My abdominal ultrasound yesterday went just fine. I left the house a couple of hours early with the intention of stopping at Target and then the fabric store. The Target stop went okay – I got everything I needed – but I pulled up to the fabric store a little after 9:00 only to find out that it doesn’t open ’til 9:30. And I had to be at my appointment at 10:15, and though the imaging center is only about 15 minutes from the fabric store, I didn’t want to feel rushed, so I put off the trip to the fabric store for another day.
So I stopped by to see Fred at work for a minute, then meandered around Huntsville and ended up at the imaging center about half an hour early. Luckily, I’d brought a book with me.
I always think I’m going to fall asleep when I’m having an ultrasound done, because it’s so dark and warm, and they put the warm gel on your stomach, and I just lay there and zone out. I watch the screen while it’s being done, but it never looks like anything but a big blob of nothing to me, so no self-diagnoses for me this time around.
Well, except for cancer of the abdomen, of course. OBVIOUSLY. It just looked like a great big blob of tumor, is what it looked like.
I’m sure I’ll hear from DrLiver later this week, telling me everything’s fine and to come see him in another six months.
Since there was a possibility of frost last night, Fred and I had to go outside after dinner and cover the fruit trees. What a fucking COLD ASS PAIN IN THE ASS. I wore my warm parka and my warm boots, but it was windy and I didn’t have any gloves on, and the wind was going right through me.
Those goddamn peach and plum trees better PRODUCE this year, is all I have to say.
Day 3: Feliway bottle still missing. Wherefore art thou, Feliway?
Recipes I have made recently and which I am sharing with you:
A couple of weeks ago I was looking for something to make as a side dish with dinner. I didn’t want to make rice (Fred’s not a big rice fan), we’re getting low on black-eyed peas, and I don’t generally make pasta as a side dish. We had a ton of potatoes, so I looked around and found a recipe for Honey Roasted Potatoes. Quick, simple, easy, sounded good. So I gave it a try, and it was tasty. Only the slightest hint of sweetness – in fact, Fred took several bites before he said “It almost tastes… sweet?”
The next time we had homefries and scrambled eggs for dinner (which we do about once a week), I decided to make homefries in the oven using the same basic idea, only instead of using the honey/ mustard/ salt & pepper topping, I just salted and peppered the potatoes lightly and drizzled olive oil over the top. Voila! Homefries without the annoying sticking-to-the-pan part! I got a Vidalia Chop Wizard for Christmas, and it comes with two trays – I use the larger one to chop the potatoes into uniform cubes, and then the smaller tray to chop the onion. Works perfectly!
Last week I decided it was time to start going through the six inch tall stack of recipes I had, and making some of them for dinner. I have the tendency to see a recipe online and print it out or see it in a magazine and rip it out, then sticking it in a folder and never making it. After a quick look through my recipes, I decided to give Pecan-Crusted Chicken Tenders (from Southern Living magazine) a try. One of my favorite lunches is a salad with chopped tomatoes, a hard-boiled egg and shredded cheddar added, and then I like to slice a couple of chicken tenders (bought at the deli section of my grocery store) and put the chicken on top of the salad. I’ve never been able to make a decent chicken tender, so I’m always on the lookout for a good recipe.
For the first time ever, I made coated chicken where the coating didn’t stick to the pan. The secret, I guess, is either the part where you coat the chicken in flour and then egg, and then the outer coating, OR the part where you spray both sides with nonstick cooking spray before you put it on the rack to bake. Whatever the reason, the coating stuck, the chicken was very tender and tasty, and I had enough left over for a few days’ worth of (oven) Fried Chicken Salad. YUM.
Friday, since I finally had everything I needed for the recipe, I made a recipe I’d torn out of Cooking Light magazine. Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Honey Apple Cake sounds, well, kind of boring, I know. But the picture of the cake drew me in and made me want to try making it myself (unfortunately, I didn’t think to take a picture of the cake to share with y’all!). It’s a fairly simple cake to make, and except for the chunky applesauce, I had everything I needed here (well, except for the Lite Cool Whip. Tip from me to you: Fat Free Cool Whip tastes like plastic. NASTY.). It’s a lightly sweet cake – if I were the sort of person who had afternoon tea parties where I served tea and cake, this would be perfect. Like I said, it’s lightly sweet, it’s very tasty and won’t fill you up too much. Fred and I both liked it and the pigs and chickens LOVED the leftovers – especially the toasted almonds.
McLovin would like you to know that he’s the man. He’s the man. He IS the man.
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“Haw haw haw, stupid humans, having to pay taxes, it’s times like this that remind me that it’s GOOD TO BE A CAT. Haw haw HAW! ::wheeze::”
Previously
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: “Light” my ass!
2004: An odd duck, that one.
2003: Unfortunately, he lived.
2002: 10 Things I Learned Last Week
2001: No entry.
2000: No entry.