Pork fried rice

So today the menu is simple because there is a lot going on at Many Branches.  A couple of days ago we had to take all the food out of the fridge and freezer (from the kitchen) to ice it down due to electricity outage. I left out a really big pork butt roast which I used the next day to roast low and slow.  Well, we are still using it and today it is in the form of fried rice.  I am making a lot of it because I think we will have a lot going on here today.  One of our readers was kind enough to tell me about her whole house generator and now Mike is on the trail to find a good provider for this endeavor. I am not usually excited about large expenditures for things like new driveways, point tucking the chimneys, stairlifts, and generators.  But I am excited about this because I go a little nuts when there is no electricity and have discovered it may be my favorite thing after all is said and done.

I am in need of Trader Joe's, too, but I am hesitant about going out.  We still don't know the damage that the gathering of masses of people in the last two weeks may have caused.

Lemon drizzle cake sounds like a Saturday to me.  I have tried for years to copy the recipe for Starbucks' lemon slices.  That cake was so silky and delicious and I have not had it for years, but I do have about twenty lemon cake/bread recipes that I have tried while looking for the right one.  I may just pick one and go for it if I can get to Trader Joe's for lemons. Sigh.

modern era

The storm caused the electricity to go off around dinner time last night.  Today around 11:00 we started icing down all the food from one fridge and freezer.  The electric came back on and we started putting things back and then it went off again.  It is around noon now and we are leaving it for a few hours just in case it goes off again.  Why don't they bury the wires?  It's way past time to catch up in this neighborhood.  These are nice, really nice houses, and every time the wind blows out goes the electricity.  We are getting estimates for an all house generator because after thirty-some years I am tired of this.  I was doing David's wedding twenty three years ago for 250 people and the electricity went off while the caterers were heating the food. I should have learned my lesson then.

I am doing all seafood tonight. I hope it does not go off again, but if it does, the seafood will be eaten by then.

This is hell week, so the electricity went off which drives me crazy, but my Kindle died at the same time with a really good read in the waiting. Now if I buy another Kindle from 
Amazon, can they transfer all of my books from old Kindle to new?

I hope your week is going better than mine.  Of course, I know it could be worse. So I will shut up.

ribs and tots

I think I have told you about Sam's delicious ribs.  They are all done except for the last-minute heating and the separation of the ribs. Today I coupled them with mini tater tots with Hidden Valley spicy seasoning mix.  Corn for a side.  You know it is hot, but the AC is really showing off today and it is cool and rib ready. I thought we might have company, but I think everyone is staying inside.  Andy has been in the pool which is a perfect temperature.  We have a pool heater but we never use it.  I figure if you want warm water, take a shower.  The pool is to cool.

I have decided not to watch the news for several days.  I get so mad and sad and I don't want to spend my life watching turmoil unfold.

Book: Secret of the Chateau

Tonight Escape to the Chateau is on, unless the programmer goes amok and I do love that show.  I ordered a new fiction best seller today for my Kindle about three couples going together to buy a chateau in southern France...and then my Kindle took a rest and refuses to work...like some people. I am not at all technical and must rely on the kindness of others, but they are all too busy and WORKING.  They have not missed a beat and in that respect it is the same every year, eight months work, four months off and in Nate's case, that's four months travel.  I don't know how that will work this year, however.  He might have to stay in America.

Time to slice the ribs and get things set up.  Have a lovely eveening.

Hearts of Artisan Tanimura lettuce

I have a lovely pasta casserole with Bob Evans zesty sausage in the oven.  Also a really big delicious salad with deviled eggs.  Tanimura artisan lettuces are wonderful.  All the artisan lettuces are hearts of lettuce only standing in a big plastic container and you just pull one out and make a delicious salad with no riff-raff to throw away...meaning outer leaves that are wilted.  They are sturdy little soldiers and they hold up well to nice thick homemade dressings. (That lettuce is at Marc's in Columbus.)

Yesterday the pool was in full use.  Matt, Stacy, and their girls came over for dinner and a swim.  I think it is going to be a habit because the weather has decided to be summer full blast.  Tomorrow it is to be 92 degrees.  They are also coming for Father's Day.  I thought about having a big get-together for Father's Day and why not, we have behaved ourselves and followed directions staying home for several months while people are running willy-nilly in the streets, looting and acting crazy while yelling to defund police.  I know who they should defund, I can tell you that!  And, it is NOT the police.  Alyssa's new husband is a first responder firefighter in New Orleans.  Can you imagine what would happen there if the police were defunded in that city?

Downtown Abbey played all week-end, all 45 seasons, and it was so nice to watch on WOSU public television. I loved that series. Television in general has had no season at all and now it is summer and they never have a summer season except for re-runs.

I have run out of good reads, so I will have to get to that pretty quick.  I tried JoJo Moyer's Horse Dancer, but it is not for me.

Well everyone is driving in, so off I go.  Have a good evening.

Mop and Glo

Andy and I did some running around today.  I could not find my Mop and Glo yesterday and panicked.  For some reason, Marc's is the only place to find it.  They show it on Amazon and take the order and then on the day of delivery they send a message 'undeliverable' Then panic sets in because I love this product, but Beth does not.  I keep thinking she is hiding it from me, but that is plain silly. lol. Monica was here to do the floors yesterday and we managed to find two nearly empty bottles in order to do a couple of the floors, but we are in the mode to do all the hardwood floors.  Anyway, Marc's did not let me down so we bought six, again. Now we will soon be sparkle plenty. I had only been to Marc's one other time for Mop and Glo but found they have some really hard to find items like Hydrogen Peroxide, Clorox and yards of paper products like towels and t. paper. They had Bob Evans zesty sausage which Kroger has been out of for weeks, so I got three of those.  Then on we went to Carfagna's where Andy let me out to shop quickly and he went to buy me a Tim Horton's dark iced cap.  I zipped through that Italian grocery store even though I longed to meander around like I used to in order to make sure I did not miss a meat buy.  Can you imagine this...a prime rib roast cost $16.00 per pound!!!!! I guess I won't be serving that for awhile. (It was fifteen something, but you know it really means sixteen dollars a pound.) The world has gone crazy and I am still cursing the riots If you are able to amass then go back to work and behave yourselves.

Have a great day. The hardest thing is to choose from the bounty to prepare for dinner for our hard working family.

So this is what the summer is going to look like...enough already!

Somehow, today, I saw an episode of Martha Stewart's new baking show held on the grounds of her estate. Sound familiar?  It is a knock off version of The Great British Baking Show and it has some kinks. The contestants are supposedly sleeping in tents and cooking in the heat of the wide open spaces with rain as a special ingredient.  They have not set up in a large white tent that which saves the British one step in the agonizing baking process. It was painful to watch, but I may watch it tonight to make sure I am being fair.  Martha did allow one handsome guy to come into her kitchen so that she could show him a thing or two that might help him in the contest. (It did not do him much good, but he is safe for the next show. (He may not be safe from Martha, however.)

Tonight we are having shepherd's pie.  I have not fixed it in years. When I asked Nate and Andy which of the topping they would like, mashed potatoes or cornbread they said both, so, their wish is my command today.

I am so mad at the riots and people behaving badly and the policeman who ignited it all (they were just waiting for good weather) and he provided the match. I see no point in looting and burning at all.  I think we have been through enough in the last five months and my nerves are shot!

Martha's show: Food network TV tonight, channel 50 (here) 9:00.

Well, I saw the 9:00 show last night and I have to say it is a poor cousin of the British Baking Show.  Put up a tent for heavens sakes and don't make them cook in the rain.  If you are going to copy a show do it better. So, I guess I missed the two weeks this group was on and last night one of the guys won $25,000.  That prize is better than a cake stand and a bouquet of flowers which is what the British winner gets after weeks and weeks of pressure. The set up looks cheap and forced.  I am surprised. Martha's estate, however, looked great.

What's going on...

There is, in a crockpot, a lovely rolled pork shoulder in a luscious bed of fresh herbs, green onions, carrots, peppers, and cola.  It's been sprinkled with Hidden Valley's spicy seasoning mix all over it and it is ready to get to work in this wonderful concoction. It has many hours in this bed and the smell fills the house with a welcome home aspect.

I am writing a mean post about tight people which will take some time to do because I have experienced many in my 82 years on this earth.  You might not want to read it because it is snarky but honest. I am not naming names and these are people you will probably never meet (one can only hope) but, I will pre-warn you so you do not read it if you don't want to experience snarkiness. Tightness is my BIGGEST pet peeve and coming from a mother who was the most generous woman on the earth, I can tell the difference. (Note: I am not doing this after all. It is too mean.)

Well, have you been watching the Real Housewives of New York? (I think this franchise has spurred me into writing about  people behaving badly.)  I was truly stunned last night watching these 'ladies' perform. My jaw was dropped from the time they got into the limo until the end because, honestly, I have never seen anything like it in my life. I am sorry to admit that I watch three of the Housewives series: New York, New Jersey, and Beverly Hills. I do not enjoy the others at all. You see, this is what happens when there are few good shows on television.  I do not watch during the day but I do enjoy my nest upstairs with the television during the evening. I watch a lot of WOSU public television but it can't cover all my needs.  I am hoping for another set of episodes of Escape to the Chateau. Writing about that: I joined a group on Facebook about the Chateau with Dick and Angela and was surprised by the comments of many people.  It is as though, in America, we drive these performers to the top of the ladder and then enjoy easing the ladder away from them till they drop.  This is another form of meanness not reserved for stars but for celebrities and regular people too.

I finished the new book from the author of the Hunger Games.  I liked it very much and can see we are going to be hearing more from the Hunger Games series. (This book is about what happened before the Hunger Game series...leading up to the trilogy.) So, I am off to find my next book, to peek at the pork, and to get another cup of coffee.  Life is good.

Note:  
TV shows you might also like:
Doc. Martin
Last Tango in Halifax
I know you all loved Downtown Abbey  (waaaa I want more)
I am reading OUTSIDE, the first in a trilogy by Boland Shalini.

Books, food, plants,and TV

 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (A Hunger Games Novel) is the book I am reading now.  It is really good and just out. I have been reading like crazy, I guess because of staying put with lots of time, peace and quiet, and a love of books.

My fridge and freezers are full again, so it is an adventure looking in those units and figuring out what to make for the day.  I do many one-pot meals with this gang coming and going,  We have begun sitting outside talking about our day, once everyone is home, now that the weather has decided it is summer time at long last.

I have discovered there are six seasons of Escape to the Chateau and I have been dogging Dailymotion trying to catch up.  Not only do Dick and Angel do the six series, but I discovered many British people are buying up the 40,000 cheap chateaus in France and are fixing them up and starting businesses.  The chateaus are cheap, but the fix up costs are really out there and most of them need new roofs at about 150,000 euros each. It is my favorite show and in Columbus it is on at 7:00 channel 7 WOSU public television on Tuesday nights.

We are nearly all planted up.  Just a few more bigger pots for under the pergola for spots of color. It's looking pretty. Watering started in earnest today since it was nearly 90 degrees. The peonies are beginning to bloom and my Mother's Day one turns out to be red with a yellow center.  So healthy and beautiful.  The all yellow ones are gearing up for a show in the next few days.  Isn't summer wonderful?

All is well on the Lechler front.

I figure I have been away from home only once a month for the five months of staying put. Today is actually the fifth time and the most exciting.  I am going to the beauty parlor, Yes.  Andy has been to the barber and looks quite nice and I hope to have a pleasant outing and will find it interesting to sit in a chair in a mask for two hours while someone, new to me, tries to make me presentable once again. It can't be any worse than it is now.

The rain has stopped and today it is beautiful.  The flowers are jumping out of the pots, they do love this weather.

Oh, I didn't tell the truth. I actually saw a doctor yesterday,  a real live one.  I don't know where they have been hiding, but I made an appointment for a shot for my foot (two other times and the appointments were canceled) But yesterday I actually saw a real life in the flesh doctor.  I could not sit down upon entering the building, she took my information and temperature while I stood and would not accept my co-pay.  They are waving the fee evidently and do not want to be contaminated by money. The doctor was great, as usual and now I am good to go.

All is well on the Lechler front.

vegetable gratin

Straight from the oven, we found this to be delicious, and, it used up all the things in the fridge that needed using to get it ready for the next Kroger pick up that Andy uses several times a week.  He loves that service.

It is a moody day here, actually, two days of moods because it is so rainy.  We were lucky nothing came down to harm the property this time as we are still having the last wind storm's mishaps taken care of, no thanks to the owners of the wayward trees.  It makes me so cranky, but we were lucky to be able to do it.

Mike bought us a new upstairs window box for Mother's Day.  I am hoping to get it up and planted pretty quick after the rain.  You can't beat the geraniums this year, they are perfect.

I am into the third book of the trilogy called Me Before You.  I sobbed my way through the first book, enjoyed the second a little less but find the third one good from the start. (It is really good.)

I figured I have only been off this property one time a month since January.  It is hard to believe that I have not gone stir crazy.  Andy celebrated with a hair cut yesterday where they only allowed one mask-wearing, temperature -taken, customer in at a time. He looks good. Waaaa, I want a hair cut (and so much more.)

Here's the beef

You must try Hidden Valley spicy seasoning mix on beef and let it marinate for a couple of days in the fridge, of course. The carrots and potatoes were done in the same oven but a different pan and combined at the very end before serving. You can cut the beef with your fork, no knife necessary. I love this product as well as the original.  Buy it at Sam's where it is cheaper and get the big size, you will find you use it all the time. Darn, I used all the mushrooms in other dishes; just imagine how they would be in this dish.