Food

Another rainy, cold day. I'm on Day 3 of an intense sinus headache. It's one of those right behind the eyes that makes it difficult to focus, both mentally and with the eyes. It was a good thing that I had a couple of calm days. I haven't spent the past two days sitting in a dark room, but I haven't done a lot, either.

With the cold rain, we decided not to go walk yesterday or today. That gave me the opportunity yesterday of popping a pot of ham and beans on the stove for lunch. And at the risk of not being “PC”, I must say that may be the best ham and beans I've ever made! Yummm. I had a large ham bone, as well as a lot of tiny pieces of meat. Any time you have as much ham as you do beans, that's a yummy pot! I'm never satisfied with “just” anything I put together. My ham and beans has tiny minced carrots, celery and onions in it – if I'm in the mood and have the time, I'll sautee them in a bit of olive oil before adding the rest. I throw in a couple of chicken bouillion cubes for extra flavor, and a couple of dried bay leaves. As they say in the South, it's “slap yo' mama!” good.

I've enjoyed “doctoring up” my cooking for years. It's been a number of years since I discovered the flavor that bay leaves add into things. In addition to the ham and beans, I always throw some into vegetable or vegetable beef soup. It also ends up in a pot of beef and barley. If you've ever used bay leaves, you know they're not edible. They add great flavor to your dish, but eating them would be akin to picking up dried leaves off the ground.

If your families are like mine, if anything goes wrong it always seems like it happens to the same person. So it was with my bay leaves when the kids were at home. I made a lot of huge one-pot meals that provided leftovers (three teenagers). I tried very hard to stir through everything and take out the bay leaves. But sometimes they just refused to surface. And if that was the case, they ALWAYS ended up in oldest daughter's serving. It didn't matter how hard I tried, she would end up with a mouthful of bay leaf. It happened so many times that it became a family joke.

The food pantry was in town yesterday afternoon. I'd never seen the parking lot so full – probably a backlash of a lot of food stamp cuts. It was almost two hours from the time we left home until we returned....and the food pantry is held only a few blocks from our home. We're stocked up on potatoes, onions, carrots, cabbage, apples, yogurt, potato salad, bread, and other goodies. If you shop at Walmart, I highly recommend you check out the Butterscotch Bon-Bon Danish

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I cooked the apples into homemade applesauce this morning. The house smelled wonderful. Or at least it did, until I steamed some cabbage for my lunch. I lit a candle to smother the scent. The cabbage was good.

I'm seeing a graphic for our first Winter Weather Advisory for the year on the TV. I really hope that's wrong. I'm so not ready for winter weather!