Thank you for the art, David Lynch. You were amazing.
Monday Catch Up
Ah, another week begins… I’m starting it off by wearing my cool new Doc Martens. They were a present to myself and I love them! It was a good weekend here. My parents came down yesterday for a visit and a belated Christmas. I made a mini holiday dinner — turkey breast, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, and cranberry sauce. I gave my husband a Ninja Creami for Christmas so I also spun up a pint of mixed berry frozen yogurt for dessert. Delicious!
After they left we decided to watch an episode of “Man on the Inside” on Netflix, which turned into us binging the entire 8-episode series! It is such a sweet show — I highly recommend checking it out, especially with everything bad in the news. We also watched the new Goosebumps series on Hulu. We are big R.L. Stine fans in this house!
Not much to report aside from that. This week I am hoping to get back on track with my crochet projects. I have yet to finish my daughter’s infinity scarf, and I need to make progress on the two blankets I am making for the cottage. This coming weekend I’m taking a writing workshop with author Carol Goodman. I would really like to get back into a writing practice. Of course, I write a tremendous amount for my job, but reports and grant applications are not exactly the same as a story! When I saw this workshop being offered, I took it as a sign.
Fingers crossed my oldest may have very well found a full-time position! Not to jinx it, but he’s at the background check portion of the process! This week he is heading down to the city to look at apartments. I am very excited for him and hope it all works out. When I graduated from college I was hoping to move to Brooklyn (though I’m glad I ended up in Boston), so I may very well be living vicariously through him.
Other than that, I’m trying to do my best to manage my news intake. Shit is absolutely bananas, but I also want to stay informed, so it is a delicate balance. I’d love to find some new blogs to read, but I haven’t had much luck in that department. Generally, I’ve been swapping my scrolling for reading, which has been fabulous. This weekend I started All Fours by Miranda July, which I think is great so far. I’m also listening to Watch Us Dance by Lelia Slimani for my Global Lit book club. I’m slogging through it. It’s OK, but not a book I would pick up on my own.
I guess that’s about it! My late meeting tonight has been cancelled so I am thrilled to get two hours of my time back. I see some Brooklyn 99, some eggnog ice cream, and crochet in my future!
National Day of Mourning for President Jimmy Carter
In the car earlier I was listening to some of the eulogies spoken at Jimmy Carter’s funeral and truly he should be admired for his integrity and his strength of character. There are few public figures like him who can be such upstanding role models. A great president and a great man to be sure. I am just happy that he was able to get the service he deserved from this administration.
1/52 Recipes: Creamy Sausage Parmesan Soup
At the end of the year I decided that one of my 2025 goals would be to try a new recipe every week. In addition to helping me get out of a cooking rut, I thought it would also give me something to blog about. Well, last weekend I made my first new recipe of the year. If you’re on Facebook, you have probably seen a recipe for Creamy Sausage Parmesan Soup on your feed. I have had it saved for a while and finally made a pot of it on Sunday. The recipe makes a HUGE pot, and the leftovers taste just as good (if not better) than the day it is made. Here’s the recipe with my adjustments:
Creamy Sausage Parmesan Soup
Ingredients:
1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
1 box Green Giant frozen creamed spinach
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup half & half
1 cup small pasta (ditalini or elbow)
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
Salt and pepper, to taste
Cook the Sausage in sausage in a large pan over medium heat. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the diced onion and minced garlic. Cook until the onion is translucent, about 3–4 minutes. Stir in the drained tomatoes and the frozen creamed spinach. Allow spinach to cook and then add chicken broth, dried basil & dried oregano. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add the cooked, drained sausage to the soup. Add the pasta to the boiling broth mixture and cook until it is al dente, approximately 8–10 minutes.
Reduce the heat to medium-low. Stir in the half & half and shredded Parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Goodbye Holidays & Back to the Grind
Well, I will admit that I am quite happy the holidays are done and dusted. Don’t get me wrong – they were fun and they were fine – but I just wasn’t into it this year. I did take some time off around New Year’s, which was nice. We went up to the Cape, I did some organizing around the house, met a friend to catch up over breakfast, and started a new book (The Most by Jessica Anthony).
I didn’t do any of the crafting I wanted to do, and I spent the last weekend sick, but at least it is just a cold and not Covid, Norovirus, Bird Flu, or anything more sinister. So that catches everyone up.
Yesterday I tried my first new recipe of the new year — a recipe for Creamy Sausage Parmesan Soup that I’ve been seeing all over Facebook. It was a big hit and I’ll share my version later this week. Aside from that, it’s been pretty much “new year, same me.” I think the only thing I am trying to change is wearing less makeup. Perimenopause is wreaking havoc on my skin, so I’m trying out just moisturizer & mascara as my daily routine.
I’ve been working through a week’s worth of messages, emails, and to-do’s this morning. Ugh – sometimes I wonder if it is even worth taking the time off. Everything that I pushed to January since Thanksgiving is now sneaking back up on me!
Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge this day — January 6th. Four years ago I was off for the day and watched live on TV as violent rioters stormed the Capitol. Right-wingers can whitewash it all they want, but we all know what we saw happen in real-time. And it is a disgrace that the person who incited it all had his electoral win certified today. Note that the certification happened without incident and you will not see headlines like these showing up tomorrow:
Sadly, it is what it is and we have to trust that some of our elected officials are going to stand up and do the right things to protect the Constitution and the people in this country. 2025 is going to be a wild ride, that’s for sure.
Almost Christmas
Well, we have almost made it! Today may be Monday, but it is Christmas week which likely means a day off for most of us suckers who actually have to work for a living, LOL! We actually have tomorrow off too. Since we are always closed on Wednesdays I stuck in the 24th as a holiday. Personally, I am glad to see all the festivities winding down.
It was a good weekend over here. Saturday I picked up my daughter from her friend’s house and then we braved the stores to get a few groceries for the holiday. We picked out the perfect prime rib, though, so it was worth the aggravation and traffic! We also finally got to try the salted caramel Frosty at Wendy’s and it was absolutely delicious! Better than I thought it would be, for sure. Yesterday I did a little puttering around the house, but spend most of the day watching movies and crocheting. I definitely needed an at-home day. (Not to mention it was too cold to step outside — I think it maybe got into the teens yesterday, but I am not even sure of that.)
Today I am just doing all the things here at work — payroll, drafting agendas for January meetings, annual appeal acknowledgements, etc. Not sure what I’ll do for dinner. Still figuring that out.
Tomorrow is Christmas Eve we and will head to my mother-in-law’s, but Christmas Day we get to just spend at home (hooray!). We will have my parents over in a couple weeks. As I mentioned, I got a standing rib roast this weekend, so I will be making that on Christmas Day. I think this is the third year I’ve done prime rib and it is so easy and delicious! The bones make excellent stock, too. I look forward to some beef barley or onion soup afterward just as much as the steak itself.
As for the rest of the week, it will be back to work on Thursday and Friday. We may head up to the Cape this weekend, so I am really looking forward to that, and then I am off all next week (yay!). I will be thinking of what to make for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. I would like to do stuffed shells for New Year’s, but that will depend on what my MIL makes tomorrow night. Sometimes she does manicotti and the two dishes are too similar to have within a week of each other. I know some people have New Year’s food traditions, and I always find those interesting but I can’t say that I recall any growing up. We usually had a New England boiled dinner for New Year’s — ham, carrots, cabbage, potatoes. It was not exactly a favorite of mine so it’s not a dish I make.
Well, that was quite a ramble for a Monday morning! Wishing you all a lovely week!
52 Recipes in 25
As we enter the inevitable hellscape of 2025, I am trying to think of things that I can do to keep my mind occupied. Last night I had this idea for the blog to try a new recipe every week — 52 in 25 — and post about it. I’ve been in a cooking rut, so this would hopefully inspired me to crack open my cookbooks and also go through all of my Pinterest boards. I’m pretty excited about it!
Here are some contenders:
One-Pot Chicken and Rice with Caramelized Lemon (NY Times Cooking)
Green Salad with Sour Cream & Onion Dressing (NY Times Cooking)
Nantucket Cranberry Tart ( A Family Feast)
Cannellini Beans Piccata (Umami Girl)
Pepperoncini Chicken (Tipsy Housewife)
Malagasy Coconut Lentils (Food & Wine)
Tiramisu Overnight Oats (Eating Well)
… I’m sure I’ll have no problem finding a new recipe to try every week!
Wintery weather
The weather sure has changed around here. Dare I say it actually feels right for this time of year? Yesterday afternoon we were hit with a bit of snow and when I picked up Jake from his job at a local farm I just had to take this photo. There are a million reasons I feel lucky to live in New York, and the beauty of the Hudson Valley is definitely right at the top.
Hello December
Well, here we are… December 2nd. I guess it’s officially Christmas season now. We had a nice, though busy, Thanksgiving weekend over here. Thanksgiving Day my MIL came up for dinner. Saturday was my parent’s 50th anniversary, so we drove up to Western Mass. and met them and my brother’s family at this wonderful German restaurant Munich Haus for a celebratory lunch. It was super fun catching up with everyone and because we were at a restaurant I think everyone could actually relax — no stressing about how clean the house is or cooking for 11 people.
After that Drew headed out to our condo on the Cape (since he was just about halfway there already) so he could work on a few projects and go to the cable store today to get our service set up. Yesterday was back to college for Mr. Music, so most of my afternoon was spend on the highways of New York and Connecticut. And now it’s back to work.
I was able to get just about all my Christmas shopping done this weekend, and while all the kids were home I got a photo for cards, too. I’ll try to get those mailed out next week. This year I definitely feel like everything is just an item to be checked off a list. Actually, a lot of people I know feel similar. Not sure if it’s because Thanksgiving was so late this year or what, but I know for sure I’m not alone.
Nevertheless, I do have a lot of holiday activities coming up:
- my daughter’s winter band concert
- the town tree & menorah lighting
- baking 4 dozen (!) anise cookies for the Friends of the Library cookie sale
- gingerbread house program and cookie sale at work
- staff appreciation lunch
Tomorrow Jake has an interview for a job he really wants so I am crossing my fingers and toes. It’s at a hospital in NYC, which is perfect. Close enough to hop on a train to visit, but far enough for him to be on his own. Public transportation. And it would be great work experience in his field before applying to grad school. His goal is to be a credentialed LCSW (licensed clinical social worker), and CUNY Hunter has a great program so any positive vibes are appreciated.
I have some crochet projects on deck, so I am looking forward to starting those. I’m also trying to find some lighter books to read this month, to try to get my mind off, well… everything. I’m almost done with Exit West, which is for my Global Lit book club. After that I am putting aside all of my history and political non-fiction until next year. So, I downloaded The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore for my Kindle. I figure it is probably cutesy and won’t take a lot of brain power to read. Plus it sounds like the main character has my attitude problem, LOL! Lesser Ruins by Mark Haber also just came in for me as a hold, so hopefully those will keep me occupied.
Well, I guess that is about it. On to another busy week!
Advice for those holiday dinners
One of my favorite quotes is “Silence is the best reply to a fool.” It is attributed to