New Year’s Eve

After a very restless night, I finally fell asleep around 5:00 AM and slept until 8:00. I filled out my grocery list (not all I wanted, just what I need), wrote out this weekend’s ToDo list and filled in the Blog post.

I took down the bedroom drapes for the first time since I hung them. They are dark blue and now covered with Caley hair. I was afraid to wash them, but figured they’d either survive or I’d have to buy new ones. It was a pain to get the wooden rods loose (I ended up using my step-stool) but I got it done and put them in the wash.

I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but occasionally the sprayer on my kitchen faucet sticks open. Now, I know this and just wait until it shuts off (there was a humorous incident the last time Lu was here where she sprayed herself, not knowing). But today, it stayed stuck! I took it apart and tried everything, but nothing worked. I guess I’ll have to buy another one. Right now, my only source of water in the kitchen sink is through the sprayer.

I’d put off going grocery shopping all week, thinking I would go today when I had the day off. So, I left about noon. That was a big mistake!

First off, it was raining by then. And Meijer’s was a madhouse! I’ve never seen so many people in that store as I did today. You couldn’t get down the aisle without waiting for someone to move and the checkout lines were way too long. It took me almost two hours to get out of there and I only spent $90.00 US. My only impulse buy was a box of Clementines. I’m not sure why, but nothing seems to say “Christmas” like the taste of Clementines.

Back home, I unpacked the groceries and decided to take a break. Since I plan on taking everything down Sunday, I spent a while reading on the couch with the Christmas tree and fireplace on.

I moved from the couch to the bed and took a nice, long nap.

I was awakened by a call from B___ who wanted to wish me a happy New Year. I wished him and his family the same and we hung up.

I turned my attention to that damn sprayer again. I had tapped it gently on the tile countertop (I didn’t want to break the tile) but that didn’t work. So, I took it off and beat the f*ck out of it on the wooden cutting board. I reassembled it and, to my surprise, it shut off! Note to self: Never use that again!

Then I turned my attention to dinner. Now, I had originally decided to make Swiss chard Mascarpone Ravioli, pan seared and drizzled with truffled crème (it sounded good). But I realized I had nowhere to clamp the pasta machine to anymore. My round table is too thick and, since I added the tile, so is my counter. So, when I was at Meijer’s, I picked up some Buitoini wild mushroom agnolotti (which is sort of a ravioli filled with portobello and crimini mushrooms and cheese).

While the water was heating up, I made the sauce. Over medium heat, I melted 1/3 cup of butter and two sprigs of fresh thyme. I heated that until it turned brown (Note: you can’t do this in a non-stick or cast iron pan as you can’t see it turning brown). When it was a medium brown (about five minutes), I took the pan off the heat. I added three tablespoons of white truffle oil (I bought that months ago and have never used it). I whisked it together and reserved two tablespoons.

I boiled the agnolotti for five minutes, drained them and added them to a skillet with the butter/truffle oil mix along with a teaspoon of olive oil. I seared them a minute or so on each side until they were golden.

Meanwhile, I added 1/3 cup of heavy cream to my sauce, some sea salt and fresh ground pepper. I whisked that until the mixture was emulsified.

I put half of the agnolotti on a plate and drizzled the sauce over them. Then I ate them. OMG! They were fantastic!!

I wanted to stay awake for the New Year, but fell asleep around 11:00 PM. But, I woke up at 1:00 AM and cracked open the Korbel Champagne anyway. I had two glasses and then went back to bed.