Saturday's Feast

I woke up at 7:00 AM for a change. I slowly eased into the day. I have a LOT of errands to run this morning. I was gonna take a shower when Jake said Carla was already showering (she has a doctor's appointment). So I made myself breakfast instead. Nobody else wanted any, but I made some canned corned beef hash and topped it with three over easy eggs. Deliciouso! I couldn't eat it all, of course, so I have Sunday breakfast already waiting for me!

I realized a little late I could not go anywhere yet, as all my pants are in the hamper. So, I put one load of pants in the washer. When they finished, I threw them in the dryer and put my week's worth of shirts in the washer, BUT I turned "Off" the second rinse. That way, I can leave, come back and do the second rinse and throw them in the dryer.

Finally my pants were dry, so just after 11:00 AM, I headed out. My first stop was the corner gas station. My right rear tire has a slow leak that getting worse. Now its almost flat every two days. So, I asked the guy to take a look at it. As luck would have it, after soaking it in water, he found it was leaking from the plug he had put in it over a year ago.

So, he took the tire off the rim, cut off the plug, used an air-powered wire brush to clean the rim, replaced the valve stem, put a patch on the hole, put it all back together and put the tire back on the car. Then he tells me it's no charge because his original plug leaked. I said that was ridiculous (it had taken him almost an hour, BTW) and I insisted on paying him something. So, he finally agreed to take $20 for his work.

It's sprinkling now, but I'm off to the library. I got a little wet going in, but I picked up five new books. Now, on to the feed store, where I picked up five suet cakes and 40 pounds of bird seed. I got even more wet going in to that store, but the young, well-endowed woman who came in all wet after me made it more than worthwhile (I'll leave that to your imagination).

Westborn Market was next on the list. I picked up some veggies and fruits, a nice Brie, some green grapes, leeks and three frozen tuna steaks. For tonight's dinner, I also grabbed a round, crusty sourdough bread loaf.

Moving on, I hit the Home Depot for more glass door knobs and a round file (I decided against using the Dremel tool. Too messy! I'll do it by hand). I also picked up some glass knobs for cabinets that I plan on adapting for the bi-fold doors in my bedroom (okay, they didn't use bi-fold doors back in the day, but it's a theme I'm after, here).

Next stop was Office Depot for some ink for the printer (Geesh, these are expensive! $62.00 US for two color inkjet cartridges!!!) Last stop was the party store for some brandy. I need it to flamb� tonight's dinner.

When I got home, Jake and Carla were gone. I filled the bird feeder and the suet cage, sneaked a peak at the rain gauge (1 � inches so far and its still raining), took the clothes out of the dryer, did the second rinse on the washer and then threw my shirts in the dryer.

Then I used my new round file to make a channel for the screws to fit in. I have the vacuum out and am picking up the sawdust as it occurs (so I don't track it through the house). Buzzer went off, so I went and hung the shirts up. I got the one door knob in and the glass knobs on the bi-fold doors and took pictures for posting if you're interested.

It was around 3:00 PM and I took a nice � hour nap. Jake and Carla returned about that time.

Then I got started on dinner and what a dinner it was! I made a shrimp bisque from scratch. I put some oil and a stick of butter in my new pan. Then I added rough cut celery carrots and leaks, three strips of orange peel along with the shells and tails of 1 1/12 pounds of shrimp. I let that all simmer for about � hour.

Next was the fun part! I put in � cup of brandy, pulled the pan off the stove (I am afraid of melting the above-the-range microwave!) and lit it on fire. Cool! When the fire died out, I added 4 cups of heavy cream and let that simmer for 40 minutes.

While we were waiting, we played Jeopardy, a new game they had picked up that works on your TV with a DVD. Jake won. dammit!

Carla and Jake strained the broth. Carla rough chopped the raw shrimp, added it to the mixture. After letting it cook three minutes, Carla checked for taste and decided it needed some fresh lemon juice and parsley.

Carla cut the round sourdough bread into thick slices, broiled them, rubbed one side with a clove of garlic and drizzled them with olive oil. Delicious!!! And, not enough leftovers to mention!

Next came Saturday night TV and then sleep.