Thursday's Tale

Thursday was the last day in a string of days with beautiful weather here in Southeast Michigan. Vicky was in today (she was ill yesterday) and again accompanied me on my morning walk.

The other day, I had seen a truck with a logo on it that said, ”The Habitat for Humanity ReStore.” Intrigued, I wrote down the address. So, today I went there at lunchtime to check it out.

The warehouse is at I-96 and Greenfield. You can see it as you come over the freeway after exiting I-96 eastbound. But, getting to it is a bit more tricky. I will warn you that you have to go down some streets I wouldn’t travel after dark.

Anyway, it does have a variety of items reclaimed from old buildings, including cabinets, doors (both interior and exterior), lighting and windows. If and when I decide on putting a window in the outbuilding, I think I’ll buy it there. It's sort of an urban Adair Salvage, if you get the reference.

Since time was running out, I stopped at Westborn and got the apples I needed and some soup (this time I choose crab bisque). I made an impulse buy of some beautiful summer squash.

They were having the first of the season's open house and car show down the way and we braced ourselves for the onslaught. But, it was considerably smaller this year than the events of the past. Some (myself included) thought it was the threat of rain while others suggested it was due to the fact they did not have a local rock radio station onsite this year.

I could see the rafters of the outbuilding as I drove up my street (hell, you can see them from Plymouth Road, LOL) and was disappointed that they were not covered. It still wasn’t raining yet. I wondered what happened. But, I was tipped off by the fact that the dirt pile in the driveway had disappeared.

After I got in, treated the cats and changed clothes, I went out to take pictures. All the ruts (to about 3/4 of the way to the back wall) were carefully  filled in! As far as the shed goes, the plywood was now on the last wall up to eight feet.

My neighbor was cutting his back lawn and stopped to chat. He said he and his guys used his ATV and snowmobile trailer to do it. They loaded up dirt on the trailer and then drove to each rut to fill it in. He said he was sorry he couldn’t fill in where the Bobcat had gotten stuck or the ruts next to the rear garden but they ran out of dirt.

He said it was great soil to work with (it was screened, as I think I mentioned) and wished he had some himself to fill in a low spot in his yard. So, I told him I would get another load, enough to finish my yard and fill in his hole, too.

His wife came out with the fixing for a barbeque and asked if I would like a plate. I declined, telling them I had some chicken breasts I had to make tonight or throw out.

So, I went in a finally made my Chicken Marsala. I pounded the chicken breasts until they were 1/4-inch thick. I filled a plate with self-rising flour (the recipe called for Wondra) mixed with dried oregano, salt and pepper.Then I coated each chicken patty with the flour mixture, shaking off the excess.

The recipe called for putting four chicken breast in the skillet at once. They must have used tiny chicken breasts for them to fit, though. I had only three and had to do them in two batches in my 12-inch skillet.

Regardless, I sautéed them in canola oil and butter for two minutes on the first side (until it was golden brown) When you flip them over, you add in a cup of sliced mushrooms around the chicken and cook the chicken two more minutes.

Then I added in 1/2 cup of Marsala dry wine, covered the pan and simmered it for about 10 minutes. While that was simmering, I sliced up the summer squash and fried that in butter in my 10-inch skillet.

When time was up, I plated my dinner. The chicken was excellent! The summer squash reminded me of my childhood on the farm and my Mother’s cooking.

I watched a little TV, but my late night hockey habit caught up with me and I fell asleep. I woke up around 11:30 PM, put away the leftovers, turned off the TV and went to bed for real. It still wasn’t raining, though…

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 [J1]