snowpocalypse

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A Mystery, a Magic Gel, and More Snow

Reminder: the giveaway for a copy of Nicole’s debut novel ends this coming Friday. Please enter if you or a loved one need a(nother) copy of her book!

The memory of needing [SOMETHING] is strong. It keeps niggling at my brain – you need to get this, something is missing, make sure you get this.

The memory of talking about [SOMETHING] is strong. All three of us were in the kitchen. My daughter was eating ramen with eggs and edamame. My husband had just returned from the office. I can see myself informing my husband, “I am going to buy [SOMETHING] and reusable chopsticks for Carla.” He asked some follow-up questions about these items (this is how we keep one another’s spending in check; one of us expresses a need or want for something, the other pushes back, and we discuss whether we really need to spend money on said item) and I have a vague recollection that he disagreed slightly with my assessment of need. It wasn’t a strenuous disagreement, by any means, otherwise I would have simply crossed the [SOMETHING] off my mental list.

But what is the [SOMETHING]?!?!

This has been bothering me for two days. Yesterday, I was in the kitchen when it suddenly appeared to me: the [SOMETHING]. Ah yes, I thought, relieved. And then promptly forgot it again.

I have asked my husband and my child. Both recall the conversation. Neither remembers what the [SOMETHING] was.

WHAT WAS IT?!

I suppose that it must not have been super important, if I have forgotten it so easily. (Twice.) But also, it keeps itching at my brain, which makes me feel like it must be moderately important.

Memory works in such strange and funny ways. I have been wracking my brain, trying to figure out the identity of [SOMETHING], and have come across several other things:

  • New shoes for the treadmill: Yes, I do need these. The heels are wearing through in my current shoes. But that’s not THE [SOMETHING].
  • Kitchen mat: Yes, the first one I ordered claimed it was washable in the online description, but the tags on the item itself said it was not washable. So I still need a replacement for our well-worn existing mat. But… it’s not the [SOMETHING] I can’t remember.
  • Hair dryer stand: I mean, I long for one of these every time I bathe the cat and spend twelve hours blow drying him. But this isn’t it either.

I find it fascinating that I can both not remember what the [SOMETHING] IS, and yet be so very clear on what it ISN’T.

It has to be something kitchen-related, doesn’t it? I mean, I mentioned it to my husband while were all the kitchen, so it seems like that was the trigger? Or maybe it was the fact that Carla was eating ramen with a fork (the horror!) and so the desire for reusable chopsticks was fresh in my mind? I have no idea.

What do you think it was????

Okay, so onto something that I DO remember, which is a magical gel that my mother introduced to me.

She has touted the wizardry of this gel before: when my daughter and I visit her in the summer, and inevitably get eaten by mosquitoes, she pulls out the magic gel and applies it to our bites. It contains an anesthetic that soothes the pain and itching, but it also has an antiseptic element. It works so well that I now have some of my own, which I either purchased or stole from my mother.

Just last week, I was visiting my parents and I had a giant zit forming on my chin. One of those awful, painful, enormous, bright red cystic pimples that make you feel like you have a glowing neon ACNE! sign on your face. My mother pulled me into her bathroom, wiped my dermal leviathan with hydrogen peroxide, and dabbed some of the magic gel on it. “This will work in 24 hours,” she vowed.

Sure, mom.

I knew better; this kind of pimple lasts at least a week, and I was on Day 2, the point at which it had just begun to breach the surface of my skin.

The next day, it had shrunk to half its size and the pain was gone. The day after that, it had vanished back into the depths of my cells. HOW?! I have never in my life had a zit cure that worked so fast or so well! Certainly not since I got diagnosed with papulopustular rosacea a couple of years ago, when pretty much any pimple treatment simply made my face double down with a profusion of additional spots.

Anyway. The magic gel costs less than $5 on Amazon, and I’m guessing it sells for a similar amount at your local drugstore, and it is amazing and has at least two more uses than it seems to claim. What else might it treat?!

It is our second snow day of the week. Carla is once again doing Remote Learning, which is giving me unpleasant flashbacks to 2020.

Snow continues to seethe ceaselessly through the grey.

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Meals for a Snowy Day (or Week)

Quick note that the giveaway for a copy of Nicole’s debut novel is open until this coming Friday. Please enter if you or a loved one need a(nother) copy of her book!

Are you having a snow day? If you are in a part of the world that is caught in a deep freeze right now, I hope you are safe and warm and that you have electricity. We are so very fortunate (so far) in that our home is warm and cozy and our larders are full of food.

I’m not actually sure what a larder is, so when I say “larders” I mean “the two refrigerator/freezers we own” and “the pantry and kitchen cupboards.”

The last time I went to the grocery store was Wednesday, but I feel like I made some pretty smart choices in terms of purchases. I am also feeling pretty smug about my slow-to-die pandemic habit of overbuying things and stuffing my freezer and pantry full of things that have lasting power.

Here’s (most, but not all of) what we have:

  • Protein: Salmon (wild and farm-raised), chicken, halibut (a Christmas gift from my brother and his wife), ground beef, steak, sausage, four shrimp, eggs, pepperoni
  • Dairy: Milk, yogurt, cheese (mozzarella, cheddar, parmesan), cream cheese, a partial container of sour cream, half and half, almond milk (not really dairy, but I’m counting it anyway), butter
  • Fresh produce: Lettuce (iceberg and a salad mix and romaine), cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, celery, onions (red and Spanish), one green pepper, green beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, one cucumber, apples, grapes, avocadoes, lemons, limes, 5/6 of a pomegranate, a mango that may be past its prime, some cilantro that may be nearing its end-of-life, scallions, one jalapeno, a quarter head of red cabbage
  • Frozen produce: Peas, corn, edamame (in the pod and half a bag of de-podded), various potato products (hash browns, diced potatoes), mango, cranberries, cherries, raspberries, ginger, garlic
  • Pantry staples: Lentils, dark red kidney beans, cannellini beans, one can of black beans, chickpeas, chicken/beef/vegetable stock, one can of coconut milk, tomato puree, noodles of various sorts (but no complete boxes of any of them), rice (basmati and brown), quinoa, farro, flour, sugar (brown, powdered, granulated), chocolate chips, oats, various nut butters, various nuts and seeds (mainly almonds), various tortillas and taco shells, various curry pastes
  • Sweets: Carla made an enormous batch of cupcakes yesterday on FaceTime with her cousin, a cookie mix, some frozen slices of apple cake from my husband’s birthday
  • Breakfast foods: A variety of cereals and frozen things (waffles, etc.), instant oatmeal, my favorite bread, and my husband’s collection of Oats Overnight
  • Condiments: A huge selection, especially of hot sauce
  • Herbs and spices: A huge selection
  • Baking necessities: Vanilla, baking powder and soda, honey, maple syrup, various oils, various vinegars, gelatin, yeast, etc.

As long as our electricity holds out, we are all set. I mean honestly, I don’t really need to go shopping again for months. Good lord, we have so much food.

Anyway, I am distracting myself from all worries by contemplating meals I can fashion out of this abundance of ingredients.

  • Potato, Sausage, and Broccoli Frittata: I like a frittata, and we truly have way too many frozen potato products on hand, plus I have some frozen sausage that I will never otherwise use, so this would be perfect. I would make a half batch, in part because we do not need 8 to 10 servings of frittata, and in part because the full recipe requires 10 eggs and I might want some of those eggs for other things.
  • Creamy Vegan Pasta: I love the idea of using some white beans for a lush, garlicky pasta sauce. We would have to mix pasta shapes though, and that makes me feel uncomfortable.
  • Chickpea Curry: I love this easy, warming recipe and it would be a great way to call both chickpeas and coconut milk into service.
  • Salmon Bowls: I love a good salmon bowl, and I like how this recipe includes edamame and avocado both of which I have in abundance. I will probably skip the mango though; I have a weird aversion to pairing mango with avocado. Although I do have that ripe mango that really needs to fulfill its purpose in life… hmmm. This recipe also calls for cucumber, but I am saving my cucumber for more of this salad.
  • Lentil Soup: A warm bowl of lentil soup would really hit the spot today. I was planning to use the carrots and celery for snacking, but I could apportion some of it for mire poix. Soup would also give me a good excuse to make some bread!
  • Beef with String Beans: I have a good number of green beans left from last week (although I used some in a red curry last night), and I have a bistro fillet of steak in my freezer. Why not put them together?
  • Chipotle Lentil Stuffed Sweet Potatoes: My husband and I made this a few months ago and it was delicious. (I can send you the recipe if you can’t get beyond the paywall.) My only concern is that I don’t think I have any chipotles on hand, which is very unlike me. It’s so unlike me that I almost don’t believe it. But I did make chipotle chicken tortilla soup last week, and I used the last cube of frozen blended chipotle I had, and I didn’t see any other cans of chipotles in adobo in the cupboard, so I may have slipped up in my chipotle stocking.
  • Vegan Sticky Sesame Chickpeas: I have never tried this before, but it sounds good. If I don’t use up the broccoli in a frittata, I could use it here. Or I could add some peas instead. (It doesn’t actually even call for veggies, but I dislike plain legumes.)
  • Black Bean Burritos: This is a standby in my household. I have a partial bag of frozen Mexican style roasted corn that I can add to black beans. My husband also likes a little rice in his burritos.
  • Chicken Avocado Salad: I don’t have bacon or tomatoes, but I think I can make a nice salad that’s loosely based on this one. I have some mozzarella pearls, and I could throw in my lone green pepper and some thawed frozen corn.
  • Chickpea Salad Sandwiches: I have been meaning to make a batch of chickpea salad, but haven’t gotten around to it. Now might be the time, especially if I end up making bread.
  • Halibut with Lemon Butter Sauce: If I don’t use up the green beans for something else, I could serve them alongside the fish, perhaps with a baked potato. Or I could whip up some warm farro with peas and red onions to go alongside.
  • Steak and Caesar Salad with Potato: We have some leftover tenderloin from Christmas and I could whip up a Caesar salad. If I don’t use the potatoes for something else, I could use them here. Or I could roast up some of our plethora of diced frozen potatoes with some lemon zest, garlic and cilantro, in an homage to a dish from my favorite Lebanese restaurant.
  • Japanese Curry: This is a regular on our meal rotation, and we happen to have some golden curry cubes on hand. This can only happen if we don’t use the potatoes and sweet potatoes for something else, though. I also throw in a bunch of frozen peas, and broccoli if I have it.
  • Lettuce and Cabbage Salad: This salad is intriguing but I haven’t tried it yet.
  • Tortilla “Burgers”: I love a hamburger, but we don’t have any buns in the house. I suppose I could make some from scratch, but I also find the idea of making a “burger” with a tortilla quite appealing.
  • Roasted Chicken Fried Rice: This looks good and pretty easy.

Wow, look at all those meals I can craft without ever setting foot in the grocery store! But what about sweets??? Surely I can make something yummy for dessert from what I have on hand. Besides cookies from the cookie mix. Or instant chocolate pudding, for which I also have a mix.

If you are having a snow day (which seems like it could very easily morph into a snow week blergh), and you are in a head space that allows you to think of frivolous things like baking and cooking, what are you planning to make for today’s meals?

If you are not having a snow day (hello, Florida and California friends!!! what is your guest room situation like these days, hmm???), what do you make when you have no desire to set foot in a grocery store?

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Friday Randomosity: Somehow This Is Mainly About Bodily Excretions I’m Sorry

Man, I haven’t done one of these small-takes type posts in a long time! However, I would really like to blog more often (I was thinking the other day that maybe I should just change my blog title to “Dinners This Week” because that’s about all I can manage most weeks) and maybe this is the key. As you well know, if you’ve been reading for more than five minutes, I tend to be overly wordyand I think that’s holding me back. Also, I am boring. I’ll be writing along, 3,000 words in, and I’ll realize, my GOD this is TEDIOUS. Takes the joy out of posting something, when you know it’s dull as a bowl of marbles. Sometimes I go back and read old posts and I think, boy, I used to be moderately entertaining! Well. Sometimes people change for the good, sometimes they change for the snoozefest.

Anyway. Random blurbs ahoy.

  • Last night I went out to dinner with a friend who was visiting from out of town. It was a lovely, lovely time and we talked about books – specifically The Friend, which had been a gift from this particular friend, and for whom I bought a second copy of the book because my friend MUST read it but also I need to keep a copy for myself – and work and family and travel. It’s been a very friendly week, which has been good: I had two nice hour+-long conversations with two separate long distance friends. I had a coffee with a friend who lives here in town, but who has been MIA for a good many months. I have another coffee planned for February with another friend I haven’t seen in a good while. And a lunch date planned for the last day in January with an old work friend. And then last night’s dinner. I am feeling very full and grateful right now. Perhaps if I record this feeling I can return to it on those inevitable days when I feel lonely and friendless. Friends: I highly recommend them.

 

  • The only bad thing about dinner last night was that I had too much to drink, which made the drive home ridiculously uncomfortable. No, not alcohol. I wasn’t drunk, or even tipsy. I mean I had literally put too much liquid into my body. Seems that I am constitutionally incapable of leaving a glass of water full. And the servers at this particular establishment were prompt in discharging their glass-filling duty, no matter how repetitive. The restaurant we went to was a good thirty minutes’ drive from my house, so as I poured my aching bladder into my car, I was feeling legitimately concerned about making it home in a dry state. If you are wondering, like my husband was, why I simply didn’t go to the bathroom during dinner like a normal human, well, I will tell you: We were having such a nice conversation! And I didn’t want to interrupt – not just the conversation, but the flow of the evening, you know? I was sure I would go when the server came to take our credit cards, but when the time came, it just didn’t seem like the right time. And then I needed to give my friend a ride to his car, and I felt weird about making him wait in the lobby while I went to the ladies’ (Side note: one of the things that drives me NUTS about my otherwise lovely husband is that he often waits until everyone has their coats on, all ready to go, before he heads to the bathroom. PLAN AHEAD.). So I just suffered instead. Perhaps you are also wondering why I just didn’t stop somewhere on my way home. Well, I will tell you. The city is… scary, okay? And the drive home takes me through some pretty undesirable neighborhoods that make me very nervous and edgy. And it was late and I didn’t want to be murdered. Peeing oneself is preferable to murder, right? Probably. I drove SO CAREFULLY the whole way home. Because I was sure that if I slipped through a yellow light or went even a tiny bit over the speed limit, I’d get pulled over and there’s no way a police officer is notgoing to arrest a woman who is sobbing and soaked in urine. I made it home. I know you were worried. My pelvic floor muscles performed admirably. Thank goodness for all those Kegels I did while pregnant, amirite? I mean. PHEW.

 

  • Speaking of pregnant, which I am not, I almost stopped on my drive home at a very grimy gas station for the sole reason that I stopped there before when I had similarly misjudged the elasticity of my bladder. Only that first time, I was somewhere around eleven months pregnant and I literally could not wait. Pregnancy is really one indignity after another, isn’t it? Take, for example, this poor woman I saw last weekend, in a similar state of Birth Could Happen Any Time. I was parked in a Whole Foods parking lot, waiting for my husband, and this woman came out of an all-day breakfast restaurant and started swaying toward her car – you know that walk that pregnant women sometimes have, where their belly has forcibly commandeered everything, including balance and momentum and even gravity? She was parked directly behind me, across an aisle, and so I could see her in my rearview mirror as she abruptly threw up on the pavement. I averted my eyes and pawed through the crap in my car to see if I had water or anything to offer her by way of help. Alas; nothing besides my undying sympathy and solidarity. Several minutes later, I noticed a man and two small children hustling out of the all-day breakfast restaurant. The man hefted the kids into the car, next to which the poor woman was still standing, occasionally retching onto the ground. I should have given her some privacy, I know, but I was so overcome by a sense of pity and empathy and helplessness that I just kept staring at her in my rearview. She kept climbing into the car and then hopping back out to throw up again. My god. Why is pregnancy so miserable? I’d sometimes drive to work with a plastic bag open on my lap, so sure I wouldn’t be able to get to the office without vomiting. Pregnancy is gross and humiliating and uncomfortable, and, yes, I guess you get a human out of it at the end, but sheesh. What a process. Eventually the pregnant woman stayed in her car long enough for her husband to spirit her away. I wish her well.

 

  • In Trying to Be a Good Wife news, I am trying out a new kitchen cleanser. I have a well-documented love affair with bleach. If I could, I would use it with abandon on everything all the time. Alas, it’s not so compatible with granite countertops, so I typically use Lysol for my kitchen cleaning needs. But my husband HATES the smell. So much so that he refuses to wipe down the counters. Fortunately for him I enjoy both wiping down the counters and rolling my eyes at his aversion to faux lemon scented chemicals, so we’ve managed to forge a solid compromise between us. But today Method cleanser was on sale at Target. I already love the smell of the Method Daily Granite, so I got two bottles of the antibacterial cleanser, one in citron scent, the other in bamboo. A little full of themselves with those scents, if you ask me, but I am hopeful that my husband will not be quite so sensitive to at least one of them.

 

  • We are supposed to get a good walloping this weekend, snow-wise. So while I was at Target, I kind of did a little panic buying. When you hear that potentially your city is going to be snowed under, what do YOU panic-buy? I bought some normal things, like meat and vegetables and plenty of tortillas. But I also bought a sled. A LOT of construction paper. And eggs. Believe it or not, the eggs was the weirdest thing. None of us really eats eggs in this household, and, sure, I use eggs in baking, but I don’t have any baking projects planned. But now we have two dozen eggs to… not eat during the impending snowpocalypse. Or, more likely, to not eat during the perfectly normal wintery weekend we will inevitably have, because weather is impossible to predict.

 

And that’s all I have for now. What are you up to this weekend, Internet?