Yesterday, Sunday, I waked up at the usual time, about 6:30, but just didn’t get out of bed. I’d changed over to flannel sheets on Saturday when the temperature dropped and I snuggled up with the cat and listened to the puzzle on NPR. It was a fun one, name anagrams of colleagues for the new weekend host, Lourdes Garcia-Navarro. NPR is doing a little host shuffle.
I got up and went for a walk, still all good. I got coffee and stopped at Whole Foods for some lemons and pecans for cookies. Saturday after we got back from Chicago, I had gone out and did a lot of Thanksgiving -, cookie -, and re-stocking-the-house-shopping, but I keep thinking of additional things. Part of the process of shuffling my cookie plans madly; make plans to bake a cookie kind, and then “I’m too tired for that one now; I’ll do it later”. I’ve got jam cookie dough in the fridge waiting to be baked, and one cookie kind in the vestibule.
Only one solitary cookie kind in the vestibule now, Lebkuchen
I worked until about 4:30, then went out to put gas in Mark’s car and pick up yet a few more items – bag of apples from Willy Street so I can make applesauce for Thanksgiving, oats, Crisco and molasses from Sentry for Moravian ginger thins …
For Sunday dinner, I made a version of Melissa Clark’s brown butter and maple syrup cornbread that didn’t overflow all over the oven – I find her recipes a bit under-tested – but I know lots of people who love them. Belana was out so I enjoyed one wedge of the cornbread and the rest’ll go into the turkey stuffing. Now that my Thanksgiving CSA winter storage share box has arrived, I wanted to use up some odds & ends of veggies from the prior, season extension box. I had half a giant sweet potato, turnips, celeriac, carrots, and a couple of small potatoes. I chunked up everything and boiled it in milk – except for the turnips. Those I sauteed in butter along with some onion. The I put the whole mess into a baking dish, keeping back a little of the milk. Scattered cheese on & baked it and it tasted pretty good, if not terribly attractive – I was thinking of it as garbage gratin. But the celeriac was a bit stringy and the turnips a bit bitter. I decided garbage gratin should go in the garbage in the morning. I also made a cranberry slab pie for a Partners in Giving (yes they called it PIG) bake off at the libraries on Monday. I won third prize, and also received a little calendar book from Silver Buckle Press, just for baking something.
Sunday evening shirking cookies, I watched some TV – I like Michelle Dockery’s new series, Good Behavior – all the while thinking this is going to be some of my last Sunday night TV for a few weeks, because of cookie season, but I’m having trouble getting going with the cookies.
Monday after work I blanched a bunch of almonds for the Biberli – you pour boiling water over and slip the skins off – although the ones that won’t slip you have to scrape with fingernails, which isn’t much fun. I fully intended to make the Biberli Monday night but wimped. I made oatmeal-pecan-dried cherry cookies, for an extra Thanksgiving dessert, and to leave with the girls when I go to Chicago. So, cookies but not really cookie season cookies. Looks like instead I’m heading for TV, early bed, Biberli in the AM. It’s a plan.
Oh, yea, and it’s my dad’s yahrzeit – 18 years since he died. And I’m so lame, I didn’t have a yahrzeit candle, so I just lighted a candle, and had some triscuit & spreadin’ cheese sandwiches when I came in from work, like he did. No gin, though, because I thought I’d be up baking. Hmm, maybe gin & TV, early bed, Biberli in the AM. But a hot toddy would be better.
[portfolio_slideshow pagerpos=disabled size=large]