On a roll, Saturday

I woke up late and had to immediately jump in the shower to get to my haircut on time. So, Friday's post had to wait (sorry). I went from the barber to Meijer's and picked up the things I needed, and then got home around 10:30 AM. By 12:30, I had the house cleaned and the bedding almost finished in the dryer. Now, onto making more snacks...

First came the bacon-cheese deviled eggs that Carla likes. I took six eggs I had hardboiled yesterday, peeled and halved them, putting the yolks in a bowl. After mashing the yolks with a fork, I added 1/4 cup of mayonnaise, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, a dash of black pepper and stirred it all together. Then I folded in four strips of bacon I'd cooked earlier and then crumbled and two tablespoons of shredded sharp Cheddar cheese. I put that into a sandwich baggie, snipped off one corner and piped the mix back into the egg whites (its easier that way!) I added some finely chopped parsley on top (dropped from a height) for garnish.

I stopped and made up my bed. Then I put the Sloppy Joe's on the stove on "low."

Next I made the Philly Cheesy Chili Dip. That one is simple, but I never had it and always wanted to try it. It's just one box of Philadelphia cream cheese (softened) spread into a microwave safe bowl, then a can of chili (I used Hormel) and topped with two tablespoons of shredded sharp Cheddar cheese. When I'm ready to serve it (with Ritz crackers), I'll pop it into the microwave for about a minute (until the Cheddar cheese melts) and sprinkle the top with fresh, chopped cilantro.

I made the fillings for the spring rolls by taking my non stick skillet, adding a tablespoon of Canola oil and then heating the oil over medium high heat. I added a tablespoon of ground ginger and cooked it a while to release the aroma. Then I added a package of bean spouts, three scallions (white and green) sliced fine, one peeled and grated carrot, and tossed it in the pan to coat. I stirred in two tablespoons of rice wine vinegar, two tablespoons of soy sauce and dash of sesame oil and again tossed to coat. I let that cook about five minutes or until most of the liquid evaporated. I set the pan aside to cool. One its was off the heat I added 1/2 pound of cooked shrimp after removing the tails and chopping them up (You don't want to re-cook shrimp of it gets rubbery, you see).

The other 1/2 pound of shrimp I left the tails on, hung them on the side of a ramekin and filled the ramekin with a quick seafood sauce (ketchup and horseradish to taste).

Then I made my spring roll dipping sauce by combining three tablespoons of rice wine vinegar, 1/4 cup dark tamari soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, two scallions (white and green) sliced very fine and a teaspoon of sesame oil. I whisked that together and divided it into three small glass bowls.

I was just about to fill the spring roll wrappers when Jake and Carla showed up. We chatted while I made the rolls. In the interest of trying something new, this time I doubled the amount of filling I normally use so, while I had a lot fewer, they were much bigger. Like always, I point one corner of the 6-inch square wrapper towards me, add some of the filling, cover it with the corner nearest me, kinda snug it up, fold in the two outside corners, wet the remaining corner with water and roll up, making sure the last corner is nice and glued shut by the water.

Here's where I messed up. I normally cook them immediately, but I put them on a paper plate to fry later.

So, we got out the Scrabble game and I got out the Philly Cheesy Chili Dip, micro-waved it and put the bowl and the Ritz crackers on a platter. We tried it and decided we liked it. Easy snack! But, after we ate most of it, I remembered I didn't add the cilantro (which I had prepared and was sitting on the counter in a ramekin). Oh, well. Next time. I also got out the deviled eggs, so we munched and played a good hard-fought game. In the end, Carla blitzed us! I mean that literally, she won with the word "blitzed." Jake was a close second, and I was third, again!

One that was completed, I put three inches of canola oil in my Dutch oven and heated the oil to 365 degrees F. Now, I use a candy thermometer, but I have told you in the past of Carla's trick, where you put a wooden spoon handle in the oil, and when there are bubbles around the handle, its ready. I learned another one the other day. You put in one kernel of popcorn and, since popcorn pops between 350 and 365 degrees F., when that kernel pops, you are also ready.

I put the spring rolls in four at a time. And here's where that "paper plate and wait" did me in. The rolls kinda stuck to the paper plate, so much so that two of them were weakened by me getting them off and burst open while cooking. It was a bit of a mess, but didn't matter, though. We ate them anyway. Very good!

We started playing Uno and I took out the shrimp cocktail. Either Jake or Carla would win each hand, but I never did! Then the doorbell rang! I went and it was a guy from AT&T, who wanted to tell me about their new cable, internet and phone offer. Since it was about $50 less than I am paying now, I was interested! He took my information and called in to see when it could be activated, but they told him it was NOT available yet on San Jose, north of Plymouth Road. So that was a complete waste of time.

We finished the last hand around 7:30 PM and Jake and Carla left. It was then when I remembered that nobody ever had even one Sloppy Joe! I guess I had too many snacks! So, I put them in a freezer container and then into the fridge. One day this week, I will have my supper already made. I turned off the CD player and went to see what was on TV. Didn't see anything that interesting, so I started reading and fell asleep sometime after 9:30 PM.