Sunday Snow

I got up in an unusual way on Sunday morning. I was sleeping on my stomach and for some reason, Caley thought it would be a good idea to hop up and walk on my back. Yikes!

It was 33 degrees F. here on San Jose with snow flurries. Nothing was sticking to the ground yet, though. I watched the Weather Channel and found the long range forecast calls for either snow flurries, snow showers or light snow (does anyone know the difference, because I don't) from today until NEXT SATURDAY!!!

So, I started assembling the tools I will need today. I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to find my trowel (the one I bought for the counter top tile project), then I finally remembered it was rusting (it was cheap) so I had thrown it away. So, in spite of my determination to stay indoors all day, I got my coat and headed for the Home Depot at 10:00 AM.

Since I had to go out anyway, I treated myself to breakfast at Leo's Coney Island. I was back at home and back on the job by 11:00 AM. My plan for today was to put in the replacement drywall, tape all the seams and mud them. Then, while all that was drying, to go out and clean out the gutters.

I first cut off the excess foam with my electric knife (quickest way I could think off after the razor blade knife proved ineffective). Then I measured and cut the two drywall replacement pieces. Nailing them in proved to be a bit of a challenge, as there is just not that much room to maneuver in a three foot by four foot shower stall.

But I got them nailed in. Next came taping and mudding them. I was in the middle of that when I got a phone call from Jake. Which is why I finally glanced out the windows and saw the snow had really picked up. It was starting to cover the ground here (it was just after 1:00 PM). When I mentioned that to Jake, he said it had been snowing for hours in Westland and he couldn't see the top of his grass!

I decided that standing on a ladder and cleaning out gutters in a snowstorm was stupid. After we hung up, I walked out on the front porch and took a picture. Then I went back to work and finished up about 2:30 PM.

I assume it was all the weird bending over, but I noticed my back was really hurting. So, rather than taking a pain pill, I went and lay down on the bed for a while, watching TV. I got back up around 5:00 PM and decided to call my Mom. She's doing fine, BTW. She said Cora had just shown her that the snow there was starting to cover the back deck and railings. We decided that it must be moving from here to there, and her yard will probably be all covered in snow by tomorrow morning.

Then it was time to think about Sunday dinner. I wanted to make a sausage and mushroom penne gratin. I found a recipe that substituted the long baking time with just using the broiler to get that bubbly melted cheese, so I was going to try it. First came the prep work: I grated 1/2 cup of Parmigiano-Reggiano and thick-sliced 12 ounces of white button mushrooms. Then I minced two cloves of garlic.

I boiled a pound to penne pasta until it was al dente. I reserved 1/2 cup of the pasta water and drained the penne. Meanwhile, I browned a pound of bulk sweet Italian sausage in a tablespoon of olive oil, using a wooden spoon to break it up. I took it out of the skillet with a slotted spoon, leaving the fat. I added another tablespoon of olive oil and the sliced mushrooms along with the minced garlic. I cooked them until the mushrooms were golden (about 3 minutes).

I returned the sausage to the pan along with one cup of heavy cream, the reserved pasta water, a rounded 1/4 teaspoon of salt and the same amount of black pepper. I brought that to a boil, stirring once or twice until it thickened (about four minutes).

I put the penne pasta in my casserole dish, poured the mixture over it, stirred in the Parmigiano-Reggiano and 1/2 cup of the shredded mozzarella. I spread it out evenly and topped it with the other 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella. Then I broiled it about 4 inches from the heat until it was golden brown in spots (about two to five minutes, depending on your broiler). I pulled it out and took another photo (I gotta have something to send my Mom!)

The taste was very good and the seasoning was perfect but I thought it was a bit dry, BTW. I left the cleanup for the night crew and went and watched my Sunday shows. Before going to bed, I checked outside. It looked like the snow had stopped, but I probably had an inch of snow on the ground.