everything happens at once.  Glad I cooked early!! Pray for us. lol

Don't judge me

You will never guess what is simmering away in the biggest heaviest pot on my stove; roasted chicken bones and skin along with over a dozen corn cobs sans the corn...oh, and fresh herbs.  When it is finished and I have simmered every last drop of flavor from this concoction, I will have the best stock for any number of delicious dishes.

We are having overnight company and I plan to have three dishes for them to choose from because I fear one of them is picky.  I remember taking her as a teenager to Lazarus' Chintz Room for lunch one day and she ordered soup.  When it arrived she yelled I can't eat this there are weeds in there. Yes, I was pleased with that. 

So they will choose beef stew, chicken and noodles, or corn chowder with bacon and cheese.  I must say the large batch of corn chowder I made a day ago in hopes some would be left for lunch when they arrived, is gone! Success.  I count that as a success, so I am brewing up another and the stock will be from the kettle that is simmering right now.  It will, however, take a strong man to help me handle that big red pot.  No way I can get the debris out of there alone without losing the stock and the use of my arms for three months.  Believe me, I am just getting over a shoulder strain from that same red pot three months ago!  It's a mean situation.  Now I said they could choose but needless to say they will have it all served up in one meal or another until it is gone or until they leave and they might just have to take some with them when they head south east.

Simple salads will be served and hopefully, Nancy brings her orange cake, if not, looks like ice cream with fresh peaches for dessert.
I do have limits at this point in life.

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corn and peach season

They are upon us.  Andy just returned from the outdoor market with a dozen ears of fresh white corn and a large basket of ripe, lovely, delicious peaches...I'm a happy woman today.  I had a pot of potato soup on the stove when he left and I never thought sweet corn would be available but because of all the rain and sun the corn shot out of the earth like it was their last day to grow.  So, Andy shucked a few ears, I cut the corn off the cob and added the kernels to the potato soup (chowder). I am dreaming up other ways to use the remaining ears and how to use up all the peaches before next week.

I have become a Southern Charm junkie (the original one, I don't do the spin offs.) I can't believe the messes that people make with their lives.  My mouth hangs open the entire time until the episode ends. Then I turn it over in my mind as though they were members of the family and I have to fix them.  Well, I now know there is no fixing them.  They are what you see on that show. Like to see it, don't want to live it.

I am back on the John Sandford Prey series.  I finished Twisted Prey and am now on Golden Prey.  Nothing great but he is keeping my interest.

We re in for several days of gentle rain.  That means I will be in the kitchen.  My niece Nancy, and her husband, Danny, will be here Monday and Monday night and they better come hungry. I'll be ready for them.

Nine years on Facebook

Some of you have probably been on Facebook longer than 9 years, but today I had a rainy day of looking through an array of pictures in my life. What a great life I have and the pictures prove it.  I like days like this...now and then.  It is quiet, which I love, and not too hot.  Everything is just right at the moment but then there is the other shoe!

We have electricity thanks to my running up and down three flights of stairs while making contact with the electrician and yelling it's on, it's off, it's on, well... you get the picture.  So far we only missed one connection in the master bath.  There are seven bathrooms in this house (counting the apartment) and they are all small and original.  They are 80 years old.  The toilet tanks carry the 1937 date, at least the ones that used to be there before we got the energy efficient stools. The bathrooms are small because one did not linger in the bathroom in the old days.  You did what you had to do and then went to work.  I changed a lot of things on this property but I could not bring myself to touch the bathrooms other than the stool and the paint or paper. I'll leave it to the next owners and they can debate the size.  For us, it is a working element and we like the old, beautiful tiles, even the pink ones.  This house is 80, like me.  It was built the year I was born and I've always thought of it as mine even before it was mine.

I craved meatloaf today and made one.  I cannot duplicate what I produced today, but it was good.  Nate came home early and asked what smelled so good and we got into the loaf that was hot from the oven and over half of it was gone before I knew it.  There is a piece for Mike and Beth each, but it's done.  I am cooking from the pantries and the freezers and not buying major until I trim down these areas.  I am also cooking small so no leftovers.  I love to cook big, but there is a limit and I have overreached it on most occasions. I did go to Trader Joe's and World Market yesterday. But I did not get anything unusual.

Have a lovely evening.

M iss Me?

The more you have the more that breaks and believe me we have a lot of breakages here at Many Branches.  Today is the first time we have been on line and functioning correctly in several days.  We had a new electrical system put in because we had been living on borrowed time.  Finally,   the system said the hell with it and shut down completely.  It took two men a full day and a half plus me running up and down the stairs for an hour straight to get things up and running and proofed.  HOWEVER, No on line internet or tv came to after all had been proofed.  The electrician said there was electricity to the units so it was not their problem--but it was.  They had unplugged Spectrum, our server. Covered it up in fact, but, a Spectrum guy came and in 10 minutes he saw the problem and fixed it.  We are whole again, but I am, just in case, adding a new book to my Kindle so I'll be ready in case we go dark again.

I have not cooked, as you can imagine, for days.  Right now I have a large skilled of pancetta, onion, peppers and other garden goodies sauteing on the stove.  I have rice pilaf right beside it and I am considering the skillet contents and making two dishes out of it.  Oh, the joy of choice.  OR, I could do just one and get back to my computer, iPad, phone and other communication endeavors. I'm giddy.

Fracture

Today I have been building up things that don't need electricity because tomorrow at 8:00am shut down is on to fix our amps problems. Everyone is gone all afternoon today so I watched Fracture a really good movie with Ryan Gosling and Anthony Hopkins.  If you haven't watched it, you are missing out.  It is on Netflix but I bet it is on other places too.  Andy watches youtube and I expect it is on there as well...and I bet that is not how you write youtube is it? lol

In preparation, I have been filling my Kindle with a book or two.  I am back with John Sanford  in Twisted Prey.  I read many of his books and then got tired of him and now I am back and will catch up on his latest offerings.

You know my kitchen is closed so after church Sunday night we were Lucky to find Lucky's Chinese food in front of us for a delicious meal. One of the dishes was sweet and sour shrimp and I took the sauce to save it for a pork roast for when my kitchen has electricity again. The sauce will be delicious on one of those small long pork roasts either fixed on the grill or in the oven along with roasted potatoes and caramelized carrots.  Here is hoping two men can fix us up in an all-day wiring marathon, we are old and need our air conditioning and I am eager to get in the kitchen. It has been three and a half days and I am ready to cook! The up side is that I am cleaning sections of the kitchen a bit at a time and they are staying that way for now. Sadly, that won't last, but I enjoy the sparkle right now.

Just now a gentle rain has started and that's when I like to open the back kitchen door and cook while the dogs lay in the doorway content to wait for Andy to get home from class. Sigh.  Next time.

Punished for whining

Friday 13th got us good!

The last post I whined about minutia and we were punished...severely.  God decided to give me something to whine about other than bad tv shows and boring new releases in the field of books.

Yesterday was going swimmingly, in more ways than one.  Then suddenly the electricity went out without a warning as it pleases.  The neighbors had electric.  The apartment and pool pump had electric but the main house...nada.  Bad eerie feelings began to crawl up my back and somehow I knew we were in for it and in for it we were!  Called AEP three times one to report it, one to say we had fixed it by flipping the main switch which is hidden outside with no instructions, and one call back to hurry and come hither.  The electric popped on at first switch flip and we were saved.  Not so fast.  The electric went off but not before I recalled AEP to say don't come it's fixed.  THEN it went off and stayed off.  By then Beth was home and the phone search started because AEP says (on the third Friday late call after business hours) it is not their problem.  Mr. Electric came on a Friday evening (so guess the cost of that)  Nothing to compare to the final cost of $8,000.  Yes, those figures are correct.  We had been running on luck with a voltage not up to our needs and the grace period had been going on since 1997 but enough was enough and BAM. We had added one sequin too many. Now it will take two men two days (no electric for us during that time) to install new whatcha ma call its, very expensive whatcha ma call its to put us on a safe path with 400- amps?watt voltage.  Our hero somehow got most things going again except NO KITCHEN service. YEA. Nada.  No cooking, no lights, dark and mysterious. Just the way I like it.  I am free for a week because AEP is involved and they do not move quickly and Mr. Electric is at their mercy as are we. However, that means everything came out of the SubZero and moved to the basement fridge and chest freezer.  Beth and I cleaned it out, she did the running up and down the stairs and we both declared NO shopping for groceries until this food was cooked and eaten; which will probably be sometime next year.  Now since Andy, Beth, and Mike are going to Cincinnati to a birthday party I have to stay home to guard the voltage and to baking soda out the fridge and freezer and float in the pool until I see their sweet faces come home to me again. No, no, not complaining, please, I give up. Don't send me to the poor house.
Thank you for not making it worse. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Maintenance Day

Maintenance day today. No floating in the pool.  It is time to get spruced up for the week end.  I got plenty of sun yesterday so I will give it a rest until tomorrow.  Today Andy is off to get a hair cut and then I am off to get a pedicure.  Then we meet up to go buy a gift card for the birthday boy in Cincinnati. If I am lucky we will go to lunch.

We may stop at Sam's to pick up more ribs to test, a rotisserie chicken for the dogs' breakfast meals, (Yes, they eat well) and some fresh items in produce.

I will try to ignore the pool when we get home, but Andy will take a dip for sure.

I think I am done with Cook's Corner on Wednesdays.  I might miss it, but what I really miss is the local woman's (editor's) touch each Wednesday as she guided us through recipes and tips that were well placed and thoughtfully helpful.  Now it is so professional it is like watching the TV's cooking shows with no common community touch. I don't think I have used a recipe from the paper since Lisa left. Sigh. All good things come to an end.

I have not found a really good book to read in a long time and of course, there is nothing on tv during the summer. Why are they still running the Crosby shows (for many reasons), The Golden Girls, Lavern and Shirley; well, you get the point? On the bright side, there is Netflix. As I read this I think about people with real problems and hang my head in shame.

Sassy sauce

Another glorious day!  I am alone with the dogs and have been floating in the pool for two hours.  Now I am a lazy woman after years of hard work (I started full time teaching at 19 years old) and hard travel. I make no excuse for being retired for thirty years and due to our excellent retirement systems, we can enjoy our senior years.  Thank God for foresight, something that is missing in many people's lives.  They just don't see the big picture.  They just don't see getting old and being able to adjust to the inevitable. It's a total surprise when one day they wake up and are not prepared in any form for what is to come...and come it will.

Yesterday I started the rib rodeo. I am trying ribs in every way I can find to select the very best taste that I can acquire.  Yesterday the ribs were well received, but not lauded.  Today we are having them (boneless) over Trader Joe's rice medley.  I am going to Sam's for the next batch because they are less expensive there and one can really load up to cook up. 

I have to start writing down the recipe as I test the sauces.  Most of the time I can't create the same thing twice because I fly by the seat of my pants and put in what calls me.  It is difficult when people like this but hate that--some even have the audacity to believe people should remember what they don't like. Look.  I am not serving offal on toast points, or floating eyeball island, or lobster waste a la king.  I just make a lot of normal dishes and they eat what they like and skip the rest...or they could just skip the visit. (I must have eaten some of that sassy sauce today.)

This day, 7/7/2018

We must mark this day as the perfect summer day. A cooling breeze, no humidity, blue skies, and sun. After the 90's heat wave, this is simply delightful.  Beth is in New Orleans, however, and I bet she is frying down there.  This is a glorious summer and one to remember.

Everyone has flown the coop today, so Andy and I are rolling with the wind.  Reading, computers, a bit of cooking (he loved his brunch), and a self-satisfied air of peace and contentment.

Have you had any of the fresh dark cherries this year?  I have been putting them in the fridge and they have the most pleasant crunch with the sweetness getting to all parts of the grateful mouth.  I like the Queen Ann cherries too, but the dark ones ummm.  Writing about Ann, I have found the Netflix Anne (with an e) series very disappointing for some reason.  I started watching the second in the series, new today, and I just don't like it.  Oh well.  That's how it goes.

Next Saturday we go to Cincinnati for Andy's brother, Jim's, 70 birthday party. For the first time this summer we will see the Cincy gang.  We expect to be delighted. lol

You might think it too cool for the pool today, but my floating chair is calling my name like the Sirens of Greek Mythology.