Happy November!

Good gad, November.  I half-woke up a couple times in the night to hear raindrops ticking on the window over my head and it looks kind of windy out there, good thing it's not a walking Friday.  Porter doesn't like to get rained on, she loses all hope.  It wasn't a very nice trick-or-treat evening for the kids either.  When I left work it was actively raining and a few tween girls giggled by me wearing hoodies and carrying umbrellas.  We gave out one bag of suckers plus one from a second bag.  Hmm, if I hadn't put one in my knitting bag in the morning we'd have had enough, wouldn't we?  Oh well, I'd have opened bag #2 just in case more kids came so, c'est la vie.  I had a few customers yesterday but none of them noticed my spider chime earrings or my purple skeleton socks or if they did they didn't say anything, plus I suspect that I "dress up as a knitter" every day at work so they're used to seeing me that way.  I did get that last baby item finished last night and most of the things for the shower are boxed up and wrapped.  Go, me!

Durwood wasn't feeling so great (bad stiff neck) by the time I got home so I got to cook supper.  I'd found a recipe for turkey meatballs on the WW site and I knew that we had a package of ground chicken in the freezer (which I'd brought up to thaw before work).  He chopped scallions, sliced mushrooms, and chopped bok choy.  I measured out all the ingredients (I love those little cups and dishes) then put it all together.  It made a lot of pans dirty since you saute the meatballs and cook them in one frying pan, afterwards you make the sauce in that.  In another pan you steam the bok choy.  We added 8 oz. of sliced, sauteed mushrooms so I just dumped the cabbage on top of them and steamed the whole mess together once the 'shrooms had some color.  When the veggies are done you put them in a bowl (see? another dish to wash) and toss them with a teaspoon of dark sesame oil (I love that stuff, such big flavor for a small amount), divy them onto the plates, nestle meatballs on top, and drizzle with the sauce, which has teriyaki and hoisin sauce.  Oh, I made smaller meatballs so we each got 6 of them and the meatballs have fresh ginger in them.  To. Die. For.  I'm telling you, I am so glad that we've got some left for tonight.  Tonight we'll add more bok choy (because we're vegetable hogs) and serve it over noodles (to sop up every molecule of sauce).  No one would ever know it's a WW recipe unless you told.  As written it's only 6 points/serving (score!); mushrooms don't add points but the noodles will (no biggie).

November 1--Germany, Rosary.  The skin on half of the skull was peeled away and the skull itself was as clean as if it had been scrubbed.  That was just the first one.  Mandy wasn't sure she could keep her breakfast down if she took one more step but she tugged her jacket straight and moved further into the room.  The next one had all its skin but the eyes were missing and, she leaned down to get a better look, the tongue was gone too.

Gross.  Just gross.  I had to stop.  The "art" for last night was a close-up of a carved ivory bead that was part of a string of them and each one looked about as gruesome as that one.  I understand it was Halloween and everything had to be creepy but that was part of a religious item.  Those Germans, my ancestors, were something, weren't they?  Okay, working today but only until 2.  Time to move in a positive direction.
--Barbara