We saw the arch, toured the museum underneath, visited the gift shop, and then took an hour riverboat cruise down and back on the Mississippi. The cruise was pretty disappointing, partly because there's not much to see on that stretch of the Mississippi other than bridges.
*Tomorrow I'm making pasta with a pesto sauce. I have a basil plant thriving outside and I want to use up the plant before it gets frost bitten.
*Tonight we're having sausages, potatoes with dill and parsley, applesauce, and sweetened sauerkraut. It's our version of an Oktoberfest.
*Last night we had chicken rice with buttery onions from Smitten Kitchen. The rice took longer than the recipe said, but the finished recipe was quite tasty. The picture below is the pumpkin muffins I made for Christmas.
*Tuesday the Son made a buffalo chicken Cobb salad. While it was good, there were a few too many differing ingredients: the buffalo chicken, black beans, avocado, celery, carrots, romaine lettuce, blue cheese, and a creamy buffalo dressing. I still enjoyed it.
*Monday I made a sweet potato and turkey chili in the crockpot. It was surprisingly good, thick, and we have very few leftovers.
*Last weekend it was my mom's turn to host family dinner, and she made roast and potatoes to have for my dad's birthday with an Italian cream cake.
*Hopefully tomorrow I will call the dentist to schedule new appointments after getting the old ones cancelled last week.
*Still need to work on desk and phone; this will just take me a while.
*I still need to get rods or decide to make the ones we have here work. Paint still needs to be bought.
*One new thing this week is to make a "house chores" list for the Husband so he knows what the new priorities for the fall are to get done on weekends.
*It's not a Voboril trip if there's not a lot of food.
*We visited the Chocolate Chocolate factory; we didn't tour, but we did buy lots of chocolate. On the way, we passed one of the Italian bakeries and were forced to buy some treats.
*For lunch we did Bogart's ribs. They were wonderful as always. We've been often enough that we know exactly what our favorites are.
*Supper was amatriciana that we made at home. The salad was really good as was the sauce my mom made on bucatini, all from Italian grocery stores less than a mile from us.
Saint Isaac Jocques, John de Brebeuf, Priests and Companions (USA-M), “The North American Martyrs”
Dates: October 19 IJ born 1607; d.1642, 1647-9; canonized 1930
Place: from France; Jesuit missionaries to the “New World”
Importance: tortured by Iriquois and died for faith in Canada/New York area
Patron: Canada; Americas
Prayer: “O God, you consecrated the first beginnings of the faith in North America by the preaching and martyrdom of Saints John and Isaac and their companions. Through their intercession let more people everywhere respond to Good News of salvation. We ask this…Amen.”
Quotes: Holy Martyrs and patrons, protect this land which you have blessed by the shedding of your blood. Renew in these days our Catholic faith which you helped to establish in this new land. Bring all our fellow citizens to a knowledge and love of the truth. Make us zealous in the profession of our faith so that we may continue and perfect the work which you have begun with so much labour and suffering. Pray for our homes, our schools, our missions, for vocations, for the conversion of sinners, the return of those who have wandered from the fold, and the perseverance of all the Faithful. And foster a deeper and increasing unity among all Christians. Amen.--Jesuit novena prayer to the martyrs
We visited the St. Louis Art Museum and had a variety of adventures as we wandered around. I found a lot of good present for family members for Christmas and took a picture of one of my favorite impressionist paintings. We had supper at one of the Italian restaurants on the Hill; it was delicious and we probably got way too much food, but it was delicious.
*Tomorrow the Husband and I are going on a date! I don't know where yet, but the other members of the household are going to enjoy frozen pizza while we're gone.
*Tonight the Son has already started stew in the crockpot. He was able to get up early before work to get it begun which is great!
*Yesterday I made the second and third pictures below: the last one is Caramel-Nut Revel Bars for Christmas. They are very tasty but too soft to cut well and freeze, so I will not make them again. The second picture was supper: oven baked crispy fish with Red Lobster biscuits from a mix, green beans, and homemade tartar sauce. I really enjoyed the meal; the fish was delicious. I didn't find the thick filets they called for so I just baked it for less time; I also used hamburger buns for the sandwich bread, and they broke up even better than the bread does.
*Tuesday we had Domino's at a birthday party for my niece and my dad, along with chocolate cake and mint chocolate chip ice cream.
*Monday I made tacos; we had thought we would have guests, but they were not able to make it. I used ground seasoned beef with onion and garlic, crispy hash browns, peas, sauteed peppers, lettuce, sour cream, cilantro, and chips and tortillas. Everything was eaten.
*Sunday we made two Alabama Grilled Chickens, crispy potato cubes, corn and carrots, and then my mom brought pumpkin dump cake. We now have lots of leftover chicken--I might need to freeze some this weekend for the future.
*Saturday I want to include because we went to the St. George Orthodox Fundraiser dinner, and that's the top picture below. Kibbe, stuffed grape leaves, salad with fattousch dressing, baklava, and the ruz and yaknee (green beans with beef) were all delicious and fed us for almost 3 meals.
