Sunday Supper

I slept in on Sunday until 6:30 AM! This time I put the coffee on first, before anything else. I got a cup and posted my pictures and the Blog I had written throughout the day yesterday. I watched the morning news and Joel Osteen (that preacher show) while eating breakfast, refilling the pill case for the week and doing my usual routine.

I weighed and then cooked eight ounces of elbow macaroni to use for tonight’s dinner. Then I went in and, using Norton Ghost, set up the My Book to automatically back up the computer every Sunday. I had crawled under the desk and behind the computer to put its USB connection permanently in place.

I took a nice long shower. BTW, I’m not sure if I mentioned this before, but that handheld shower head I (well, B___) installed has several settings. I usually only have it set for “full” (or what ever it’s called) which is like a smaller version of my old rain shower head. But, I noticed a while back that the “massage” setting does seem to help when directed at my spine. Unfortunately, I only have time for it on the weekends. I am reminded how envious I am of my Brother Carl and his walk-in tub with the Jacuzzi jets!

I got dressed and left for the Town Square Market (Joy and Beech-Daly). All I needed was a little more shredded sharp cheddar cheese (I have some, just not enough). It’s a small grocery store, been there since 1970 and probably hasn’t changed since. But, it’s never crowded so, for one or two items, it’s a quick, close solution.

Back home, I had what I thought was a brilliant idea. It’s still too damn cold to do much outside and the wind is worse today. So, two things struck me: I was stuck in the house for a long while, maybe all day and, in the past when it was free, most large items I set out to the road were picked up by folks long before the Township ever came.

You see, I want to lose that day bed from the office (I need the space) but it would cost me $120.00 for the Township to haul it away and I couldn’t carry it to the road, anyway. I bought the mattress when we first moved here, but since very few people ever slept on it, it’s like brand new. So, I made up a sign (see photos) and stapled it to the mailbox post and waited for the people to come and get the free bed and mattress. I waited… and waited… and waited…

I worked on little stuff while waiting, like starting the last load of laundry (my clothes for work) and setting the Norton Ghost to back up my computer every Sunday. Sadie called and I talked with her for a bit and with Lu for a while longer.

When the My Book started filling up from the backup, I started my Sunday dinner.

I’m trying something new: Crockpot Macaroni and Cheese! So I sprayed the round slow cooker with canola oil and mixed in the cooked macaroni, one 12 ounce can of evaporated milk, 1 1/2 cups of whole milk, 1/4 cup of melted butter a teaspoon of salt and a pinch of black pepper, two large beaten eggs and about 4 1/2 cups of shredded sharp cheddar cheese.

When I had it thoroughly mixed, I added about 1/2 cup more shredded Cheddar cheese to the top and sprinkled that with paprika. I turned the slow cooker on low and set the timer for 3 hours and 15 minutes.

It occurred to me that I didn’t want the hordes of people who would be coming in to see my computer on, so I shut it off (I already had the TV off and the bedroom and bathroom doors closed).

It finally dawned on me around 4:00 PM that NOBODY was coming. So, I opened everything up and turned on the computer. And the computer froze during booting! I tried it several times with the same result before I sent a text to Jake. He suggested unplugging it, rather than just turning it off) and leaving it set for 20-30 minutes.

So, I did that and then plugged it back in. Nope! Jake said I might have to buy a new mother board (groan).

To forget about it, I went out front and took down the sign for the daybed. Then I went out back and moved the tarragon from the old spot (next to the grille) to a new spot between the chives and the oregano (see pictures).

Back inside, it (finally) dawned on me the computer acted the same way when I left the Norton Ghost disc in the drive. So, I unplugged the USB connection to the My Book and it started right up! Whew!

It also dawned on me that, had I explained to Jake everything I’d been doing with the computer (backing it up to the My Book) he would have figured it out right away.

When Jake comes up, I’ll have him change the setting so it boots from the hard drive first. But for now, at least I could finally get the pictures out of my camera and post them. And now I know I can’t leave other drives plugged in.

About an hour before the mac & cheese would be finished, I started on the other part of Sunday dinner.

I changed this one a bit because it called for boneless, skinless chicken breast and I was using skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs. Anyway, I put 1/4 cup of melted butter and six cloves of crushed garlic in one of my breading station pans (the recipes suggested melting the putter in a saucepan and adding the garlic to it). I dipped each thigh in the melted butter mixture and then coated it with seasoned bread crumbs in the other breading station pan. I put them in a lightly greased Pyrex baking dish and sprinkled the remaining butter/garlic and bread crumbs over top of them. Then I popped the baking dish into a 375 degree F. preheated oven for an hour.

I cleaned up my mess while the rest of the cooking was taking place and then checked the TV listings to see if anything looked good. Hmmm... not really.

The timer went off and I went and made a plate for my dinner. Results? Well, the chicken was very moist with a nice buttery, garlicky flavor. I can see how the butter, garlic and breadcrumbs would work well on skinless chicken breasts.

The macaroni taste was spot on. High marks for taste! But, without making the roux, the cheddar cheese had that gritty texture you get with cheddar. So, while its easy to make, I don’t think I’ll make it again.

I gave up TV at 9:00 PM and switched to reading until I fell asleep.