Did I mention that I made applesauce? No? Well, I did. Turns out it’s very relaxing. Just a lot of loitering and stirring while the apples mushify.
Now I’m baking molasses cookies and the house smells like Christmas.
Again, more loitering while the cookies bake.
I could get used to this.
Books at the Horned Dorset, where we had Easter Dinner.
Now that I’ve purchased MacJournal, I better start using it.
But for now, it’s off to bed to watch The Real Housewives of NYC.
My mother recently gave me copy of the Westminster Church Cook Book from 1924. The ads are hysterical and the recipes themselves are maddeningly vague. Tonight it struck me…I think I’ll post a recipe a day. Maybe I’ll even try a few. MAYBE.
We’ll start with SOUPS AND CHOWDER—
Clam Chowder
25 clams, 4 potatoes, 2 onions, 1 carrot, 1 tomato, 1/2 pound of salt pork, milk to suit taste. Add few cracker crumbs toward the last to thicken if desired.
Chop pork fine and fry in a separate pan until brown. Then take out some of the fat. Add the finely chopped onions, and fry brown; then put into a kettle and add a quart of boiling water, and clam liquor which has been boiled and skimmed. Then add vegetables chopped fine. When all is tender put in the chopped clams; Last of all add the scalded milk to suit taste.
–Mrs. J. A. Drew
Or the-ate-er, as Fred says, to annoy me. Which it does. We went to a chamber ensemble performance Saturday night, and though we were floppy with fatigue from the move earlier in the day, and weren’t sure what to expect, we enjoyed it. Enough, anyway. Afterwards there was a post-performance reception with free snacks…chicken fingers, veggies & dip, fresh fruit, and mini cream puffs and eclairs. Mini foods are tricky. Because they’re mini, it seems okay to eat a pile of them. Which I did. Or was it TWO piles?
Friday at last. The work day was busy enough to fly by but calmer than the hair-tearing pace of yesterday. I actually exhaled a few times. And peed. And drank a little water. Some days there’s no time for such luxuries.
Because we get zero kids for Halloween (busy street, no sidewalks) we headed out for dinner at our new favorite little hole-in-the-wall restaurant, Bennu. Well, dinner was actually an enormous beef quesdilla and a California wrap, which we split. Bennu’s owned by the same guy who runs our favorite pizza joint, and it’s just a few doors down from the pizza place in the same barely-hanging-on shopping center. Despite it’s shopping center location, this place has atmosphere with a capital A. It’s casual, the food’s great (and cheap), and the decor is calming and fun. Halfway through the quesadilla, I could feel my shoulders relax.
Now, fresh from the hot tub, I’m downright floppy. Monday, with its ringing phones and panicked jumble of requests, feels very far away.
Filed under: Good eats
The cookbook, Betty Crocker’s Good and Easy Cook Book (circa 1954) is falling apart, but holds some never-fail recipes. Meatballs. Brownies. Even how to heat up those new-fangled canned vegetables (“Merely heat- do not boil.”). There are some clunkers, too. Like “Beef Birds,” which involve flank steak, mustard, and dill pickles. My head hurts just thinking about them.
Anyway…there are meatballs in the oven, and this is Day 1 of Project 365.
Despite this being a three day work week, it felt LONG. Like, I keep thinking it’s Friday. But it’s Wednesday. And Thanksgiving Eve. I’m all disoriented.
We had some tasty leftovers for dinner, then took a nice walk with the boys. (So what else is new?) It’s calm and almost mild…good night for a spin around our usual route. I hate wind. No wind tonight so it’s all good.
We picked up just a few groceries, then came home and watched “Notes On a Scandal.” But right now there’s SU basketball blaring from the speaker above my head. I like basketball about as much as I like wind, so it might be time to settle down with my book.
I’m reading about “Sabbath keeping.” Not keeping it in any orthodox or Amish sense, but setting a day apart to stay away from all things related to work. To recharge and explore other things. To ignore the damn to-do list for one whole day. To make up my own rituals for my own Sabbath. So far, I’m intrigued.
Tomorrow: Cinnamon buns early, then a date with some sweet potatoes. Oh, and a bit of a feast at my sister’s.
Exhale.
Living with intention...or not 