1. I bought a whole chicken at Yoke's today and guided by a recipe for Tuscan Chicken Stew I used to make in Greenbelt, I made a big pot of chicken stew. I decided I didn't want the Tuscan ingredients -- no tomatoes, potatoes, Italian seasoning, or paprika. Instead, I fixed the stew with onions, carrots, celery, broccoli, and cauliflower along with black beans and white ones. I'm a little concerned that the broccoli might be dominating the soup's taste, but, if so, I might be able to do something to mitigate that. I didn't have a bowl of stew tonight, but I've got four quarts, some to freeze and some to enjoy in the near future. If you'd like to see the Tuscan Chicken Stew recipe, just click here.
On Monday, I'll throw the chicken bones, some meat, a chopped onion, and some celery with seasonings and water into the crock pot and get a batch of chicken broth going.
2. I mentioned a little while back that I brought my modest amount of camera gear out of the upstairs and put it in the Vizio room. This simple move has me motivated to get some of my other lenses out and learn how to use them again. It's a challenge, but, back in the old days in Eugene, I used to enjoy mounting a manual lens on my Nikon. It forces me not to rely on autofocus and to make decisions about aperture, shutter speed, and ISO without automatic metering help. I also enjoy the little clicking sound the lens makes when I manually change the f-stops. Today, I started to get reacquainted with my 28mm (fixed) Tamron lens and shot just a few pictures around the house to get back into the swing of using a manual lens. It was a short session, but really fun and has me kind of fired up to see what I can do with the Tamron.
3. Christy is working hard to clean up, refurnish, and brighten up her basement. She also had the misfortune of having the lift chair she inherited from Mom crap out beyond repair. She asked Carol, Paul, and I to come over and help put the lift chair in the pickup for a dump run and move other items out of the basement, either to go to the dump or to Carol and Paul's.
We did it. We also toured the emerging basement project.
AND, Christy baked a delicious apple pie and we all joined together in her living room and ate pie and ice cream.
We had fun talking about school hot lunch and how lucky we were to have cooks on site baking bread and rolls and fixing meals like witches' brew, mashed potatoes with hamburger gravy, oven baked chicken, and a number of other dishes we remembered fondly.
We also learned today that Debbie, Patrick, and Meagan will be coming to Kellogg together from Portland on Thanksgiving Day. Carol and Paul will be in Meridian, so it will be up to Christy and me to plan the Thanksgiving menu. We got off to a blazing start tonight doing just that. Last year, Travis and Molly joined Christy, Everett, and me for Thanksgiving and it was a lot of fun. We know Travis and Molly are not going to Meridian. Will they come to Kellogg again? We don't know, but they are absolutely welcome to join us.
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