Three Beautiful Things 01-26-2024: I Must Make a Checklist, The Wildcats and The Lounge, Creamy Lemon Spaghetti

1. I'm going to make myself a checklist of what I need to remember to do before I leave the house and of what I need to take with me when I leave. Thursday morning, I forgot to take my medicine before going to the rehab gym and I left my water bottle at home. 

Today, I was 70 minutes into working out at the Fitness Center and I suddenly couldn't remember if I'd turned off the burner after fixing my breakfast. I had planned on following up my cardio exercise with some time on the resistance machines, but I returned home instead to make sure I had turned off the burner. 

I had. 

But if I'd gone through a checklist before leaving, I wouldn't have been seized by the sudden worry that I'd left the burner on.

So, I'm going to make one. 

2. Ed swung by shortly before four o'clock and we watched the Kellogg Wildcat junior varsity play Priest River. Priest River got off to a fast start with sharp shooters hitting a bunch of shots while the 'Cats were Foreigner ("Cold as Ice") and before the Wildcats scored their first points they were down by about fourteen. Kellogg tired to claw their way back. Once they got within ten points of Priest River, but the hole they were in early on was too deep to recover from. I don't remember the final score, but Priest River won by between ten and fifteen points. 

We stayed for the first half of the varsity game (which Kellogg won), but rather than watch the whole game we decided to go uptown and join in the good cheer at the Inland Lounge. 

As we walked in, Debbie was walking out, having been there since she left school. Debbie was smiling and happy after spending time with a variety of people and having had an uplifting time.

I had an uplifting time, too, seeing a bunch of people I've know for many, many years, yakkin with Ed and Jake at the bar, and enjoying a shot of 1910 Pendleton Rye Whiskey with a couple of Mountain Fresh Rainier beers. 

3. Before I went to the basketball games, I fixed myself (and ate) dinner and put what I didn't eat in the fridge for Debbie to warm up when she returned home. 

I tried a new recipe called Creamy Lemon Pasta with Crunchy Breadcrumbs.

To start, I toasted panko in butter in a pan on the stove until the breadcrumbs were crunchy and set them aside.

Next I sprinkled olive oil, salt, and pepper over some broccoli and put the broccoli in the oven to roast.

Meanwhile, I boiled spaghetti.

While the broccoli roasted and the spaghetti cooked, I sautéed minced garlic, thyme, and red pepper flakes for a couple of minutes and then added pepper, butter, pasta water, grated hard cheese, and lemon juice and stirred and cooked it. 

This was the sauce for the spaghetti and once I drained the pasta, I folded this sauce and more cheese into the spaghetti. 

Once all blended together, I served myself the spaghetti, covered it with toasted panko, and topped it off with pieces of roasted broccoli. 

It worked! 

Debbie thought so, too.