Long day! I got up early checked out of the hotel and got a turkey and Swiss sandwich at gas station/market and went to my all day spinning class. Packing a lunch when you aren’t coming from home is always tricky but I saw that place last time after class and made a mental note. They also have a cafe behind the market and I picked up a cinnamon we split when I got home.
Spun yarn for 8 hrs then drove home. Matt had made potato salad with horseradish earlier in the day so we had that with hot dogs and beans. I was so hungry! I really didn’t eat much earlier, I didn’t finish the sandwich and felt headachy.
Tried some of the popcorn I got yesterday and had half the cinnamon roll which I feel like had some coffee flavoring. Maybe in the icing?
Glad to be home! The hotel was fine but my room was super cold and the air conditioner kept going on despite me setting it on like 74°. The room temp was around 60°.
I have a class tomorrow morning so I’m spending the night in Pa today!
For lunch I got Hủ Tiếu Mì Xào Đổ Biến which wasn’t bad. I don’t think it quite had all of the seafood listed but I had awful luck with food last time I was in this city so I was happy to eat and have vegetables.
I ate it in front of an industrial museum and then went in and did a tour. It was really cute! Campy. There was a cow you could “milk” and some liquid actually was dripping out. Lots of niche industrial equipment like animal cracker molds and wallpaper printing.
After than I did some thrifting (no luck) then got fancy popcorn at the fancy popcorn store to bring home.
I hung out in my hotel for a while then picked up some drunken noodles. They were good! Actually spicy! The place was under staffed but pretty efficient.
I know some people think you can’t travel when you are Covid cautious but it isn’t too bad! I’m not dining in so everything is takeout which makes the weather is fairly important if you can’t just go back to the hotel/motel/house or don’t have a car to eat in.
I mask in any common areas and don’t get room service. I took this class because October is generally still pretty good weather so I spent most of the day walking around and then had a chill evening in. Not that there is anything do here anyway!
This trip it’s only for one night then I’m coming home since it’s a Saturday and I won’t be worrying about rush hour like I was last time. Hopefully we won’t run late.
I’ve had some mixed experiences with travel the last three years since most places seem to have really limited their hours no matter where I’ve been. Websites and Google are rarely accurate anymore.
Traveling on a Friday was the way to go! If I wasn’t in class tomorrow there would be plenty to do. Tuesday-Wednesday travel was brutal. I did run into a couple places I thought I’d go to that were unexpectedly closed which was unfortunate but not really a big deal.
Matt stayed home to work so he had some soup for lunch and then tried out a place he’s been wanting to try out in the suburbs. Aparently it wasn’t bad but no DC Bánh mì!
I did a lot of work today! Trying to figure out Thanksgiving posts and other recipe work.
For lunch I just had a can of soup and some tortilla chips. Matt was in person at work and got lunch near there.
When we got takeout at the Greek place Friday I saw they had a special of a cod wrap and was intrigued. I didn’t get it because it was just a post it next to the register and not on the menu and I had already ordered.
I had cod at home (Aldi had fresh cod last week and I always feel like I need to get their new items so they keep getting them in) so I sautéed it up with onions and garlic and then served it on naan from Costco (really not much different than the pita the Greek place uses) and topped it with one of the yellow tomatoes I got at a farm stand weeks ago, a tiny spread of hummus and some chopped cucumber. It was really good but messy!
I’ve had a lot of headaches lately and I’m nervous I’m going to get one this weekend when I’m in my all day class. Fingers crossed I can get them under control this week! It’s about 90 minutes away so I’d have to drive home after. Hopefully the weather will be nice so I can eat outside during the break and not in my car. This time of the year can really go either way. It worked out in the spring but every time I check the weather I’m getting a different answer.
My in-laws are asking my husband to come and visit but they don’t take Covid seriously at all and won’t make any changes to make it safer for us to visit. Now it’s getting cold so things like meeting in the park are going to be out and they live too far away not to spend the night somewhere and do things like eat meals.
They are about as twice as old as I am so I can’t blame them for not caring if they get sick in their eighties but I’d like to not have long Covid and remain as healthy as possible for the same extra 40 years they’ve had. Not to mention that we are responsible for my dad who is high risk, They just don’t seem to get that we mask when we are in public and when we’ve travelled it’s by car and to contactless accommodations. That I’m masking in the classes I take and the lectures I’ve given and Matt’s masking and working in a room by himself when it goes into work. That we aren’t eating in at restaurants. Or that we don’t have the tools to see how low virus levels are like we did when he visited a couple years ago when levels were super low, everyone was still masking and the vaccine had just come out. It’s very frustrating. I’m sure they’re frustrated too but they managed to fly across the country twice to see my sister-in-law and have been resistant to meeting us halfway for an afternoon where we could have lunch outside and then mask for some activity.
Had a super early turkey sandwich lunch before heading to my weaving guild meeting.
It was a great meeting! We had a hair weaver/braider give a guest talk and she was really good and interesting. Everyone was excited to see copies of my new cookbook too.
I get home from the meeting right at dinner time and Matt had tacos with broccoli slaw and avocados ready. The meat was from an Aldi carnita marinated meat box. It was pretty good! He cooked it according to the box and then chopped it up and sautéed it with onion and peppers. I’m always hoping we will find some semi homemade item to make dinner on nights like this quicker so I’m glad we liked it. I think it’s a new regular item. I only picked it up because avocados were on sale for $2 a bag.
I’m kind of exhausted. I’ve had a lot of headaches and not enough sleep. Matt walked the dogs while I was gone so fingers crossed they will sleep all night and be good tomorrow!
Rainy dreary day! We made turkey-capicola-provolonesandwiches for lunch then Matt had to work for hours and I got a migraine.
Laid in the dark and listened to some of an audiobook. Ended up with takeout again; we split some chana masala and I had bangun bharta and he had lamb biriyani. I have so many groceries to use but I didn’t really feel like cooking and the work Matt thought would be quick took hours.
Did a bit of knitting on a scarf from the book I had stopped so Matt and I could work on the next project together and he didn’t want to finish the scarf. I’d like to wear it this fall, I think it might go with my plaid wool jacket.
Did a couple of errands this morning then picked up lunch at this Greek place. Tasty!
I cut up old clothes to weave with then did a lot of knitting. The project is supposed to be a cushion cover but there is no way it is going to cover a 16×16 inch pillow form like the pattern says. I finished the first half and I’m not sure what to do with it now.
Watched GBBO and had some Indian food from local place. We have so many groceries but we were a little tired. Matt had to work late and then suddenly it was dinner time and we were hungry .
This morning I went to Target (pick up order, I hate that they make sale prices tied to pick up orders! I can get the sole item I want myself off the shelf), the regular supermarket for buttermilk, canned soup and hot dogs and then Aldi for everything else. Luckily they are all very close.
The man who takes back the Aldi carts for your quarter told me he was mugged the other day. Who does that?
For lunch I got us a take and bake pizza. The dryer repair man was here when I left so wanted something easy. The dryer bizarrely turned on today and he couldn’t find anything wrong with it. He cleared out the error messages and said that if it keeps happening we probably just need a new a dryer.
On my way back in the house I found another squash from our volunteer plant out front! I thought we had got them all and the plant died but I guess one remained and rolled out. Not a bad haul for not planting any vegetables ourselves.
Tiny pumpkins are from the backyard volunteer plant.
For dinner Matt spatchcocked a chicken and made some spinach rice pilaf.
Rachel Eats Dinner 