HazMat Update

I feel like I need to go out and buy some of those noise cancelling headphones that the plane jockeys wear out on airport runways! I now have 4-floor fans (2 less than earlier), one HUGE dehumidifier and two HEPA Air Scrubbers running in my basement and I swear it's noisier than Gerald R Ford Airport! Not to mention that my electric meter is spinning so fast that it resembles a Huey!

Forgot to mention

ALL the carpeting and the tiling in the basement had to be torn up and discarded - sheesh, what a hassle!

A very busy weekend - the good and the bad

The good news is that the wedding and reception were just WONDERFUL! It was great to see family and friends again - many of whom I hadn't seen in 15 years or so. I'll post some pics a little later. The food went over very well - lots of nice comments (and I still have just a lil bit of lasagna left over to savor!

The bad news is that the HazMat crew spent about 3 1/2 hours here yesterday. We had a MAJOR sewer backup from the City sewer line into our basement on Sunday, the day after the wedding. At the time there were probably 20 friends/relatives here and we had to shut off water to the whole house and squeeze our butt cheeks together for about 6 hours. We bailed and vacuumed a couple of hundred gallons of effluent from the basement and carried it outside to the back lawn before the City came and cleared the blockage in the main line. Considering what germs would be contained in the normal stuff that runs in a sewer line is bad enough but it was compounded by the fact/worry that there's a hospital about 2 1/2 blocks on the upside of the blockage and I don't wanna THINK about what might be contained in THEIR sewage!

But the basement is dry once again and should be disease free. Antimicrobials and steam cleaning plus 6 fans and a HUGE dehumidifier ran all night. Homeowners insurance will cover it but we're pursuing it with the City insurance first. Many thanks to Carl and Jude for pitching in and helping so much when we were bailing. If it hadn't been for the wedding guests/family that were here, I could never have done it alone - I would have just walked away and checked into a hotel.

Thursday Eve

I've been super busy this week - decorating the house, shopping and preparing parts of the two BIG entrees for the wedding reception on Saturday. Today I finished the two hotel pans of homemade lasagna )in case you didn't know, a 'hotel pan' is one of those large pans that fit into a large metal chafing pan). Homemade pasta noodles, homemade sauce, homemade ricotta cheese. Also finished the chicken dish - chicken cubes with browned sausage, green peppers, onions, mushrooms and a lot of spices in a savory sauce..... it'll be served over rice. I'll put it ll together on Saturday.

Still more decorating to do but not too much - I think we're in pretty good shape. Just have to get the music organized and put onto an iPod for the ceremony. I'll post pics after the fact.

Monday Morn

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately - I've been decorating the house for my daughter's upcoming wedding this Saturday. The rest of this week will be almost entirely dedicated to cooking the foods for the reception (here also).

Stay tuned!

Thursday Morn

I haven't been outside yet but there's a bunch of snow on the ground and it's still falling and blowing.

Made a coupla gallons of tomato sauce last night for my homemade lasagna that I'll finish next week. After the storm leaves I'll have to buy a couple of gallons of milk to make my ricotta cheese for the lasagna.

Tuesday Eve

The onion soup is wonderful - I have one in the fridge and three in the freezer. Also made a pot roast w/gravy and some riced potatoes for dinner. In the next coupla days I'll be doing a lot of cooking in preparation for the wedding reception I'm catering in about 10 days.

Tuesday Morn (3)

The onions are now a golden color - doin GREAT! Maybe about 20 more minutes on LOW and they'll be the mahogany color I desire!

Tuesday Morn (2)

Well I decided to once more tempt fate and get out the most dreaded, the nastiest, the most deadly kitchen appliance I own. Yes, I'm talking about a MANDOLIN. Guaranteed to cleanly remove unwary fingertips and anything else that gets in it's way. But I escaped injury with not even a NICK! I sliced up three LARGE sweet onions (but I DID leave the last few cuts for my trusty knife - no sense tempting fate too much!).

Onions are now 'sweating' and the project is underway!

Tuesday Morn

There's a BIG storm coming lasting over the next few days so I'm already back from shopping and it's only about 7:15AM! I guess I'll be snowblowing driveways and walks but I really don't wanna haveta go out and drive.

I'm still on my quest for onion soup and will start all over this morning. New recipe and slightly different ingredients. I'll let you know how THIS batch turns out later today.

Monday Eve (2)

I am sooooo bummed........ the onion soup was NOT up to my expectations....... I trashed it all. It was either the smoked paprika or the wine - perhaps both.

Anyhow, I'm still on my quest for Onion Soup and I'll shop and cook tomorrow - stay tuned for tomorrow's result.

Monday Eve

I've been really busy today so I didn't start cooking until late this afternoon.

Dinner tonight is more left-overs. A hot chicken, open-faced sandwich (made fron the left-over roast chicken from the other night and some mashed taters). It's gonna be awesome.

PLUS, in anticipation of the upcoming (BIG) snowstorm on Wed & Thursday, I had an inspiration for homemade Onion Soup. Soooooooo, the soup is almost finished and I'll put it into onion bowls in about an hour and await the snowstorm in a coupla days.

JUST the thing when one comes in from the cold!

Sunday Morn

I went to a wonderful concert last night and ate out so I had no post about dinner last night.

Since today is Sunday and I have a lot to do, I'm dipping into the freezer for one of my stuffed peppers. It's going to be SO good!

Friday Eve

A fellow 'foodie' forwarded this recipe to me. Come to think of it, I think I MADE this one time!


Jose Cuervo Christmas Cookies

1 cup of water
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup of brown sugar
1 cup lemon juice
4 large eggs
1 cup nuts
2 cups of dried fruit
1 bottle Jose Cuervo Tequila

Sample 1 level cup of the Cuervo to check the quality. Take a large bowl, check the Cuervo again, to be sure it is still of the highest quality, pour another level cup and drink.

Turn on the electric mixer. Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Remove butter paper wrapper from bowl.

Add one teaspoon of sugar..Beat again. At this point it's best to make sure the Cuervo is still OK, try another leveler cup ...just in case.

Turn off the mixerer thingy.. Break 2 eggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruits, pick the frigging fruit off floor...
Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers just pry it loose with a drewscriver. Sample the Cuervo to check for tonsisticity.

Next, sift two cups of salt, or something. Who giveshzasheet. Check the Jose Cuervo. Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table. Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink. Whatever you can find.
Greash the oven.

Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over. Don't forget to beat off the turner. Finally, throw the bowl through the window, finish the Cose Juervo and make sure to put the stove in the dishwasher.

CHERRY MRISTMAS

Friday Morn

OK..... I'll admit it........ I, too, had an affair with Tiger Woods........ now I'm just waiting for my hush money from the golfing superstar.

Seriously, my roast chicken last night was absolutely scrumptious! LOTS of leftovers in the fridge and about a gallon of stock prepared and ready to freeze today.

Although my daughter in Coopersville got about 7" of snow, we only received about 1/2" here in Hastings - but more is on the way....

Thursday Morn

I've come to the conclusion that, despite all of the great food that I love to cook (and to eat!), few things are as comforting to me as a morning piece of crispy, chewy TOAST. Now I'm not talkin' about yer tasteless, vanilla white bread. My local market bakes ciabatta bread in a dome shape and I think it's wonderful - especially when I can find loaf that hasn't been sliced yet. I like a thick slice, toasted so that the outside is crispy yet the inside is warm and really chewy. With REAL butter! Yummmmmmm.

OK, it hasn't started started snowing here yet so I'm going to the market to pick up some more essentials - many for the future cooking necessary for the wedding I'm catering here.

But, in anticipation of a couple of days when I'm NOT gonna wanna go out, I'm roasting a chicken.