Taking stock on Sunday

Today I got up at 7:00. Kitchen needs cleaning and I need buy some carrots for the stock. So, first I checked out the cotton towels I washed and dried yesterday. Geesh! I could hardly pull out the lint filter. It was like a 2-inch cotton pad! Maybe I should not have washed all 60 at the same time, lol!

I forgot to mention, but I decided to NOT cut the grass on Saturday. A few leaves are still falling. When they are all down, I will clean the gutters, blow off the driveway and the patios and mulch the leaves one last time (hopefully next weekend).

So, I shaved and showered and then headed out to Meijer's for carrots and a few other things, including a pack of men's cotton handkerchiefs, in lieu of cheesecloth, (which I could not find); CVS for Christmas cards and the Post office for Christmas stamps. I dropped everything off at the house, and then headed for Mt. Clemens to go see my Mom.

She was sleeping when I first got there and continued to sleep for almost the next hour! When she did finally wake up, I asked her why she had towels behind her neck (like a prizefighter). She said she woke up with a very sore, stiff, neck and she asked the girl who gave her a bath to leave it there.

At her request, I called the nurse, who got her a warm pad to replace the towels and some Tylenol. Later the nurse switched it to an ice pack, then back to warm.

She said she had another therapy session on Friday, and the lady had her standing up again. She is going down to the therapy room on Monday for her first real session.

I helped her eat her lunch. She told me she had Uncle Joe buy her a watch so she could know what time it was, but she can't see the hands. She said she'd ask Uncle Jim to bring in one of her clocks from home with a lighted dial. I said I'd check the gift shop, so I did, but they don't carry clocks.

Around 2:15, Uncle Jim showed up. She asked him about the clock and he said he'd brought her a book she asked for and the Blog, but left them in the car. So, he left and was gone a long time. When he returned he had the book, the blog and a new clock with big lighted numbers he bought at a nearby drugstore.

About that time I left, but I ran into Uncle Carl, Hannah and Cal on the way out, so we chatted a bit and I then I really did leave.

Got home, put the stock pot back on the stove and fired it up. Started the weekend wash with all my bedding and the pack of handkerchiefs. I rough chopped my aromats, (in this case, the classic mirepoix: onion, celery and carrots).

Returned Luanne's cell phone call to Virginia, but she's not home yet. So I call her down in Florida at her stepmother Gerry's. She's leaving Tuesday to avoid Holiday traffic. Caught her up on what's going on around here.

So, now the bedding is in the dryer, and my shirts and pants are in the washer. Stock's temp is now 180 degrees F. so in go the aromats for one hour only. This is a new technique for me. I used to put them in at the beginning with the bones and water. But, according to Michael Ruhlman, overcooking the mirepoix degrades the stock. So, I'm trying it his way this time.

Using the sieve and a clean handkerchief, I strain the stock through a sieve and a wet handkerchief using a soup ladle the first time (once I got the bones and mirepoix separated out, I just poured pot to pot through the strainer/cloth. I used three handkerchiefs for three separate straining. Strained stock went back in the big fridge (the garage floor) to cool so I can skim the fat off of it tomorrow.

Well, now it's too late to do two things I wanted: install the bathroom lock and fill out the Christmas cards. O well...

Dinner was the other roasted chicken breast (from last Sunday) and the leftover mashed potatoes. I heated them up in the microwave and then put the hot potatoes in a buttered 9 x 9 glass baking dish. Using the microplaner, I topped them with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and stuck them under the broiler for about three minutes while I heated a can of sweet corn. Once the cheese was golden brown, I pulled them out and plated everything. Excellent Sunday supper.

Watched my usual Sunday night shows and turned the TV off at 11:00 PM.