For lunch we had Italian sandwiches because we needed things at the Italian store.
They forgot the olive spread on mine! It was still good but my mouth was set for that olive spread. Sometimes we have some here because they sell it in a tub but not today. It really completes the sandwich.
For dinner I made scallops with some pasta and this frozen pesto I had brought at Lidl ages ago. It wasn’t bad! I’m trying to actually use things from the freezer. Lots of pasta left.
Matt had a dentist appointment (they masked!) and later picked up some prepared meals for tomorrow. He got one with salmon and sesame noodles and I remember not liking one of the noodles but I don’t remember it having sesame. If it’s gross, we could have leftover pasta. He meant to grab a salmon and rice dish but somehow didn’t? The place is set up a little odd with similar things stacked near each other and it’s easy to grab the wrong one when you are focused on the dates. The dishes get covered up by the labels.
I finished the Sophie hood I started ages ago! I have a lot of yarn left, I’m not sure why I ordered so much.
I was going to make muffins but the pan was missing so I gave up. It turned up at dinner. We do not have enough storage! We are going to try to organize the pans and put more of the less used ones in a bin in the basement. I don’t make daisy cakes and mini bundts as much as I do a loaf or muffins!
Had the leftover strata for lunch. It reheated well. For dinner we had the leftover kimchi stew over rice and I had some popcorn.
I really wanted to make the muffins today since I knew the rest of the meals would be leftovers. We have no leftovers left so that means actually making meals tomorrow. I really like to line up baking/recipe development with days I don’t have to make other meals. Maybe I’ll make muffins and we will just have canned soup for lunch with them?
Matt was able to leave to go to the pharmacy a couple miles away at the height of the afternoon sun but it’s all frozen again. It’s supposed to snow tomorrow so I’m assuming we will be stuck here all weekend?
We went to IKEA and got some new bookcases for game and books. We got lunch at Naz’s Halal Food. They do not skip on sauces.
Matt put together the book cases and it took forever so we ended up getting Chinese take out for dinner. I had lo mein which I haven’t had for a long time.
It is our vacation week so I don’t feel bad getting take out. We planned some days to catch up on house stuff and some day trips. Today was supposed to be a day trip but we realized the center of the trip was actually closed (before we left, thankfully) so we pivoted to one of our home day plans. I hate how places don’t update social media and their websites and Google isn’t always accurate either.
Tomorrow was supposed to be our first stay at home day because I am picking up an item from a seller on Facebook marketplace so I’m a little sad to have two of these days back to back.
We wondered around a different part of the city today and picked up sushi for lunch.
Played a new game—A Little Wordy which was cute and quick.
Then we napped and made dinner—salmon with broccoli and corn muffins. We made extra salmon and made salmon salad with it for another day.
Prepped veggies and meat to make soup in the slow cooker tomorrow. It’s a little early and hot for soup but I had an idea to use up this smoked beef we made and froze earlier in the summer that I want it out of the freezer. This way we can get up and get it going without any prep.
This morning I got up and drove across town to the only Michaels in Central Maryland to have the black yarn I needed for my friend’s project. Why was that an ordeal? It’s just cheap black yarn! But I have it now and while I was there I used a 40% off coupon to pick up a mini loaf pan that makes really mini loaves that I think might work for some of the old-timey (and New Zealand) “gem” recipes I’ve been finding in old cookbooks.
For lunch I made myself an epic pulled pork grilled cheese and Matt has his leftover pulled pork over rice.
For dinner the plan was steak and fritters but one (both?) of the steaks was rotten despite being about 6 days out from the sell-by date. I don’t know what happened. Also I realized some chicken was freezer burnt that I planned to have Wednesday.
I ended up making the squash fritters and we debated about getting some take out but we have such poor options here. I finally found some fish cakes I had bought at Lidl on clearance for like $1.50 as an emergency lunch option and we had those.
Not sure what we are going to do tomorrow for dinner–we have a fair amount of vegetables and I think maybe tofu. Maybe some frozen scallops? More hands-on choices than I was hoping for. The chicken was supposed to get me to Thursday so I could shop then. I really don’t want to spend my days when I’m home alone and can work in the quiet driving out to the suburbs to grocery shop.
We got up early and made pancakes before heading to a class out in rural Baltimore County to learn how to felt.
Why are these classes always at lunch time? The class was great though; the instructor was really through and demonstrated everything. It was just us and one other woman (who also masked! She’s a biology student in a Masters program) and we all had a lot of interests and had a good time talking and felting.
We all made candle sticks out of wool. The instructor even made us cookies, I brought one home and had it as dessert.
We didn’t really have lunch so we picked up dinner at our favorite pit beef place, also way out in the county. We got pit turkey and then pulled pork with rolls on the side to have tomorrow for lunch after our knitting class in an even more far off area. The idea had been to get lunch in that city after the class and make a day of it but nothing really seems to be open on Sundays, even places that were open when we booked the class. Anyway, we figured we’d be really hungry by the end of the class and stopping closer to home would probably take longer than just coming here and heating up the pork. Of course, we could change our mind and have the pork some other time but at least we have the option.
We were so tired and ended up taking an early evening nap after dinner! I don’t think either of us slept more than five hours last night. Dottie really likes to wake with the sun.
We made a batt for Tour de Fleece and wound some yarn so we can get back to our knitting project book. We have been busy with other projects and stopped for a while.
I slept late and immediately made a chiffon cake. I love cakes that don’t require room temperature ingredients.
It was so good! The texture was perfect. Now all the recipes for book are finished!
I realized we had nothing for lunch. Matt heated up some taco leftovers with the last of the eggs and I made myself popcorn. Cake snack!
I wrote up some essays for the book. I cannot wait for this to be over!
For dinner we got Chinese takeout and a extra dish so I don’t have to worry about lunch tomorrow. We have some ground lamb and leftover sides but I think we will have that tomorrow.
Did some weaving while we watched the premiere of Dalgliesh. I’m not sure if it is going to be my project for the guild this year or just a practice piece. I need to figure it out because it has to be done in a month!
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!
Matt went into work today and Dottie would not settle down so we were all up at dawn. It’s hard to believe we’ve only had Dottie a month! If she’d only sleep later, she’d be perfect.
I decided not to put off some errands and got out of the house for a couple hours since I was up anyway. I finally got the grant check so that went in the bank. It has been so stressful waiting for that all these weeks!
Ironically while I was out I got a comment asking if we were “agoraphobic” for not dining in at a restaurant. Obviously they were being hyperbolic and provocative for some reason but how odd to comment that on a post about us living our lives away from home. I tried to give a pleasant response but of course I don’t owe anyone anything.
I basically snacked for lunch, got some work done for the new book and finished a little knitting project.
The last couple years I’ve been obsessed with leftover bread recipes for some reason and I’ve been looking for an excuse to make semmelknödel. I had leftover roast so I sautéd that up with red cabbage, some apples, caraway and onions and served the bread dumplings on the side. It was fun making something new. There is another dumpling that’s made with bread and cheese that I think I might make next.
We had a lot meat left from Monday so I left some for sandwiches for tomorrow. I was supposed to have a spinning lesson tomorrow morning but she canceled because her whole family has been sick for two weeks. She lives up near Pennsylvania so I was going to go over the border to the market in Shrewsbury and get lunch and maybe something for dinner so I have to pivot. Hopefully they will recover soon and we can finally have my lesson! I’m eager to get on my wheel.
Matt came home early (Biden is in town), finished up work and had time to walk all three girls while I made dinner and now they are exhausted. Hopefully I can sleep in tomorrow if Dottie is distracted by Matt being home. I don’t need to be up at 6-7 AM. Having trouble falling asleep and getting up that early is not a good combo.
I did my February book round up. Slow, slow month! I have like six ebooks out now so I need to get on it.
One exciting thing. My Kindle Oasis didn’t seem to be working so I sent it back to be recycled or get a credit but I sort of assumed they’d just recycle it. But I got a notice they were giving me $50 for it and 20% off a new Kindle. I’m not going to question it! I would rather another Oasis because I like the shape, buttons and metal casing but I don’t want to order something they haven’t updated in years.
I ordered the new signature Paperwhite which seems to have similar-ish features plus all most too much storage. I figure I can always return it if I don’t like it. I’ve been using my very old Oasis in the meantime and while the battery life isn’t great I could keep using it. Maybe they will do a new Oasis or one with buttons eventually. The one that lets you take notes is massive and not really the same thing. I really like how easy it is to hold it in one hand.
I digress! I’m really trying to get excited about cooking dinner again so we will see how that goes. The new book will have some simple but enjoyable recipes that I can turn into meals so that will be nice! Working on all those dessert recipes for the one coming out in the fall was rough because we couldn’t eat them for actual meals but I spent days making them.
Still slowly watching French mysteries and rewatching Vera.
Rachel Eats Dinner 