Sunshine Makes Me Smile

This morning as I was readying my coffee I looked out into the living room and saw this ray of sunshine and needed to take a snap. We can certainly use a ray of sunshine in our lives. So here it is.

 A sunny Friday to you all.

You know, no title

Let's have something lighthearted today. 

Mark had to go to the post office yesterday so he stopped at the deli for Taco Tuesday. This week's taco was made with slow cooked rump roast and spicy pickled peppers. That brings to mind Peter Piper picking pickled peppers. Has anyone figured out how many pecks he picked? Ok, I am my father's daughter. Sometimes you don't argue with genetics. Back to the program....I had a small tomato and an avocado with the really good taco.

We are in a warming period, which will end in a couple of days. It's nice to give the propane tank a break, sort of. I've been looking for my absent mojo without any luck. Maybe it will show itself today. I did make bread yesterday. And.....

....more food. I had some bay scallops I used with asparagus in a lemon garlic butter sauce. It was very good, but somehow I don't think it was low in calories! But, it did have sea food and a vegetable, that counts, right?

 Good Wednesday, everyone.

Down the Sinkhole

Frieda aptly expresses my attitude lately.

 Gulf of America........

Food Deck Line

Is this Rocky or one of Rocky's kidlets? 

There were two of them so I'm thinking the latter.

I don't think the cat the food is put out for is getting it anymore. There was a beautiful dark grey cat eating yesterday. He was vocal. Big puffy cheeks so very likely male. Racoons are top of the food chain lining up for a snack, beating out cats and possums. This or those racoons seem to be bringing me gifts, as there are lots of bits of gravel showing up around the bowl. They are thoughtful.

Shopping, Whimsey, Food, Thinking

My friend, Boud, has a weekly delivery from Misfits Market. I started ordering from there several years ago, but I am an on-and-off purchaser. Usually when I want fennel, it's very well priced on Misfits. I am following Boud's example and posting the order I got on Friday. BelGioiso ricotta has no additives like most others and is creamy, so I buy it rather than make it.  I will be making fennel frond pesto with the pistachios I also bought. I don't often use the service but when I do, I am never disappointed.

Remember the day of retail therapy that was mostly made up of food? This is the non-food part of that day. I gathered these photos off the internet, I don't know where, over a couple of years. They were not copyrighted. I like whimsey and these are certainly that. I don't want to give too much away, but that cat reminds me just a bit too much of my younger self!

And then there is food. I made a sauce from some of the roma tomatoes I froze whole and added meatballs I made with leftover meatloaf mixture and froze. The meatballs weren't my usual but they did actually work just fine.

I thought today about blogging. How many of us will occasionally write about, or perhaps simply think about, how there is nothing of much interest to say. I know in my restricted world this is true. Then I thought how this is actually how we come to "know" the people we interact with. What, at least some of the day-to-day looks like. What is of interest, what food someone likes. Do they have children, grandchildren? A spouse or a significant? A cat person? A dog person...or both? So many things that seem immaterial but actually say much. This thought made me realize my days don't need to be exciting, they are just my days, the parts of a day I share some of with the world of blogging. I feel so much better!

Soup. No Sandwich

The subzero weather is back. For today. I made a hodgepodge soup yesterday, finding I had only a small amount of lentils, I had to use beans as well. There is enough for today, which is a good thing considering the cold weather. I'm going to make stock again today. I need to get some of those bones and vegetable bits out of the packed freezer. 

You know you are getting old when your week is a series of medical appointments. PT for me on Monday, primary for Mark yesterday and the dermatologist today. Last week was his urologist. He has a couple of 'gists. We have become one of those!

May the day be a good one for us all.

Buongiorno

Happy Wednesday to you all. We are out of the freezer for today, put back in tomorrow and then it's moderate temperatures for the foreseeable future. My little Frieda joined me for an afternoon in a sunbeam. She graciously allows me to use her ottoman and throw. She is so kind and gracious. It was so cold yesterday I didn't bother to get out of my warm robe.

I followed through and made a pasta dish with the leftover salmon. Pasta stretches a small amount of protein into a meal. As you have undoubtedly noticed, pasta is the main carb used in this abode. 

I really like gelato and have decided to make some. I have an ice cream maker and have made ice cream often, but never gelato. May do this today or tomorrow. Add a bit of diversion into my life, but not too much! On that note, soup will be made today and life will carry on.  

The Frigid Northland

Good frigid morning

 

We reached a low of -20 F during the night. Later in the day it will start to warm and we will leave this behind for awhile. I purposely stayed off my computer and phone yesterday. I decided it was best for my mental health to do so. I had a consult in the morning with a physical therapist. She was impressed with how stiff my back and neck are. I tell you what, when I do something I do it! I was given exercise to do at home and I will see her once a week for however long it takes. I do have some hope, she was very good. Otherwise, we spent the day inside, other than the horsecare. Mark ventured out for that.

As we know, cats know what to do when it's cold. Or when it's anything. They have it down.The two girls stay on the bed all morning and often all afternoon.

This guy knows where the real warmth is and he tends to stay there. The two outside fellows are inside kitties until further notice.

It's also been a few days of comfort food. My favorite kind of food. I braised a couple of beef country style ribs. I really, really like braised food. I made some pork stock a couple of days ago and think soup will be in order. I also think I'll turn some leftover salmon into a creamy pasta sauce for this evening's dinner. I know I've been stressed because I have ordered groceries from everyplace I have an account, which is many. Food, I have understood, is a way I find or feel control. That means I have no freezer space left and the pantry, which is large, is overflowing. No matter what, we will eat. For a few months anyway.

 Good day to you all and stay warm.

It's January

Cold frigid morning.

Currently -14 F / -26 C in the frozen tundra otherwise known as Minnesota.

I baked bread on Friday and then panini yesterday. The panini dough needs to rest 24 hours before baking. We got the pellet stove working just in time for this cold snap. Bill got the new auger motor installed Friday afternoon and so far, so good. It makes such a difference in the living room.

This little guy/gal shows up just about everyday for a little cat chow. The orange stray I actually put the food out for is still around so I keep putting out food. 

Gatto has wiped his mind free of his time as a stray cat outside in a Minnesota winter. 

The irony of the inauguration being held inside the Capitol tomorrow is not lost on me. How eerily fitting that the person who encouraged overrunning the building is now, once again, being sworn in as President of the United States and it's happening in the very building people with Confederate and swastika flags swarmed with intent to hang Mike Pence and do only-they-knew-what to Nancy Pelosi. 

The Blog is Called This & That Afterall

Good Friday Morning!

I think it's been awhile since I graced you with Frieda. Gatto has taken her limelight. She is finally a fully adult cat, in other words, she sleeps a lot. Yesterday and today we are warmer, tomorrow we drop into the freezer again. I actually got out and about yesterday. A trip to the clinic for a blood draw does count as out and about, right?

I have felt gloomy, I know it's because of our political scene. I know I've been down because yesterday I impulsed shopped and I never do this. I accidently, or subconsciously, clicked on the Martie app instead of gmail. By the time I'd finished scrolling through I had managed to buy sixty bucks worth of things I can use but didn't need nor had any intention of looking for. Then I saw an Aldi ad for nice kitchen glassware at a good price. Yep, bought that plus another sixty bucks worth of groceries I wasn't looking for. Then.....I ordered three canvas prints. Now those I had been thinking about so that was no spur of the moment purchasing. I can see how impulse shopping is what a lot of people do when they feel down or helpless. I did feel a little lighter, or perhaps it was my bank account that felt lighter.

I have been in a cooking mood. Wednesday I made pizza.

Last evening it was a white bean casserole. I think I've posted this before. It's so simple it should be illegal and it is good. I spruce it up some with onion, bacon and this time, roasted brussels sprouts. Also Herbes de Provence, a go-to-herb for me. Lots of cheese, this time Gruyere.

Today I've designated bread day. Bread and ciabatta rolls are on the roster. Sometimes I think this should be a food blog but then where would loose horses in the dark and an old boy cast in his stall fit in? So, a hodgepodge it is.

Happy Day to you all.