Here we go again....

So, I went back to my part-time hours this week. I've been kinda pushing the envelope with working full-time for the past three weeks.

So, I made myself a nice breakfast: scrambled eggs and grits. I always eat the grits with butter, salt and pepper. People who put sugar or maple syrup on grits are just weird. Then I watched the Today show until 10:00 AM.

About two o'clock, I gassed up the riding mower and checked the oil. Believe it or not, with all the rain we had, the back lawn (at least) needs cutting. Since I was doing it anyway (and it's supposed to rain most of the days left in this week), I started with the front lawn.

I got that done, shut off the blades and drove across the driveway to the side lawn. When I got there, I turned the blades back on, but just heard a loud "pop" instead of whirling blades. Dammit! I shut it down and checked and, sure enough, the belt had broken...

That means a trip to Lowe's (over in Jake and Carla country), so I put everything away and buttoned the house up for the rest of the day.

I had bought some fresh, refrigerated pasta last week (made by Buitoni) so I got that out and made a classic Fettucini Alfredo for dinner.

First I put a pot of water on for the pasta. Then in another pan, I brought one cup of cream, salt, pepper and a few swipes of nutmeg (on the microplane) up to a simmer. I lowered the heat and whisked in two ounces of butter in small chunks.

When the fettucini was done (fresh pasta only takes two or three minutes, unlike dried pasta) I drained it and put it into the sauce. Then I sprinkled in two ounces of freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, (I used a box grater and it was a pain in the arm) tossing it to melt and distribute the cheese. Note: You can add a little more cream if it gets too thick.

I plated that and went in to watch "Stagecoach," on AMC. This is the 1939 classic starring John Wayne. When it was done, so was I so I went to bed.