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charity, chocolate, cheesecloth, and chicken parm
November 17, 2014, 7:40 P.M.
Friday after work, I grabbed lunch at the Wendy's drive-thru (that's getting expensive!) and came home. Washed my electric blanket, and set up the clothesline in the basement to dry it. Took a nap with the B, got up and did more laundry, plus cleaned out & straightened the towel shelves in the linen closet.
Got one brief text from dad saying it he was okay, it was hot, and they were going to little cousin's rowing practice. That's all I've heard since he left. He must be busy!
When Spouse got home, he spoke to his brother on the phone and guess what? I have another fruitcake order! A dark one this time, with rum, not brandy. P really wants one, so of course I will do it. But I am going to end up spending the entire day--or even two days--making fruitcakes!
we went to dinner at the little supper club we like down in PP, and ran into an old friend, then had a car run into the bollards in front of the building and end up perched on top of one of them! That was a rather exciting floor show. Quite the kerfuffle, ambulance, fire, cops. No serious injuries, though, thank goodness. Had a lovely dinner otherwise, though. Decent Pinot Grigio, mozz sticks in wonton wrappers for an appetizer, a delicious salad, turkey & wild rice soup that was just sensational, and of course, the steaks (Porterhouse for him, rib-eye for me) and baked potatoes were wonderful.
We didn't do much else but go have dinner, come home, and relax; despite my nap, I was still feeling tired. And Spouse was wiped out after a long day.
On Saturday, I actually slept in quite late for me, then stayed in bed quite a while even after I woke up. Spouse got up and took care of the dog, and let me have a bit of a lie in, which is nearly unheard-of. Didn't roll out of the covers till nearly eight! Once I got some coffee in me and got motivated, we got cleaned up and headed out into the world. A good, solid breakfast at Tommy's, to provide a firm foundation for a lot of running around, then we were off.
First was Aldi's, for a supply of canned goods for the food pantry (2 dozen cans of vegetables, 2 dozen cans of chicken-noodle soup) and for some seasonal ingredients--Spouse found a recipe for peanut clusters that you make in the slow-cooker, and decided he wanted to try his hand at making it. So we picked up 2 pounds of dry-roasted peanuts, a pound and a half of chocolate almond bark, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and milk chocolate chips. Aldi is a pretty great place for that sort of thing; their prices are good and their quality is pretty decent. And since it was in the nature of an experiment, I didn't want to spend to much. After all--he may be a good cook, but I had to tell him what almond bark was.
Then we stopped at Menards for some basic supplies we wanted to get stocked up on, before heading to Gurnee. Spouse gets these fits now and again, where he wants to go to a different Sam's & Walmart. I hate it, because when you stick me in a store where I'm not used to the layout, I forget things (salad dressing). But he's weird that way.
I was getting pretty frustrated, because I'd been to four stores, three of which had fruitcake making supplies, two of which had actual canning sections...and I could NOT find any cheesecloth! (not food grade, anyway. Menard's had some industrial stuff in the painting section), an item which is an absolute must for the wrapping and curing process when one makes fruitcakes.
Once we were done shopping, we stopped at the food pantry, but nobody answered the bell, so we came home. Hauled everything in, put it away, and I re-booted the wash while Spouse brined some boneless ribs, changed the pad on the humidifier, and officially gave up on getting the water filter to work without leaking on the new kitchen faucet. And then he took a nap.
For dinner, I made little oven-roasted potatoes and shoepeg corn, he made BBQ ribs in the oven, and I did the dishes while he wiped down the kitchen and ran the vacuum around.
Since we gave up on Pur filter, we did some research after dinner on the best solution for filtered water. Since we really just use it for drinking and the coffee maker, we opted for a Brita pitcher for now, and Spouse wants to eventually put in an under-sink model. Since we had a rebate check for 10 bucks from Menards, and they had a pitcher for 9 bucks, we decided we would try it.
On Sunday, my effed up brain decided to make me pay for Saturday morning by getting me up a 3:30 and not letting me go back to sleep. After laying there in vain for over an hour, I got up, took care of the dog, stripped my bed, and threw the bedding in the wash. I had my coffee and enjoyed the quiet; I read for a bit and once Spouse was up, we decided we wanted to make breakfast. He is working on refining a method for home fries in the oven, so while he worked on that, I jumped in the shower. By the time I was dressed, his potatoes were nearly done, he had fried up some SPAM (yes, we do eat SPAM occasionally; we like it. ) and was ready to man the toaster while I scrambled up some eggs (he loves my scrambled eggs).
Once we were done, I cleaned up the kitchen while he took his turn at getting ready to go out, then he warmed up the car and swept the snow (light, negligible) off the walks. We ran out to Woodman's for a fillup and oil change, the to Menards for the pitcher, then we were headed over to the CVS and he noticed that the Salvation Army was congregating, so he pulled in and they took the donation in for us, saving us the trouble of having to run over to the Shalom Center. They were happy to get it.
While Spouse ran into the CVS to pick up his prescription, I popped next door to the Piggly Wiggly and grabbed a can of tomato paste--and MY CHEESECLOTH. Good old reliable Pig, they know it takes more than a few candied cherries to make a fruitcake!
Then we came home, and Spouse did the breaking on of the new pitcher while I put things away and brought my bedding up out of the dryer. The electric was dry by now, so I could make my bed up all fresh and ready for winter. Then Spouse was ready for some serious kitchen time: in addition to his grand experiment in candy-making, he wanted to make a batch of his fabulous marinara, as well.
He did his thing in the kitchen, and I dug out my mini-muffin pans and put the paper candy cups in them for later. My main contribution to the actual making of the stuff was to tell him to dump his peanuts into a colander and sift out the excess peanut dust and salt before he started. The beauty of the recipe is that you pretty much just dump everything into the crock pot and turn it on low to melt for a couple of hours.
So after he got that started, he made his sauce, and I worked in my room for a little while, getting it straightened up.
Then he called my aunt and talked to her for a while; my dad had managed to wash his hair without remembering to take out his hearing aids first, so they had spent the morning getting them dried out and working again. Way to go, Dad!
It sounds like they are having loads of fun running around and exploring, though.
When it was time to portion out the candy, we did it together--and by the time we'd done 5 dozen, he was bored and we were out of pans. So I did the last of it as simple peanut clusters on a wax paper-lined cookie sheet. I gave the pot a good scraping with a silicone spatula and wiped it out with paper towels while it was still warm, to make cleanup easier, and by then, the early morning was catching up with me. Keep in mind, we had done all this stuff and it wasn't even 1:30 yet! I decided to go have a nap in my nice warm bed.
I figured I'd read for a while, then take a short nap--but I couldn't keep my eyes open. And the next thing I knew, Spouse was telling me it was time to get up, because it was almost time for dinner.
While I was zonked out, he had made chicken parmesan, boiled noodles, and assembled a beautiful baked casserole type dinner, which was simmering away in the oven. And cleaned up the mess! All I had to do was help pack up the chocolates, and get myself a beverage. Dinner was, as always, fantastic. Added bonus, leftovers tonight.
Oh, and the candy came out pretty damned good too! We ended up with three plastic cookie tubs full-- one for him to take to work, one for me to take to work, and one to keep at home.
So, FWIW, that's the weekend. Forecast for this week is frigid temps & wind chills, and more snow possible. I got out the down jacket, gloves, earmuffs and scarf this morning, because SINGLE DIGITS. Guess I got the electric on the bed just in time!
Reading: "The Tryst", by Grace Livingston Hill and "The Moon Out of Reach", by Margaret Pedler--both 1921.
(I need to stop torturing myself with these two authors, but I just can't seem to stop!)
Listening: U2, The Killers, The National, Natalie Merchant
At Random:
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