So good morning friends,
Had a good day yesterday. We took a long drive up north to apple country. Was hoping to see some colors but surprisingly they are at about 25 percent - I guess being along the shoreline of Lake Superior kept them warmer. One of the orchard guys said they got their first freeze / frost yesterday so while the colors are a bit late, they are hardly at all out. Good to know as the (erroneous) maps they are showing on the news are not accurate and we weren't sure if the little bit of color was as good as it gets - it's not. So we will have to schedule another trip in a week or so.
We did hit up several of the orchards. I have a variety of apples I picked up. Probably about 8 different kinds - I want to make some freezer apple sauce, some apple juice and maybe a baked good or two. We sampled things at several of the stores - DH got a jar of spicy cranberry salsa - too hot for me, a jar of maple mustard that might go well with pork, and we picked up my favorite apple cider doughnuts as well as DH's favorite - apple pie sticks - basically apple pie filling rolled into a tube of pie crust, baked and rolled in cinnamon sugar. Even I like them - it's like having a half slice of pie - just enough for me. Of course DH cannot stop at just one himself.
We stopped at a winery and I did a sample of 6 wines - DH thought I was going to be having 6 glasses and was wondering how he'd drag my drunken butt back to the car but i said no- that's 6 SIPs.
Although I had only eaten one doughnut and after the equivalent of about a glass and a half of wine I was feeling it
I did purchase several bottles - one that was a nice white with just a hint of sweetness from the apple base. I don't like very dry white wine - I figured I could cook with this too. They had one with strawberry rhubarb that was surprisingly tasty - got a bottle of that too. Also picked up a bottle of red as we are going to a dinner party tonight cooked by our favorite chef from the classes as his primary business is catering and intimate dinner parties. I am also bringing some apple pie sticks for dessert - not sure if he's making dessert as he is more savory in his cooking.
All in all it was a nice day. We stopped about 3pm for lunch/dinner at a Chinese restaurant in a town on the way home - they renovated and their food is not as good as it once was. Both of us said there was something off - not spoiled but like a different seasoning that we didn't like in each of our dishes and we had different things.
I got home and sat and watched a bit of tv for a while. Then got up and went and finished up packing the meat from the freezer fiasco. New freezer is running fine. It's nice to have the shelf space. I decided to take my chances and refreeze most of the meat I had. They said it might be a bit dry from loss of moisture but everything I froze again was vacuum sealed and I only froze the stuff I'd use with soup, sauces or gravies so that there were be added moisture in it. That's part one. I laid the stuff on the open shelves so it would freeze nicely and not stick to the other packages. Once frozen I put it in a plastic storage bin so that beef, pork, chicken is grouped together. Then I can just quickly pull the bin out and get what I need off to the side instead of keeping the door open and letting all the warm air in there. I am disappointed a bit that the new freezer configuration is a bit wider but less deep than the old one so I can't close the door with the bins I was using side by side - they are about an inch too long. I already broke off a plastic piece of something when I tried to close the door the first time.
Now I need to portion out all that shrimp I bought and package it and freeze it today once I can stack up the meat I put in last night. And I have about 6 bags of apples to peel and cook up, but that's a weekend project. I have my writing class in a couple of hours and just like book club, the week flies by and I realize I have not done my homework and wrote a page and a half each day like I was supposed to.
Teacher will collect our writing so I will have to hustle and knock out a few pages after I post this.
I was hoping I had a doctor's appointment soon so I could discuss this painful foot of mine with her but I called today. I have a nurse's appt on Friday for my B12 shot - and I don't see the doctor until next month. I will talk to the nurse Friday and hopefully (but I doubt it) see if I can see her sooner. She has taken over a retired doc's practice and while it was hard to see her before, she is almost impossible to see quickly now.
Let's see if I can click over and catch up with personals.
Laura - ugh - I know the feeling of trying to fit into some tight clothes - especially seasonal ones. I hope you can find the motivation to get back on program again. We will just have to help each other along. The wine tasting sounded like fun - did you buy anything besides the sweets? You shouldn't have much of a problem finding a white stove. I just swapped out a white for a black mostly because the refrigerator I wanted only came in stainless and what they call a black stainless. I like the black stove but I do think it shows smudges more than the white and needs more frequent cleaning but not as much as regular silver stainless would. Ok so I guess I will have to figure out some sort of shrimp-a-thon feast for you guys to help us eat up this bounty of shrimp
Ceejay - good to hear that you are feeling well. Are you keeping yourself busy or just enjoying the surroundings? Isn't retired life WONDERFUL???
Shad - I want to see the new hair cut too - even if you just post on FB.
Annie - when you come up here you can drink lots of my tap water. We have an abundance of calcium and magnesium in it so you can get refreshed AND get your minerals
DH is planning another trip next fall to go to Colorado for a week for picture taking. When he does one of these trips I should plan a girls week up here at the compound. The only thing is that DH is captain of the pontoon boat, driver of the UTV (although I could do that but I'd get lost and don't know where the trails are
and we sort of need him for the recreational end of things. I can get us to the lake to fish off the dock. And we don't need him to sit on the deck and enjoy the wildlife and eat and drink and yak yak yak although the animals are more skittish around me. That might be fun. Nina is missing Meadow. She walks around her and is much more talkative than usual. Mostly she is looking for DH who she follows everywhere he goes and cries if he's not around. I keep telling him we need to get her a new baby sister fluff ball before all the kittens are gone but he says she doesn't want one and that's probably true. I want to hear about Keto sausage balls as I have 2 packages of ground pork to use up. My heart is with you missing Michael today
I hope you have a nice dinner with Pia tonight. And more smiles than tears.
Susie - come up for air girl!!! Hope they are not wearing you out on the hamster wheel at work.
Anyone hear from Michelle - I am thinking of her as I watch the devastation of the fires in California. So many bad things going on...
Going to post this and get busy. Enjoy the day ladies.