The past week was a pretty low key week, which worked for me. It seems like our week's activities are either feast or famine where one week will be loaded and another will have little planned. To be honest I am kind of happy when the easier weeks follow a packed one. This week my only pressing need was to make tomato paste and freeze overripe bananas because I do not like to waste food. Next I have to figure out what to make from all those bananas.
Meals originally planned (pffft)
Veggie dinner TBD
Steak, tossed salad, french bread
Bulgogi chicken, rice, mixed green salad
Spaghetti with meat sauce, tossed salad
Out to eat
Big salad meal TBD
Some surprise meal, whatever sounds good, or is left over
vs
Joys and what really happened at dinner:
Monday: Spent most of the day at home, then went with TheHub to do a little running out and about, We had non plans to go to watch the sunset, but a road detour forced us to the road on the bluff. We pulled into our usual sky view spot and saw the most gorgeous orange ball dropping behind the earth leaving a brilliant pinkish orange sky. I have heard before there are no accidents or mistakes, just unplanned adventures. I think I agree.
We were headed to ThePig when we were sidetracked by the sun, and continued there to get a couple of things including their weekly free items. We planned on having a steak for dinner and ThePig is the only place I will buy one. Love their butchers.
Dinner: I had cooked earlier in the day to use the tomato paste I had made from our overly prolific tomatoes.
Spaghetti with meat sauce, tossed salad
Tuesday: The daytime was just a routine stay at home day, with some reading outside enjoying the slightly cooler temperatures. When TheHub came in he wanted to go to trivia. I think I have mentioned before we never play officially because we do not care about winning. Even if we won a gift certificate for beer from a local brewery we would not ever go to Southside just for a beer. We play strictly for the moral victory when we know things, but also understand if the questions have anything to do with current pop culture or music we will be clueless.
Tuesday dinner: Trivia at The Electric means no cooking for me.
Cuban sandwich, coleslaw
Wednesday: I woke very early for me, did some reading then went to my Wednesday class. I had just enough time when I got home to gather the ingredients and equipment I would need to take to IP. My Beloved Sister came over, and we headed across town to see our favorite people. Since we were making rice krispie treats I decided we needed to add a few things to it so more participants could have a hand in the making. I try to have enough steps so that each person can do some part of the recipe. Wednesday has the more folks than any other day, so a couple of them had to be the wait staff, but they even liked being the servers. BTW if you add peanut butter, and mini chocolate chips, you can add more steps to the end result. And as "A" (one of the participants told me) "This is right up my alley" (She loves sugary treats )
Wednesday dinner: The night was beautiful and would have been the perfect night for grilling, but TheHub was late getting home so I cooked inside. Thanks Angie for the inspiration.
Steak, farro kale tomato and herb salad
Thursday: I had a stay at home day and used it to do some decluttering. It was just a drop in the bucket of what I need to get rid of, but at least it was some forward motion. I also had nice phone calls with both Son1 and Son2, along with a catch-up call with my longtime friend "S" whom I have not spoken with in over a year. *
Thursday dinner: I did not feel like really cooking so I cooked the easiest thing I could think of.
Conecuh sausage, sautéed cabbage and onions, sliced tomatoes
Friday: This day was just a normal run of the mill day until early evening. During the day I mostly did more decluttering. I suppose that is what I am calling getting rid of things we have accumulated over our lives together that we no longer need or want. Why we did not get rid of all of it much earlier is the real question.
Once TheHub got home from work (even though he is retired) I rode with him while he ran a few errands. I was still in cleaning out the house clothes, and was only along for conversation because there was no way I was going in any place looking like I looked. If it were closer to Halloween I suppose I could have told everyoneI was dressed as a haint, and gotten away with it. As it was, I sat in the car while he ran in and out of a couple of places.
Friday dinner: While we were running around, TheHub decided he wanted veggies for dinner, so we stopped by Fried Green Tomatoes to grab a to-go order.
Pork chop, broccoli and rice, or catfish, lima beans and whatever else TheHub had
Saturday: We started the day running our Saturday errands, and found it was going to be the last week the produce stand would be open until the 3rd week in March. I am glad for them, but hate it for us, but growing seasons are finite here and we are at the end of it. Fortunately my tomatoes are still growing at the house and maybe I will get a few more weeks from them.
We had to be home early to watch Alabama barely squeak by South Carolina. Once that was over we read, did a few chores and mainly watched football the rest of the day. We were even stupid enough to set the tv to multi-view so we could watch 4 games at one time during the 6 pm time slot.
Saturday dinner: We still had a hankering for veggies and the stop at the produce stand certainly fueled that.
Lady peas, sautéed squash and onions, cucumber slices, tomato slices
Sunday: TheHub worked on our taxes while I did a little bit in the kitchen. Have any of you ever been trying to make something special and every aspect of it except for the taste failed?
TheHub has been craving a Boston Cream Pie (otherwise known as cake). I thought I would be nice and make one for him. When I was spitting the cake it was fine until I was ready to put the top half on top of the pastry cream (which did not thicken as much as it should have) and the top split into 3 pieces. The chocolate glaze ran over the cake top settling into the crevasses caused by the split then pooled around the bottom of the cake plate. Oh well, it tasted great and even if it was a big huge mess TheHub managed to eat 3 servings before he went to bed. I have to call it a serving because there was no way other than the first two cuts anyone could call them slices. In the end his mouth was happy even though it was definitely not eye candy.
Sunday dinner: Earlier in the week I had gathered things from the fridge that were nearing their end, and made a pot of soup. I intended to freeze it once it cooled, but luckily didn't.
Chicken vegetable soup, oyster crackers.
Meals moving forward (maybe)
Out to eat (dinner with friends)
Out to eat (trivia night)
Hamburger patty, saffron rice, green beans
Grilled tuna steak, baked potato, coleslaw
Veggie meal TBD
Eggrolls, rice
Paprika chicken, broccoli, rice
Books read in October:
Bicycles, Bloomers and Great War Rationing Recipes
Gambler Secrets from a Life at Risk
Have a great week staying on plan, going off plan, or with no plan at all.
May all your weeds be wildflowers.
Anne
* We made plans to go out to eat Monday night (which is tonight as I post this)
Enjoy your week. And how I wish my partner EVER had a hankering for vegetables. I worry (justifiably) that he doesn't get nearly enough of them. Or fruit.
ReplyDeleteWe both grew up having vegetable dinners during the summer months. We still enjoy them.
DeleteDoes it take a long time to get enough liquid out of the tomatoes to call it paste?
ReplyDeleteThese are Roma tomatoes and have a much higher flesh density than regular slicing tomatoes, but it still takes a while. A couple of hours simmering on low is about what it takes.
DeleteSounds like a good week, and the cake/pie sounds yummy. The fact that you make your own is impressive to me. My idea of simple cooking is quite different too.
ReplyDeleteThe stupid cake should have been a no brainer, but every facet of it messed up. IT was still really good but it looked like a Boston Earthquake cake
DeleteSounds like a wonderful week. Nice of your husband to volunteer his time at the office! :D
ReplyDeleteTrust me, he is not volunteering!
DeleteWonder what lady peas are...steak is my favourite meal.
ReplyDeleteThey are small green colored peas with a dark "eye". Unlike black eyed peas they cook a very light color. They might be known by another name elsewhere but in Alabama they are just called lady peas.
DeleteI wish we had a Pig nearby. I love Publix, but of late they're steaks have been hit-and-miss. We're right there with you on what passes for current pop culture/music.
ReplyDeleteThe butchers at my nearby Pig are fantastic and such personalized service.
DeleteWhat a lovely week. Wishing you a great day!
ReplyDeleteRampdiary
Thank you. It was a nice calm week!
DeleteI always remember my mom's Christmas cake, which she tried to decorate with "flat, smooth icing". This was in the days before you could buy the roll-out stuff. Well that never happened and next thing you would see her attack the "smooth" top with a fork and call it a snow storm. Never stopped us from eating it though!
ReplyDeleteWe would never let a crack or otherwise ugly cake stand in the way of us enjoying it either.
DeleteI never remember hearing of lady peas, but surely I have eaten them. I have had cookie disasters. So, I eat crumbles.
ReplyDeleteThey are the only fresh pea we eat, though I will admit to having dried black eyed peas on NYD.
DeleteThe Conecuh sausage has the best flavor, I like it for being an easy dinner too. The Boston Creme Pie sounds wonderful no matter how it looked. Taste is what matters. I made Bailey's birthday cake early and she had two pieces last night, so it must have been alright.LOL
ReplyDeleteI love Conecuh and keep it frozen portioned just enough for the two of us to have for one meal. Our local Costco carries a 4 pound pack of it. Once I am down to the last 2 portions of it, I buy another big package so I have some in the freezer 100% of the time.
DeleteHappy Birthday to Bailey. Advance cake sounds like a good thing to do.
That's not a fail, it's a Boston Cream Trifle!
ReplyDeleteOh yes! That is what I meant to make!
DeleteCake is still cake! or as some would say "it goes down the same"
ReplyDeleteI used to go to trivia every week up to lockdowns. It was never quite the same after that but I loved every minute
We just like the act of being mixed with a group even though we sit at our own table enjoying answering the questions but mainly watching others try to come up with the answers.
Deleteyes my weeks are also feast or famine. I do like the famine ones better :) Maybe the sunset was part of that amazing global aurora phenomenon of last week?
ReplyDeletecheers
sherry