What Day Is It?

We had a full day planned and intended to get several items marked off our to do list.  All it took to wipe out our plans for the day was one phone call yesterday evening.  Nothing wrong, just had to attend to it this morning.  Our son, who lives about an hour away, called to let us know that our dear, sweet 5 year old grandson's Christmas program was at 10:00 this morning.  We both knew that we wouldn't miss it for the world, so we were up and showered, etc. and out of the house before 9 this morning.  The program was adorable with his class and the younger class of 3 year olds.  They were all dressed like angels with little sparkling halos.  So, so cute.  There was a Nativity scene enactment that was just precious!  They all did a good job and the children all had memorized their songs so well.  That was an accomplishment, they had just done their Thanksgiving program the Wed. before Thanksgiving and were off the entire week of Thanksgiving.  They really didn't have much time to pull this program together.

We had some errands to attend to since we were already in the "big city", those took a while, and then we stopped for lunch, which was good.  I was in the mood for pizza and we went to a little Italian restaurant where we both usually order the spaghetti and meatballs.  The spaghetti comes with a very nice salad and garlic bread, of course.  I always need a box for the other half of my meal, I've never been able to eat the whole thing.  We broke tradition and ordered a pizza as we had wanted to try it for future reference.  It was very good, that will be our go to place for carry out or delivered pizza.  When we lived in OH, a new  Pizza Shop opened just when we moved to that town.  Their pizza was the best!  The name was Pizza Works and we always went there for pizza for 20 years!  Our children would ride their bikes to get a slice or share a pizza with other neighborhood kids when they were in middle school.  Now, our son and his wife, who still live in the area, usually bring us a couple of pies that have been partially baked that we freeze and finished baking when we feel the need for their pizza. 

We have always liked Italian food; but, really developed a palate for it when we lived in that small city that was basically an Italian community.  All the grocery stores carried olive oil and tomatoes or tomato sauce in gallon cans!  They sold braids of garlic and other sauce ingredients, as well.  Unfortunately, we have a difficult time finding those and other ingredients here in the South.  It is also difficult to find a restaurant that serves "real" Italian food.   Don't get me wrong, we love it here and have found many foods and ingredients that bring to mind my growing up in Georgia.  Some of them are, of course, new to my Yankee husband.  We grow some of these southern foods and ingredients on our homestead and Mr. Blue Eyes has learned to use his smoker and makes some gooood BBQ.  He really likes that.  I've tried; but, I can't get him to like black eyed peas.  He really likes collards and other types of dried beans, just doesn't like the consistency of black eyed peas. 

I  think I will head to the bedroom and get ready for bed and read a little while before I turn the light off.  Good night and sleep tight.

Time Marches On

Too, too fast right now.  I am beginning to become stressed with the things still to be done before next week.  The living room is painted; but, the carpet is still in there.  We just don't have enough time to rip it up and then install the wood flooring.  I've resigned myself to that and  really don't want Mr. Blue Eyes to start it and try to hurry to get it done.  You know how that goes, things always go wrong under pressure.  It's just not worth it to try. 

I want to do a little baking this week.  Not a lot, as last year we threw too many cookies away, after awhile. after the holidays.  They were frozen and just became too soft and stale.  We don't eat them as much as we did when younger.  Our family that was here didn't want to take as much home as usual due to not wanting to eat much and avoid the "holiday bulge".  Their parents monitored the grandchildren to make sure there wasn't too much sugar consumed.  Are you baking as much, the same, or more this year?  Leave a comment and let me know, I am curious.  And what are you baking this Christmas?

We still have collards, kale, carrots, parsnips, cabbage, and Pok Choi in the ground in grow tunnels.  We pulled some carrots and parsnips for dinner one day last week.  They were good and were sweet.  There is escarole and arugula in the greenhouse that we've been cutting to add to kale salads for quite awhile.  So nice to have fresh greens.  It might be a tad too chilly to reseed some of those in the greenhouse.  I guess I will ponder that for a day or so.  Would you believe we have tomatoes and blossoms on the one tomato plant in the greenhouse?  Cool isn't it?  Took some cuttings from several tomato plants in mid fall and stuck them in jars of water in the greenhouse and they have good roots now and are about ready to put into dirt.  Our greenhouse isn't heated with a greenhouse heater, we use an oil filled radiator type electric heater and need to go out and adjust the temperature settings according to outside temps, the sun, and greenhouse temps.  It's only 10' by 12', but we do pack a lot of seedlings and transplants in there for the spring garden. 

Made a pie with one of our larger Butternut squash today.  I made it like a pumpkin pie, using 1 cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup of evaporated milk, with all the same spices, and added 1 T melted butter along with 2 T flour.  I was concerned that it might be too runny with the just baked and pureed squash; but, it was perfect consistency and the taste was just like pumpkin pie.  We had baked squash for dinner last night and there was just enough left to make a pic today.  Cool, huh?  Try it, you may like it, if you like pumpkin pie.  And, of course there was whipped cream (not that frozen in a tub stuff).  Real whipped cream.

I'm writing my to do list for tomorrow and I think I need to go to bed early tonight.  It's a bit early to hit the sack; but, I'm saying goodnight now, anyway.  Need to do a few things before bed.  Hope you accomplish whatever your goals are for tomorrow.