The Bard said it best in his play "Twelfth Night"
"If music be the food of love, play on"
Let's skew his meaning a bit and see just where the love of food and the love of music takes us.
I decided I would start talking about some of my brilliant ideas. Truth be told, I actually do keep moleskin notebook filled with them.
On the outside it appears to be just a plain black moleskin, but on the inside cover I wrote the words "Brilliant Ideas". I keep it handy to jot down anything that I think I might want to recall sometime in the future.
Some of the ideas are plans I have for various things.
Some are things I witnessed that gave me pause
Some are things I saw/heard that made me laugh.
Some are things that made me think.
Some are things that made me cry.
Some are things I want to learn
Some are things I want to learn to do.
Some are concepts for future writings
Some are bits and pieces of conversations I have overheard at one time or another.
Some are dreams I had that I want to remember.
Some are records of things I did that worked.
Some are records of things I tried that failed.
And some are just boneheaded ideas I think of randomly and regularly.
I am not planning on doing this weekly, but I will do it whenever I try something I put into my book that either amde me laugh, made me cry, worked, or didn't work; hence the title "Well it seemed like a good idea at the time".
The following is one of the entries in my book and falls directly on the "made me laugh" list.
I am not much of a drinker, though I will have a dirty martini when we are out sometimes, and we have an occasional glass of wine with dinner at home. Then about twice a year I will have one beer with dinner. That happened a couple of weeks ago. I enjoyed it and am done with beer until some future night when I decide I want another. If I follow my traditional pattern it will most likely be sometime next spring.
Fast forward to the day after I had my once a summer beer. When I load the dishwasher I put every single dirty item in it, meaning there are no cups, plates, flatware or any other eating/drinking/cooking paraphernalia left out. I try to run the dishwasher either the last thing before I go to bed, or in the morning right after I have finished my coffee.
This particular day was one of those morning washes. My pea-brain declared I couldn't use anything else until the dishes were washed and put away. That way anything dirty could be loaded directly into a newly emptied dishwasher without having any used dishes hanging around in the sink. I still like to stay well hydrated and instead of grabbing a clean glass from the cabinet I used the bottle from the night before.
Most of the time following a morning wash it would be a La Croix can, since I have one of those just about every night after dinner. (BTW if you get a chance to buy Beach Plum La Croix buy it. You won't be disappointed unless you have an aversion to flavored seltzer waters. If so, you will think it is horrible). That particular day I had rinsed out the bottle, filled it with water and was drinking from it all day. I am one of those people who has to have water almost continually.
On an average day I refill whatever I am using as a glass 5 or 6 times. This day was not a normal day though. It was very hot, I was in and out of the house all day, and I was exceptionally thirsty. We were having the stairs to the deck rebuilt from scratch. New risers, steps, railings, the whole enchilada, was being cut and built in the backyard.
I was in and out talking to the builders all day, with my water in hand every time I walked outside to ask or answer a question. Over the course of the day I probably talked to them anywhere from 10-15 times, always with the Sam Adams water bottle. I truly did not think anything about it until I noticed them looking at me a little funny the last few times I stepped on the deck.
By that time I realized what they were looking at, I was inwardly laughing. But there was no way I was about to offer any explanation. It was more fun to keep the amusement to myself.
My only hope is if they talked about me, it was not just the amount of beer they thought I drank, but also about how well I functioned after consuming all that "alcohol".
I am going to have to call this a fail. A funny fail, but still a fail!
There are times in my life when the nerd in me puts on a metaphorical cape and mask to become SUPER NERD, and I become compelled to find out as much as possible about whichever rabbit hole swallowed me whole. Recently I have been finding as much as possible about zero food waste. Stupid me. I thought zero food waste was just using all the foods you buy and not letting them ruin before consumption. As usual, I was wrong. It turns out zero waste literally means using every part of everything using composting or chicken feeding as the last possible resort. Time for a science experiment?
I had bought an 8 pound bag of potatoes which is about 6 pounds too many for a family of two who eat very few potatoes. We had been having baked potatoes with meals for a couple or three weeks, but I still had a potato basket that was pretty full. Plus they were getting a tad soft. Not sprouting but just not as firm as they had been.
I decided we could have mashed potatoes this week and I would dice and cook them, and stick em in the fridge until I was ready to mash them for dinner. So I peeled them, stuck them in salted water to cook then began cleaning my mess. Oh no! How could I possibly toss the peels?
So I didn't. Instead I put them in the air fryer, sprayed a spritz of olive oil on them and cooked them at 370 for 4 minutes. I took them out, shook the basket to flip as many over as I could with a couple of shakes, spritzed them again and finished cooking them for 4 1/2 more minutes.
I removed them with tongs to a paper towel on a plate, lightly salted them, then put them in a bowl. I tried them and was shocked. There were like little feathery, crispy bits of french fry tasting deliciousness. I was not going to discount the fact that I might be biased, wanting the experiment to be successful. I got TheHub to try them and he also thought they were great, but I needed another opinion. About that time, Son2 came in and was recruited to be guinea pig number 2. He gave it his seal of approval, they left and I ate the rest of them. Lucky me!
Now I am going to start doing this with all my potato peels, but am also secretly wondering what carrot peels and sweet potato peels done the same way might taste like. Luckily I am always game for a little experiment.
This week meals almost echoed last week. I just had had no desire to cook and was not bothered that I had a bad case of the end of summer laziness.
What I thought might happen:
Smoked sausage skillet meal with peppers, onions, tomatoes and mushrooms
Grilled steak, baked potato, tossed salad
Veggie meal (depends on what the produce stand has when I go Tuesday)
Out to eat
Grilled chicken, caulitato salad, green beans
Some sandwich meal (TBD)
Cobb salad, with rolls
What really did:
Monday: I had already taken the sausage out of the freezer to thaw so I was committed to this meal. It also used vegetables that needed to be used pronto.
Smoked sausage skillet dinner with onions, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes and potatoes
Tuesday: What can I say? Lazy man's dinner.
Bologna sandwich, coleslaw
Wednesday: I had planned to serve Cobb salad for dinner but that is what TheHub had for lunch. Glad I called him in time to punt. Then he reminded me we were going out for dinner to break up the week.
Out to eat at the new to us Halal place. Falafel, hummus, rice, cucumber salad
Thursday: I had been to Independence Place for a few hours, stopped for some light shopping, came home and wanted a quick dinner. This is one of the quickest meals I can make, especially with fresh scallops already in the fridge.
Friday: Date night with a little lightweight shopping and dinner
Out to eat Pita cafe, Racer and tabouli
Saturday: TheHub went to the football game. He and Son2 had a heavy lunch meal (meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans etc) and he was not particularly hungry. I was dinner apathetic so we had another lazy man's dinner.
Bologna sandwich with/without chips
Sunday: Best Sunday dinner in a while thanks to my butcher at ThePig who showed me the reduced forquick sale stash.
NY strip steak, baked potato, tossed salad
What's next? Uninspired this week which means this probably won't happen*
1. Veggie meal (TBD)
2. Grilled ham and Swiss sandwich, chopped cauliflower salad
3. BLT salad, dinner rolls
4. Stuffed bell peppers, mashed potatoes w/gravy, coleslaw
5. Out to eat
6. Pasta dish TBD, tossed salad
7. Grilled tuna steaks, coleslaw, dinner rolls
Have a great week staying on plan, going off plan or with no plan at all.
*Do I remotely care if the meal plan happens or not? Nope!
For those who read Sluggy’s blog regularly:
She is unable to post today because her power is out.
This week like most weeks my joys were mainly small joys that happened during average days. If I waited to only recognize the bigs ones, I am afraid I would be out of luck most days. But I do not really like to concentrate on things in my life that are negative. Enough of that happens without me focusing on it. Instead I had rather look for little things that me happy.
Sunday: We went to church on a gorgeous, low humidity day. Following that we headed to The Electric for lunch. You know you go to a place too often when the staff knows your name and what you are going to order.
Son2 and DIL2 came over in the late afternoon for a visit. I always love seeing them.
Monday: I only had one day left to keep the book I was reading on my local library app. If nothing else I was committed to a day of reading and laundry.
OK, I did not have to read all day, but maybe__just maybe, I started the next book the app had waiting for me. It was cool enough to read sitting in the rocking chair on the screened porch and I am pretty sure there is a law somewhere that demanded I to do it.
Tuesday: I was in a rotten mood, didn't care about much of anything, and my haintlike appearance just confirmed my attitude. Thankfully the phone rang and it was Sluggy, so I could laugh. I never did change my appearance though. We will just say when TheHub came home he was not greeted by that 60's housewife wearing a cute dress and pearls.
Wednesday: I have a class every Wednesday morning and try to go every week. Last Wednesday I was wrestling with myself, "stay home or get dressed and go on". I decided to go and was glad I did.It was not so much that the class was great, but I was very close to The Snapper Grabber (my local seafood market). It was a no brainer to stop in after class was over to see what the trucks from the gulf had brought in. I walked out with a couple of things to make me happy.
TheHub has decided we need to go out on Wednesday nights to break up the week. As long as I am not cooking beforehand it is more than fine by me. We had decided on one place we used to go regularly but once we got there we found they are no longer opened for dinner Wednesday nights. We were just riding around to try and find somewhere different and happened on a new Halal restaurant It was little more than a hole in the wall, but the food in that small place was absolutely delicious. I wish I remembered the name so I could post it ll over social media.
Thursday: I know I mention going to my happy place where I volunteer. I love being around all the Independence Place participants. There is nothing that makes me happier than to be around them. My wish is for everyone to find somewhere that makes them feel as happy as I feel when I am there.
Friday: The day was gorgeous, the temps a little lower, and the humidity was virtually gone. Well, at least for us it felt virtually gone. Anything around 45% humidity feels pretty dry here, so this was a welcome change.
TheHub came home early and we went out to do our usual Saturday running around on Friday, before going out to eat.
Somehow or another after all was said and done, I came home with 2 new fall dresses, a pair of black jeans and a full stomach. But the stomach was not full enough to turn down a sesame cookie from a nearby Mexican bakery. (We may or may not go there a couple of times a week)
Saturday: You may wonder why we did our running around on Friday evening rather than our usual Saturday morning route. There is just one word for why it happened___FOOTBALL!!!
After we watched the pre-game show it was time for kickoff. Games we wanted to watch began at 11. We flipped back and forth between stations watching them until TheHub and Son2 left to go to the Alabama game. After they left it was just me watching games and reading. I think throughout the day I kept up with over 10 games by switching channels every few minutes. It was almost too much of a good thing.
As you can tell by having a sports loving husband and three sons who love them equally well, I went to the dark side and became a sports fan myself.
I hope you all found joy in your week. There are always wonderful things to find, even on days when you don't see them right away!
We had plans for the week that did not necessarily include cooking, or at the very least, it called for minimal kitchen time. I seem to be pretty good at cooking avoidance during the summer, and even though it was not blistering hot this week, I still managed to do what I call "real" dinner prep only 1 night this week.
The week was a nice blend of down time combined with doing things with people, and an occasional indulgence.. I do love a blended week like this. I always have things I need to do, but when it is interspersed with other events it becomes close to a perfect week. OK, maybe not a perfect week but it was at least a week with some near perfect days.
Sunday: The house was still filled with company and that made me very happy. They went out to eat lunch so I read. H wanted to go to the cafeteria the book Whistle Stop Cafe was based on. The food in the meat and three never disappoints. They came back and got in the pool. While they were swimming I decided to surprise them by baking brownies to go with dinner. Coming in from outside to a kitchen filled with the smell of fresh baked goodies was a big hit.
Son3 manned the grill for dinner, and afterward all the females piled into the den and watched a couple of episodes of a show before bedtime.
Monday: The guests left by late morning. I probably should have started cleaning right then, but I had a book that was going to disappear from my Libby app, and I really did want to finish it. Reading vs. cleaning is never a contest for me.
Tuesday: I had a solo day. TheHub was not going to be home at his regular time, and I had no time constraints on me for anything. It was a good day to wash the sheets from the guest rooms and get them ready for the next round of company. Of course I also took some time and really enjoyed talking with Sluggy.
Wednesday: My Wednesday class started back so I went to it, then high-tailed it to The Palm and Pig to meet my bookclub members. We have only seen each other once since the pandemic began. No one is working anymore and we decided meeting for lunch monthly would be a much better idea. Books are now optional!
Thursday: This was my volunteer day for the week. I was back at my happy place. This week they learned to make corndog casserole. Nothing beats seeing all their faces while they are learning some life skills.
Friday: TheHub and I celebrated growing older by going out to eat. Season's 52 is not my favorite place, but we did not think of making reservations where we really wanted to go until Wednesday and neither of us wanted to eat at 5 or 9 which were the only times available.
Saturday: After we ran our errands and stopped by Chik-fil-A to pick up a couple of their new sandwich we came home to begin our game day television time. Congrats to Missouri for the last second all time collegiate record setting field goal. I am not positive but I think it was a 61 yarder.
We did watch Bama who won but it was an ugly win. I see several losses this year.
Look for your joys, they are always out there!
May all your weeds be wildflowers.
Anne
*The new sandwich is honey glazed chicken topped with pimento cheese and thinly sliced jalapeños. It was delicious!
We had a weird dinnertime schedule last week with leftovers, take out and sandwiches. Life happens and I just kind of go off plan and along for the ride no matter what happens.
This was what I had planned:
Bbq ribs, potato salad, coleslaw
Leftovers TBD once I see what is left over. Will add to the meal as needed
Ham, green beans, tomato slices, cucumber slices, potatoes au gratin brownie ala mode
Cauliflower chopped salad, dinner rolls
Out to eat
Sandwiches TBD
Burgers with all the fixings, some sort of potato side dish, baked beans, coleslaw
This is what we really ate:
Monday: We took the easy way out and bought the ribs already cooked. The rest of the meal was a piece of cake!
Ribs, potato salad, coleslaw
Tuesday: We met TheHub's brother and his wife in Tuscaloosa for a meal. I always love catching up with them, and the food was as good as the company!
I can't believe how fast this year has flown. How did it happen? 36 weeks of the year are gone. Yikes!
Sunday: We had a day of rest, laundry then watching the LSU/FSU game. I did get a little decluttering done and also managed to list one item on our local buy nothing FaceBook page. Who would ever have thought an old high school sweatshirt would garner so much interest. Since I try very hard to be fair, I assigned a number to each person who wanted it, then randomly ask DIL2 to pick a number from
1-7. She picked, I contacted the "winner" and it was picked up, which is one more item out of my hair.
Monday: It was Labor Day in the states which meant TheHub was not working. After a quick trip to the Pig to get the 2 free items and a couple of needed groceries, we mainly stayed at home, ate bbq, then watched Clemson vs. Duke. And, yes I do know we watch a lot of football games around here.
Tuesday: The day was a little bit cooler, and it was gorgeous. Nothing much happened except more cleaning and decluttering.
Wednesday: This was the day to wait for the plumbers. Their deal was "We will call you 20 minute before we get there". I stayed at home waiting for the call which finally came about 2. They were here until just a couple of minutes before 5. Needless to say this was not a frugal day here, but the intermittent water leak was repaired and a new comfort level toilet was installed in the guest room bath.
Thursday: Just in case I wanted to do something different, it was not going to happen. Carpenters came to the house at 7:30 to rebuild the stairs from the deck to the lower patio. It turned out they came just in time because not only the steps were in bad shape but the risers were starting to deteriorate also. It was an accident waiting to happen, and I am very glad they were replaced, even if it did take until sunset for them to finish.
Friday: Son3 and DIL3 came down about midday from Nashville, then their friend H arrived at dinnertime. Son2 DIL2 and Reesey also joined us. After we ate H taught us a really fun card game called Fours, and we played until everyone was tired and ready for bed. There was much fun, conversation and laughter!
Saturday: TheHub, Son2, Son3, and Friend H went to the Alabama/Texas football game while DIL3 and I stayed home. She got her photoshoot proofs and shared them with me. Oh my goodness they were gorgeous. Then she also showed me the music video she will be releasing Oct 1st. I will be sure to post it then.
She did a little shopping during the day, then came back to the house and made the most delicious focaccia topped with Conecuah sausage, cherry tomatoes, garlic and rosemary. We ate it for dinner along with salad and raw vegetables. There was plenty left over for the next day (Yum!).
We watched the game on TV and it was a good game to watch (especially if you are for Texas). Bama played badly. and Texas played well. I think this might be a difficult year for them but Roll Tide, always!
After the game DIL3 and I watched a movie, "Sitting In Bars With Cake" we thought would be a silly chick flick. It took a turn toward seriousness very quickly. We liked it but it was vastly different from what we were expecting.
Look for your joys no matter how small. They are always out there.
In homage to the recently departed Jimmy Buffet, and the fact that I plan on having burgers with everything imaginable to top them. I could think of nothing other than posting this song today.
Monday: I was not feeling well and think I might have experienced a mild case of food poisoning (TheHub and I both felt a little icky Sunday night after bringing home take out for lunch)
Pork chops, tomato slices, cucumber slices, toast
Tuesday: I was feeling better but still was not feeling like eating. I told TheHub I was making his all time favorite meal, but added the mac and cheese to have something that would be a little kinder to me.
Lady peas, okra, mac and cheese
Wednesday: It seems no matter what the plan for our new "break up the week by doing something Wednesday night" it seems grabbing a meal out is par of the new plan.
Culver's fish sandwich and fries (TheHub), Mushroom Swiss burger and coleslaw (me)
Thursday: This meal did not happen because of my feeling bad. It was planned Monday after I bought an 8 pound bag of potatoes.
Baked potatoes with cheese, grilled onions, and grilled peppers,
Friday: Normally we go out to eat on Friday, but TheHub was going to the game Saturday night with Son2. Instead we just stayed in .
Steak, baked potato, cauliflower chopped salad
Saturday: The guys went to the game and DIL2 and Reesey came over so we could watch the game dog together. We just had a girl meal at halftime.
Tossed salad, crackers, watermelon cubes
Sunday: Our Saturday running around ended at our local fish market. I don't keep fish in the fridge more than a day.
Broiled swordfish steaks, baked potato, tossed salad, roll
This may or may not happen. We are having company this weekend through Monday morning and everything is subject to change
1. Bbq ribs, potato salad, coleslaw
2. Leftovers TBD once I see what is left over. Will add to the meal as needed
3. Ham, green beans, tomato slices, cucumber slices, potatoes au gratin brownie ala mode
4. Cauliflower chopped salad, dinner rolls
5. Out to eat
6. Sandwiches TBD
7. Burgers with all the fixings, some sort of potato side dish, baked beans, coleslaw
Have a great week staying on plan, going off plan, or with no plan at all!
Sunday began the week with a bang, but by Monday things went downhill for a few days. I was feeling under the weather but not sick enough to go to the doctor.
Because TheHub felt almost the same way we are fairly sure we had a mild case of food poisoning. The joy was absolutely in the word MILD,
Sunday: We went to church then came home with (probably slightly tainted) lunch. Then we watched the FedEx tournament. Well done Viktor. I would also like to make 26 million dollars in 8 days. After dinner we watched Justified. We have less than half of a season before we are completely through with it.
I began feeling little icky but thought I might just be tired.
Monday: I did not feel well at all Monday but I did go to The Pig for their double free items. This week it was a pound of bananas and a jar of Planter's dry roasted peanuts. I still had to spend an additional 10 bucks on other items, but I had a list of their sale items I needed and made it out of the store spending just $11 and change.
Then I hurried back home to beat the approaching storm and basically vegetated in the recliner. I did get up to cook pork chops then melted back into the chair.
After dinner ( a lame meal for TheHub, cucumber slices, toast and ginger ale for me) I was freezing, took a hot shower, put on flannel pjs, a bed jacket, fluffy slippers then sat in the recliner with two blankets wrapped around me. Even with all of that I was still cold. I stayed in that stupid chair, sipping ginger ale until about 4, when I finally felt like I would be able to sleep.
Tuesday: I still did not feel great, but I did feel better. At least I was no longer cold, but I also was not setting the world on fire with activity. The only thing I really did that was productive was laundry, and the bare minimum of housework.
I was thrilled to find a package of instant grits for the morning and glad I bought potatoes at ThePig Monday. Grits, a baked potato and a little Mac and cheese worked for the days meals, and the ginger ale and iced tea kept me hydrated
Fortunately I had a true mood lifter__a phone call from Sluggy!
Wednesday: TheHub decided he wanted to start breaking up the week by going somewhere together Wednesday nights. I thought I had planned the perfect outing; Aldi and Sprouts. It was not what he had in mind so we added dinner at Culver's before shopping.
It is kind of funny because he loves doing his recreational shopping trip to Publix, but get him out of his store comfort zone and he gets a little antsy. If I am at the store with him (exclusive of Publix or Costco) I have to have a list and zing through the store with no time for impulse browsing. It kinda makes me laugh at, not with, him
Thursday: My Beloved Sister came over and we spent a couple of hours talking and laughing. Shhh! don't tell anyone but we might have eaten an ice cream sandwich to add to the merriment. After she left I high tailed it to the laundry room to go through another cabinet. I am doing a wholesale decluttering by physically touching every single item in the house. In the keep it or coast it conundrum I am leaning as much as possible toward the Goodwill pile. I found items I did not even remember ever having, so I definitely have no use for them now.
Friday: I have been a faithful subscriber of Spectrum and all of the prior incarnations of the company for decades. The last bill increased a good bit so we decided to cancel the service and give YouTube TV a whirl. It is substantially less and the quality seems to be about\ the same. I installed YouTube in about 10 minutes, and watched the 20 minute preview before finally committing to it. Then I called Spectrum to cancel our TV services.
I spoke to a representative, told her I wanted to end the TV portion of our service and was told I had to be transferred to another department. No big deal__the little voice that piped up every few minutes while I was holding kept telling me I had a 5-12 minute late. After listening to the lying recording for over an hour I finally hung up.
I swear they do this so you will just hang up and forget to cancel. Ha! I have until the 13th which is the last day of the billing cycle and I will try every day until I get someone to complete the cancelation.
Thankfully Sluggy answered when I called her and lent me her ears while I griped about Spectrum.
After dinner we watched the last two episodes of Justified. I enjoyed it but I am glad we are finished.
Saturday: TheHub and I got out early to do our usual Saturday morning running around, then came home to watch a little football (compliments of YouTube TV. Take that Spectrum!) Tennessee was killing their opponent so we turned it on the Colorado/TCU game. I did not care one way or another who won but it was a fantastic game to watch.
I thought about watching Auburn's game but they scored their first three possessions of the game, so I read, then took a short unintentional nap. When I woke the Auburn game was out of hand, which gave me time to do my least favorite thing___clean a little!
Son2 and TheHub were going to the Bama game and DIL2 came over with Reesey. She is adorable, but discovered the kitchen has all kinds of interesting things (like a garbage can) and she could not resist trotting into the kitchen over and over.
Still she is a fantastic dog.
We watched the game kind of, but mainly we kept an eye on Reesey. . Bama won, but a real test will be next week when they face Texas.
Joys abound as long as you look for them, even if that joy is Spectrum messing up your ball game viewing. There is always something like Youtube TV to come to the rescue. (Metaphor here for that old one door closing another opening thing. I just want to make it personal)
