A Creature of Habit

I am, for sure, a creature of habit. To a rather ridiculous degree, actually. I remember in college talking with a friend about how I always dried myself off after a shower in the same order--face first, then on down, ending with my feet before I stepped out of the shower--and she totally did not get this. Which left me feeling all confused. Like, do people NOT do this? Do people just dry themselves off all willy nilly?

Does not compute.

Another example of this is breakfast. I eat the same thing every morning: two fried eggs with salsa. On days I run, I add a piece of toast with butter. 

One of the running days, obviously.

I suppose this is the food equivalent of a capsule wardrobe. It removes one more decision that I do not want to have to make on already-busy mornings. Plus, I like it. Why wouldn't I want to eat what I like every morning?

Do you do this? Or are you like my college friend, all wild and free and eating something different every morning?

Snapshots: Successful Delegation

Anyone who has been reading here for a (very) long time may remember how frequently the muddy clothing my family created in New York had to be rinsed in a bucket before I could even put it in the washing machine. I did not enjoy the bucket rinse, and I don't miss it. It's much less common here at our home in the arid high-altitude west.

I do still occassionally have to use the bucket, though, including this past week after a session of work under the project truck left me with two sets of manly clothing covered in dirt and grease.

Out came the bucket. But now, I have an apprentice.

And here she is, jamming a stick into the bucket to agitate the clothing.

She loved this activity, and I loved that I didn't have to do it myself. Happiness all around.

The same girl played a very good April Fool's prank on me. I don't actually like pranks at all, but this one was inoffensive and actually pretty funny.

She set up her American Girl doll as me reading in bed. Perfect.

We woke up to a blizzard yesterday morning.

Complete with 30-mile-an-hour winds blowing in all directions.

Thankfully, I had already brought some spring inside for the table.

Poppy decided we needed to have some spa time since we were stuck inside all day. I declined to do a face mask or makeover, but we did have a little foot spa. We soaked our feet in Epsom salt water with marbles in it, she gave me a foot and hand massage with lotion, and then she painted my toenails for me.

I let her choose the color, too.

And last, I have discovered my medium-sized Pyrex lids fit perfectly on these large cereal bowls the MiL gave us a few years ago.

Handy.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

Friday Food: Starring Leftovers and Apricot Jam

Friday 

Short version: Spanish tortilla, cucumbers with ranch dip, leftover chocolate pudding

Long version: Meatless Fridays continue, this time with a Spanish tortilla minus the bacon I usually add. And since the one child who dislikes bell peppers wasn't home for dinner, I could add some of the bell peppers that came with the salad my friend gave us. I don't much care for bell peppers in salad, but I like them in Spanish tortilla.

Saturday

Short version: Asian-ish pork butt, porky rice, still-frozen green beans

Long version: I cooked a pork butt this day, but instead of broiling it with barbecue kind of spices or maple syrup and mustard, as I usually do, I instead used brown sugar, soy sauce, and ginger to season it after I had pulled it apart for broiling.

This was very good, and very popular with the family.

I cooked the rice in the juices from cooking the pork butt. 

The green beans were the ones from the garden I froze in the summer. They have a very unpleasant sort of sharp taste, and I think it's because I was lazy and didn't blanch them this year. There's a similar flavor in the carrots I didn't blanch and then froze, so I think I've learned my lesson with blanching. Most people say it's to maintain the texture; I think it makes them taste better. So I will blanch from now on. Amen.

Sunday

Short version: Frito pie, jam tarts

Long version: I made some chili with ground ram, and then I used that to make Frito pie for dinner. Except, of course, with the Walmart store-brand chips, so it was really Crunchy Corn Chip Pie.

The tarts I made with the one pie crust that was in the freezer. I just rolled it out, cut out circles with the top of a wide-mouth jar, put strawberry jam in half and apricot jam in the other half, then crimped them closed and baked.

I inevitably overfill them and have to remove some of the jam.

These were very well-received. Most of the family preferred the apricot ones slightly, but no one refused the strawberry ones, either.

Monday

Short version: Custom beverages, pork and potato skillet, buttered toast

Long version: I came home from work to one child who had an upset stomach, one who had a bad throat, and one who had had a brutal track practice. The bad throat got creamy tea. The bad stomach got switchel. The worn-out trackster got maple milk (just milk with maple syrup).

And then I microwaved some potatoes, chopped them up, and fried them with leftover pork butt, spices, and grated cheddar for the few who were actually eating.

Dinner is served.

The bad stomach started to feel better after dinner and requested toast. And so, of course, his siblings also requested toast. So they all got some toast with butter. We'll call that dessert.

Tuesday

Short version: Jambalaya revisited

Long version: When I made jambalaya for Fat Tuesday, I had enough ingredients to make a double batch. So I made it all except adding the rice, and froze half of the sausage and chicken mixture. That's what I took out of the freezer for dinner this day, along with a container of chicken stock and chicken meat, because the jambalaya mixture didn't have enough stock in it to cook the rice.

I just added the stock to the sausage and chicken and cooked the rice in it. Easy dinner. Also very tasty.

Wednesday

Short version: Leftover ram chili, yogurt with apricot jam

Long version: There was quite a lot of chili left, so those who were eating had it just as chili in a bowl.

I had a salad with some of the leftover pork in it. I didn't have much lettuce washed and didn't want to bother washing more, so my salad was one small lettuce leaf, the pork, some feta cheese, and quite a lot of pickled onions and radishes, with the pickling juice as the dressing. Thanks to the radishes, it was a very pink salad.

I was very hungry, so I ate this as I was getting everyone else's dinner ready. Then I sat down at the table with my dessert/second course, which was a rye cracker with cream cheese and apricot jam. 

Everyone else had yogurt with apricot jam for their dessert/second course. I can never make too much apricot jam in the summer.

Thursday

Short version: Leftover jambalaya or chili, cornbread

Long version: A. got the last of the ram chili. The children who were eating--only two, as one was sick and one was gone-- had the jambalaya. I made the cornbread as a consolation prize for serving leftovers for the fourth night in a row.

Also, the one child who was recovering from his stomach upset could eat the cornbread.

I had another salad, with pretty much the same ingredients as the night before. Except this time I added some pickled beets, which made it extra pink.

My new salad color palette, apparently.

Refrigerator check:

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

The Mystery Kitchen

I have a habit of re-using things, especially in my kitchen. I hate to only use a jar or container one time and then throw it away. I keep the plastic jars A.'s instant coffee comes in, the empty containers of cottage cheese and sour cream, any glass jars, ziploc bags if I can easily wash them (so not if they've had anything really greasy or raw meat in them), and of course, canning jars and lids get used over and over again. 

Most of these things end up in my freezer at some point, and I always label things I put in my freezer, on the lid with a permanent marker. Most of my food containers have been labeled more than once. Sometimes so many times I run out of space on the lids or on the bags.

It's kind of funny to track what's been in the containers with that particular lid.

One lid is new and still has the original label. The other one? First it had chicken stock, then ham stock, then pinto beans, and now the jambalaya base I froze last month.

This lid first had pressure-canned pinto beans in 2023, then rooster stock in 2023, then sauerruben in 2024.

What this means is that you can never trust the lid that's on a container to actually tell you what's in that container. That canning jar lid, for instance, is currently on a jar containing pickled radishes and onions. It's not sauerruben.

Likewise, sour cream or cottage cheese containers are just as likely to have leftover baked beans or tomato sauce in them as the dairy products suggested by their labels.

This is why when my sister visits, she always holds up whatever she's taken out of the refrigerator and asks what's really in it. Because it really could be anything, and only I can tell for sure.

So tell me: Do you do this? Or do all your containers tell the truth about their contents?

Snapshots: Roadtrip

I had to go get milk yesterday, which meant a 120-mile drive, roundtrip. 

At least it's 120 miles of no traffic, though.

Poppy asked to come with me and had a great time. She chattered and sang with the music and read her book.

Benji, in case you were curious.

I let her pick out a snack to eat on the way home, so she munched her Pringles and juice (and read the ingredients on them) and finished Benji.

She's a good travel buddy.

At home, the daffodils continue to bloom.

The white ones are starting to open now.

So of course, I have some on my table.

Also, the little peach tree in the garden has flowers on it.

Possible future peach, Lord willin' and the grasshoppers don't eat it.

The row of tulips on the other side of the garden wall are better protected now that I've surrounded them with rocks to keep the dogs off of that spot.

One of the tulip crushers, looking very innocent now that he can't lie down on the flowers anymore.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

Friday Food: A Little Help from My Friends

Friday 

Short version: Meatless fried rice, canned peaches and cottage cheese

Long version: I had leftover rice in the refrigerator, so I gave A. the choice between fried rice with just eggs, or a Mexican-ish skillet of food with the rice and chili beans.

He chose the fried rice.

It was very cheerful-looking before I added the brown soy sauce.

The peaches were a jar of home-canned peaches. Some ate them on their own, some with cottage cheese.

Saturday

Short version: Oven-barbecued chicken pieces, potatoes, leftover baked beans, raw radishes

Long version: One package of separated chicken leg quarters, which meant I had four drumsticks and four thighs. I coated these in a spice mixture similar to the one we use for ribs--paprika, garlic powder, chili powder, salt, brown sugar--which makes them very tasty and also helps the skin brown nicely, what with the sugar in there.

I only made one pan of them because we had the baked beans, too. And since I had room on the pan, I added some potato chunks to roast on there, too.

The radishes were definitely an afterthought. I wish I had remembered the frozen green beans that really need to be used. 

Sunday

Short version: Creamy chicken soup or leftover fried rice, crispy rice treats

Long version: I used the bones from the night before to make stock, and then soup. With the one chicken thigh that had been left, there was just enough meat for the soup. To that I added celery, carrots, potatoes, peas, sauerruben, and sour cream.

Those who avoid soup had the leftover fried rice.

Monday

Short version: Ravioli lasagna, bread, green salad, chocolate chip cookies

Long version: I did not make any part of this meal. It was given to me by a friend at school. Our family has had a rough couple of weeks, and my friends have been showing their support by giving me food. This was a particularly welcome day for it, as I had no clear idea of what I was going to make for dinner after work and probably would have just cobbled together random unexciting leftovers.

The lasagna was made with ravioli in place of the noodles, which was, as you might imagine, very good.

Complete with baking instructions. And two HUGE loaves of bread.

Tuesday

Short version: Beef 'n' bean quesadillas, raw radishes

Long version: I had some chili beans still in the refrigerator that needed to be used, so I used the last of the beef roast from my other friend, plus the beans, to make the quesadilla filling.

Not exciting, but good enough to fill everyone up.

Wednesday

Short version: Leftovers, cucumbers

Long version: One child had baked beans and bread and butter. Everyone else had the leftover lasagna.

Thursday

Short version: Barbecue meatballs, mashed potatoes, green salad with ranch dressing, chocolate pudding with cream

Long version: I made the meatballs with ground elk. And, as is so often the case, I made the chocolate pudding because I had milk that was on the verge of going bad. Somehow, the pudding came out slightly grainy this time for unknown reasons. Alas.

Refrigerator check:

Lots of leftovers, but no milk.

In our ongoing milk drama, I forgot to order milk from school this week, and the tiny store closest to us is closed for the weekend already. This means I must venture farther afield for milk. Luckily, A. discovered that the next-closest town to us--60 miles away--has good milk at the dollar store there. I guess they have a different supplier than the grocery store in that town, whose milk is always just about to go off. So it looks as if a trip to the dollar store is on my agenda this weekend. Maybe I can get a new shower curtain rod while I'm there.

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

Twists and Turns

Last weekend, I went down the hill to pick up one son at his friend's house after he stayed there overnight. This friend is the son of one of my friends. Also the brother of Poppy's best friend. So I've been to their house several times.

They live on a giant ranch that employs many cowboys, all of whom live at and are in charge of what are called "camps." Each man--they are all men--manages his own camp on this huge operation, and they all gather and help each other in turn for big events like branding or shipping. 

Because of the size of this ranch, many of the camps are quite remote. A couple of families there that send their children to our school live almost twenty miles from the nearest paved road. Every time they come to school, they first drive forty minutes on a really rough dirt road, and then at least another half hour on the paved road. Getting to town is more like two hours for them.

This house I went to last weekend is comparatively convenient. It's only about half a mile of dirt road, and they're only about a 20-minute drive to the school. It still feels very remote to go to their house, though, because there isn't anything else around it.

I took this photo on the dirt road to their house.

And this is their house compound as I approached it. That building on the right is a barn.

I am often confronted here with the fact that nothing about my life now is at all how I thought it might be when I was younger. I mean, I grew up mostly in suburbs, graduated from a competitive college-prep high school, had a political internship right out of college that turned into a job in state government that I probably could have done indefinitely if I had wanted to (which I emphatically did not).

The path that led from that to this was surprising and circuitous. And I don't regret any of it. This unlikely place feels the most like home to me of anywhere I have lived, which is a lot of places.

I don't think it's that unusual to end up far from where your younger self might have imagined your life to be. It's just interesting to reflect on.

Which leads me to ask: What about your current life would be the most surprising to a younger you?