Rainy Days and Thursdays

Many years ago, long before blogs were created, I wrote a weekly article that I shared with my friends and family. Now I'm about to embark on a new series of thoughts and reflections about my days.

To those of you who care to visit this site, welcome to my world ;-D, and to everyone else, well, they will never know what they're missing, now will they?! LOL

Today is a cold and rainy Spring day.

Some might look at it as miserable and dreary, but I am not one of them. I think it's a great time to be warm, inside, and merely observing the weather. I am very much enjoying this opportunity to stay home, cook and eat comfort food.

I rarely get up as early as my neighbors, but someone was banging around in the hall this morning and woke me up before 9. I couldn't get back to sleep after taking my asthma meds so I got some running around done before the *"Breakfast Club" got together in the common room.

*BTW--The "Breakfast Club" is not really a club, nor do we eat breakfast together. It's a group of mostly the same people who sit together and chat, in between breakfast and lunch, while waiting for the mail. Here in the apartment, the mail and food are the two most common factors that bring people together. BC is a good place to catch up on news about who is in or out of the hospital, who has moved in or out, and who's upset with whom this week and why.

My morning errands included buying bottled milk from Farm Fresh, groceries from Shop and Save, a venti Chai tea from Starbucks and not the model paints that I'd set out for, but these were not to be found at any of the three stores I visited looking for them. I wanted to blow and paint eggs for Easter. Maybe I can find the paints at Hobby Lobby on my way home from work tomorrow. Maybe I won't blow and paint eggs this year after all.

Today's comfort food is:
Mom's Hamburger Goulash

Hamburger - diced onions - minced garlic
tomato sauce - diced tomatoes - tri-color rotini

Brown the hamburger, onions, and garlic in a large dutch oven.
In a separate pan, boil water with a glop of olive oil on top to keep the pasta from sticking together. The rotini needs to go in once the water is boiling and cook for about 8 minutes or until the center is not darker than the edges when you bite into one of the pieces.
Drain the meat if it is fatty. Add the tomato sauce and tomatoes to the meat after it's brown. Add the noodles when they're done.
Add salt and pepper to taste when you scoop up your bowlful. I like sea salt, not because it may or may not be healthier, but because I love the taste of full granules bursting on my tongue when I slurp them down.

I did not give measurements for the ingredients because they vary every time. Mom made me crazy when she did this because I was very much by-the-book when I was trying to learn how to cook her way, but now I understand why she did what she did and do it myself. Too bad I can't tell her that.

Today for this recipe I used half of a large, bargain package of hamburger. I cooked the entire package of meat with the onion and garlic and will freeze the rest for another meal. I chopped a medium, yellow onion and put about half of it in with the meat, and used a large spoonful of garlic from the jar in my ice box. I added a large (28 oz.) can each of tomato sauce and diced tomatoes, and a 12 oz. package of rotini. (Avoid the 5-color rotini--the beet one spoils the flavor. ICK!)

Don't worry about making way too much. This dish is perfect for leftovers, yummy and tomato tart the first time and it only gets better each time you reheat it.

I have now eaten my fill of Mom's Goulash, in a small rice dish to keep the potion size down. I have lost inches in my waist since I've started living here and cooking at home, and, no I don't think it's due to eating my own cooking, thank you very much. I think it's because I have almost completely stopped eating fast food!

Yesterday I got home from visiting my dear friend who has been storing my books and furniture for ever so long now. I brought back two CD towers, my tea cabinet, coffee table (still unassembled in the box), the doors to my craft cabinet (hopefully I'll remember how to put it back together), and two boxes of summer clothes. Not a bad load for a little Honda--you gotta love their interior capacity, but it was actually a pain having to shift UNDER the CD towers! If it's not rotten wet tomorrow, she's bringing up a couple of bookcases and I'll be able to start unpacking more boxes.

There was a bit of mold on the furniture that I wiped down with Murphy's Oil Soap. At this point, I'm simply praying for the survival of my books. (In between my prayers for my sister's return to full health!)

I've got cleaning, clearing and napping on my schedule for this afternoon and evening along with movie watching from the Red Box (movie rental) from in front of Shop and Save. Of the above list of "Things To Do" I think the nap is at the top.

Long, cold, rainy Spring Days are things to cherish and celebrate, along with my family of friends that I hold so dear.