Not My Grandma’s (Memere’s) Cooking!

I told Christie I would mind the store (Tell Me A Story) this afternoon to closing. I do this from time to time when she has something special happening.

I left the house in plenty of time, but...halfway there I realized I had not planned anything for my supper. I had to stop and buy SOMETHING or the results would not be pretty. Shop Rite is on the way.

So I run in, only to be right…behind…the…one…woman…in…the…world WHO IS NOT IN A HURRY! I tried going up, over, around, and through her, but there just wasn't enough room.

Finally, I got an opening and raced her to the door...that was beginning to close. Ha! Beat her to it, slithered past her and headed for the frozen food isle. I haven't had a frozen dinner in years so I just looked for the sale tags. Not that. Nope. Ugh. Oh, that looks good...Stouffer's "grandma's chicken & vegetable rice bake in a real cheddar cheese sauce". What could possibly be wrong with anything that had grandma in its name.

Supper time came around. I read the directions, opened the box, cut the film, and headed for the microwave in the basement. Punch in the required 8 min. and went back upstairs. After a while it occurred to me that 8 min. must have elapsed and the microwave probably doesn't have a buzzer to let you know it has fulfilled its obligation.

Ouch! That's hot! Upstairs I go and lucky for me Christy has a supply of plastic eating utensils.

First forkful is rice in said cheddar cheese sauce. Not bad. The rice has a funny texture to it, but, not bad. Second bite is a chicken chunk. In all fairness I have to tell you the chicken chunks were numerous and of ample size. But they were so mushy tender my first thought was, "is this some sort of Franken Chicken?" The more I ate the more I wondered.

More than halfway through, my stomach started to grumble and rumble and I decided I better not eat any more. Which is a shame, because there really was a lot of food there.

Now I look at the ingredients...I was in a hurry before. The box says "no preservatives" (well that's a relief), but there is so much other stuff that it's no wonder my stomach is making all this noise. My home cooking doesn't make me growl...but I don’t put all those other things in my cooking. I don't even have that stuff in my kitchen!

I guess the problem is that I'm used to plain, French Canadian cooking...minus the fat and the grease.

I won't forget next time...I'll make something at home. As a matter of fact, next time is the Saturday after Easter. I'll bring my lunch or grab a Big Mac on the way in.

My Gremlins are Hard at Work

A month or so ago, I packaged some phlox seeds in  2 x 3 inch plastic, pinch-lock bags. Then I put the package of bags away...somewhere.

Around the same time I remember washing a small plastic measuring scoop. This was also put away...somewhere.

When I needed these little bags to freeze orange zest, do you think I could find them? NO! I looked in all the obvious places and then I looked in all the not-so-obvious places. I tore this place apart...basement, first floor and second floor. No little baggies. Then I tore the house apart again. Same result. Ultimately I gave up and bought another package...they come in packages of 100.

It was around this same time I realized I needed the scoop, so I went looking for it. It was my contention that when I tore the house apart two other times I would have seen the scoop. But...I tore it apart again. No scoop. I thought perhaps I had put it in the dish washer I never used and recently replaced with a new one. In which case that would render it gone...really gone. (sigh)

Life went on. Spring kept coming and going every couple of days or so. This morning I woke up to a layer of snow. I can only hope that means tomorrow will be spring.

After I got up this morning, I settled in my chair with my coffee and realized I had not plugged my iPad in last night. Oh well. I still had 15% battery left.

Coffee finished. Birds fed. Plug in the iPad AND THERE WAS THE PACKAGE OF PLASTIC BAGS! No way. I plug that thing in every night (well almost every night) and if those bags had been there I WOULD HAVE SEEN THEM!

Gremlins? It's been a long time since they have hidden things from me, only to return them unexpectedly, and in a place I'd already looked.

So I trudge upstairs, empty my cup, stick it in the new dishwasher, go upstairs and get dressed for the day.

Next up...breakfast. While my oatmeal is cooking I decided to put all my plastic containers in some semblance of order so they would not attack me every time I opened the cabinet. Would you believe THE SCOOP WAS IN THAT CABINET? I take things out of that cabinet all the time. I also throw things back in. The scoop was in plain sight!

Within 20 minutes of each other, two lost items were found.

Definitely Gremlins. Thanks, guys, for bringing my stuff back. But I'll appreciate it a lot more if, in the future, YOU KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY STUFF IN THE FIRST PLACE!

(Oh, I know I just invited them to have more fun with me.)