Thursday

Nice, sunny day today. Only reached a high of 32 degrees F. (0 degrees C.) so not too much snow melted, but very pleasant.

Stopped at Farmer Jack's on the way home to pick up some salad shrimp (you know, those 300 count, tiny, sweet, tasty little shrimp) which are surprisingly affordable. I am gonna eat left over turkey noodle casserole for dinner, so I thought I'd treat myself to a salad I saw Rachel Ray make that looked good. I also picked up 8 Ziplock screw-top containers to freeze the chicken stock.

When I got home, I changed clothes and worked on the magnetic catches (again!) got three more installed (only two to go) when it was time to quit. Now I know all you loyal (and observant) turkey noodle casserole readers will remember I originally said there were five catches left, and by my/your count I've just installed five, so where did the other two come from? Well, when I wrote that, I forgot the two pantry doors. After that, I washed the Ziplock containers and set them out to air-dry (I no longer wash any of these plastic food containers in the dishwasher. It seems to degrade them).

Now onto the salad. Like most people, I like shrimp cocktail. Also, like most people, my palate has gotten used to a variety of new salad greens (baby spinach, arugula, mixed spring greens, and so on). However, nothing brings back my childhood memory like iceberg lettuce. So, combining the two is sheer genius!

I slammed the core end of the head of iceberg lettuce onto the counter and twisted it out. Then, I quartered the head lengthwise. Next I combined 1/2 cup of prepared cocktail sauce, a few drops of hot sauce, a 1/4 cup of mayonnaise, and the juice of one lemon and two teaspoons of the lemon's zest. Then I added one cup of the salad shrimp and folded it in.

I spooned it over the lettuce head quarters and seasoned it with salt and pepper. I was supposed to sprinkle cut chives over it, but I was all out. Fantastic taste! It was sort of a combination of shrimp cocktail and maybe Russian dressing. I planned on eating a quarter of the lettuce head, but ended up eating two! I'm too full at the moment to heat up the turkey noodle casserole. Went and watched some TV.

Later, when I got hungry, I learned something else about my turkey noodle casserole. It doesn't heat back up well. Ate a little bit of it, then threw the rest away. Went back to TV, then to sleep.