A couple of weeks ago we wanted pizza. Chris went 10 miles into North Pole to fill the heating oil cans and picked up two pizzas. They were gone in a flash and we were still hungry. All for $35. It didn’t feel worth it.
I tried again a week ago. I picked up a pizza on my way home. For $12 it was underwhelming. Sparse toppings, mediocre flavor, I can do better. My pantry has most of what I need to make pizza. All I needed was some fresh spinach and mushrooms. I think I spent less on toppings for multiple pizzas than I would have if I bought a ready made one. Plus, we like our crust better than anyone else’s.
Nothing beats homemade pizza.
While I waited for my pizza to bake I fixed a plate of salad. The entire time I was eating it I was watched by the world’s greatest optimist. I know the dog doesn’t like greens, but I’ve gotten him to eat them before. He knew what I was eating, but he still drooled hopefully. Maybe, just maybe something delicious would fall into his mouth!
Optimism at it’s finest.
I didn’t feed him, but he loves me anyway. As he put his paws up on my knee I could feel how cold they are. Soon we’ll get tucked into bed and he’ll warm his toes while he acts as a living hot water bottle to mine. Dogs are a treasure. They’re full of optimism and loyalty and they’ll clean up any crumbs you drop on the floor. What more could you ask for!
I just got a text from my son asking me to put some coffee on the stove. He had to go out for a while and wanted a hot beverage for when he came back. Back in Oregon coffee on the stove would mean Cuban coffee (super strong espresso) but here we have started doing it a bit different.
Coffee, hot chocolate, or tea?
We have a regular coffee machine. It makes just enough for a cup each and does a decent job. It’s easy to clean by dumping out the paper filter and also does double duty as a generator fill timer. If we want to know how long the generator has been running we just look at the clock. Often we will unplug it after filling to reset the timer. We get 8 hours per tank of gas, and then we need to refill.
My friend works as a move out house cleaner. Sometimes people leave interesting things behind. One person left three of these stovetop percolators. She gave us two. They have proved useful for simply heating water for dishwashing and don’t put a strain on the generator like the electric one does. As long as we have propane flowing we can have hot water or coffee.
Just yesterday my son told me that he really prefers the coffee from the percolator to the electric one. If you get the grounds right and let it boil the right amount of time it can make some really nice coffee. It can be as strong as espresso but not so bitter. Add in sugar and cream or some condensed milk and you have a wonderful drink to warm up with.
Saturday I made it to work and survived. That was enough. Sunday I slept late and dragged myself through the necessary actions. It was enough. I’m sure we all have times like this. I’m a little disappointed that I broke my streak, but I’m not going to get all angsty over it. It just points out that I need to work out a plan to be able to have days like that and still do the big things that I want to make happen.
Yesterday wasn’t a total loss. I did spend a couple of hours hanging out with my oldest son. We talked about plans, accomplishments, and books. He’s been bitten by the Audible bug. Now we get to discuss books that we’ve both “read” and tell each other which others need to go on our respective lists. We both have been listening our way through a lot of books by Larry Correia. I let him know that Son of the Black Sword had a second book. House of Assassins was pretty good, but the story still has a long way to go before it’s done. He is working his way through the Otherland series by Tad Williams. I read the first one when he was a baby and handed him the dead tree version when he was a HS freshman. Now that he’s got his own VR setup he has a whole new perspective on the storyline. He says he wants to shout it from the rooftops how awesome the story is and that I need to start it so we can discuss. I told him to read the Troy Rising trilogy by John Ringo and Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin. Ringo isn’t for everyone, but I know that he will enjoy the worldbuilding in the trilogy. And I’m sure this won’t be the last time we cause each other’s wish list to grow.
Is it a failure when your crumble crust sinks below the filling? I think not, because one of the pies evaporated before it was fully cooled.
I also made multi-berry pie so that there would be more room in the freezer. Have you ever done that? I found five different bags of assorted berries and threw them into a pot to make pie filling. It was delicious on waffles for breakfast and in a crust for an after-dinner treat. I should do this a couple more times. I’m sure there are peaches that need to be used as well.
It looked like a good start…Cheese, pepper, mushrooms, spinach, and egg.
Then there were the egg bites. Costco has them for half the price of the coffee shop that shall not be named. But I want to make my own flavor for even less. I’m sure I could make two dozen for less than $10. I just have to work out a few bugs. Oven baking is not going to work. Neither is Feta cheese, no matter how much I like the flavor. I need to work on how they are going to release from the pan, too. Maybe I need a sous vide unit…I know there’s at least one person in the house that wouldn’t complain. I just want something I can take to work for lunch that is low carb, high protein, and not boring. Boiled eggs don’t always agree with me and being a lifelong vegetarian means that I have fewer options for protein, especially if I’m trying to reduce the soy and highly processed stuff. Why does good eating have to be so hard?
They looked amazing in the pan, all puffed up and fragrant. Then I tried to remove them from the pans. Hmmmm, not so great. Needs work. These will be gone soon enough so I can try again. Half were eaten overnight.
This week could be interesting in the way of the proverbial curse, so I’m not sure how things will go on the blog. The weather men are threatening us with the white slippery junk. Laugh if you must, but snow in Portland Oregon is a special kind of evil. Currently it is 37F and lightly raining. If the temperature drops tomorrow the way they say it will all of that rain will become a sheet of ice that snow can fall on top of. I have to drive in that stuff. I get paid for about 8 hours of that, but my normal hour-long commute includes some steep hills through higher elevations. I can feel my blood pressure creeping up at the thought of it. I’ll leave plenty of extra time to get to work and have a well stocked go-bag in case I get stuck, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. The city and Multnomah County in general seem pretty clueless about road maintenance in a snow event. The one thing they know how to do is put down the deicer, but with all the rain we’ve been getting in the past week it would all be washed off the streets. My greatest hope is that it will fizzle. That the temps never get below 35F and it all just stays rain. I’d be happy with that.
Tomorrow I will work on the next category of the Camping List. If I remember correctly it will be clothing. You only need a single small bag, really. You don’t have to be like my friend who showed up for an overnight campout with three suitcases…one for her hair and makeup, one for her clothes, and one just for her shoes… She still gets flustered when we tease her about the current bush for her curling iron.
