Rainy Days and Fridays...

I was awakened by an early morning phone call on Friday morning. At least, I thought it was a phone call and I immediately thought, “Who died?” (old people always think that). It turned out it wasn’t a phone call, it was my cell phone’s text message alert (I had left it on the nightstand). So, I looked at the number and I didn’t recognize it. I opened the message and it said I had won something or another at Target! WTF???

It was 4:00 AM...

Try as I might, I could not get back to sleep. So, I eventually gave up, got up and made a cup of coffee. I putzed around on the computer, took my time getting ready and so on but still left early. I drove to work in a light rain. It’s supposed to rain and/or snow until Tuesday which will make doing my outdoor projects this weekend just that much more challenging. Not to mention my morning and afternoon walks.

It’s a long story, but I have to bring macaroni and cheese to the department’s pot luck. I did once and everybody but me loved it. I didn’t like it as I had to bring it in the slow cooker and, while the flavors were right, the texture sucked. I spent a lot of time and money making that and didn’t like that it wasn’t perfect. Since the manager of our ERP system usually brings his mac and cheese, I have escaped doing it again. But, this year, he has a meeting during the potluck and won’t be there. So, I got “elected” to bring mine.

Therefore, at lunchtime, I went to Westborn to get “some” of the cheeses and herbs I will need. I was going to go home and just eat my beef vegetable soup. But I cruised the soup stand, just in case there was any clam chowder. It’s so hard to find good tasting clam chowder, that I grab it whenever I can. Unfortunately for me, they didn’t have clam chowder, but fortunately, they did have lobster bisque!

I think they make it from the lobster tails that people don’t buy, so not only is the soup excellent, but there are big chunks of real lobster in it. So, I bought a small container of it.

I took my stuff back to the house and put the cheese in the fridge. Then I ate my soup. It was as good or better than I remembered. Then I headed back to work.

I was pleasantly surprised I managed to stay awake the whole day. Finally, I was headed home in a light rain. I treated the cats when I first got there (they would eat my face off when I was asleep if I didn’t!) and then changed clothes. I made the last of many of cups of coffee I had today and watched the news.

Since I was at Westborn anyway, I had picked up two ingredients needed to make what Fabio calls “The Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwich:” sliced sharp cheddar cheese and thin sliced pepperoni. Obviously, it was two slices of bread, lightly buttered on the outside, then th twist was some Dijon mustard on one inside, the pepperoni and the cheddar cheese, grilled. He used a skillet and a foil wrapped brick. I used my little George Foreman grille/aka pannini press.

As with most things chefs (other than Tyler Florence) call the “Ultimate” I was under-impressed. I even made and ate a second one to double check. Oh, it was good, don’t get me wrong. But so is a plain old American cheese grilled sandwich. Maybe I should have made some tomato soup and ate it with that, since that’s how I normally eat grilled cheese sandwiches.

I tried to stay awake to watch some taped shows (I got a two-hour show off of PBS Sunday about the life of a guy who retired in 1967 at age 50 and went and built a cabin in Alaska). But, alas, I fell asleep after the first half hour.