1. Even when Debbie is home, Gibbs likes to perch himself on the back of the couch and look out the picture window. He seemed less winsome today and he even crawled off the back of the couch and spent some house sleeping on the couch proper.
He ate.
He seems to have ended his hunger strike.
He had a handful of fits of manic barking when delivery people dropped things off in the mailbox or on the porch.
And, a sure sign he's feeling better, he dashed to the pet gate when he heard Copper using the litter box and hassle barked at him until I swooshed him away, giving Copper free reign to return to the bedroom.
Gibbs' interest going out back is down a bit, but I'm hoping that will get better soon.
All in all, my life as animal husbandman is going pretty well, so far, while Debbie drinks East Coast Hazy IPAs as well as a Dogfish Head Imperial IPA from Dover, Delaware.
I am vicariously stoked that she's where she can drink the beers we came to love when we lived in Maryland and visited New York.
2. My goal in the kitchen during this time of solo dining is to use what I already have on hand, knowing I'll need to make some small supplements.
Tonight I thawed a single strip of Tri-Trip steak, cut it into cubes, and sizzled the cubes, seasoned with Everything but the Bagel seasoning in hot oil in a cast iron pot. I added green onion to the pot, along with carrot strips, chopped zucchini, and sliced mushrooms. I also cooked a small batch of basmati rice and opened a can of black beans and seasoned them with Trader Joe's Chili and Lime seasoning mix.
At first, I thought I'd turn this mixture into a stew, but I remembered we had a single flour tortilla on hand, so I rolled the rice, beans, and vegetables into a cheese-less burrito and what wouldn't fit into the tortilla, I ate out of a bowl.
It all worked. Beautifully, in fact.
3. After I finished dinner and was relaxing in the living room near Gibbs, he suddenly erupted into double manic barking.
I realized it was an Amazon delivery!
A Christmas gift arrived from Adrienne, Josh, Eloise, and Jack.
I opened the parcels and, to my surprise and delight, the Langfords gave me three boxes of Cafe du Monde beignet mix and a can of Cafe du Monde's French Roast coffee.
I had beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde in New Orleans back in 1997.
Mmmm.....unforgettably delicious.
I never thought I'd ever be making them at home!
Now I will!
I read the cooking instructions and impulsively decided that the best way to fry the beignets in hot oil would be with an electric frying pan.
If you happen to be a longtime reader of this blog, you might remember my love affair with the electric frying pans I owned in Eugene and Greenbelt.
I hesitated to buy one when we moved to Kellogg because of our limited storage space, but this evening I threw all such caution to the howling garbage can tossing winds of North Idaho and, on the spot, ordered an electric frying pan and it'll arrive on the porch on Monday, December 23rd!
I haven't decided when I'll combine the mix with water, roll the dough out on a floured surface, cut the dough into rectangles, brown the rectangles in hot oil, and cover the beignets with powdered sugar -- oh! and fix myself a French roast cafe au lait.
It won't be long.
This is as close as I'll get to going back to New Orleans now and, who knows? -- maybe forever.
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