Saturday: Sunny, Colder and Lovely

I am loving Pizza for Saturday lunch! 

I made really good chicken soup for dinner

(while Mr Husband made himself leftover fried chicken and 

baked potato wedges).

I prepared bread dough and will bake that DV tomorrow later afternoon.

This coming week is not going to be fully easy for me, 

so I am doing a LOT of food prep in advance. 

We were given some really good home-baked cookies today! :)

It was gloriously colder sunny and beautiful; my favourite weather.

I pray that you are doing well and that you know God's care

for you, no matter what is happening in your personal world. ❤

Friday, Flurry of Happenings

 

Some good moments today,

in a day that felt, at times, quite rushed.

Fruit and Nut bread for breakfast.

Red Lentil Soup for me (lunch and dinner!)

Hot black tea.  So warming, bracing and comforting. 

I am working on my Christmas card address list. 

I took 2 walks.

I was able to get dishes done last night

which made today WAY better.

Still a bit to go, but thanking God.

Laundry folded, more washed, some drying on racks right now.

I want to bake and do so many things

but I have to pace myself.

Next week is going to be, as I said, inordinately busy for me.

BUT, DV Monday is NYC and I have requested more books.  :) 

My goal is to have lots of things to read over the next months to keep me company

over an uncertain winter of the pandemic.

***

To somewhat, at least, answer Granny Marigold's question:

the Elizabeth Fair book I am liking, but feel, in this one, that she is 

perhaps not loving her characters; we will see, I am still in the first pages.

Feels different than Miss Read.

I will review the book and feel free to ask questions again when I am done reading it.

I don't know if there is anyone similar to what Miss Read did, exactly, however

I would not hesitate to recommend to you both DE Stevenson's books

and also Elizabeth Goudge. 

***

DV I see my friend Photini this Sunday and after church

she and I hope to have brunch together,

that will be nice!

***

I am so thankful for all the good things.

***

May God uphold us, bless us and save us!

Lord have mercy on us!

Whew, busy!

Whew. Today was busy.

I made fried chicken but the combination of recipes did not 

work well.  It still tasted fine but not up to my usual spec. 

Live and learn and that is fine.

Two meetings, many phone calls (and a ridiculous amount of spam 

phone calls) ...

when I called my parents (as I usually do) they were making applesauce

and that was really nice...

just talking to them as they made the applesauce,

knowing exactly where they were, in their kitchen... 

My kitchen and dining areas look like a dirty dishes bomb went off

and so I am going to keep this short to try to tackle that mess before 

bed so that tomorrow will be more peaceful.

I am already doing a lot of my Christmas shopping, 

I am so tired, but we are all tired, right?

It's a busy and hard season on various levels,

though I am so glad for the good things in it.

Like starting a new vintage novel; I read a few pages 

while it was raining; was a really nice moment. 

I am really glad for my home and my life with my Husband.

When I stop to think I quickly see how much I have to be 

thankful for.  

I pray that you are finding moments of peace, 

and that God is upholding you in His loving care...

A Good Busy Wednesday

With the help of Marion Cunningham's edition of The Fanny Farmer Cookbook

I successfully cut up a whole chicken.

I found sometimes, for example with drumstick and thigh separation,

it was easier to do it by hand - as in hold it in my two hands,

move it around to feel for the joint and break it there, 

feeling your way, twisting it apart.  

Much easier than trying to use a knife, not understanding exactly

where I should try to do the separation. 

Right now the chicken is marinating in buttermilk in the fridge;

I got this inspiration from this book that I reviewed

and I am going to use at least 2 or 3 recipes for the 

chicken itself, which I will put flour and seasonings on 

and oven-bake the 'fried chicken' ... 

It was a cloudy day again... nice to talk a walk with Mr Husband

and I always look at this skyline and say 'hello' to NYC... 

I made Mary's Red Lentil Soup again for the first time

this Autumn! 

It became a Lenten staple last Spring for me

and still feels like a nourishing and comforting soup.

I put some in the freezer for myself to have next week,

which is going to be an inordinately busy week for me.

***

I saw the following on social media:

I saw this on social media today and when I looked it up

the focus was on the fact that 1. it seems to be true 2. US is really bad

at mathematics, which is no surprise.

But I liked this 'meme' for more than that point,

but that we must realize that it is easy to misunderstand something

and actually make the poorer choice, often because of

how something is portrayed or sounds to us in advertising. 

'quarter-pounder' just sounds catchy.

I wish that more would realize that social media and the like

can be very deceptive and that it easier than one thinks to be 

'taken in' by something (an idea, a trend, a movement, what-have-you).

And, of course, this is also a really good reason for NOT 'arguing online' 

to quote this meme. 

Anyway, something to think about. 

***

I like social media but I try to be aware of what I am seeing

and not take it at face value, esp if I don't know the source

or the person behind it. 

I did another book review on my own social media account,

you can see it here. 

Ironic perhaps to talk about how to be careful on social media

and then post something from it that I created,

but technically speaking I think blogs are part of social media

so there you go, or, rather, here we are. 

***

So tomorrow I am going to make that chicken, God willing,

and make some more potato wedges.

Should last us through Sunday at least. 

(Since Friday is a normal fast day so no chicken...!)

***

I got a cute little note-taking notebook

(the kind that flips over, so you have one page

at a time with the spiral on top)

and I am keeping my to-do list there 

and that's actually helping me a lot. 

Instead of only having emailed reminders that can overwhelm me

with how many can flood my inbox in one day!

***

So my Husband sent me a link to an article about

how groceries are being stockpiled again.

I am not worried like I was back in late February early March.

I have a lot more on hand, we've been slowly growing our

pantry and paper supplies and, 

Thank God, we are ready. 

There's still a few things I am thinking of getting, 

but really, I can only be thankful. 

***

Next week is going to have some personal challenges for me.

I don't know how much I will write about it

here but it's going to be a tiring week,

and it's nothing I can change.

So, if you have a moment, a prayer for that would be 

MOST appreciated. 

***

 I am really feeling so thankful and having

the cooking to do, books to read and review,

and the routine of our days here,

they are really helping me

focus on things that help me

instead of falling into a puddle of worry.

Not that I don't do that, I do.

But I am also seeing what is helping me,

since anxiety is something I have dealt with

for decades....!

***

God BLESS you and keep you

and protect you!!!

May His face shine upon you

and show you the way!

I saw the sun...

The sun shone again, finally.

I did some errands in the afternoon

and came back really tired.

Thankfully my Sweetheart agreed that we could get take out

for dinner, my favourite soup and dinner from a local bistro

that delivers.  I was so glad for that.

Tomorrow I am hoping to have a restful day.

I am glad for that idea.

Rest, it's a good thing...

May God help us all in our many struggles!

Lord have mercy on us! 

Monday, You Make Me Tired (Where's the sunshine?!)

Picture from late last night, when the dough was ready

and beginning it's all night rise!

It was a rough night's sleep last night.

My Husband woke me up a bit after 8 so that I could bake this bread for breakfast!

That was my idea after all :)

This little bird's song early in the morning was one of the best moments of today,

a real gift.

My Husband is loving our new little orchid plant!

I love it too!

The bread turned out wonderfully.

I was watching a food video and realized that you can use your dough scrapers

to help you scoop dough out as well, used that trick today.

(I used the plastic one as the scoop, the metal one I used for scoring.)

This was lunch!

And boy did I need another pot of tea by lunch time...

It was so cloudy.  It's been really cloudy lately.

I miss the sun!  

I need to take a picture of the crepe can now, as the writing

is a bit hard for me to read :(

I was testing two brands of eggs.  Clearly the one on top is the 'winner'...

We had a good dinner of crepes with bacon and 

cheese for Husband, eggs for me.

Dessert crepes with french vanilla ice cream, sliced bananas,

a dusting of cocoa powder on crepes :) 

***

I really appreciated this reminder for those of us whose job is 

our home, to have boundaries with our to-do lists, etc.

***

I often feel discouraged as I have such a long list of things to do

and I have to remember to pace myself and accept that the list

is going to take a while.

***

I've been ordering some books...

I guess I feel that I am preparing for the winter which

will, it does seem, have less going places than normal

because of the Dread Virus ... it is what is is... 

***

May God have mercy on us all!