Tuesday's Tale...

So, today, when I took the garbage out at 6:00 AM, the weather was doing "nothing" for a change and it stayed that way on the way into work. About 9:00 AM, it started with freezing rain, but by 10:00 AM, it was just rain and it rained off and on the rest of the day.

I noticed yesterday there were still a few "holes" in my decoration of the little tree (Damn my obsession with Germanic precision, anyway!) so at lunch, I convinced my lunch partner to stop at Michaels and I picked up three 1-inch nut crackers and a tray of miniature (less than 1/2 inch tall) wooden ornaments.

I stopped at CVS on the way home and got two more Christmas cards since my other box of cards went into the "San Jose black hole." Now, remember, we have talked about this. Things just disappear and then reappear at will around here. I bought two boxes of Christmas cards (I have the receipt, dammit!) I used one. The other one is, apparently, no longer in this dimension (no kidding! I've search this house from top to bottom and... THEY ARE NOT HERE!)

Anyway, upon arriving home and then changing clothes, I filled out the last two cards and got them ready to mail tomorrow. Next I put on some water to boil. When it was ready, I put three cups of boiling water over approximately 1 1/2 ounces of dried mushrooms (mostly dried porcini and then some of the dried shitake mushrooms Luanne gave me last time she was here). I set the timer for 20 minutes and went to decorate the tree (again). Bingo! Now, it looks right!

Okay, so back to my Mom's next soup. I used a combination of stewing beef and round steak and made 1-inch cubes. I dredged them in flour and house seasoning and then browned them in hot oil, in small batches. Then I strained the reconstituted mushrooms through a sieve and a handkerchief and added that water to the pot, along with 8 cups of homemade chicken stock.

I rinsed and then sliced the mushrooms (not easy, BTW, as they wiggle a lot once reconstituted) very fine and added them to the pot as well. I brought it to a boil, and then let it simmer.

At that point, my daughter Melissa called. And, as usual, we talked forever. By the time we hung up, finishing the soup would have kept me up past my bedtime. So, I stopped it at that point, let it cool and put it in the fridge.

And, hey, what about my dinner? I'm not about to make dinner this late, so I just heated up the sausage and biscuits from Sunday's brunch and ate that, then went to bed.