Testing the family culinary limits, progress on the bucket list, and 8,000 words.
Plaque certifying that our house is a hundred years old
It’s been a good week. My familyhas decided, a bit belatedly, that they ate too much over the holidays. So toavoid more Keto stuff and Whole 30 meals, I have started serving what I calllight suppers, often meatless. These are the kind of meals that my mom used tofix on Sunday nights for us to dine in front of the fireplace in the livingroom. Since it’s acknowledged that I cook for some picky eaters, I approachedthis with some trepidation. A couple of nights ago I fixed Welsh Rarebit, athick cheese sauce served on toast and fancied up with pickled onions and microgreens. My mom fixed Welsh Rarebit, but as I recall it was mostly melted sharpcheddar over saltines—once when I served it for supper, Colin said, “This isdinner?” No wonder I was nervous. This time, following a recipe, I served it onEnglish muffins, and it seemed to be a hit. Christian praised the flavor of thecheese. Great! One down.
Last night supper wasscrambled eggs with a ranchero sauce and (canned) refried beans on the side.The beans were, to me, a disappointment (I want Joe T’s refritos) but theranchero sauce, heavy with chopped bacon, was another hit. Even Jacob ate withus, and Christian commandeered the leftover sauce for his eggs this morning. Mylight meals may not be exactly diet food, but I think people eat less inquantity than they do if we have a casserole or a meat-and-potatoes dish.Tonight, for a guest, I served creamed mushrooms on an English muffin (I’mreally into that muffin business) and a marinated beet and feta salad. So good,and so colorful on the plate. Once again, I blew it and should have taken apicture. A digression: Central Market sent me the biggest beet I have everseen. I ordered two, cooked the smaller one twice as long as should have,cooked the superhumongous one even longer, and I’m still not sure it’s done.The smaller one made plenty for me and my dinner guest.
This week also marked progresson my bucket lists of maintenance chores. Jacob put my compost tumbler together,but it had far too many screws left over. Christian said he’d take it in thehouse and deal with it when he had time, but he was noticeably not enthusiasticabout the chore. I called a handyman who advertises in the neighborhoodnewsletter and was recommended by a friend. He installed our brasshundred-year-plaque on the front of the house and fixed the tumbler, usingalmost all the screws. He said the instructions for the tumbler were totally inadequateand it was no wonder a highschooler didn’t get it right. So now I’m happilysaving all those vegetable scraps and making a list of other chores that need ahandyman. My walker and I have really dinged up the woodwork in the cottage,and I would like to have it touched up, repainted. whatever it needs.
It's been a great week for mein that I wrote 8,000 words on my novel-in-progress, tentatively titled, Irenein a Ghost Kitchen and fifth in my Irene in Chicago Culinary Mysteries. Ihad, as I may have said here before, put the manuscript aside at about 30,000words. I’m not sure why I abandoned it except that I was in that muddle in the middle—halfwaythrough and couldn’t see clear to the end. Ivan Doig once said writing is likedriving in the dark—you can only see as far ahead as the headlights. And myheadlights weren’t working very well. But at an informal gathering ofpublishing people someone praised Irene as a fascinating character, and thatsomehow was all I needed to hear to move ahead. So now I’m trying to write asmuch as I can. And I’m grateful to the former colleague who said that.
Big goof last night: Sophiewanted to go out at 5:30 in the morning. Somehow I set the burglar alarm off anddidn’t get it cancelled in time to satisfy the security company’s automatic system.So there I was trying to talk to this recorded voice and unable to answer Subie’scall. Finally got it solved, only to have Jordan call, ask what was going on,and say Subie was on her way over here, which made me feel guilty. Got it allsolved and went back to bed, with appropriate apologies to Jordan and Subie. Butthanks to Subie for true friendship! And to Jordan and Christian for patience.