Sunday, inside out

This time I didn’t wake up from either a bathroom call or the alarm. It was heavy, rolling thunder! I checked outside and it was raining hard. Oddly enough, it was already over 50 degrees F. and, once the cold front moves through, we are supposed to have a high that may reach 80 degrees!

I put on a pot of coffee, my bathrobe and my brace, and then worked to post all the pictures and the entry from yesterday’s tale.

Some day, I’ll explain just what’s involved for me to take a photo from in my camera to being posted on the Blog (Hint: The photo has to be manipulated in three different software programs).

Anyway, I refilled my pillbox with a week’s worth of pills (I’m down to just 30 MG of morphine once in the morning – I’ll let you know how that works out). I ate breakfast, took my pills and did my testing. Then I filled in the test spreadsheet. The cats were all elsewhere, so I stripped the bed (saving out the bedspread, which was just washed) and started the wash machine.

I spent some time measuring things to see what could fit where. I think I’ve been watching too many home improvement or DYI shows. It was less expensive and I ate better when I stuck to cooking shows, lol!

I took a photo of the Mailbox Mixture seed packet for Tirami Sue, so she can see what I would like to see in my garden and then posted it. I noticed when I looked at the photo that I broke the word “mailbox” into two words “Mail Box” in the photo captions. Whoops! My bad.

I was waiting for the washer to finish before I took my shower, so I washed out each of the stainless steel cat water dishes, dried and refilled them and then put them back in place. I filled one of the food dishes full and then washed the other (they, too, are stainless steel). That one I will have to let air dry so the cat food doesn’t get soggy. Then I’ll do the other.

B___ called and we commiserated with each other over the crappy weather when we both have things to do outside. I put the bedding in the dryer and myself in the shower.

Once I was dressed, I headed out on my errands about noon. It was still cloudy, but had stopped raining (thank you, Rain Gods!)

First (and biggest) problem was that all the traffic lights up and down Middle Belt were out. Middle Belt and Plymouth Road (which I was on) is a pretty busy intersection for a "four-way stop". But I finally got through and into Target. Second problem is they didn’t have what I went there for. Third problem was I couldn’t figure out exactly which towels in the Automotive section Jake was talking about. I got what I thought he meant. It dawned on me much later I should have called him or sent him a text while I was standing there. I am just SO not used to having a cell phone!

I fought my way back through the intersection and headed to Home Depot. Fourth problem is they didn’t have the retaining blocks I wanted for the mailbox (just bigger ones), so I had to leave empty-handed. I gave up on Middle Belt and took the service drive (Schoolcraft) to Inkster Road, up to Five Mile and over to Kroger’s. It was two miles out of my way, but at least I had traffic lights!

Kroger was packed! I thought it wouldn’t be as bad because it was rainy and the Red Wings playoffs were on TV. Wrongo! But, I made it through and was unpacking my cart onto the checkout line when I heard the first of many peals of thunder. Oh, oh...

Sure enough, I got soaked getting back to the car and unloading the cart (crips don't run in the rain). I drove home in the storm, trying to see and avoid the heaviest ponding places.

I did make it (a little after 3:00 PM), unloaded the groceries (after treating the cats) and changed into some dry clothing. The wet stuff went into the washer, along with my bathrobe and the six towels I just bought for the kitchen.

I went out after the rain quit and planted the morning glory seeds. I remembered that I didn’t tell you about the mulch. Those guys not only mulched the back garden and under the play area, they mulched every place else in the back yard that had mulch. They even mulched places that had no mulch (like from the St. Francis garden, then under the old Arbor Vitiae to the house). It looks nice, BTW. I should add some garden edging when I can dig again. I took some pictures for you. I checked the rain gauge while I was out there and we’ve gotten just over one inch here since the storm started during the night.

Back inside, I had another big glass of buttermilk. I bought some today and had my first glass while I was putting the groceries away. I love that stuff! Next I assembled my homemade granola (of course, without any cereal, it’s probably more correct to call it trail mix). Now I have a mixture of peanuts, raisins, cranberries, almonds and walnuts (I wanted some dates, too, but couldn’t find any). I think by adding 1/4 cup of my mixture and a tablespoon of wheat germ to a packet of maple and brown sugar instant oatmeal, I will have the perfect texture, taste and daily allotment of fiber for breakfast.

Sidebar: As one who rarely ate breakfast (except on weekends) for most of my adult life and has been forced to daily now for the last four months, I can categorically agree that eating breakfast really does make you less hungry during the rest of the day. Maybe it’s just me but I think that’s why they always say to eat breakfast if you are trying to lose weight (which I’m not – I just don’t want to puke up my pills).

I put the last load in the dryer and started to sweep and vacuum all the floors. My back hurt, so I made an executive decision NOT to mop the floors today. Instead, I called my daughter Melissa (who had called when I was out shopping) and congratulated her and Dave on their new grandson. She said she had sent me some pictures, so I checked. Cute baby, several nice family pictures and I still love that name: Holden.

[Sidebar: Gray hair on my little baby girl? That can’t be right! Must have been the camera flash or something]

After we hung up, I realized it was after 5:00 PM, so I started to make my mise en place for tonight’s dinner. I realized recently how far I’ve cut back on cooking (for admittedly good reasons), but tonight I am making Shrimp Scampi with linguine, using the recipe refined back in the day by Carla.

So, I minced up four cloves of garlic and two shallots and set them in a little bowl. The raw shrimp had been thawing in the fridge and I took it out.

I the put the zest from a lemon in another small bowl. I got my pasta pot filled and over the heat, waiting for a good boil to add some salt and a pound of linguine.

I peeled and deveined a pound of 26-30 raw shrimp. I took off the tails, in spite of the fact that a lot of cooks think they look better with them on. Maybe they do, but they make eating shrimp with pasta messier than I like. Then I seasoned the shrimp with salt and fresh cracked black pepper.

I melted two tablespoons of butter in two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. When the butter was melted, I added in the garlic, shallots and a good pinch of red pepper flakes. I let that cook over medium-high heat until the shallots turned translucent. I added the shrimp at that point and cooked them (tossing often) until they turned pink. I removed the shrimp from the pan and set them aside, keeping them warm.

To the skillet, I added a 1/4 cup of dry white wine and 1/4 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice and brought that to a boil. Then I added another two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and two tablespoons of butter. When that butter melted, I put the shrimp back in, adding 1/4 cup of finely chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley, the lemon zest and the now drained pasta. I mixed it well so the pasta would suck up the sauce and finally drizzled a little more olive oil on top.

I plated a big dish of it and topped it with fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. I went in to watch some TV, but I was distracted by my food and paid more attention to it than I did the show that was on. Dinner was delicious!

I had cleaned up as I went along (until the very end when things got a little busy), so I put the rest of the shrimp scampi with linguine into a container and then into the fridge. I still need to wash the pasta pot and my Shun knife but I can do that later (they are rinsed and waiting). I used the remaining lemon skins to wipe my wooden cutting board (it helps to get rid of the garlic smell).

I went back in the bedroom, took my evening pills (with no morphine – gulp) and spent the remainder of the evening dozing and/or watching TV. I went to bed for real at 10:30 PM.