November Christmas

So, I called the Township offices at 8:45 AM on Thursday to schedule my inspection. I was directed to Bill, who said he would be there between 10-11:00 AM.

I headed home at 9:50. I parked outside so he would know I was home. Sure enough, I barely had time to treat the cats when the doorbell rang. He was laughing when he came in and said, “I like your sign about the Wizard.” I walked him downstairs, where he examined the new duct work with a flashlight (even though I had the light on inside the closet that holds both the furnace and the hot water heater. As you can tell by the photos I posted when it was installed, it’s pretty open).

He also examined the new shutoff in the gas line and said, “Well, it all looks good.” I asked if I need to sign anything and he said no. So, I walked him back out and said, “Thanks!” After he left, I did, too and was back to work within a half hour of leaving.

So, I did take a lunch. First I went to the Newburgh Grille and had a cup of soup and a patty melt. Then I went further down to Randazzo’s where I bought a small head of cabbage and two large Spanish onions, and then went back to work.

My afternoon walk wasn’t too bad as it was up into the 40’s for a change and the sun was shining.

When I got home after work, I opened the box of “winter branch lights” I bought from Gardner’s Supply. They are meant to use either batteries or an ac adapter (which I sprung for) and have either an “on” position, or a “timer” that stays on for 6 hours. There are three of them and each has individual branches. They look like pussy willows. I arranged them around the bay leaf and plugged in the adapter. This year they will be my version of a Christmas tree. I’ll take a picture of them when I finish the rest of my Christmas decorations.

In the mail I found my new license tab, so I washed the license plate and, when it dried, put on my tab. Now all I have to do is go into the Secretary of State’s office and renew my drivers license (groan).

In a Christmas mood, I printed off the Christmas card labels. I’ll fill them out this weekend. And, I was lucky that PBS sent me a reminder that Celtic Woman (who I admire and have recorded and even put on DVD) were on at 8:00 PM tonight with a Christmas special. So, I set the recorder.

I went up in the attic to get a few things and discovered I couldn’t find my lighted glass block! Hmmm... I wonder where I put it last year?

Back downstairs, I quit for the night and started making my soup. I gave up on the steaks (they were still rock hard – I wish I would have thought about soup when I was here this morning). So, I thawed out the ground chuck in its frozen block in my cast iron soup pot. Then I added onions and celery and cooked that until the onions were translucent. Next I added some minced garlic and seasoned with salt and pepper.

I deglazed the pan with some beef stock, then added the rest of the box to the pot. I put in a large can of diced tomatoes, juice and all. Then I added in some frozen mixed vegetables, some frozen cauliflower and half of the cabbage head, rough chopped. I topped the soup off with water until it looked like the right thickness.

Finally, I added herbs: Thyme, parsley and three dried bay leaves. I let that come to a boil and turned it down to a simmer and went in to watch Celtic Woman.

About an hour later, I fixed myself a bowl of soup while the show was in pledge-drive mode. So, bad... Not bad at all! A little under-seasoned, but adding a sprinkle of salt fixed that. I got another bowl to make sure and shut the heat off.

The Celtic Woman were excellent, as always. I watched more TV afterwards, but it was all anticlimactic. I went to bed about 11:00 after I stuck my cooled soup pot in the fridge.