For lunch I had more Chinese leftovers! The Dan Dan noodles were actually better than they were fresh. It was a pretty day finally! Matt was at work and walked to the halal cart for his lunch.
I still don’t feel well (migraines) but I did manage to press some plum blossoms and daffodils from the yard and make a couple sun prints from fresh flowers and a free kit I got at the library last year. I want to experiment with cyanotype with my weaving so I thought it was good practice. Hopefully the flowers will press nicely! The snow drops and crocus I did weeks ago turned out perfectly but these are very different flowers.
I hoped to get some recipe development work today but I really wasn’t up to it.
For dinner we had corn muffins, leftover fried catfish (baked with the convection setting on) and cooked up half a cabbage.
There is still more catfish left!
Finished knitting the cushion while watching Sanditon.
The loom I was supposed to pick up from an auction but couldn’t because of high winds arrived but they packed it horribly and a piece is missing off the easel. I paid a lot to have it shipped the short distance from the Eastern Shore and would have not expected it to come basically wrapped it taped together boxes and wrapped in kraft paper with holes and gaps all over the box. It wasn’t wrapped inside at all. Hopefully I will hear back. Why is everything so difficult?
Picked up some books at the library and wove a tiny sample to experiment with another day for my guild project. Besides that it was another day where I felt like not much happened but it went quickly.
For lunch we had our leftover pancit and for dinner leftover Chinese food. There is still some Chinese food left (we really over ordered!) that I will probably have for tomorrow’s lunch. Normally I try not to double up on leftover takeout but I wanted to make sure we ate it before it was too late. At least it was a break from cooking and making so many dishes!
I had another migraine tonight. It is really rough because I always feel strange the day after I had one and I had one last night so I felt off all day and then will probably feel icky tomorrow too.
We tried the new Marie Antoinette show on PBS but it wasn’t very good. Not a lot of chemistry between the actors but clearly a lot of money was put into it which made it feel flat.
A return to cooking! Matt made us pancakes for breakfast. Somehow I felt liked the day went by really quickly even though we didn’t do much and only watched an hour of tv. Where did the time go??
For dinner Matt fried up some catfish for the first time in years. A new seafood market opened up near by and we wanted to try it out. It was great! Very fresh. We also had broccoli and rice. Lots and lots of catfish leftover for another dinner.
I have found that the smell of oil after frying and fried onion grease have become migraine triggers for me. It is the worst! The food is fine but the oil. Ugh. Luckily as soon as it is cool we get rid of it and our house is old and drafty so the smell doesn’t stick but I still got a migraine in the middle of dinner.
Also, I love Baltimore and living here but boy is it difficult at times. It has been an ordeal to sign up for the local dog park passcode. I found out you could do it in person at the library after I spent 40 minutes filling out this really bad online form yesterday. I only found this out because my community page shared the park’s Facebook page stating that they had updated the paper form.
I left some feedback on the (official?) park page saying that the online form requirements didn’t seem to have been updated and should because they were difficult for anyone without a scanner/printer/software and that it would be helpful if the online form said if you can’t upload, you can take care of it at the library. As it is, it seems like if you can’t edit and upload your documents the way they want you can’t get access to the public park. The form is also very repetitive—you have to give them the same info three different ways.
I got the weirdest response from whoever runs the page saying that I figured it out so why am I complaining? What? I was expressing concern others might not be on archaic Facebook and might be unable to upload the document the weird way they require. Nothing about the park is on any official website at all except the parks and rec event ticketing site—where you sign up to reserve things like pool time. All of the info is on Facebook. The Facebook page is not linked anywhere.
Why would anyone think Facebook is where you’d go to get the info and paper form? I don’t go to Facebook to pay a ticket or check out a library book or get a parking pass. It’s a city service. It’s not even listed as a park on the parks and rec site.
I never see anyone that this park and I think I know why now. I can’t even tell if it’s an official park page or if it is just some crank posting things. I hope it’s the later because I’d hate to think the city is paying someone to treat people like this.
One bright spot was someone posted a “warning” on the cesspool that is Nextdoor about an old man who returns your carts for you at Aldi in exchange for the quarter and all 25 replies were like, and so what? Who cares? Let the man have a quarter. I don’t think that’s how she thought that was going to go.
Another cold, damp, windy day. I truly can’t wait for more pleasant weather! I thought there was a bottle show today but it turned out it was last week so we didn’t have any plans.
Instead we decided to get take out sushi for lunch from a place we used to get take out from a lot but stopped because it’s not very convenient to get to. They’ve switched to take out only like a lot of places here at some point during the pandemic which is nice. It is a tiny place and while we only ate there once before it was like being in someone’s living room. I think it’s back in the rotation. They have lunch specials even on the weekend which makes it one of the more affordable options. They have crawfish rolls!
Anyway! Big lunch, got some things done around the house and then got Szechuan takeout with the idea we will have leftovers for another dinner (at least). I’m really trying to avoid doing a big grocery shop until the new ad week, I have not had luck shopping the last week or so and I’m tired of going to the store and coming home empty handed.
All three dogs needed a bath which is an undertaking! I think two of them have been rolling in dead leaves. Their new licenses arrived today so my goal is to get access to a new dog park about 10-15 from here for an easy change of scenery/tire them out option. We live right off a massive street so walking in the neighborhood isn’t always pleasant. Have I mentioned I can’t wait until it is warm out?
I spent most of the day day planning out some weaving projects. I have my home guild project challenge to complete so I ordered some supplies for that so I can get started.
For lunch we added an egg to the chicken taco leftovers to stretch it out enough so we both had some to eat.
Dottie suddenly realized she can sit with me on the sofa today. I don’t know how it took so long. I feel like we turned some corner. Lulu always sits there with me but Dottie just sat on the other side and leaned on my lap. So silly!
I still don’t know what we are doing this weekend or what we are going to eat. It’s still been pretty damp and chilly so it’s not super pleasant when we venture out at all. Maybe we will bake something? I did get buttermilk so we could make pancakes.
For dinner Matt picked up takeout. We both got the “James’ Special” pancit bihon (it’s special because it has lechon kawali), lumpia and extra pork skewers so we can stretch it out to two meals. We haven’t had it in a long time, the restaurant closes pretty early in the evening and isn’t super close so we often don’t make it in time. Matt had to work again at around 7:30 so we had a super early dinner. We split some of our favorite buko pandan as dessert. It was all so good tonight! Even better than usual.
Long day! I didn’t sleep well (I read a whole book and started a second before I fell asleep) and had to get up super early for the dentist.
After the dentist, I drove out to my dad’s and helped him pay some bills and go over Easter plans. Then I went to the post office (sold something on Etsy right before I left, good timing!) and Costco.
I really hoped to get some stuff for dinners but everything was sell by today or tomorrow. Beef, pork, chicken, the seafood. It was really weird. The only food with better dates were sausages and huge cuts of lamb. I don’t like buying such vast quantities of meat that close to the sell by date. Even if I am going to freeze it.
Strangely of the items with the best date was the chicken taco kit. We had that (doctored up) for dinner but it was sell by Saturday or Sunday. For lunch Matt had some leftover pasty filling (I froze the leftover pasties) and I had another turkey-capicola-lingonberry sandwich. One good thing about having a dentist appointment at the crack of dawn is getting a lot done before lunch.
I mostly went to Costco for OTC meds not food but I would have liked something. I really don’t want to go to another grocery store this week and we are a little low on proteins. I did buy some orchids to join the ones we got last week, RubyFrost apples and some “rugged” Kirkland brand cheddar. We shared an apple and tried the cheddar for a snack while we watched Ófærð on Prime after Matt’s piano lesson. Both were pretty good! More knitting.
Most exciting part of the day was signing up for a specialty weaving class in June. A member of a PA-based guild I belong to had a credit she gave me in exchange for me doing a presentation on it which made it pretty affordable even if I will have to spend a few nights there. Fingers crossed it doesn’t get canceled like the last three classes I’ve signed up for.
This morning I had a zoom weaving class and a meeting of the other weaving guild I belong to in PA. It’s nice these things are on zoom now because I can drive the 2 hrs to an event but don’t have to actually go anywhere for the meetings. A lot of the classes are virtual too. This one was on weaving optical illusions.
For lunch I made myself a turkey-capicola-lingonberry sandwich with an apple and Matt got takeout since he went into work.
I spent all afternoon working on salads for the next book then all evening making corned beef and cabbage pasties. They turned out so good! I’m kind of over cooking and dishes though!
We rewatched half a Vera and Matt practiced his piano for his lesson tomorrow.
Tomorrow I have to get up super early to go to the dentist again! It’s for a cleaning but I swear this crown is still not right so I’m going to see if they can take another look. I never had any jaw pain or problems chewing before this thing! It’s very frustrating and I’m tired of the dentist.
I was supposed to go to the Eastern Shore to pick up a loom I won at auction for $4 but there is a wind advisory for the Bay Bridge and they are apparently getting periods of “heavy snow”?! It’s not snowing here so I’m glad I checked, I feel like that could have turned into a real nightmare scenario. I’ve been trapped on that bridge once and never again. The bridge is scary in high winds. Sometimes they just shut it down and from there I’d have to drive the other way home which is at least 2 hrs 40 minutes instead of an hour.
I switched it for them to mail it to me so hopefully that goes okay. It’s a fee to pick it up another day and I don’t have any other days this week I’m free to make a multi hour car trip. No idea how much the shipping will be though! Hopefully not too much. New from the company I think it’s about $60 to ship. It’s a several hundred dollar loom plus a $200 stand so I’d still be coming out ahead.
Instead I went to Lidl to get more of the good corned beef while it was still on sale and some vegetables, mailed a package, picked up a sandwich for lunch and some turkey and capicola at the Italian market for tomorrow and picked up my library books. I have an awful headache (maybe the weather change??) but I’m glad I got it done!
For dinner I had an idea but didn’t feel up to making it so we made red beans and rice and andouille instead with some zucchini.
This morning my weaving guild had an interesting lecture on indigo dyeing which I’m really interested in trying this year. It seems pretty involved but I’d love to do some ikat. The ikat class I signed up for was canceled so once again I am cobbling it all together on my own. But this was good and maybe the guild member will share or give me some tips. She’s not one I know super well, she normally doesn’t go to the meetings in-person (we have hybrid meetings) so I haven’t had a chance to do more casual chatting with her.
Not much here for lunch, I haven’t done a really big shop lately and we are low for easy lunch foods. We had planned for leftovers for dinner so that was out. Leftovers work well for Monday and Tuesday’s dinners because Matt frequently goes into work on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and doesn’t pack a lunch. But that means we don’t have any leftovers for lunches on Monday!
Matt went a got his hair cut then had a can of chicken rice soup, I had popcorn and like the 1/4 cup of hash we had leftover from yesterday with an egg. Apple snack!
We were starving for dinner which was easy—just leftover keema shepard’s pie. Too much for lunch but perfect for dinner.
We watched Face à Face on Mhz which was kind of cute and I picked some daffodils from the yard. It’s been really rainy and gross for days so they look cheery!
I finished a book that was a waste of time. Now I don’t know what to read next! Tomorrow is the day new books come out but I don’t know if I have any requested at the library coming out. Maybe one. A couple of galleys were sent to me but they were craft and food books not novels.
My lady finger pan arrived! I think it will work better than piping for the recipe for my book project. Also the paper guillotine arrived. Soon it will all come together!
Another long, chilly, dreary day! I can’t wait for better weather.
For lunch we tried a new place and picked up fancy Italian sandwiches. It’s a little pricy but the sandwiches were really good and we could actually walk there. When we moved in many years ago we didn’t have any places that were within walking distance at all so this all so new. It stirs up a lot of mixed feelings because we picked our neighborhood because it wasn’t gentrified and didn’t seem at risk to be so.
Our plum tree started blooming and I see a couple daffodils but it’s too squishy outside to get a good look without risking twisting an ankle.
For dinner I heated up a corned beef from Lidl. It was one of the best corned beef cutsI’ve ever had! I think I might go back and pick up more while they are on sale, they were sell by way in May. Matt turned it into hash (at my direction lol) which was extra good because the corned beef was “fresh”. I have about half of a corned beef left so I’m trying to think of something fun to do with it.
Watching more Daisy Jones and working on our pillows from the knitting book. I wanted to play a game today but chores and Matt’s piano practice got in the way. Where does the time go? It’s so dark it’s hard to feel like it’s ever day time.
Rachel Eats Dinner 