Sunday's Shame

I did get up and wander around for a couple of hours early Sunday morning, but then managed to fall back asleep. I woke up for real at 8:00 AM.

The first thing I did was to rush out to the kitchen and check the paper towels under the sink. No drips, by God!

I warmed up a cup of coffee from yesterday and drank it on the couch. Then I went in and posted the Blog entry.

I put everything back under the sink. Finally my kitchen is starting to look like my kitchen again. I did notice how sore my back was from all that bending and reaching yesterday, though.

I signed a birthday card and got the little present ready to mail for Lu's birthday (I know what you're thinking, but don't worry, she never reads this). Now, I also know it's not until Thursday, but you see there's a problem with mail to her (and my daughter Melissa as well). I can send a letter damn near anywhere in the US and it gets there in two days. It takes four days to get to them!

Why? I dunno... But here's my theory: They fly the mail into the nearest civilization (say, West Virginia or Tennessee) and then pack it over the Blue Ridge Mountains by mule train to North Carolina or Ol' Virginny.

I fried up some bacon I'd thawed. I want to make strata later this week and need some crumbled bacon. But, I only need four pieces and have eight thawed. So, when it was done, I cut the heel off of a crusty loaf of French bread and ate the rest of the bacon and bread on the couch with a glass of water (pretending I was a cowboy on a cattle drive, eating breakfast).

Onto lessons learned: Never delay taking a photo! One was when I was taking a pee earlier this morning. There is a big icicle outside the bathroom window and it was slowly dripping. I counted the time between the drips and found it was exactly four seconds. I mused that if I counted to three and snapped the photo, I might just get the drop coming off the icicle, which would have been neat.

The other was when I was leaving for the Post office. The trellis out front is next to the downspout and the water had frozen into perfect little "crystal" ice squares. I thought to myself: when I get back, I'll take a picture of that.

It was warm. So warm I had to unzip my coat in the Post Office to keep from sweating. When I got back, the crystal ice squares had melted just enough to fall down and the icicle outside the bathroom was running water, not dripping... Damn!

But, I got my camera and trudged out back to at least get some shots of the icicles before they melted. Since I was back there anyway, I refilled the birdfeeder. Then I went in and cleaned up the kitchen, er, chuckwagon.

My back was really hurting, so I officially quit at 2:00 PM and switched on the Olympics. Hockey comes up at 3:00.

Now, if you didn't watch it, shame on you! But for those few folks who were sick in bed or who's TV was broken, I'll recap: The first goal by Canada was a killer and the second was like coffin nails being pounded in. But, we rallied back and got our first goal. Then, with 24 seconds left in the last period, we tied it up, (I was yelling and pounding on Caley), forcing sudden-death overtime (whoever scores first, wins). And the Canadians scored first!

Damn Canucks! They act like they invented the game! Oh, wait a minute...

Anyway, all kidding aside, in spite of our loss, it was a great game. Congratulations, Oh Canada!

I set the DVD-R to record the closing ceremonies. I can't watch anymore of this...

I went out to make Canada Cathy's mother's recipe called Monday Night Chicken. Now, that's probably not really the name of this, but she tended to target Monday night for making it so, in their family, it was called Monday Night Chicken.

BTW, years ago, my Mother asked me to make it for her after reading about it and she loved it!

The only twist I am going to do on it is the rice (traditional) or mashed potatoes (you have to use the gravy somewhere, right?) Well, I just ate both rice and mashed potatoes, then potato cakes made from mashed potatoes so I'm kinda "rice and potatoe'ed" out. I think I'll make some wide egg noodles to sop up the gravy.

So, the recipe calls for boneless, skinless chicken thighs, but I am using the bone-in, skin-on thighs (I think they add more flavor). Next, put a pouch of Crispy Italian Shake and Bake into a big baggie (the only reason this stuff is in the house). Add to that some seasoned salt (I use Lawry's), garlic powder and onion powder. If I ever knew the "correct" amounts, I've forgotten them now. I just eyeball it. Shake that around and then add in your chicken thighs (6-8). Shake each one and put it in an oven-proof, greased, casserole dish.

Note: If you are doing 10 or more chicken thighs, use two cans of soup and two cups of sour cream.

Put the dish into a preheated 400 degrees F. oven and cook until the chicken is done (approximately 45 minutes). At that point, you take the dish out of the oven and drain off any grease.

Then you mix together a can of cream of mushroom soup, one cup of sour cream and two tablespoons of cooking sherry.

Now, before my foodie readers blow a gasket, let's think about it. These are recipes developed back in the 1950's or 60's. Not only were there a ton of recipes that called for a can of cream of celery, cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup, the damn shit tasted good! Think of the old "green bean casserole." Hell, my favorite comfort food (taught to me by my mom), tuna and peas, involves a can of mushroom soup. So, get over yourselves and realize food is food, whether you make a fancy French sauce on a double broiler or use a can of soup. BTW, there is a shit-load of recipes currently on the web that use such ingredients.

Anyway, you top the chicken with the sauce and back in the oven it goes covered now) for an additional 30 minutes or so, until the sauce is bubbly.

While that went on, I watched a Food Network special. I made up the egg noodles, plated it and went in to watch my usual Sunday shows.

Excellent dinner, BTW. The sour tang of the sauce really makes this dish.

Even though they were both reruns, it was nice to watch regular TV for a change! I went to bed at 10:00 PM.