My brother says he stopped reading this blog because he was tired of the count of how long Covid has taken over our lives. I get that. I’m not sure why we are still counting. But at some point, the title to this string will change to something like “Life of Freedom Week 1” or something equally cheesy and that will just feel so good. I don’t know what Covid life being over really means yet. They say it’s going to stay with us but maybe be something more like the flu eventually. I want it to be more like smallpox and mostly be gone. I don’t always get what I want. I think I got a little more creative this week with the food.
Thursday (10/7) – I had some boneless skinless (I know, where the hell is the flavor?) chicken thighs thawed. So, I decided to bread them, and oven fry them with some quartered yellow gold potatoes. The chicken was delicious. My potatoes were actually a little boring. I didn’t account for the fact that with skinless chicken, you don’t get all that fat to flavor them. I should have added garlic and more salt.
Friday (10/8) – We drove to Arkansas again. This time it was for a dedication for the living urn we got for my father. He’s now (well most of him) buried in a city ballpark. He can watch all the little league he can get and he’s close to the snack stand. Many of ya’ll don’t know my daddy, but I get my love of food and cooking from him. On our way down, we decided to try Arby’s as I haven’t been there in years. That beef n’ cheddar is still delicious. When we got to our hotel finally, we ended up just ordering Taco Bell because we were exhausted.
Saturday (10/9) – After the tree dedication, we all went over to my brothers. I grilled (with his help) hamburgers and hot dogs on his grill. We brought the good hot dogs all the way from Chicago. I make my own spice blend that is heavy on the onion for the hamburgers. My mom made a nice fruit salad to go with it. There were also chips and I think some other stuff. It was a good time.
Sunday (10/10) – We had found frozen Italian beef on sale before leaving for Arkansas, so we brought it with us along with Turano rolls and giardinar. My family had never had Italian beef and it was a big hit. I also made a baked mac n’ cheese because I knew my niece would not love Italian beef. My brother brought Ceasar salad which went perfectly. Next time, we have to double the amount of beef we take!
Monday (10/11) – We spent most of the day on the road. By the time we got home, we were exhausted. I don’t even think we ate dinner. But we had stopped pretty late in the afternoon at a McDonald’s. We also learned a valuable lesson about taking the Illinois River Road. There are not a lot of places to stop to pee. Seriously. The way we normally take either has a lot of rest stops or has parks. There are not so many of these along that road. At one point, we were going to break down and just go into a fast food place, but then it turned out they don’t have their dining rooms open in a lot of places. We finally found a state park with a bathroom open.
Tuesday (10/12) – Okay, no kidding. I think this was our last taco night for a while. I’m just getting burned out on it. I made homemade chorizo and the hubby and I had chorizo and cheese quesadillas. The kiddo had a black bean and cheese quesadilla.
Wednesday (10/13) – I ended up with a very late running meeting and then had a last minute meet up with the owner of the firm I of-counsel for, so the hubby made roasted cauliflower and grilled cheese sandwiches. I had a very nice chopped chicken salad and some chips and queso at our favorite neighborhood patio. And that salad is big enough that I had lunch the next day!
So, I didn’t really succeed in clearing any of the food from the freezer. I’ll have to work on that next week. The problem is that the NYT keeps sending me all these awesome fall recipes and now I want to make them all. Also, I’ve kind of been phoning it in a lot lately. I think I make one moderately impressive meal a week and that is just odd. I guess it’s normal, but ya’ll know I just want to cook more!
Foodie's Delimma 