HANDYMAN VISIT #2 & NEW YEAR'S EVE

 Happy New Year's Eve!

The Handyman came again today and we played another game of stay away.  I was outside weeding and he was in the kitchen.  I was downstairs while he was in the guestroom and outside.  We worked it out and he got almost everything done.  The best thing is that he got my timer for the drip system working!  Now I just have to get the drip system hose installed.  I have all the other parts working.  This has been a multi-layered project involving many people.  When I did a test run today and it worked, I jumped for joy.

He also put another shelf in my kitchen cabinet.  The shelf is a inch and half off and he is going to make me another one but he left the short one temporarily.  I am so happy with it.  I can fit more things in an organized fashion.

The top shelf is the new shelf.  I can fit pans and my mixing bowls on a shelf now and not stacked on  top of other things.

He also fixed where I had a leak in the ceiling a year ago. I can't even see where the damage was.  He cleaned my stairs so they can be sealed in the new year.  He is so great and he fixed so many things.

In the afternoon my friend S and I burned our 2020 moments that we wrote down.  Things we wanted to wash away from 2020.  I used the little adobe oven in my backyard.  I never used it before.  

Then we took our intentions for 2021 and buried them in dirt to hope that they blossom.  It was a fun activity. 

I wish you all a Happy New Year and be safe for the rest of 2021!  We will see each other some time soon.  We have lasted this long.  We are in the home stretch.

Until tomorrow...

HANDYMAN VISIT #1

 Today I played an adult game of keep away.  He was in my home fixing things and I was outside, downstairs and upstairs staying as far away from him as I can get.  I had a mask on all day and windows and doors open for some of the day.  He had a mask on and kept his distance.  After he left I wiped down all the surfaces with alcohol.  He comes again tomorrow and I plan to stay outside most of the time.  

I was excited because my new backpack arrived.  It came so fast.  I ordered a new backpack because my current backpack of 30+ years has begun to disintegrate and Jansport will not replace it if it is just old.  They gave me a discount and I had to use it before 12/31/20 so I bought a new backpack.  I was surprised it arrived today.  

I have to use the four bags of potatoes that I accidentally bought.  I meant to buy 4 potatoes.  I used some last week for Christmas.  Today I made a Lentil, Mushroom and Potato Pie.  I ate some and will freeze the rest.  Tomorrow I am going to make a Potato Curry that I am going to freeze also.  That will use up most of the potatoes. 

Until tomorrow...

PUTTING AWAY THE NEW COOKING ITEMS

 For Christmas I received a number of items for my cooking course.  Baking items like rolling pin and piping bags.  Saute pan and spring form pan.  Potato ricer and spiralizer.  I got the best cooking items.  I washed them all and now I have to find places in my small kitchen to put these items.  I spent 30 minutes reorganizing my pots and pans cabinet in order to fit my saute pan.  

Tomorrow I have a handyman coming and I am going to ask him if a shelf can be cut to be put in a cabinet to make more usable space.  If I can move my cupcake and pie tins to a shelf that is not to tall, it would make more space for other items that are bigger (such as my ice cream maker) to fit in the space that is taller.  Right now I would need to put the ice cream maker on top of the cupcake pans because there is no other place to put it.  I really need to rethink my space issues.  Reorganization is great but if I don't have the right size shelves it is requires some changes.

It is so great going through my kitchen and clearing things out.  I moved a bunch of items since I don't need two tin foils and three boxes of quart size plastic bags in the kitchen.  I can put them in storage in the garage until I need them.  I also cleared out a little bit of food that was bad and needed to be thrown out.  

The kitchen seems to be so much lighter since I started this reorganization.  There are so many other places I need to do this.  It is easy the way I have been doing it.  A drawer or cabinet at a time.  It seems so much more manageable that way.  

Until tomorrow...

TASKS THAT NEEDED TO GET DONE

 What a day of doing small tasks.  Making calls, accepting packages, exercising, breaking down boxes, and ordering a new knapsack.  I ordered a new knapsack because months ago I called Jansport about my old knapsack and they would not replace it but they gave me a discount code for a new knapsack that expires in a day.  I went on their website and bought my new knapsack.  

I also contacted Amazon about my shirt that never appeared.  I bought a shirt three weeks ago and it never appeared.  I had to contact Amazon to get a refund.  I got my $13 back.  Yay!

I also bought my new 2021 law books before the price increased tomorrow.  

It was a day of doing those little tasks that needed to get done.  

Until tomorrow...

END OF YEAR GRATITUDE

 I think of gratitude every day.  I write in a gratitude journal every night.  For those who don't know, a gratitude journal is a place where you write what you are grateful for. Some people do it every day, others do it weekly or every now and then.  I like to do it every day to remind myself (especially now) of all the things I am grateful for.  Some times it is small things like a beautiful sunny day or a good dinner.  Other times it is that someone called me or went me a card or text.  Other times it is that someone did something nice like take in my garbage cans or pick up my mail or bring me Christmas treats.

Back in 2014 I posted a blog posting where I wanted to do a month of gratitude for the month of December.  Then calamity occurred.  Four days later I had my bike accident and concussion the day before Thanksgiving.  Then on December 11th I was running to answer the door and cut my leg sending me back to the hospital for stitches. Then on December 20th my friend took her own life. It ended up being a crazy month and I guess I forgot my month of gratitude.  I certainly had a lot to be grateful for that month: I survived the bike accident, the cut on my leg only left a scar and although my friend took her own life, she is in peace.  I miss her dearly and we got to be in each other's lives for 15+ years.

In this last week of 2020, I am spending time thinking of the past year and really concentrating on the gratitude I have felt for whole year.  It may be that a person sent me a text during a difficult time or may be that a friend really stuck by me during the entire Covid-19.  I think it is important for me to really think about gratitude big picture for 2020.  That is my task for this week while the year comes to an end.

Until tomorrow...

DAY OF REST AND RELAXATION

 Boy did I need a day to rest and relax.  I finished watching the movie Soul on Disney+.  What a movie to make you think about your life?!  Then I watched Godmothered while I was still on Disney+.  That was a cute movie.  Now I am watching Safety.  I think it is good so far.  I got interrupted with my Game Night with a friend.

Tonight was game night.  My friend S and I decided we would try to play some games over zoom.  First we played Outburst.  It was fun but it really shows how much you freeze when you have to think of something in a time limit.  Then we played Judge For Yourself.  It is a game where there are legal scenarios and you have to decide the legal answer.  It is fun and we only played a few rounds and got 2 out of 3 right.  

It was a slow day of recuperation.

Until tomorrow...

DAY TWENTY-SEVEN COOKING COURSE AND MERRY CHRISTMAS

 I just woke up.  I was watching TV and I fell asleep.  I guess I was more tired than I thought.  It was the opposite from a relaxing day.

Merry Christmas!  I got up and immediately started on the Chocolate Mousse.  I wanted to give it enough time in the fridge to set. It tasted so creamy chocolate with just a hint of orange zest.

After my breakfast of vegan quiche Lorraine, I opened presents and spoke to family members.  I received a number of the cooking equipment items that I put on my list.

I started on the Roulade and Baked Potatoes.  The Roulade started out good but then it took a turn.  I could not get the Roulade as thin as the chef on the video.  This caused the Roulade to brake when I cooked it.  The ingredients of the Roulade were different in mine.  The recipe called for sauted onions.  I made sauted red peppers, zucchini and leek. I included the mustard and pickles.  When I flipped the Roulade, it broke in half and didn't keep it's burrito shape. 

The Baked Potatoes were cooked in a pan with spices and oil.  

Once the food was all put together on a plate with the Vegan Jus (gravy) and Herb Butter for the potatoes the plate was complete.  The food was delicious while not pretty.  I ate so much my belly was full.  It made a delicious Christmas dinner.

I am happy I have enough to have another meal tomorrow.  Merry Christmas!

Until tomorrow...

DAY TWENTY-SIX COOKING COURSE AND CHRISTMAS EVE

 It is Christmas Eve.  I can't believe the end of the year is almost here.  It feels like it was just March in some ways.  In other ways it feels like ages since this year began.  The living room is decorated but not the whole house as usual.  I have a "disco" silver tree and my fireplace is decorated a bit.  There are no lights outside except on my back balcony.  I took out my Christmas throw and my stuffed Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer characters.  I put on my Cindy Lou headpiece for a zoom call.  I gave out homemade chocolates and cookies.  It was all I wanted to do this year.  It is enough to get me in the spirit and get me through.  I have been watching Christmas movies and shows non-stop for weeks.  The presents are under the tree and I am having to keep Lucky from getting to curious.  The day is almost here.

I spent 4 hours today cooking.  I really want to have a good meal tomorrow.  I made the Vegan Jus from the Fond I made yesterday.  Basically it is gravy.  It seems to taste good.  I am sure it will be great tomorrow on the Roulade and baked potato.  

Then I made a Vegan Quiche Lorraine.  I am not sure what makes a quiche a "Lorraine" but I put other things in my quiche.  The recipe called for leek, onion and spring onion.  That is too much for me!  I would be sick for a week.  I put the leek in and then I put some red pepper and zucchini.  That is more my speed.  It did make it wetter so I had to cook it longer.  Yes, I did saute them prior to putting them in the "custard".  It still seemed to take longer to cook.  I used a trick that I saw on The Great British Bake Off to keep my crust from burning with the longer bake time; I put foil just on the crust for the last 30 minutes.  It really works!  The quiche came out great and I really like it.  It also has smoked tofu in it.

I had a small piece for dinner and it was yummy.  I can't wait for breakfast to have another piece.

Just want to slip in a photo of Lucky because she is so cute in this photo.  She is saying "What? Are you talking to me? Are you getting me something for Christmas?"  So funny!

Happy Christmas Eve!  Tomorrow is another busy day.  

Until tomorrow...

DAY TWENTY-FIVE COOKING COURSE

 I was very organized in the kitchen today.  I finished up the last two Italian dishes (besides my nemesis Pizza). First, I put together Pici Pasta I got from the freezer and topped it with Pomodoro sauce that I made last week.  

It tasted better than when I first made the pasta.  I think I cooked it longer this time.

Then I cooked some frozen Gnocchi I made a few weeks ago and put some Trapanese Pesto on it with some lemon zest.  I have to say the lemon zest really pulled the dish together.

I then switched to the German chapter.  I need to get ready for my Christmas feast.  I immediately mixed together the necessary spices for the different dishes. To do this I had to use a pestle.  I was grinding and grinding some of the spices.  Luckily in the USA many of our spices are sold already ground up.

I needed to make a Vegetable Fond.  That is a fancy way of saying a vegetable stock.  I threw a bunch of vegetables, spices, and herbs in a pot and simmered that for an hour.  

Once it was done the fond smelled so good.  I am going to use some of it to make a Vegetable Jus tomorrow.

Since I am making baked potatoes Friday, of course I needed to make Herb Butter to put on the potatoes.  So I put a bunch of herbs and spices in the food processor and made herb butter. This is not the most enticing photo but it tastes amazing.

That was the end of the cooking for the day.  It was enough.

I wanted to show the cute bags that I made to give away all the cookies and chocolates to my friends and neighbors. 

Aren't they cute?  I haven't gotten any feedback except from my guinea pig/ dog walker who said he loved the cookies because they weren't too sweet.  

A very nice neighbor dropped off some sweets for me.  It was so nice.  All day he was texting me asking me this neighbors' name and that neighbors' name.  I was wondering why he was asking but it wasn't my place to ask. I figure if he wanted me to know he would tell me.  He did tonight when he dropped off my bag.  I was just about to call him to come get his bag when he stopped by.  It all worked out.

Tomorrow is another day of cooking and getting ready for the Christmas feast.  Tomorrows cooking is supposed to be Quiche Lorraine and Chocolate Mousse.  Cross your fingers.

Until tomorrow...

DAY TWENTY-FOUR COOKING COURSE

 Breaking News: Vegan chef killed a pizza dough. She is sitting on her couch drowning herself with Sleigh Bells Ring tea and eating a Christmas cookie.  

Yes, it is true.  I tried to make the pizza dough today and it was a terrible disaster.  I think what went wrong was that I didn't have all the ingredients in little bowls all measured out like the chef in the video.  I was trying to measure them out as I went along.  That included cutting open the bag of flour and measuring the ingredients.  It just doesn't work when I am using yeast.  I have to be ready immediately with all the ingredients. No one told me this.  I was moving at a much slower pace and suddenly the yeast had done its thing and I was only part way there.  There was no going back once the yeast did it's thing.  So into the compost it went and I will live to fight another pizza dough battle when I get more flour.  Chalk this up to knowing how to work with yeast.  

I have never worked with yeast before last week and I can tell you, I am not a fan so far.  It is so complicated.  Frankly it is a miracle we have bread at all.  I find it so stressful.  I will try again.  A little pizza will not beat me.  But it will have to be after Christmas because that is when the flour is arriving.  Thank goodness.

Tonight I watched an online production of Estella Scrooge.  It was really good and way better than I expected.  First, it is a musical so if you don't like musicals it is not for you.  I like some musicals and I didn't mind this one.  There were a few numbers I could have done without but since I am in my own home and not a theater, I could pick up my phone or get up and walk around. Second, it had this amazing (some may not like it) almost animated background sometimes.  I thought it was interesting since it was made during Covid-19, they had to do something with the background.   Third, a couple of the characters were really good. The ghost of Christmas past was excellent.  I also likde Smike.  It is the story of Ebenezer Scrooge but really only the framework.  This has another sub-story that is nothing like the original story.  As you can guess the main character is a woman and it in present time (but not in a pandemic).  I would recommend it highly if this is your kind of thing.  It runs through the holidays.  I rented the on-demand ticket because I don't like to be pinned down if I don't need to because of my RA and how I don't always feel up to things sometimes. 

Until tomorrow...