November 8, 2011

Outside Temp: 30 F

What I cooked today:
Beef Stew:  I've made it plenty of times, so it's kind of second nature.  But this time, I figured I'd be a little frugal and only use one little 8 oz. steak instead of my usual 2 lbs of beef.  While I got no complaints, each person ended up with only about 2-3 little pieces of beef in their beef stew.  I guess I should rename it 'potato and carrot stew, with a little bit of beef'.  Oh well, it was cheaper this way!

Honey Wheat bread: I thought I'd try a new recipe in my bread maker.  Next time, I'll make sure the recipe calls for a bread maker, instead of a loaf pan.  I halved the recipe, and it was STILL too big.  I came home from school to find the bread had spilled out of the bread maker loaf pan, and the top was still 'sticky'.  Once I got it extracted from the bread maker, and I cut the top off, it tasted fine.  It was very, very soft; almost too soft to cut.  I probably won't use that recipe again.  Next time, I'll pick a 'bread maker' honey wheat recipe! 

Update:
We got a few little flurries of snow today during the day.  It was kind of neat to be in class with Ryan and see snow flying horizontal across the windows.  The teacher probably thought I was nuts, but I got so excited I had to jump up and run to the windows to watch.  She laughed and said I'll get used to it by the end of the winter.

When I went outside with Ryan to play, the snow had stopped, but the wind was still there, biting my nose and ears.  I'm beginning to understand the concept of 'long underwear'.  I was wearing jeans, and it just blew straight through them, like they weren't even there.  I figure if I layer better, it probably won't bug me as much.  Of course, I don't think Ryan even noticed.  He was running and playing and having a blast!  Of course, he had a big winter jacket on, and I had a hoodie.  I think I need to invest in a jacket, and ear muffs, and good gloves, and a few other things.  Either that, or hide out inside while he's outside playing.  :)

The boys had practice tonight, and for the next few nights.  The next game is on Friday, so they have a few days to practice.   And Patrick thought he would help me out, by washing the boys game jerseys last night after I'd gone to bed.  The school colors are Red and White.  And he washed them in hot water.  Needless to say, I went to do the laundry this morning and pulled out the jerseys that were a little pink.  They weren't bad and COULD have been much worse.  But I still had to chastise him.  You NEVER wash red clothes in hot water.  He responded, 'I didn't even look at the water temp (or the load size)... I just turned the knob to start and turned it on.'.  Oh lovely.  At least he put soap in it...

Also, we are NOT going to be going to LA next week... We're having some issues getting the financials arranged (getting our insurance up here to talk to their billing system down there).  That's probably for the best, since we have a storm coming in this weekend, that's supposed to last from Saturday through Monday.  Which would have meant Patrick and Ryan, flying out in a little Cessna, in the middle of a snow storm.  Of course, it's only going to get worse as the winter comes on, so maybe we can schedule it next time around the weather.  Or wait until spring.  :)