We flew through the ham on Christmas Day, and everyone talked about wanting to bake another one. We took one out of the freezer and set it out to thaw in the frig. This afternoon at 4 pm, I found out that I was baking it for dinner. Usually one expects more advanced notice on such things. And I wasn’t prepared for side dishes at all. I finally gave up and used things that were on hand. People were fed and happy, especially with Traci’s Crazy Mashed Potatoes.
Tomorrow we take my sister’s poodle for a trip to the groomer’s. No telling where else we’ll end up. I finally got out the notes for the book manuscript and did a little writing. Not much, but at least I remember where I left off last summer. Now if I only knew where I was going with it.
Women Narrow the Internet Gender Gap, Survey Finds, which, if history is anything to go by, means that men are about to move on to something else.
Life and Romance in 160 Characters or Less—of course brevity doesn’t always equal clarity.
Somehow I failed to record that I got a Cow Footrest for Christmas. There’s probably other stuff out there that I’ve forgotten. You’ll just have to forgive me till I get it all back to Illinois and unpacked.
Another Tuesday, another episode of Senior Citizen Discount Grocery Shopping. The main theme of this trip was purchasing food for the New Year’s Day meal. Our family traditionally has sausage and sauerkraut with mashed potatoes. Pork is believed to bring good luck. As a child and well into adulthood, I consider it poor luck, as it was accompanied with the sauerkraut gravy.
Most of the recipes that I can find online for sauerkraut and sausage use smoked sausage links or bratwurst. Mom’s recipe uses loose sausage, essentially breakfast sausage. It’s fried up. You make a white gravy with the fat, and dump in a huge container of sauerkraut.
One year when I was in college, I became wise. None of us ever liked this meal, though I actually don’t mind it now (but that’s another story). So I quizzed mom on what the element was that caused “good luck” and was able to argue that we could have pork chops for those who would rather die than eat sauerkraut. Thank you, analytical skills!