1. Our pantry needed replenishing today. I sent out an offer to my sisters to shop for them, too. They wanted a few things. For Debbie and me, I stocked up on everything from rice to canned tomatoes to pasta to olive oil, from vegetables to shrimp and cod, from crackers to mini cans of Coca Cola. I hustled around in Yoke's as quickly as I could, but fatigue from Tuesday's 9+ hours of driving was catching up to me. I finished shopping. I dropped off the Roberts' items at their house and delivered Christy's. Once I brought in our groceries and put most of them away, I convinced myself that I wasn't becoming ill. I needed some restorative sleep. On the bed, Luna climbed onto my chest, Copper moved just close enough to me that I could put my hand on her back, and I took just the nap I needed to feel pretty good again.
2. Refreshed, I took over the kitchen. I chopped onion, carrots, and red potatoes and cooked them, with salt and pepper, in a generous pool of melted butter until the onions were translucent. I added a quart of my homemade crab stock and some bay leaf pieces to the vegetables and slowly cooked them until the carrots and potatoes tenderized and the liquid reduced a bit. I added a splash or two of milk and a little half and half to the crab stock and vegetables, let the broth heat up and thicken, and then added fresh cod and already cooked shrimp pieces to the pot.
I let this all cook slowly for a while and, presto, Debbie and I enjoyed a delicious fish chowder for dinner tonight. I like this way of making chowder without flour or another thickening agent. It's a more broth-y chowder, soothing and comforting to eat. Once again, tonight, the crab stock (thank you Elks Crab feed for the shells!) provided a delicious foundation for this simple and tasty meal.
3. I didn't watch any college basketball while visiting in Eugene, but I knew that men's teams like the U of Oregon and others were improving in January after having gone through some rough times in November and December. One of those improving teams is Marquette. Tonight Marquette went on the road to play Villanova and I got to see the way Shaka Smart's team has bought into the way Coach Smart wants his team to play aggressive, swarming, harassing defense with a variety of full court presses and hounding defense in the half court. Tonight, the former Big 10 defensive player of the year, Darryl Morsell (a transfer from Maryland), anchored Marquette's defensive effort with shot blocking help inside, especially from Kur Kuath.
Marquette stymied Villanova's best shooters, Collin Gillespie and Justin Moore, and held the Wildcats to just 54 points.
On offense, one of my favorite Marquette players, the energetic, hustling Greg Elliott came off the bench to score 14 second half points. That was really fun to see. But the offensive standout for Marquette was their powerful 6' 7" forward, Justin Lewis. He made some eye popping drives to the tin and also made five of eight three point shots, including the game winner with 11.5 ticks left on the clock. That game winning shot was remarkable. It looked like Villanova had broken up the play Marquette was trying to run, but Lewis kept Villanova from making a steal and then calmly rose up from behind the three point line and sunk a high arching dagger. Marquette's hounding defense had to make one more stop. They succeeded. They preserved a 57-54 win on Villanova's home court where the Wildcats hadn't lost a game since November, 2018.
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