2020 still here??? Go away.

 We are in for a fun day today.  It is Beth's birthday and a group is going to her favorite pancake house for that once a year treat and then coming here.  I am cooking for a late afternoon; so far I have two things on the move, a pork roast with potatoes and carrots in the slow cooker and a large pan of potato soup with multi-vegetables.  I thought we would eat outside since we are being blessed with lovely weather. I have not watched the news and will not watch it until things settle down; it is just too upsetting.  Anyway, I have done all I can so c'est la vie. I have worked the potato soup to death in the last couple of weeks so I will give it a rest after today.  I have four soups ready for Thanksgiving so far.  I am doing as much ahead as possible of course.  The tables are set and covered, the windows are washed upstairs and down thanks to Monica and her crew working late last night.  Andy is putting away the plants and building the topsoil pile ready for spring, please God, make it soon.  I hate to wish away my life's time but the sooner we are out of 2020 the better.

I will be sticking to Netflix and books for the next few weeks, so I will let you know what I have found. Enjoy this warm spring day.  The grass is as green as it is in the spring for once.

Netflix:

Ratchet

Queen's Gambit

The Tudors

Reign

All the Great British Baking Shows

Emily in Paris

Pride and Prejudice

Last Tango in Halifax

Enola Holmes

Madam Secretary (The closest I will be getting to politics in the future.)

There are more, but you get the idea.

Books

Started Olive Kitteridge, got 40% through it and decided there were too many relationship crises to deal with, although the writing is well done. It's a skip for me.

The Secret Recipes of Sophia Verant (liked it)

The Secret Mother by Shalini Boland (I liked all of her many books.)

I like many of Kate Fitzroy's books Like Lingering Finish, Moonlight in Tuscany, Dreams of Tuscany, Perfume of Provence...she has written so many and I liked them.

I liked the Little Cornish Kitchen, The Emerald Comb, The Secret Chateau, Jo Jo Moyes The Giver of Stars, Jo Thomas' books like Escape to the French Farmhouse (she too has many books to enjoy.)

Books by Kristin Hannah: The Nightingale was wonderful and I read Firefly Lane and am now reading Between Sisters, which is really a good read.

mini meatball soup/Mr. and Mrs. T's bloody mary mix

 Well, two soups down and two more to make for the front end of Thanksgiving guests. (I'm old, so I have to start early.) My guests like to eat! I don't want to disappoint them.  I am only hoping nothing interferes with these plans or we will be eating Thanksgiving treats for months. So far, there is the potato soup corn chowder with roasted vegetables. And, today, there burbling away, is mini meatball soup also with roasted vegetables. I still have a seafood chowder to consider and perhaps a chili. The guests arrive around 11:00 and we start off with canapes and drinks easing into soups and salads, and, deviled eggs (from Glenda)... One table will be loaded with pies from Pam and Mary Susan.  One thing I am doing this year is turkey breasts, rather than whole turkeys, as well as a prime rib roast. I can't face the two big turkeys that we usually have when most only want white meat anyway.  It is just easier is my confession.  I will be 83 a few days after Thanksgiving, so I am playing that card.

Good luck with your menu, my friends, and Happy Thanksgiving.  The conversation this year around the tables will be interesting and heated, no doubt. Here's hoping we have a president and everyone can get along now that it will have been over several days after voting day.

Creamy potato soup with pepper bacon and brussel sprouts

Yes, it is creamy potato soup made with Bob Evans ready-made mashed potatoes that melt into a smooth creamy base and then are enhanced with brussel sprouts, cauliflower, carrots, pepper bacon and whatever else comes to mind. It is quick and delicious, perfect for Saturdays when cleaning, and organizing is in session.

 I finally got to vote.  We had to do absentee because there is no way we could stand in that madhouse on Morse Road where everyone in Columbus comes to vote early.  Thank God they are voting and I bet Columbus has never had a turn out like this one.  It is like a circus. We can track our vote online, so I don't feel as nervous as I did about doing it that way for the first time in my life.

It will soon be over and another form of hysteria will ensue. It seems there will be no peace in 2020, a simply horrid year all around.

We are planning Thanksgiving here at Many Branches. This soup will be on the menu for the first meal of the day.  It is so easy, quick, and satisfying. It is fun to plan a day to gather at long last. I like trying out different combinations like this one with the vivid green brussel sprouts drifting down the mashed potato river.  There are many vegetables in this soup, so all the bases are covered.

Rainy Sunday+

What to do on a rainy Sunday?  Make breakfast crack, of course. The way I do it is no small job. I make big batches filled with dried fruit and nuts.

I also plump the raisins with liquor.

Andy is very happy in the mornings. My daughter-in-law likes it even more and she, David, and JD are coming from Florida for turkey day as are the Cincinnati Lechlers.  It will be the first time we are together, I guess, in a year. We will try to make it count.

I was in Trader Joe's and since there was a line outside, I went pretty fast but was still able to spend a lot in a short time.  I bought wine and Prosecco too.  We always start the day with 

that treat and it relaxes everyone, some more than others...like the cook.

I haven't written much lately, as you probably noticed.   I'm a bit afraid to write anything or comment. There is so much trouble in the air, it's sucking up all the oxygen.  I have been reading like mad, soft stuff, that's all I read any more.  I like it and I don't have to worry about their problems or how they solve them.  I usually know the outcome, but that's okay. These books and stories are much better than the Hallmark tv stuff, I think. where you know when the handsome man appears what is going to happen.

Stay well and safe.

Note:  The holes in my ceiling are filled and painted.  Thanks to those who gave me some names for future problems that need doing.

Help me

 What is with the guys who show up to view the job, show great enthusiasm about doing the job, make all kinds of promises to get the job. and when they have the okay, they don't show up.  We still have holes in the ceiling of one room waiting for commitments to be carried out and it has been months.  I don't want to hear any whining about not being able to get a job.  I just don't believe it. They give a list of what is needed, we run out to get it and now we have this stack of supplies that we can't use and probably won't suit the next guy if he does ever show up. If you know a person who can come in my lifetime, who does plaster and light painting to match the ceiling, in Columbus and is reliable, please let me know. dorislechler77@gmail.com. Waaaa, I need help.

By the way: Someone sent Bella a cute dog outfit from Amazon.  It came, is really nice, but there was no name to thank.  If you did it, let me know.

We keep checking the lines for early voters and again today they are wrapped around the building.  Lines, masks, and 6 feet apart while the parking lot is a circus with people talking to voters telling them how they should vote.  It's a nightmare except for the fact that they are eager to vote. This vote will be the largest in history I should think. 

This and that

 Well, this is a glorious fall day, don't you think?  Nevertheless, I have been plundering Netflix these last few days. Do you remember the movie (the book first) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest? If so, you certainly could not forget Nurse Ratchet.  There is a new series on Netflix called RATCHET and it is compelling. But, I warn you there will be parts you might not like.  Then there is a lighter series called Emily in Paris.  After that, a series called Enola Holmes.  I liked them all.

I am reading a fluff piece called The Little Cornish Kitchen and in the book line up that I have only glanced at so far is Under the Siena Sun and Escape to the French Farmhouse. I need calm right now.  I am afraid I won't be able to vote.  So far the line to vote early for the last two days wraps around a large building and its neighboring building.  I cannot stand that long, so I can only hope for a break.  (Who is working with all of the people in cars and in lines?)

Good luck to all of you when you vote.  It is such a privilege to be able to do it. 

An Ode to Pork

 I was a little girl when I first fell in love with pork.  It was my grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary at their farm in southeastern Ohio. The snow was deep and cars could not get near the house from the main highway, which was not all that clear either. When we arrived my one-armed grandfather was there to taxi us with the horses and wagon.  He carried each group of visitors in this manner until everyone was warm and secure in the table-laden dining room.  As I perused the table I saw things I had never before tasted, but one thing bloomed like a rose in a junkyard.  It was this elegant roll of white something.  I asked Mother what that was and she said pork.  News to me, but something I loved from that day forward.  Everyone had brought their best and most famous dish to place on the table with unbridled pride, but I only had eyes for the pork.  I kept wishing I knew how to get at that thing they called pork roast and finally a nice cut was placed onto my plate and that is what I ate that day and thereafter. The entire clan was there.  If you were not dead you were at this reunion/anniversary event. It was never to be forgotten.  I met relatives I had never set eyes on before and some thereafter.) Relatives as far away as Florida all on one of the snowest days of the year. It was so much fun.

The couple known as Pearl and Dwight was gifted with a gold relish server which I somehow came to own not too long ago. It is engraved with their names and the date.

Loving pork runs in the family; so simple to prepare and so delicious in taste and memory.

Running wild with masks

 Andy and I have been running around most of the day.  I have been to Carfagna's and for once had a good long shop.  Just as I was leaving the store started filling up and the butcher lines were getting long. I had just been to the nail salon where Andy picked me up and left me at Carfagna's while he went to get license plates put on the new car. Then we did a food pick-up at Kroger (so we are stoked and stored).  Then I got a Tim Horton's pumpkin spice iced capp...yum, to get me through the unpacking.  The fridge is bursting and I am not in the mood to cook today...sigh.  I did get cute little brioche slider buns and sliced roast beef, ham salad, and one other kind of cold cut that I can't remember.  They will have to make do with that line up for this evening.

The day is sunny and warm, just as we like it. Now we are settled in with our one drink per late afternoon with everything put away. Life is good. The pool is covered for the winter and tomorrow Eric and his crew come to put everything away and to do what needs doing around the property.

Have a great week-end.

Fall and cooking but not much fun.

If I didn't know it was autumn, I know it now.  Today the pool is closed and Saturday all of the outside furniture will be put away and everything buttoned up for winter. The last ceiling will be finished if promises are kept on Sunday. Pretty soon we will be snug as a bug in a rug.  (Haven't said that in a while.)

I am trying to keep looking on the bright side, but I do not enjoy fall. The house is either too hot or too cold.  So we fool around adjusting things until something breaks.  I am just going to layer up and forget adjustments to the mechanisms.

I do enjoy cooking in the fall.  Love the beef stews, fish chowders, and Zucchini bread.  (Kathy baked some and brought it to us and we ate it mighty quick.) I like cooking in winter too.  It is so comforting. Don't forget pumpkin bread, so moist and delicious.  I had better get into the kitchen and make some of that.

I always liked London and Paris in the fall.  All the shows and flea markets opened up along with the shops after a sweltering summer.  Everyone returned home from vacation and activity was afoot...but Columbus, not so much. All I see here is a rebirth of the traffic jams and wild noisy driving. It seems everything is open again and the traffic proves the point.

So, let's bake and make the most of our time. I need to shut up and get busy.

Poor JD, once again the University of Florida has canceled in-person graduation.  I think JD has given up. Instead, he has selected three different interviews for a job. I am keeping my fingers crossed for him.  What a time we are living in. 2020 is a real disappointment.

Family and fun

 What a glorious day was yesterday. Family from Cincinnati came up along with all the Columbus gang. The sun shone, the sky was clear, and a lovely breeze kept us happy all day long. We played cards under the pergola while the people under the awning gossiped and blessed the Greenhills stories...AGAIN.  I know more about Greenhills than I do about my own childhood.  Andy and Joe keep us well informed and reinforced with every visit. As the drinks flow, Greenhills becomes more grand and ethereal and no one has ever had such a school experience....sigh.

We started the day with brunch. I had two salads, a frittata, and soup, oh, and a charcuterie board. The company brought sweets from Cincinnati. We had wine and coffee and that got the day rolling.

For dinner we had a pork roast with roasted potatoes and carrots, sliced tomatoes with herbs, olive oil, salt and pepper and a couple more salads. (Roasting with the pork and vegetables were slices of prosciutto which became crackly and delicious.) I will have to do that more often.  It was special.

We waved good-bye about 6:00 and I was off to my lair.

Make the most of your time together with family.  

Sundays with the Lechlers

 

Here we go again, Sunday with the Cincinnati Lechlers. It's a treat.  Katy is driving Joe and Glenda to Columbus for the day.  It is so kind of her to do that for her family. I am starting to cook ahead as usual.  This salad is now my go-to dish to accompany almost any other dish.  Thank you Italians for this idea...oh, I just remembered I forgot to add the chunks of cheese.  I think I will forego the meat aspect because there seem to be enough ingredients so far, don't you think?

Madeleine was over to celebrate Andy's 85th birthday and she made him a very advanced for- her -age card and a flower salad, plucking the flowers from our diminishing supply thanks to autumn setting in; my not so favorite time of year.

We will have a couple of meals but pizza will probably be the day's end treat.  I start slowing down around 6:00 to 7:00 pm and my easy chair and television claim me if sleep isn't too pushy. Never mind, Andy and I are in the best of health, thank the good Lord. Count your blessings, folks, we have no idea what is in store for us in the next few months.

I'm off to make the chili, dish two.

Madeleine making Andy his birthday flower salad.