Snapshots: I Spy . . .

I made overnight cinnamon rolls for the recent birthday, and as always, one of the more challenging parts was getting those rolls warmed up again after a night in the refrigerator. Our house is 55 degrees when I get up in the morning. Yeast does not like that.

So I parked them in front of the woodstove that I always start first thing.

I was out in the morning feeding the horses and spied something purple in the middle of their paddock.

Can you see them? They are Poppy's socks.

I of course had to ask her when she got up why she left her socks in the middle of the horse pen. The answer I got was that she was in there for . . . something and only had her socks on and she took them off so they wouldn't get ruined. 

I had to point out that leaving them there was just as likely to ruin them as wearing them back into the house. 

Poppy asked me if we could play Scrabble the other day. I don't play Scrabble for points, and when I play with my kids, I always help them when they get stuck. The goal is not for anyone to win, but to use everyone's tiles by the end of the game. We usually end up with an irritating "q" or "j" that just can't be used, but this time, we did it.

I was particularly amused by the "beer" that was used to create "bevvy" there on the left. Our Official Scrabble Dictionary told me that bevvy is short for beverage, usually alcoholic. So appropriate. I was also very proud of my "patois," though surprised that was allowed, given that it's a French word.

Lookit the green things coming up!

Tulips!

Crocuses!

Daffodils!

In New York, the bulbs came in distinct order, but here they come up all at once. They don't all flower at once, however. The crocuses will be first. And then table flowers won't be far behind, yay!

And last, just a typical sunrise view of the bulls and steers in the windmill pasture across the road.

Morning on the range.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

Friday Food: Birthday Oreos

Friday

Short version: Cheeseburgers on homemade buns, oven fries, green peas

Long version: The first thing I made from the beef I had picked up at the butcher the day before was hamburgers. I was making bread, too, so I made buns for those.

Poppy requested the oven fries and green peas.

Saturday

Short version: Pork stir-fry, porky rice

Long version: I was home with just two boys this night, one of whom requested stir-fry. I had lots of leftover pork from the most recent pork shoulder, as well as enough fresh vegetables, so I made that. 

Obligatory vegetable beauty shot.

Carrots take a lot longer to get cooked all the way, so I always cook them separately.

In stir-fry, I prefer them in these short sticks, rather than coins.

I still had quite a bit of the liquid left from cooking the pork shoulder, too. I used some of that to cook the rice.

Sunday

Short version: Steaks with caramelized onions and garlic herb butter, mashed potatoes, green salad with vinaigrette, many Oreos

Long version: The cow we had butchered was quite fat, and the steaks were very well-marbled, much to A.'s delight.

The one boy who only considers steak properly served if it is accompanied with caramelized onions and herb butter was in luck: There was another box of dozens of onions left on Main Street for the taking. So I took some.

Okay, so I actually took a lot. And now there are onion skins all over the back floor of my car.

I made one whole bag into a pan of caramelized onions.

Also lucky for that boy is the immortal parsley still hanging on in the garden.

It's mostly the parsley right next to the wall that has survived. Hooray for micro-climates.

The eldest boy's birthday* was Wednesday, so of course, I needed to come up with a taste-test thing for him. So far this year, we've done root beer, Pringles, and ice cream. For this boy, who has a great love for Oreos, I wanted to find different flavors of Oreos. For months, I looked every time I was at Walmart for interesting flavors to buy and never saw any. And then all of a sudden right after the new year, there were lots of different flavors.

I bought seven different kinds and we tried them all.

Reese's peanut butter, "loaded" with crushed cookies in the creme part, tiramisu, dark chocolate creme, mint, golden, and lemon-flavored golden.

Unsurprisingly, every member of the family had a different favorite kind. I myself liked the ones with the dark chocolate creme in the middle.

And then we had literally hundreds of Oreos to plow through the rest of the week. The children rose to the occasion nobly.

Monday

Short version: Many leftovers

Long version: We were at a basketball game after school and didn't get home until a little after 5 p.m. Luckily, there were lots of leftovers to choose from. A. had steak and mashed potatoes. Two children had stir-fry. I fried the rest of the leftover pork, diced, with some of the leftover garlic herb butter and the rest of the leftover rice, then added frozen green peas to it, for the other two children.

I even had two hamburger buns left. Those I just cut in half, spread with the herb butter, and microwaved to melt the butter and make the buns soft. These were the children's favorite part of this meal.

And there were, of course, leftover Oreos. Of all kinds.

Tuesday

Short version: Barbecue meatballs, cornbread, raw bell peppers and radishes. And more Oreos.

Long version: I baked the meatballs and cornbread right before I left at 3:30 p.m. to bring Poppy to her First Communion class. I had left them covered with foil and asked eldest son to put them in the oven at 5:30 p.m. to re-heat. 

Teamwork is the name of the Tuesday-night dinner game.

Wednesday

Short version: Birthday lasagna, raw radishes, chocolate cheesecake

Long version: This was the new 16-year-old's birthday dinner request. I'm not sure he could have picked a heavier meal. Thankfully, his birthday was on the one day I didn't have anything going on right before dinner. Although I did make the cheesecake the day before anyway, and lasagna is a good make-ahead meal, so it would have been okay if I wasn't home.

Anyway.

I sort of use this recipe for lasagna now (minus the mushrooms), which is how I learned that a pound of lasagna noodles will actually fill a 10"x15" pan perfectly. Since that is the size pan I'm usually using, that works out nicely. I use both ground beef and loose Italian sausage, and I don't actually follow any recipe for the sauce. 

A 10"x15" pan full of lasagna weighs approximately a ton. Or at least, that's what it feels like. (Many pans of crispy rice treats in the background of this photo for Valentine's Day treats at school the next day.)

This year, the birthday boy requested a chocolate cheesecake. I make 3/4 of this recipe. I've never made a cheesecake that didn't crack, but this was the worst one yet.

It looked the worst like this, immediately after baking. When it cooled and sunk down a bit, it wasn't quite as bad.

My reign as Queen of the Ugly Cakes continues. But, as always, it tasted good. And there were Oreos in the crust, so we didn't miss a night having them. In case you were worried.

Thursday

Short version: Ham and rice casserole, leftover lasagna, leftover cheesecake, crispy rice treats

Long version: I had been planning to just have leftover lasagna for dinner, but then we ended up having a guest with us at dinner who doesn't eat gluten or much dairy. I was at a basketball game in the late afternoon and got home just in time for dinner, so I made the casserole ahead and just had A. put it in the oven for me with the leftover lasagna for half an hour or so before I got home.

The casserole was the rest of the ham from the freezer, diced, plus rice I made with the rest of the liquid from cooking the pork shoulder awhile ago. Also the remainder of the caramelized onions that were in the refrigerator, heavy cream, eggs, and grated cheddar cheese. Oh, and some frozen peas.

Ready to bake.

Refrigerator check:

A. forgot to get the Sysco milk Thursday afternoon, so there's lots of room in here for now.

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

* If you've been reading here from almost the beginning of this blog, I am sure it will be astonishing to you (as it is to me) that our tiny Cubby is now 16 years old. He is also over six feet tall. Craziness.

When Money Can Buy Happiness

At least, when a little money can buy a little happiness. Like this . . .

One of the extremely irritating places to me in my house is the pass-through. This is a spot where there were windows in the original trailer that became, well, glassless windows that lead into the added-on living room. 

There is a shelf there, and that is where our landline phone lives. Also the pencil sharpener, pens and pencils, tape, stapler, calculators, etc. It's basically like an office desk, which I do not have. 

That stuff was always all over the place on that shelf. Calculators spread out all around the phone, random pads of paper, pencils that had fallen out of the repurposed honey jars . . . It was a mess. All the time. And it drove me crazy.

Finally, and why this took me so long I do not know, I bought an organizer for this spot. I knew what I wanted to put in it already, so I looked for one that had the appropriate number and size of compartments. 

It cost me $25 and fifteen minutes to go from this:

Yuck.

To this:

Yay!

Of course, keeping it that way will require constant vigilance to put things away as they get taken out, but at least now I have somewhere to put them that is not just the general location of the shelf. And that is $25 very well spent.

Snapshots: Driving and Messes

Starting right off with a candle . . .

This one looked like a mushroom as it started to burn down, much to my amusement.

I spent much of Thursday driving. I was already planning on going to a basketball game, but then the meat processor called to tell us we could pick up our beef. This was not on the way to the game, at all, but rather directly to the east of the game. 

Our house is sort of the point of a triangle between the two towns I was going to, so I went first to the northeast to pick up the beef.

Over 100 miles of this . . .

To pick up this. I covered it with two sleeping bags to keep it frozen for the next six hours until I got home.

Then another 90 miles of this, due west.

And then about 60 more miles of driving after the game, but it was dark and I didn't take a picture.

I drove around 300 miles this day and never went through a town bigger than 3,000 people. The American West really does have some very empty places.

It's been warm the past few days, and I didn't even start the woodstove yesterday. It was nice to have a break from the mess.

Constantly sweeping up bark under the wood holder in the dining room.

And ashes from cleaning out the stove every couple of days.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

Friday Food: Frozen Egg Product, Yum

Friday

Short version: Chicken and vegetable soup, omelets, crepe cake

Long version: While I was pulling everything out of the big freezer in preparation for defrosting and cleaning it, I found a carton of Egg Product.

Goodie's Frozen Egg Product, to be specific.

This was an extra commodities thing. I can't remember how long I'd had it, but certainly long enough that it was well past time it was used.

I tested it first by cooking a bit of it plain in a pan, to see if I needed to disguise it in baking. It was unpleasantly grainy looking when I put it in the pan, but after it was cooked, it was just like, well, scrambled eggs. Since that is pretty much what it is.

So I used some of it this night to make omelets. Those also had cheddar cheese and ham (from the freezer) in them.

I had made the soup with the leftover chicken thighs and bones, simmered to make stock and then I used the meat, too, of course. Also in the soup was some of the calabaza I had cooked and pureed this day.

 A gallon of it went into the freezer first.

The soup also had finely chopped collard greens, carrots, potatoes, tomato paste, frozen peas, and frozen corn.

Everyone got a bowl of soup and some of the big omelet I made. A slightly random combination, but it worked.

The crepe cake was the last two crepes in the refrigerator, layered with sweetened whipped cream and homemade strawberry jam. 

Saturday

Short version: Spanish tortilla, concessions food

Long version: I left the house at 12:45 p.m. with the basketball player for his game and didn't get home until almost 9 p.m. That's because Poppy was cheering for the varsity games, which were after our basketball player's games. I made a Spanish tortilla with the rest of the Egg Product, plus potatoes, ham, salsa, and cheese, before I left. Those at home had that. The children who came to the games with me bought various things at the concession stand. I think two had nachos and one had a smothered burrito.

I brought the rest of the chicken and vegetable soup in my Thermos and had that in between games. Plus some of the Spanish tortilla when I got home.

Sunday

Short version: Cottage pie, baked fruit dessert

Long version: Standard cottage pie, with the addition of some of the pureed calabaza and finely chopped collard greens that have been so handy to have in the refrigerator.

To make the dessert, I used one quart jar of canned pears and one of canned apple slices. I didn't add any extra sugar to that, just cinnamon and cloves. The topping was oats, brown sugar, flour, butter, walnuts, spices, and some oatmeal I had made the day before and oversalted. This made a topping that wasn't exactly crisp, but it was tasty. 

Dinner and dessert in pans.

I pretty much made that dessert just to use up that oversalted oatmeal in a palatable manner, which it did. Yay, me.

Monday

Short version: Sausage patties, pinto beans, chicken-y rice, collard greens or raw bell peppers

Long version: I used the Great Value sausage to make the patties. The pinto beans had just already-cooked onion, the last of some roasted garlic I had in the freezer, a little bit of chicken stock, and tomato paste in them. I didn't even have to chop anything to make them, which was handy.

The rest of the chicken stock was used to cook the rice.

Dinner on the stove.

This was the meal we ate by candlelight, because it was Candlemas. There was nothing particularly liturgically significant about the foods, but the candlelight was fun.

Tuesday

Short version: Leftover cottage pie

Long version: I got home from First Communion class with Poppy, microwaved the leftover cottage pie, and that was it.

Wednesday

Short version: Pork, leftover rice, leftover beans, leftover collards, frozen corn

Long version: Another of the big pork shoulders, plus a bunch of leftovers. And frozen corn for the children.

Very brown.

Thursday

Short version: Burritos. etc. at home; Frito pie, etc. on the road

Long version: I went to an away basketball game in the afternoon. I left a mixture of pork, leftover beans, salsa, and spices for the ones at home to make burritos.

Before I went to the game, I went to the grocery store. In an attempt to get something relatively healthy that would tide me over until I got home, I bought an individual cup of Greek yogurt.

I assumed all Greek yogurt is full-fat. This was not. It was actually non-fat. Boo.

It was okay, but it would have been better with the fat.

When I got home, everyone was eating ice cream. I made myself some eggs. The basketball player wanted one, too, so I made him one. And then his brother wanted one, so I gave him one of mine. And then they each had a piece of bread with butter, too.

Refrigerator check:

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

A Day for Candles

I have talked a lot about my candles this winter. They have also featured quite frequently in photos here. I've gotten a lot of enjoyment out of those candles I've made from the stubs of blessed candles collected at church.

So imagine my delight when I discovered that yesterday was a day all about candles!

Specifically, it was Candlemas. I had no idea about this until A. and I showed up for daily Mass* in the village and we were handed candles for a procession before Mass started and told it was the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord.

Okay . . .

I had to look this up. Turns out, this feast is always forty days after Christmas and it commemorates, as the name says, when Jesus was presented at the temple by Mary and Joseph, as was the custom for Jewish boys at the time. When that happened, Simeon, a man also at the temple that day, called Jesus "a revealing light to the Gentiles."

And that is where Candlemas comes from. It's all about light. In some countries, it's the end of the entire Christmas season. It's also a day when priests would bless candles. 

I didn't bring any candles to be blessed, since I didn't even know what day it was. But I already have blessed candles in my house, thanks to the ones I made. So I decided it would be fun to have a candlelit dinner to celebrate Candlemas.

The children were very enthused about this. They thought we should turn off every single light in the house so it really would just be the candles illuminating the table.

A., however, really dislikes dim light at the table. The idea of eating by just candlelight was not really to his taste. I compromised by leaving lights on in the living room and kitchen and just having candlelight in the dining room.

And then I had double the candles for the bookcase in the living room.

I'm not sure I'm going to remember this every February 2, but it was fun this year, anyway.

* It's not actually daily, because we only have one priest to cover a lot of churches. So the "daily" Mass is only Monday and Wednesday mornings.

More Rime

I woke up yesterday morning before the sun, as always, and as I was putting my very curly hair into a bun, I thought, "Huh, my hair seems poofier than normal."

That would be because we were in the middle of a frozen cloud. Again. 

I got great amusement out of the fact that my hair is a barometer for humidity.

That cloud stayed around almost all day, unusually, which meant a rather gloomy day. Good thing I have so many candles to burn in the living room now!

See how the top half-inch of that candle is lighter than the majority? I did that on accident when I melted purple wax but didn't have quite enough to fill the molds, so I put some more white candles stubs in with the remaining purple wax to melt and then poured that on top of the wax already in the molds. By the time I got the lighter wax in there, the darker wax had solidified enough to make layers.

I don't know that I care enough to do it on purpose, but it was kind of neat. 

I go to bed as soon as I read books/pray/etc. with the kids at 8 p.m. They stay up to read until 8:30. This means that I go to sleep before my children. The other morning, I woke up to find that they had apparently been throwing the furniture around while I was in bed.

Come on, now.

That folding table is right next to the spot where the one boy typically reads with his feet up. I guess he just knocked it over, and all the books on top of it, on accident with his foot. Which, okay, but the question of why he didn't pick it up was the obvious one, and the one I put to him when he got up in the morning.

No satisfying answer was forthcoming, but he did pick it all up in the morning.

Incidentally, here's the backstory to that cheap wooden folding table. In 2002, I moved to New York with A. I left my job at the Arizona State Senate when I moved, and my co-workers there gave me a gift card to Bed, Bath, and Beyond as a going-away gift. I used that gift card to buy that table, which was our telephone table and one of the very few pieces of furniture in our first apartment for a long time. 

That makes that table 24 years old. It's lasted longer than the actual store it came from, because I think Bed, Bath, and Beyond closed all its stores a few years ago.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.