kitchen experiments

DrumMajor commented on my kitchen experiments,,, nowhere near as many as when the kids were small and money was tight ! 

But I ended up with three kids who love to cook. My son Robb ( deceased) even went so far into bbq-ing for  some of QuikTrips's events and learning how to can! We made all sorts of tomato things , pickles and jams and jellies.

The girls will try anything!  Laurel brought back recipes from Morocco ( Peace Corps) ! 

 

Today , really last night, winter came back. The temps dropped and there was a dusting of snow. It is currently 22 F and if we are lucky it will go above freezing this afternoon. The next few days may not be much better... then back to Spring!  The lilac bush below my office window has small green leaves.

More blueberries

 I did another run through at the grocery store hoping to pick up more blueberries! There were more but the price jumped $2.00 a pint. Oh well... bought some anyway! Not the thing shoppers should be doing when trying to convince stores to lower their prices!

 My brother-in-law is still in the hospital. The doctors are still trying to find out what it wrong aside from the pneumonia. Lots of tests, a transfusion ( which made him feel better) and a shift to a single room which also made him feel better.

All of us - those of voting age - are heading to a petition signing this weekend... one to add a resolution to the Missouri Constitution  concerning abortion rights. The signing has to be done in person. 

Our dinner tonight will be an experiment... I bought some ground turkey when it was on sale . It is currently thawing in the fridge... a some sort of chili is going to be the result. I hope. Thank goodness Bob is pretty flexible about food and will even eat leftovers until they are gone.

Our teacher/daughter's students will be enjoying recess outdoors!! It is 64 F already (10.30am) !

Later... went up to 76F and the kids had a ball outside for recess!!

Divided up the meat, peppers and onions after cooking them. One half for chili tonight and the other half for something else. A little of "Better than Bullion" is making the chili more beef like... and lots of chili powder.... the final consensus was that it was ok, not great, but ok. So I will stick to beef for chili next time!! 

Family..

 First just a quick word about the blueberry crostata... it was wonderful! Only thing that could have made it better was wild blueberries from Maine!

Bob's youngest brother went to the ER in Rochester the other day and was admitted with pneumonia which has all the Kansas City family worried. Due to the spread of Bob's siblings way back when, Jamie has no one left in NY... and he has has medical issues before.

Bob and I have talked about Jamie's future but... 

 especially since Jamie has not told us of what he wanted/planned etc.

Joann's blueberry crostata

Blueberries  have been on sale this week and so I picked up a pint container! I decided to make Joann's ( Cup on the Bus blog) crostata for tonight's dessert.  It just came out of the oven and looks yummy. Bob was all set to ask for some until he saw that the blueberry filling was still bubbling away!!

So dinner is all planned.. green salad, jello with fruit, applesauce, fish and little roasted potatoes. Pick and choose... a little of this or a little of that!

Bob's Mother made fruited jello all the time and ever since his heart attack I have been making it for Bob.. comfort food!

Thursday's jaunt

 I decided it was a good day to get out of the house and do a little shopping. I went first to Hobby Lobby looking for some ideas for accessories for my bears and friends. Found lots of clearance displays but nothing I wanted/needed. Did find two rabbit scrapbooking papers...sum total of $.89 ..Big spender.

Then it was Aldi.. bananas, mushrooms, butter, Swiss cheese,  eggs and so on. Everything on my list! Was heading home when a huge SUV backed out of its parking spot almost into my front passenger door! If I had been sitting there I could have reached out the window and touched it! He/she stopped when I "laid" on the horn and drove back into his/her spot.

Went on home and collapsed! Bob unloaded the groceries!

Just as I arrived my grand daughter called and a nice phone call settled my nerves. She told me her Spanish professor wants her to go to Buenos Aires on a 6 week summer program. The professor will help her apply, get scholarship money and fill in details. All in all... Lili has lots to think about. Evidently Lili has an aptitude for languages ( Just like her great grandmother who knew 3 languages and learned a fourth - Russian- in her 50's)

BTW... aside from taking college Spanish Lili is learning colloquial Spanish from her kitchen coworkers! Gosh darn it... she finds learning a language to be easy! 

Winter is back

 It has been snowing , but tiny tiny flakes, since I got up this morning. And it is colder than it has been lately. We have about 2 -3 inches.. so far.

The trees have started budding and daffodils are about 3 inches tall...hopefully this bit of winter won't be too bad on all this springtime growth. 

Later in the day... the snow is gone from the street of our cul-de-sac and melted to about half on the grass!! 

Car ride downtown

 Bob and I drove downtown this morning... No, not to go to the KC Chiefs' parade but for my hair cut appointment. We were a little apprehensive... afraid that traffic would be awful but we were early enough that traffic wasn't a proble.!!

Actually the reason for this posting was not the traffic.. nor the Chiefs' parade... but all the litter along the roads. All roads.. not just small Blue Springs roads, larger Kansas City roads and worst of all I70 (the interstate)!!

I was appalled... the worst place looked like a whole truckload had fallen to the side of the road and the trash bags had burst and  scattered all over.

It seems to me that there used to be more trash pick-er-uppers taking care of things. Yes there still are some and some charitable organizations do it .... but it seems like there is much more litter now !!

WELL...the KC Chiefs' celebratory parade turned into another mass shooting. Latest I heard was one dead and up to 20 injured including quite a few children.