1. First thing Monday morning, as Debbie eased the Camry out of the garage and activated the garage door to close, the door wouldn't go to the floor. About six inches above the floor it reversed direction and opened again. At about the same time, I had our sprinkling system programmed to start watering at 7:00 a.m. and it didn't work.
Back to back mechanical failures within minutes of each other threw me into a temporary state of high anxiety and for a minute or two worst case scenarios dominated my consciousness.
I soon got a grip.
I made a couple of phone calls.
Both repairmen came to the house this morning.
The sprinkler system just needed to be adjusted following last fall's system blow out.
The garage door just needed, in the repairman's words, some TLC.
By shortly before noon, everything was working again, and, as a bonus, our garage door operates more quietly.
As a double bonus, the repairs and the fact that both guys could come the day after I called them, restored my sense of contentment.
2. I was a stranger in a strange land late this afternoon in the kitchen.
I had never fixed fritters before and tonight's HelloFresh meal was Edamame & Cauliflower Fritters with Roasted Broccoli Slaw & Sweet Chili Mayo.
Roasting the broccoli in the oven, combining the florets with shredded cabbage, and dressing it with sesame dressing, salt, and pepper was easy (and delicious).
On the fritter front, well, I minced a plug of ginger and a couple garlic cloves and put them in the skillet with sesame oil and the edamame. The recipe said to heat them in a microwave, but we don't have (or want) one.
I mashed half of this mixture, put all of it in a bowl, added the packet of tempura mix with water and made a batter.
I heated about a half an inch of vegetable oil in the cast iron skillet and when it was hot, I spooned small blobs of fritter batter into the oil. Some of the fritters stayed intact. Others didn't. Luckily, intact or falling apart, they tasted great, especially with the sweet chili mayo sauce I made for them.
It turned out, despite my insecurities as I fixed this meal, that it was one of our favorites!
3. As a thunder and lightning storm invaded the Silver Valley, Debbie and I relaxed while watching two episodes of Monk. One case involved a homicide that took place during a marathon race and, in the other, Monk, Sharona, and Benjy go on a vacation, but, of course, Monk gets involved in a murder case at the resort's hotel.
No comments:
Post a Comment