S-s-s-s-snow

All day.  It had snowed lightly by the time I got up this morning.  We went to breakfast with friends and it snowed all the way across town (all 7 miles of it but we had to cross two rivers to get there) and kept snowing with determination but no force all day.  Just a gentle piling up of pretty white flakes.  We made a quick stop at the grocery for one supper ingredient and laid low the rest of the day.

Supper.  Supper was fun and delicious.  I am so enjoying the recipes in the new WW Freestyle cookbooks I ordered online.  Tonight's offering was Chicken with Quinoa and Roasted Carrots.  About a year ago I found tricolor quinoa in the natural food department of Festival Foods and we like the nutty flavor of it much more than the icky, bleached white kind.  And this recipe has you toast the quinoa in a dry saucepan for a few minutes (smells like popcorn) before adding chicken broth for cooking.  I finally got to use the cast iron grill pan I bought new at Goodwill last year.  I don't think I'd chance buying cookware used but I couldn't pass up a new $10 cast iron pan there.  I knew it wasn't something we'd use a lot so buying this one seemed like a good idea.  I felt very Pioneer Woman using it to cook tonight's chicken breasts that I'd rubbed with cumin and paprika, salt and pepper, then spraying with cooking spray before putting them in the hot pan.  Mm, it sure smelled good.  Meanwhile the sliced carrots that were tossed with more cumin, salt, and honey were roasting in the oven.  Once the chicken was done and resting in the still-warm oven, you put the quinoa in a large bowl, add the carrots, 2 cups of baby spinach (the ingredient that necessitated the grocery stop) and some dressing made from lemon zest & juice, a bit of olive oil, and salt.  Those get tossed together and piled on the plate, topped with a bit more dressing, then a piece of chicken gets thinly sliced and plated alongside.  So good and so tasty.  We'll be gorging on Super Bowl food tomorrow but there's another half of the recipe for Monday night supper.  I will confess that I have my eye on a turkey meatloaf with hoisin sauce in a WW cookbook to avoid eating chicken wings and cowboy beans for supper tomorrow and blowing any weight I've lost this week.  There'd be leftovers.  I love leftovers.

We also discussed and agreed on making WW Baked Ziti and WW Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore to take along on our winter long-weekend in Door County in two weeks.  Both make enough that we'll have the three necessary suppers plus more tucked in the freezer for later enjoying.  I also promised Durwood that I'd make another batch of the Three Tomato Soup that he liked so much but this time read a V-8 label and add what vegetables I have on hand to make V-8 Tomato Soup for his lunches up there.  I had a brainstorm today and called to arrange to meet diving friends we haven't seen in a long time for supper on our drive up to Ephraim.  It'll be great to spend a little time catching up with them over burgers in a country bowling alley.  We eat in the most elegant places, don't we?  Sometimes a gas station cafe, sometimes a biker bar up on the escarpment, this time a tiny town bowling alley that supposed to have excellent burgers and legendary fried cheese curds.  Mm, breaded and deep fried cheese.  What could be better?  See why I'm planning to take all WW foods for the rest of the weekend?

I worked on Lala's hat today.  I tried to work on it after breakfast while we talked and somehow managed to twist it and drop a stitch that for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to fix so off the needles it came (only 4 rounds so not a huge loss of time and effort) to be cast on again.  Tonight just before I came in here to write this I realized that I'd screwed up the first half of the round I'd just finished so instead of tinking (un-knitting stitch by stitch or k-n-i-t-ing backwards) the whole round I spent double the time and effort fixing each of the 33 stitches.  *head, slap*  But now it's done and ready to be worked on more tomorrow.

February 3--Gutu Rab'i Gai, Stoplight Parrotfish.  The water was so clear it looked like I could reach down to stroke the colorful fish.  I knew it was at least thirty feet to the bottom and no self-respecting fish would hold still to be petted.  My eye was caught by a black shadow moving on the bottom.  I couldn't figure out what it was then I realized that it was the shadow of the boat on the sand.  I guess that old cliche about being scared of your own shadow has some truth to it.  The boat's passengers began to get their dive gear organized when the divemaster called out that she'd start the briefing for the next dive in five minutes.

I wish I was going diving someplace warm right now.  Time to get this thing posted before it's no longer today.  Here's how the street looked out the front door this evening.  Doesn't it look pretty all clean and white?  Night-night.
--Barbara