Crunchy Cold

When I bopped out to fill the birdbath this morning the snow had turned crunchy.  It's not that common that the snow makes squeaky sounds when you walk on it so it's a treat to hear.  Well, it is for me at least.  It has to be sunny and cold so that the flakes complain when you step on them.  I like it.


I made some reduced-fat macaroni & cheese yesterday that's not bad.  I left out the hot sauce (I like Crystal better than Tabasco) in deference to Durwood's more delicate palate but I should have put it in, the dish is rather bland even with a teaspoon of dried mustard in it (especially since he wasn't a fan and won't eat any more than the spoonful that he had), and I could take or leave the bread crumb & butter topping (that'd lower the points value too), but I like it.  I've got 5 more servings in the fridge.  I can doctor them up with a dash of Crystal, they won't go to waste.  Have you ever heard of Cook's Country?  DS & DIL1 told us about it and Mom had a subscription to their magazine that Durwood saw and fell in love with.  It's a PBS show (check your local listings) about America's Test Kitchen (we have some of their cookbooks).  They try out different things and recommend the best, say, tomato sauce or baking dish, not always the most expensive but the tastiest or the one that works best.  They also deconstruct recipes or foods so you can make them at home and they improve the method... oh, it's fun and interesting for foodies.  Durwood's a big fan of their cookbooks, especially the crockpot one, and their website's where I got the mac & cheese recipe.  (wow, that's a long-winded way to get to that tiny fact.  sorry)  And Aldi has fruit on sale this week--pineapple, strawberries, and blueberries--so I spent a bit of time with a sharp knife yesterday and now I have a nice big bowl of pineapple & strawberries for work lunch fruit and to eat, and plenty blueberries for my cereal in the morning.  Do you shop at Aldi?  It's a great place for on-sale fruits and veg, and they have the best pretzels.  No, really, their house brand, Clancy's is even better than Rold Gold.  I told an employee that theirs are the best and she said that they have a terrible time keeping them stocked.  I noticed the other day that there's a lot of empty space and a few bags where they're supposed to be.  Give 'em a try if you need a crunchy snack.  (18 small twists = 100 calories, they made up a big part of our "car snacks" on our 2 week drive out west and back so I'm very familiar with counting out and snack-bagging pretzels; it was worth the work)

February 16--Attributed to the Kleophrades Painter, Panathenaic Prize Amphora.  Sue and Alan swam along the reef watching the shape of the coral change from the random jumble of coral heads and sponges to straight lines.  Sue sand down to look closer and saw a painted face staring back at her.  She cried out and motioned to get Alan's attention.  She was busy examining a pile of round stones and reached out a hand to fan away the sand.  Sue dug her slate out of her pocket and wrote "boat?" on it.  Alan shrugged, took the stylus to write a couple questions marks to say he didn't know.

If I'd have stayed awake or thought this was going anywhere they'd have found a shipwreck with lots of artifacts but it just seemed too improbable so I quit and went to sleep.  Sorry.
--Barbara