Over the Top and A Bee in my Bowl

 As I was sitting and waiting for Tommy to come out of Belk's, I saw an over-the-top outfit on a guy. It really was quite impressive. He had on brown kilt, leopard print dress jacket, leopard print tie, leopard print leggings or something. Yet one leg was wrapped, I think. That leg covering was white and he had on white shoes that looked like Italian leather style. The other shoe on the foot with the leopard legging was a leopard print shoe. His tie was leopard print and the shirt was brown. He had a leopard print fedora. THEN, 40 feet from the Belk door, he pulled out a leopard print parasol/umbrella. I was impressed. Seriously, it was sharp if not unconventional. 

I was especially impressed that every iteration of leopard print was an identical print. He had not just put together this outfit from different prints that were almost alike. The prints and fabrics were identical. 

I really wanted a picture, but I was on the phone and could not get off to get the shot. When Tommy came back, I told him I wanted to wait until the guy came out so he could see and I could get a picture. He said, "Okay." I was shocked when he put the car back in park. He was going to indulge me, plus, he was interested. He has a kilt. 

When I was unboxing the rice bowls, I winced, sucking in my breath a bit and dropping a bowl back into the padded box. There was a honeybee in one of the bowls. I was looking more carefully and realized it was a pattern on the bowl. Cute! However, the other three bowls in the packing box had no bee. I was disappointed and checked to see if I missed the others. No, nothing except for on the one bowl. Since I had a box of three ad a box of four, I went on to the next box. Only one of the four bowls had a bee. Interesting. 

Since it is Saturday, there is football. UGH! But, he enjoys it. Okay, we had a good laugh, but that is another story. I will relate that another day.

Fruit on the Bottom yogurt has always been a favorite of mine, especially blueberry. Since I cooked the five pounds of frozen blueberries, I have enjoyed yogurt and blueberries often. I never had the bought blueberry yogurt often because it was too expensive. I buy a quart of Daisy Yogurt and mix them for a nutritious treat and cheaper than the bought combination. 

Do you eat your yogurt of choice with fruit to taste like the fruit on the bottom or mixed fruit yogurt? 

Have you ever seen a leopard print kilt outfit?

A bee in your bowl? Would you wince a bit?

Free Food, Decluttering, "Cream Of"

 Some turn up their nose at the idea of free food. Growing a garden is one idea. Getting surplus from friends or neighbors is good, too. 

Growing one plant in a container works for beginning gardeners or those without space or time or motivation. 

The years I picked up free produce for my chickens were good years. I also ate from that box as did Tommy, taking apples to his house. The owner knew I ate some of the stuff, acknowledged it to me, saying to eat all I wanted from the box he was dumping. 

Now, I grow free food in the window from scraps. Tonight, I saved lots of money by using window-grown onions. Just save the bottom of the onion after using the green tops. Put it in water until roots grow or grow longer. Mine had roots when I put them in water. Now, they can be planted in a pot or in the ground. I just reached up with scissors and snipped off all the tops.  Then, I used scissors to snip them into half-inch pieces. Green onions went into the chicken casserole even though they were not in the recipe. 

By looking for green onions still viable, I grow all the green onions I can use. I just keep cutting off the tops to use. Carrot ends are a good source of carrot tops, greens for flavor and nutrition. At some point I was going to plant them all in one a flowerpot on the porch. But, when I went out one night, roaches were all over the end of the celery I was regrowing for the tops. Now, water in a short glass container in the window works. I will put it in soil before winter because I think it might grow better. I don't know. 

CLICK HERE for a guide to growing 19 different vegetables from scraps.

Last night, I did not get my 7.5 hours of sleep, but that was my fault. I went to bed later than I would have, read longer and then wanted to get up at 10 am to watch Meet the Press. I love that show. So, I took a nap. I am okay with that because I did get my allotment of sleep I need.

The next-door neighbors have decorated their porch for Halloween, the first yard decoration I have seen for the season. The woman on the other side have four extra vehicles where the whole gang came to work in their mother's yard, clearing and hauling to the street. They also put up a huge trampoline in the backyard, right next to the chain link fence for her grandchildren. It looks dangerous to me if someone accidentally bounced off. Maybe they are not through and will move it out a bit or put up a mesh fence. My friend a block away has been lopping and moving the lopped limbs to the road. Everyone has been busy outside, it seems. The mild temps and lack of precipitation and low humidity have inspired people to spend hours working outdoors, it seems.

Tommy is watering the mums and last of the summer flowers. I need to store them somewhere over the winter so that maybe they will bloom next year. 

I have decluttered a bit more. Tommy has plenty of hangers, but he wants to keep every last one, all the hangers from dry cleaning. A few wire ones are good to keep, but too many is ridiculous. There was a pair of rubber rain pants in that box. He says they are too long, coming all the way above his chest. Well, they are about half the waist size he needs, too. So, those will go. That makes one more box empty. 

A basket of soups was retrieved from the back bedroom to replenish the kitchen supply. I think I will start making my own "cream of" soups. Even the healthy request type has enough sodium to kill a person. Now, there is a space in that room that was filled before. 

The chicken thighs were actually legs stuffed in closely, so I only saw round shapes and thought they were thighs. When I remove food from the freezer, sometimes I mistake what cut of chicken I have. There is sage and a bay leaf cooking with those in the crockpot. The breasts, rice, soup, and broccoli are in the oven. 

I put the chicken in first instead of last. Then, when I put in the soup and broccoli, I forgot the rice. It will be okay and the whole dish will cook, but I will have to add water and cook it all a bit differently since the rice went on the top. To top it all off, I forgot to put foil over the pan. THEN, I could not squeeze the foil tight because the glass casserole was too hot. There will be dinner and legs for the refrigerator for Tommy. 

Dinner turned out fine, delicious! 

There are recipes for the "cream of" mixes online. Do you have a different one? 

Have you taken advantage of less than torrid conditions to do outdoor work this week or do you have plans as the temps rise again?

What vegetables do you regrow from scraps? 

Saturday in Cullman and Soup and Summer Savory

 We went to Cullman with a list and finished the list and got home about 3:30. I am so tired. The day was pretty but below freezing until about noon. But, the humidity was 23% yesterday evening unless it was a mistake. No ice on any of the roads make for safe driving.

Before we left, I grabbed a cheese sandwich and water. Tommy had gotten bread and sausage. So, it has been many months since we stopped at Hardee's for a sausage biscuit. Buying the premade sausage has made the difference.  The sausage is expensive, but much less than Hardees for both of us. 

We got the mail, went to my lot, dropped off a huge bag of plastic bottles for recycling, I went to two grocery stores where I picked up 4 more pimientos and two more cans of cheap green beans. The other store had no bargains today. Sportsman's Lake is still closed, and the Christmas decorations are still in the park.

At my friend's junk shop I saw a table I wanted several months ago. She is the one who is in a wheelchair and the person who asked me to buy food for her friend, saying she would pay me and never did. I had $9.50 on the books with her. Brought her something that put another $10 on the books, got the table for $20, leaving me 50 cents on the books. I mentioned she needed to pay me for the money I spent for her friend and the fact she said she would pay me. She said pitifully that she only had $3 and needed to buy something. I replied dryly, " I have change." She ignored me and never paid me. 

I will just put it on the books next time and never bring her friends food until I get the money. This actually benefits me. Today, she said she would sell me an iron bed and rails for $25. I will never get the money without making an enemy. She has never paid me for one blessed thing I have for sale! But, it gets put on the books and I get "free" stuff. "I will trade you my stuff for your stuff" sort of deal.
 

There is a beautiful, little table in my trunk, so I am happy. 

I took a purse to the shoe shop and had it repaired for $3. The remote for my car had a dead battery, so got that taken care of for another $3. I knew the people in both places, so pleasant conversation made me feel really happy. I have shopped both stores for 30 years, so it felt like home. 

While I was in a friendly atmosphere, Cullman, where people know me. I decided to shop at Walgreen's and get some otc at the drive-up window. The one here told me I had come into the store, just flat out refused. 

One friend who is semi-retired told me his wife died of covid-19 just before vaccines were available. The conversation made me sad because he is a nice man and seemed to really love his wife. I counseled another young man about educational goals. He has changed majors eight times! I congratulated him for his perseverance. I could not see making him feel bad about his decisions, especially since he is still interested in education. 

We arrived back home at about 3:30. At about 5:30, I decided to make soup. Tommy cooked and chopped the meat and scraped the carrots. I peeled the potatoes prepared the celery and put the soup into the crock pot. Around 6  pm, I decided the soup would never get done. Sooo, I put it all on a pot on the stove and added two cans of diced tomatoes and more water. 

I was so tired that I went to sleep in the recliner. I never finished adding things to the soup. So, I did when I awoke.

Soup

ground beef, maybe 2 lbs. today

carrots, a little over a pound

potatoes, just a few diced small

1/2 bag coleslaw mix

two ribs of celery, sliced thinly crosswise

two 15 oz cans diced tomatoes

can of green beans

diced onions

clove garlic

bay leaf (take it out after cooking)

I intended to put Summer Savory in to season it, but I had none, and Publix does not even carry it. If I put Summer Savory, I don't put salt, pepper, or bayleaf. The soup with the savory is very fragrant. I love it. Tomorrow, if Tommy wants me to, I will add brown rice to the soup. Okay, he wants brown rice. I don't add much, just 1/3 cup brown rice. Usually, I add corn to this soup and lima beans. 

The Summer Savory is not carried at Publix, so I ordered some from Amazon. Do you ever cook with this spice? There is a Winter Savory, too. I use one for soup, hopefully Summer Savory that I ordered.