I'm about halfway through The Bohemian Girl, a collection of short stories by Willa Cather. I'm actually surprised at how depressing the stories are and how anti-small town they seem so far. I'm hopeful they improve in tone. The writing is great, just the themes right now are a little down.
I realize looking over this week that I made a lot of America's Test Kitchen recipes, which means I gave myself a lot of work. To be fair, I did have two days off of work so I felt like I could fit in these recipes that had been in my "to make" pile for a while.
*Sunday we went out to eat at the Snack Shack in downtown Mission for burgers and fries and delicious cherry limeades. Then the Husband headed out of town and the Son got ready for work and I had an evening by myself. It was glorious. With the Son moving back home my time by myself is pretty rare, and I try to appreciate it thoroughly.
*Monday I made chicken salad. We had two sets of leftover chicken and then other assorted leftovers. It was pretty easy to make before I went to pit orchestra practice
*Tuesday the Son made Sweet Potato Biscuits and then warmed up butternut bisque from a jar from Aldi's and some taquitos from the freezer. The biscuits were almost dessert-ish with the added spices and vanilla. I'm enjoying them toasted with ice cream. They are also great for breakfast.
*Wednesday I made Light Eggplant Parmesan. I was really happy with how it turned out BUT I'm a little afraid of the leftovers, I'm going to try toasting them to recapture some crispiness so they're not completely soggy.
*Thursday, today, I'm making Arroz con Pollo with a variation that uses bacon and roasted red peppers and skips the capers and olives (because the husband detests olives passionately). I have made a different version from Cook's Illustrated with Sazon; I'm hoping I can get this done efficiently since I have a meeting in the evening.
*Friday, unless I've run out of energy, we having Austrian Potato Salad. It's cooked, has some pickles in it, and it really nice and meatless.
Pictured: biscuits and eggplant Parmesan
*We have one week from today to our Fall Concert, so as of yesterday I try to play all the concert pieces every day in order. I'm up to 6 musical pieces a day as of today, so that is also an increase towards stamina needed for the musical--which is less than a month from today.
My friend Jill took me to Leila's Hair Museum in Independence before it closed permanently after the death of Leila. Was it a little weird? Yes. Was it hot because someone had stolen the wiring out of the air conditioner? Also yes. Was it delightful and amazing? One hundred times yes. The first hair decoration is made out of Leila's own hair; the second and third incorporate many family member's hair and are open at the top to keep luck in for the families and to be added to.
St. Paul of the Cross lived in Italy from 1694 to 1775 and founded the Passionists, who take a fourth vow to spread the memory of Christ's passion among the faithful. He was known for great preaching skill and his devotion to acts of mercy.
First is a stuffed acorn squash. It was really really good. The second is shells with cauliflower and nuts and cheese and parsley. The cauliflower is roasted on a sheet pan and adds really nice flavor.
*Saturday and Sunday we prepared Shredded Barbecued Beef, half on the grill, half in the oven. We also made the Cook's Illustrated recipe for barbecue sauce; it needed longer to simmer to an appropriate thickness, but it was delicious. I made mashed potatoes for a base. We actually cooked the beef the day before and then put it in the slow cooker on Sunday.
*Sunday and Monday we finished off Mocha Butter Balls and Almond Butter Cookies, our first two cookies for the Christmas baking season. It's the same basic dough with additions. Both are good, but the mocha cookies are the most addictive.
*Potato, Broccoli, and Cheddar Soup is a Martha Stewart recipe we prepared on Monday. The real treasure for me of this recipe is the cheesy garlic toast that you make with it. The soup is fine! Very good even! But I love the toast.
*Blue Cheese Salad was prepared by the Son from our 30 Minute Cookbook. It's a strong vinaigrette, lettuce, blue cheese, croutons, and then we added some cut up chicken strips. We loved it.
*Soup and Ravioli and Taquitos: This was all premade things that I warmed up. We are about a month away from the musical so most of my energy starts going into learning and maintaining the music for that, and suppers need to get easier.
*Moonlight Madness in downtown Shawnee will provide tonight's supper as I will be getting home after 6 from a Mass with students at Unbound for their preachers.
*Cheese Manicotti is planned for our Friday meal; I might make the filling and sauce today so it's easier to assemble tomorrow.
* Short one today because it's a busy day. We are inching closer to the concert and closer to the musical, but between now and then we have planning to do for three Masses, two offsite. Two are planned and packets made; one still needs to be confirmed but should be done by the end of the week.
We finished this a little bit ago, a new purchase when we went to Chicago this summer. The reflective side of the puzzle was so pretty, and we had a great time pointing out the places we saw and toured this summer. I know it's sideways, but blogger is not good at letting me edit pictures!
The saint tomorrow is St. Callistus I, a pope of the 3rd century. He is a martyr, patron of cemetery workers, and was known for allowing schismatics to re-enter the church after appropriate penance.
(Picture found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Callixtus_I)
I have finished two of the books in rotation, so I've added two more. One is a book that was left on the giveaway pile at work: Treating Explosive Kids. I've heard decent things about a previous book by the authors so we'll try this out to see what I can learn.
*Sunday we grilled a lemon chicken, butterflied, with some rice and green beans. I made a deep-dish apple pie that I will probably not make for another 10 years. It was very delicious but also a lot of work.
*Monday we had grilled reuben sandwiches made by the Son. He did a pretty good job and learned how to use the panini press as well.
*Tuesday we had poached chicken with a pumpkin seed mole. The linked recipe is different than what I used but similar. We used leftover rice from Sunday, and it was gentle but delicious. The poblanos I used for the peppers were not very spicy.
*Wednesday we had a lemon pasta with arugula and almonds and browned butter. It was a new recipe to me and came together pretty quickly. I think it was tasty; we added some leftover chicken from Sunday and that was really helpful to have some extra protein.
*Thursday, tonight, I'm making a beef barley soup. However, I need to buy more barley as my pantry moths didn't get just my flour but also my beans, rice, pasta, and nuts. A lot of pantry items went to the compost last night.
*Friday I'll be tired and we're having leftovers!
*We are "locking in" to the concert music, 21 days out. I am up to playing three of the musical pieces every day and about halfway through with that; by the end of the week I should be up to four pieces a day. We have one piece today that is really not coming together yet but I'm hopeful the students will pull it together.
*With our son moving back home for the forseeable future, we are trying to be intentional about date night and spending time together. During a recent work night for him we went to Grunauer near Union Station. I had the schnitzel; all of our food was just lovely and delicious. We even got some extra pastries for breakfast in the morning.
*St. Denis was a martyred bishop of Paris. There is a long standing story that after martyrdom he picked up his severed head and carried it to the place of his baptism. The site linked below has an interesting story on how that myth may have come about.
(Picture found on Pinterest, traced to https://uk.tourisme93.com/basilica/between-paris-and-saint-denis.html)
I finished this Route 66 book today. It's okay, but I have a sneaking suspicion it was written by AI. I think I gained a few new things to see and stay at to add to my master list, and I'm grateful for that.
*Sunday was grilled brats-peppers-onions-buns with homemade applesauce, spaetzle from a bag, and a frozen cherry-frangipane tart. Aldi's contributed substantially to this meal. It was really good.
*Monday I made pork chops with vinegar and sweet peppers. It was a Cook's Illustrated recipe so a little involved but also pretty good.
*Tuesday I made vegetarian taco filling for burritos, adding the cheese and avocado inside and using the tortillas from Costco that you can cook yourself. I did the oven at 350 with 15 minutes on one side and 20 on the other.
*Wednesday I made pork and green bean stir fry with leftover Spanish rice we picked up the night before; I used frozen thin green beans and it worked just fine; I added red bell pepper for the jalapeno and stir fried it in with the green beans.
*Tonight is apple chicken and rice, with celery for the mushrooms because the Son doesn't like mushrooms. I've been making this dish off the back side of a Rice a Roni box since 2002.
*Tomorrow is a tuna salad with nice Ortiz tuna on crusty bread.
*I went to my first practice today for pit orchestra and I feel really good about it! It's going to come together slowly but surely, and we have plenty of time to get there. Picture found at https://www.broadway.com/shows/anything-goes/
