Still Snowing on Sunday!

I woke up Sunday morning to a wintry wonderland! It was still snowing, but the wind hadn't picked up yet, so I took some pictures and posted them. At around 9:00 AM, I stuck a ruler into the snow on top the bird seed can and had almost 6 inches at that point.

I was going to make French toast, but took a look at the stock pot, still simmering, and decided to deal with it first. So, I strained it through a sieve to get out the large chunks. Then strained it again through the sieve and a handkerchief and ended up with 12 cups of clear beef stock. I took the meat off the short ribs and reserved the beef for the soup.

Then, I made the beef, mushroom and barley soup. This time I am well pleased! I am sure Mom will like this one.

By now its almost 1:00 PM and I still haven't eaten, but I'm a little tired of cooking. So I opened a can of Hormel chili, warmed it up, topped it with shredded cheddar cheese and ate it with a beer. Weather conditions had worsened as the winds had picked up (they predicted 25-35 mph winds) and the snow was blowing and drifting all over the place.

Then I started house cleaning. I had all the rooms vacuumed and/or swept and next on the list was to wash the kitchen floor. But, it was almost 3:30 PM and my back hurt a little, so I thought I would take a nap.

I just started to doze off when Jake and Carla showed up! They were out doing this and that and decided to drop by. So, we chatted for a while (Jake told me of his first experience as a home owner, shoveling the snow on this driveway, the decks and the sidewalk). I suggested dinner (all I had that wasn't frozen were two catfish filets and 18 chicken legs I had bought and then in covered with buttermilk on Saturday).

We decided on the fried chicken with French fries. So, I used the mandoline to cut up russet potatoes and half-filled my Dutch oven with canola oil. Carla fried them for the first time for four minutes at 325 degrees F. (to cook the inside).

Then I drained the buttermilk from the chicken legs and set up the mise en place for frying the chicken: one bowl of flour for dredging, a bowl of eggs and hot sauce, whisked together, and finally, a bowl of seasoned flour for the coating. Carla worked the fry station, getting the chicken perfectly brown, draining them on a rack over paper towels and then putting them in the oven to finish and keep warm).

When the chicken was all cooked, she cranked up the oil heat to 375 degrees F. and cooked the fries again for two minutes (to crisp up the outside). We set the table and sat down to supper. Excellent!

They cleaned up and took a moment to admire my little tree, and then headed for home just after 8:00 PM. I went off to watch my Sunday night TV shows.

When they drove in, Jake went back and forth to make a wide path in the snow for me to get out in the morning. But, when I woke up, Monday morning, my whole driveway was cleared off, the pad in front of the garage was hand shoveled and even the sidewalk to the back gates was hand shoveled! Either the Christmas elves or my neighbor came and did it sometime in the night!

BTW, the official snow amount my area got was 8.5 inches, without counting blowing and drifting.