In anticipation of the upcoming rain, I made Chickpea Vegetable Curry. It is hot and spicy and full of vegetables. It has chickpeas, potatoes, broccoli, tomatoes and kale. Yum!
Today was gloomy most of the day so I took a bath. Lucky is feeling better after another bout of stomach issues. We just took it easy today since Lucky had me up at 5am to go outside.
Until tomorrow...
I finally finished the Contemporary Italian Cuisine chapter of my Vegan Cooking Course. I am so excited. This chapter was just not much fun. I don't know why but maybe because I already did an Italian cooking chapter and an Italian pastry chapter. I am looking for something different. I have the cooking course for another year so I have more time to finish the remaining chapters and see what other chapters they come up with.
I made over the last few days: Roasted Vegetable Plate. This is not the roasted vegetable plate I get in restaurants. This is fancy. The bottom layer was potato mash but not American potato mash. This was potato with lemon juice and zest. Then it was supposed to have spring onions and chives. I left those out because I don't eat onions. The next layer was wine poached leek and a roasted shallot. I did not eat the shallot. Then roasted vegetables with hazelnut breadcrumbs on top. I made the hazelnut breadcrumbs. Then there are crunchy lentils to add some crunch. Then I made my own vegetable jus. There was supposed to be onion jus but between my dislike of onions and the salmonella going around, I thought it best to skip this. It tasted amazing. The roasted veggies were cauliflower, celery root and pumpkin. It had so many elements that really went so well together.
Basically that was the whole day. I just finished watching The Farewell. I really liked it a lot. I took Lucky for the first walk since my 3 mile trek that hurt my legs. We did fine. I think I will get back to walking. It rained all day but not hard. The backyard looks great.
Until tomorrow...
My backyard looks amazing! I couldn't get a photo because the gardener finished when it was dark. He worked for 11.5 hours and he isn't done. I wish I took a photo before he started. It was such a mess. The ivy was overgrown, there were leaves everywhere, there were weeds all over and it was complete disarray. The first day he cleaned up the leaves and started cutting down the ivy. Today he cut down the rest of the ivy, trimmed some trees, weeded the sand pit and herb garden, and swept up. He has some more weeding to do, cleaning up a little and he is going to power wash the slate. I am so excited to get the backyard in a place I want to spend time again. He even spoke to my neighbor about trimming his tree where it comes over the property line. I hate his pine tree because some of it is dead and it drops the dead parts on my side of the fence all year long.
The ivy is cut back to the fence and it isn't pretty but I am happy to get rid of the ivy anyway I can. I can't stand it. I can't understand why anyone would plant it.
The big "mother-in-law tongue" plant is gone. It was beautiful when it was put in but then it continued to grow and grow. It grew too big for the space. It was also dying a bit. He dug it out and got rid of it. The area looks so much bigger now. I can't wait to see what else we can do to make it a wonderfully relaxing space.
Until tomorrow...
Happy National Chocolate Day! I decided to make Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies. I made more little cookies. What the heck! It is Chocolate Day!
I had two guys at my house today. First the handyman came to finish the job sealing leaks. He sealed my stairs with hopes that would stop any leaks. He was nice enough to carry down my old microwave down to the garage.
Then my new gardener came and worked for 4 hours on the backyard. He is coming back tomorrow to finish up. He dug out a large plant that was half dead that I wanted gone. It was too large for the space. It looks great now that it is gone. The backyard is going to look great. He already filled three big bags and my compost bin.
That was basically my whole day. Managing workers. That's why I made cookies.
Until tomorrow...
I started cooking again. I am feeling a bit better today. My flare is subsiding a bit so I decided to try finishing the final dish in my Contemporary Italian chapter. Once I finish this dish I am thinking of taking a short break before starting the next chapter. I have been going at this cooking course pretty hard and I would like to make some food I actually want to eat for a change.
Today I made some roasted vegetables for the dish I am preparing. Since I was making a small amount for the dish, I made more for myself for dinner. I made roasted cauliflower and celery root. It turned out really tasty.
Tomorrow I am going to finish the dish and be done with Italian food.
Until tomorrow...
The WiFi finally came back on at 3am. It went off at 1:30 pm. Ugh. At least I had it today.
Today was another crazy day. I got a notification that my new microwave was being delivered a day early. I was also scheduled to be at the dental specialist. I texted my neighbor to see if he could keep an eye out in case it got delivered while I was at the dentist. It came after I got home.
The dentist drilled through my calcification and got to the root canal and got the infection out. He said it was pretty bad. It is done and now I get another crown.Yippee! I started wondering when we stopped pulling out teeth and started putting on crowns. It would be a lot cheaper to pull the sucker out. This tooth costs more than my first car.
Then I got home and my handyman came over the did the repairs. He said it was the crazy storm that caused the leaking but he shored up the two places and is coming over tomorrow to seal my stairs. It is a yearly thing to do. Then he tackled my shower drain. He said he wasn't sure he could do it but then he pulled a clump of hair out of the drain and all the water went down. I swear I don't know how I am not bald. All that hair. It was different when I had 1" hair, it never clogged the drain.
Then the microwave arrived. The box was huge! I thought there was no way it would fit on my counter. I had to measure and make sure of the measurements of each microwave the store had. I finally found one that fit, had a good review and cost a decent amount. I took off the packaging and put it on the counter and it fit. It is bigger than my old microwave but it still fits. Just. I have it turned on but I need to try it.
I did a zoom course on meditation during crisis. It was okay. Not exactly what I thought it would be.
Until tomorrow.
I couldn't post earlier tonight because I had no WiFi for hours. I finally did this post from my phone. Then I looked at my phone and I used all my data and it is only a few days into my month. I had to shut down my phone.
It is amazing how much we depend on WiFi for everything. I had no TV, no movies, no access to my phone without using my data plan, no zoom, no email, no Instagram. I kept reaching for things and realized I could not do them. I had a zoom meeting that I had to call into. I had to figure out how to call into a zoom. I had a board meeting that I could not attend in "Person" but had to call into. It was so frustrating. I had a doctor's appointment that I had to do over the phone instead of Facetime. Then I wanted to watch something on my phone but I didn't know my password and couldn't use the WiFi to get it. Just one thing after another.
It really amazes me how dependent we are on our internet companies. I finally gave up when I realized I used up all my data and read a book. I did buy some more data for the rest of the month but I am being really careful with it because it isn't very much.
That was most of my day.
Until tomorrow...
I am feeling better today but still not 100%. In case you haven't heard, the West Coast of the USA is having "bomb cyclone, atmospheric river blasts". The rain was crazy today. Not only did the rain come down in buckets, the sound of the rain/weather was so loud. In all my years I have never heard any noise like this during a rain storm. It sounded like the beginning of a hurricane. It was a roar that went on for hours. I kept checking my ceiling to make sure there were no leaks. I found two leaks: one under my front stairs and another near my side entrance. I checked my trees to make sure they were still standing. Trees all over the place were falling. Electricity was out all over the place. There was flooding all over but not near my house. I did hear a chain saw so I assume a tree fell somewhere close. It was an amazing and cold day.
Lucky and I snuggled up and watched a few movies. We prepared just in case the electricity went out. That was our whole day. I was afraid to do laundry between the fear of loosing electricity and flooding.
I did go online and buy a new microwave. My microwave has reached it's life limit I think. It is acting funny and I am hesitant to use it. I think it may be older than when I moved into my house which means 17 years ago. I am due for a new one. I had to get a microwave that fits my space since it goes in a specific location.
Until tomorrow...
I know this is not an exciting post by my fingers hurt and my hands hurt and my feet hurt. But I guess my feet aren't really relevant to this discussion. Typing is not helping my hands and fingers so I am going to make this short and sweet. I slept to 10 am this morning. I am lucky to have a sleepy dog. I stayed on the couch all day except to take a shower finally. I wanted to stay in bed but I put this drain stuff down my drains in my downstairs bathroom and it smelled so my second choice was the couch. I watched Mercy and now I am about to watch Jumanji 2.
Until tomorrow...
Today was a bad day. My rheumatoid arthritis is flaring like never before. My dog Lucky wanted to pee at 5:38 am and I could barely get out of bed and walk. I stayed out in my PJs and robe all day. My hands hurt super bad. I don't want to complain too much. Lucky and I stayed in bed until 9:30 am. She was such a good girl.
I watched TV and worked all day. I just stayed still. I am sure I will feel better tomorrow.
Until tomorrow...
The dental saga continues. Today I went to the dental specialist and had a consult. I had an x-ray and then a special 3-D x-ray that was super cool. It showed a 3D view of my whole head.
The dentist explained to me that after he took the x-ray he was able to see that my original dentist was drilling in the correct location and that there is a root canal but he couldn't see if there was a problem. He explained that he could do the root canal without the 3D view but it could mean I could loose the tooth if there was a problem that he could not see. Or it could come out fine. He didn't have enough information. I said to go do the 3D view and I was glad I did it. First, it was cool and second it showed that my original dentist drilled a bit off course. He said that was easy to do since she didn't have the special equipment he has. He said now he has the information and it will be easy. I am not as confident as he is because I know my teeth but I will be patient.
I worked the rest of the day. Just a boring day. It rained all day.
Until tomorrow...
Okay, the days just keep coming.
This morning I had to take Lucky to an emergency veterinarian appointment because late yesterday I thought she ate one or two screws. I was working on my new desk and I left the desk for about an hour while my drill was charging and Lucky was walking around back in the office. I didn't think anything about it at the time. Then I came to drill the screws and they were gone. I searched the house 5 times. Every surface, the floor, in couches, in chairs, clothes, the garbage, everywhere. No screws. Then I thought Lucky was not feeling well the past few days maybe she thought they were treats. They were small screws. But no, she hates anything that doesn't smell like food. She won't even go near if I accidentally drop my medicine. She hates most anything. But she does love to steal my stuff to get attention: pens, post-its, paper, my checkbook, etc. Maybe she stole them and accidentally swallowed them. I was beside myself. I called the vet and they calmed me down and said nothing would happen that night. This morning I took her in after one last sweep of the house, and she had her stomach x-rayed. Of course, no screws. But it wasn't a total loss, they saw she was horribly dehydrated from feeling so poorly over the last few days so they gave her some meds and liquids.
I got home and once I was relaxed I found the screws. I don't think looking for something when you are panicked is a good idea. I finished putting the desk together and used physics to stand the desk up by myself using books, foot stools and boxes. It worked perfectly. The standing desk goes up and down.
Until tomorrow...
I woke up at 5:25 am to take the large trash out to the curb for them to take away. I had it all done in 12 minutes since I prepped it all yesterday. I was back in bed by 5:47 am and snuggled up to Lucky. The garbage men didn't come until 9:30 am. Glad I woke up at 5:25 am. (sarcasm)
I had a phone call with my nutritionist at 9:00 am. I didn't have much to tell him since I have been on and off Orencia for the past three months and not feeling very good.
I started to put together the new desk. I was doing really good. I got the legs of the desk all together and then I needed a drill and that's where it all went downhill. I had to charge the drill. That took an hour. Then some other things happened and I lost steam. I will pick it up again tomorrow.
That was basically my whole day besides having a dog with a tummy ache who followed me around all day.
Until tomorrow...
Two good things happened today. I put together the first piece of furniture from my delivery. I put together the table with a glass top. This table is a side table for items that I do not want on my desk. I could not find a corner desk that I liked so I bought a desk and table instead to make a corner "desk".
I am hoping it will all look okay when it is finished.
Then the dishwasher repair person came and was at my home for less than 20 minutes. He fixed the handle on my dishwasher. He said my dishwasher seems in very good condition. I am so happy to get my dishwasher back. It is really hard to be an up-and-coming chef without a dishwasher.
There was no walking today but I did take the heavy pieces of my old desk downstairs to get them ready for tomorrow's 6am pick up from the garbage company.
I have to get up very early to bring the items outside so I am going to bed early.
Until tomorrow...
My new desk was delivered today. I am so excited. I did not start assembling it yet because I still have pieced of my old desk in my office and I need to get those out of the house first to make room to assemble the new desk. The old desk gets removed starting tomorrow night. Two parts are very heavy. The desk broke down into about 7 parts.
Lucky and I went on two walks before and after the desk delivery.
I cleaned up the kitchen to get ready for the dishwasher guy who comes tomorrow.
My tooth is much less painful and, frankly, unless I touch my gums I don't even feel it anymore. I am happy the pain has gone away. I was so used to feeling the pain.
Until tomorrow...
I finally got through to Ikea to order my new desk! It turns out there is a problem on their website with the zip code. Every time I changed the zip code to my zip code, it said my address didn't match my zip code. The zip code was wrong. After another 45 minutes of trying all sorts of things to figure out what was wrong, I bought the items with the wrong zip code and called Ikea to get the zip code changed. That was another 45 minutes with customer service to make another order with the right zip code, cancel the first order and then pay for the second order. My new desk will show up tomorrow.
Then I spent two hours in 80 degree weather disassembling my current desk. I had to take everything off the desk first. Then I had to move my computer, phone, etc. to somewhere safe during the transition. Then I had to take apart the desk. This is the fourth time I took apart this desk so I know how to do it. This is the first time I did it myself and it went well until the very end. I tried to turn the desk on it's side and it fell apart and tore the side out of the screws. Oh, well it is going to the dump/recycling anyway. I took many of the pieces downstairs but two of the pieces are large and heavy and I don't want to move them twice.
Lucky and I took two short walks in the heat.
I heated up and plated the ribollita from yesterday. It tastes to delicious.
I tried to relax a bit today due to my tooth infection. I finally got my antibiotics delivered. I told the Fed Ex guy he was a life saver and he turned around and said thank you sweetie. He comes to my home regularly and he isn't always in a good mood. I am sure his job is not easy during Covid.
I found a gardener! I am ecstatic. My gardener ghosted me back about 6 months ago. My backyard looks horrible. I saw a guy at my neighbors house and I asked him if he was a gardener. He is. It turns out pre-Covid I helped him when his dog got loose and was running in the road. He remembered me. He came over today (masked and distanced) to look at the backyard. He said it didn't look bad. We definitely have a different definition of bad. But he is going to take on the job. He is going to clean it up and put in new lighting. Then we have a long term plan.
I made ribollita today. I started with soffritto first which is a base of celery and carrots with tomato paste. That is mixed with the ribollita made from kale, cannelloni beans, chard, potatoes, cabbage and stale bread. It needs to sit overnight to get the full flavor. Ribollita means "reboil" since you have to reboil it each time to serve.
Lucky and I took a short walk.
I tried to buy a new desk from Ikea but the website seems to be having problems, then I started to get through and then the desk was unavailable. Ugh.
Since I have no dishwasher, I am the dishwasher.
Until tomorrow...
My dental saga continues. Now I know why the pain in my tooth subsided. It subsided because the root in my tooth has died. It is so much more complicated. The fever and pain I was feeling turned out to be the start of infection. I probably could have fought the infection but I started Orencia again a few weeks after I had the Covid Booster. That probably suppressed my immune system so much that the infection went crazy in my tooth. That caused the pain in my tooth/face and eventually the bump/swelling of my gum over the tooth.
Today the dentist attempted to drill out the space around the root to allow the infection to drain. That proved to be impossible. Since I clench and grind my teeth excessively I have created calcification in my teeth. The drill can't seem to drill through it without destroying my whole tooth. The dentist built up my existing tooth but she had to stop drilling when she realized that she was getting no where. I had 5 x-rays to see what was going on and was in the dentist chair for 2.5 hours. What was supposed to happen was that the drill was supposed to drill through to the space around the root canal and the infection would drain. Since that didn't happen, I have to start taking antibiotics to see if that works to kill the infection. Of course that also kills all sorts of other things in my body and will wreak havoc while my dentist and my primary doctor are both on vacation.
I am supposed to call a dental specialist to see if that person will be able to use special tools to drill through the calcification or if he will have to remove the tooth. I am worried about doing anything until the infection is gone. I have to stay off Orencia in the meanwhile.
I took Lucky to get the bird food that I ordered yesterday and then we went for a short walk.
I got back and started to clean up the kitchen to get ready for the dishwasher repair guy. Just as I got 1/2 through the repair company called to say the part didn't come in today and will come in tomorrow. The appointment was pushed back until Monday. She was super nice about it and I was happy to hear they could get a replacement part during Covid and it seems like it won't cost a fortune.
Until tomorrow...
I was all set to go pick up some bird food before the mask mandate is lifted but a client called and that threw me off my schedule. I had to be back in time to meet up with the dog walker. Instead I went for a walk to the post office to pick up and drop off some mail. I made it back just in time for the dog to be dropped off.
I realized that my refrigerator is a mess. I couldn't get another item in it if I wanted. I have items from my Italian Pastry course, previous courses and now my Contemporary Italian Cuisine course. I think it is time to remove everything and decide what to keep and what to throw away.
I am hoping to start the Ribollita tomorrow but I have the dentist in the morning and Friday morning I have the dishwasher repair person so I don't want to make too many dirty dishes. I have to wash all dishes by hand. I have to clean up my kitchen a bit tomorrow before Friday morning.
My walk was okay. I was afraid I was going to be ultra sore but I am fine so far. Tomorrow morning will tell.
Until tomorrow...
After working this morning, I had a bunch of tasks to take care of. I called service to get my dishwasher fixed. It is the latch that broke not the handle. I have an appointment for Friday morning. I guess I am washing dishes by hand until then.
Then I made an appointment to get have a garbage pickup for large items to get rid of items in my garage. I am also getting rid of my desk of more than 15 years. I am so excited to get a new desk. I have been wanting a new desk for ages. Tomorrow I am going to order a new desk.
I called my dentist. Long story short, I have a tooth that was giving me problems when I wore my mouth guard. The dentist decided that the mouth guard was pressing on the tooth and it was irritating the nerve. Since my mouth guard was over 20 years old, I decided it was time to invest in a new mouth guard. This new mouth guard is not irritating this tooth and mostly the nerve pain had subsided.
The night after my last appointment at the dentist I had a fever. That caused me to get a Covid test because I thought I might have been exposed. I did not have Covid but I had a new pain. The pain was going up my face from my tooth to my eye. Over the weeks, this subsided too. At the end of last week I noticed there was swelling in my gum over that tooth. It is still swollen but not as much. Today I decided I needed to call the dentist and get it checked. The mask mandate is about to be lifted and I want to get it checked before that happens.
I am still recovering from my long walk on Friday. I am not sure how much the Orencia is working to keep my rheumatoid arthritis at bay.
With all that going on, I had no time to cook today.
Until tomorrow...
I got up early and took Lucky to the vet to get the sore on her buttocks checked out. Background: about a month and a half I noticed Lucky had a scab on her buttocks. It took a while for it to heal and fall off.
Back to this weekend, I saw another mark in the same place on her buttocks. I tried to touch it and Lucky did not like it and let me know with all her teeth barred. I called the vet to get an appointment. Since Monday was a holiday I got a Monday morning appointment.
I took Lucky today and they checked it out. It is a growth. They biopsied it and it is not cancerous. They suggested I leave it for now and if it becomes infected or has more problems, they will take it off since it requires anesthesia. That seems like a good plan. I also checked on her stomach issues and we decided to increase one of her meds and do another check in in a month or so. She got a pedicure while she was there. Overall a good vet visit for a 12 year old dog.
I spent the whole morning at the vet office so I decided that cooking was out of the question. Instead I figured out a way to put all the items on my counter into a storage box. I have items from each cooking chapter that have been accumulating on my counter to the point that I have no space to cook. Now I have so much more space. I still have to figure something out for the rest of the items. I have had to buy so many items to make all these dishes.
I decided to make Slow Cook Black-eyed Peas for dinner. I used my crockpot and it took 5 hours. They are delicious. I never really had black-eyed peas before and I never cooked them. It was super easy to make.
My friends adopted kid helped me out today. Not only did he stop by two stores for me to pick up my planning calendar and a parking card but he fixed my light box (for photography). I have two light boxes and I could only put together one of them. I have owned this light box for almost a year and have never been able to put this light box together. I tried to put it together at least 5 times for at least 30 minutes each time. He did it in 1 minute. Literally. The correct use of the word.
That was my day.
Until tomorrow...
What a day! I finally finished the Aperitivo - Tapas dish from my vegan cooking course. This dish had a number of parts:
It took me four days to finish this dish with all the different parts.
The second photo is salsa verde and pickled vegetables. The third photo is beeetroot pate, roasted pumpkin and gremolata. The fourth photo is miso cashew butter, sweet roasted eggplant and radish. They are all on the farinata crackers.
That is all I did today besides a work phone call.
Until tomorrow...
Today was a blow to my cooking confidence. I have been a pretty confident cook/baker up until now. Today shook that confidence. First, I made Sweet Roasted Eggplant (aubergine) and it seemed okay but it took three times as long to cook as the directions said. I am still not convinced it is cooked. I can't taste it because I found out I am allergic to eggplant last year. I just have to trust it is cooked.
No time to do anything but laundry and take a soaking bath. My legs were so sore this morning from my long walk yesterday that I could barely walk this morning. The bath helped. Lucky was not impressed. She wanted a walk.
Until tomorrow...
I got up real early today so I could get walking down to the veterinarian’s office to get Lucky’s medicine. I timed it so I would walk back and get my flu shot when the pharmacy opened. I was a little late and ended up waiting a little bit but I got my shot. I walked home and was exhausted. My feet were killing me and I was in pain. I probably shouldn’t have walked that far while I was feeling this bad.
Last night I put some items together in a bowl and something was not right. It seemed like the flour to water ratio was off. I emailed the chef and sure enough the amounts were inverted. I wasted 500 grams of flour. Tonight I have the amounts correct and will make the item in the morning.
I did make Miso Cashew Butter. It tastes fantastic. I also finished the pickled vegetables. It is cauliflower, radishes, carrots, and onions.
I finished two items from the Tapas dish today. I would have finished three items but the eggplant I bought went bad so I had to compost it. I need to get another eggplant to finish the dish.
I made Potato Peel Chips. This is one of the most unique things I have cooked so far. I thought this could be good but it actually it okay. It’s crispy and salty. My peels are little because I only had little potatoes.
I finished the Risotto. The risotto has 8 components and I made 7 of them. 1. Veg stock 2. slow cooked shallots 3. almond butter 4. roasted almonds 5. roasted tomato sauce 6. tomato concasse 7. risotto. I did not make the 8. roasted garlic because I don't eat garlic. It took me four days to make all the components to put together the risotto. It tastes delicious and amazing. It is creamy from the almond butter and crunchy from the almonds and delicious from the roasted tomato sauce.
I did not have time to take a walk. I also made three desserts from the cannoli for neighbors. I am trying to get rid of them so I don't eat them or throw them away. I worked some of the day.
Poor Lucky has a tummy ache tonight so she is being a little baby and wanting to curl up on my lap.
Until tomorrow...
I started the Contemporary Italian Cuisine course by first making almond butter. Making this almond butter has made me realize that my purchase of the Vitamix blender was probably not the best. I got a lower end Vitamix blender which is probably great for making smoothies and Margaritas but is awful for making things like hazelnut butter. I need a much stronger blender to do the things I need to do. I tried to save money but that didn't work. I am going to wait until Amazon sale days and get a much better blender.
Then I made some cannoli for my neighbor and took them over to them to try.
Then I roasted some tomatoes in the oven and blended them up to make a chunky sauce.
Then I took two large tomatoes and sliced just the skins and put them in boiling water for a short time and then into ice water. Then once cold I took off the skins (boy is that like something out of a horror movie!) and diced them. This is waiting until tomorrow to do the next part.
That was basically my day of cooking until my dinner time.
I made a double decker vegan burger.
This is not the best photo and I tried to fix it but the lighting was off and made it too yellow. The burger tasted awesome.
Lucky and I went on two walks today for about 2,500 steps. I did some work.
We had another food delivery to get some needed stuff for this chapter. I went in my garage and found my last bottle of wine from my birthday party in 2019. I don't drink so when people give me wine I just store it and re-gift it. Now I am going to use an expensive bottle of Pinot Grigio for cooking. Oh, well. It is being sacrificed for a good cause. Italian food. I need to find me an alcohol dealer. The last person who helped me with alcohol bought me expensive bottles of wine. I need the Costco bottles of wine since I am using them for cooking.
Until tomorrow...
Today I started the Contemporary Italian Cuisine chapter with an easy task. I roasted almonds. They are for a component for a larger recipe.
I took it easy today because I was tired after baking for more than eight hours this weekend. I had a little bit of work this morning and no time for a walk.
I just needed a day off.
I needed dinner so I made a tofu scramble with peanut sauce. The photo with the peanut sauce was too dark but here is the tofu scramble.
Tomorrow is another day.
Until tomorrow...
Well, I finally finished the last Italian Pastry in the course chapter. It was a long dessert. It took me days to complete. Some things had to be in the refrigerator for 24 hours and some for 8 hours. There were three steps and four steps with breaks in between where the thing I was working on had to sit for hours. But it is done and it looks like a masterpiece. It really looks like something I would order in a restaurant. Something I would pay $20 for.
 |
| The cannoli before I fried them. |
Lucky and I took two walks today. I needed it since today was super hot and I was frying 12 cannoli on the hottest day so far this fall. The ice cream was melting before I even took this photo! I took one cannoli to a neighbor but I am sure these will be a hit!
I took my test for the Fine Italian Pastries and Desserts chapter and passed with flying colors. I am now moving on to Contemporary Italian Cuisine. I can't do another sweet chapter! I have to cook real food for awhile. I will come back to the the chocolate chapter when it cools down outside.
Until tomorrow...Today was a lovely hot day and I spent most of it in the kitchen cooking. I want to finish this multi step dessert tomorrow and I had to do a number of things today to make that happen. I wanted to finish it today but I soon realized that was a non-starter.
First I made the almond milk to make the ricotta cheese. I took the almond milk and did some stuff and then had to let the stuff drain through cheese cloth and a sieve for an hour. At which time I took Lucky for a long walk. Then when I got back I could do the next step and get it in the fridge overnight.
Second I took the mixture I made the other day with the pistachio paste and put it in the ice cream maker to make salty pistachio ice cream. That had to churn for 30 min. During which I washed dishes to get ready for the next dish. The ice cream is incredible.
Thirdly I boiled some stuff and made a gel that is now solidifying in the downstairs fridge until tomorrow when I will finish.
That was my day. I had to eat lunch so I made a Thai curry nugget burrito. It was quite good. I never thought to put curry in a burrito before. Well, it wasn't curry but curry flavored nuggets and red curry paste.
Lucky and I went for two walks today. A long walk around noon and a short walk around 6pm. It was so nice outside.
Until tomorrow...
I had another busy work day. This is all good and I will have more hours in these months than expected.
I gathered more things in the garage to get rid of. I went through my emergency bag of clothes. When you live in a danger zone, you have to have an emergency box of food, pet stuff, and other items, an emergency first aid kit (including one for dogs), and an emergency bag of clothes and toiletries. I have them all in the same place ready in case of emergency.
I didn't get to walk today with all the other stuff I was doing. In fact, I didn't get to eat lunch until 3pm.
Until tomorrow...
