Rainy Saturday

To be completely honest, it was only last night and this morning it was raining - it finally stopped around 2 pm.

Priscilla and I planned to go back to the canyon where we'd done our stratigraphic survey so we could see if we'd missed anything the first time, but when I texted her on Friday to doublecheck the timing she said there was a forecast for a SNOWSTORM there today! So we agreed to check the weather the next day before deciding - turns out there wasn't snow, but it was driving rain and freezing bloody cold, so we agreed to not go. I don't know about you, but scrambling around on a rock formation in the driving rain on the side of a freezing cold mountain that has gale-force winds around it is NOT my idea of a good Saturday.

So I got up at 8:40 (not by choice, I just couldn't stand lying in bed anymore. Why is it that I'm always exhausted and desperate to sleep in on weekdays, but on weekends I can't stay in bed?!) and did all my laundry, including my dressing gown, dish towels, towels, sheets and comforter which turned out to be 4 HUGE loads. And the dryer is NOT as good as Mom's my jeans and towels were still damp which really annoyed me. My jeans are now hanging over my dining table chair to dry out some. In fact, the only things that got REALLY dry were my super-duper quick-dry specialty hiking pants. Good to know those still work.

Then...I did nothing. I just sort of sat around. No energy to do anything, not even think. Finally I called Mom and Dad just to talk, and I mentioned there's this slow-cooker on sale at Wal-Mart for $15 and Mom said to definitely buy it unless there was a Rival one, because those are better. So I decided to rouse myself from my lethargy and go, even though it was dark already and the Wal-Mart here is decidedly sketchy.

My trip was beautifully uneventful, and when I got to Wal-Mart I found the Rivals there for $18 and they're a whole 1.5 quarts larger! So I am now the proud owner of a black Rival 7 quart slow cooker with THREE heat settings. I understand low and high, but what is warm for? Is that when I use the slow cooker as a heated serving dish? Isn't 7 quarts rather large for a heated serving dish?

But I'm very glad I have it because now I can make Vova's spicy pork and potatoes! It's one of my favorite dishes and it's a pain to make in the oven, but a slow cooker is perfect for it. I'm particularly pleased with my slow cooker because the ceramic dish bit lifts out for easy cleaning - and it's the heaviest part of the whole cooker! So I think I got a really good bargain.

In fact, the only kitchen stuff I really need (lack?) now is an electric mixer, and maybe some more of those fabulous little sharp knives. Mine is a DREAM, cutting up bacon for orange chicken has never been easier! Totally worth $10...actually it's probably worth $20 with the use I'm going to get out of it, if not more.

When I got home I realized I hadn't defrosted anything and since I ate so much tongue last night (and Trader Joe's mashed potatoes...I really was a pig about it) I didn't want tongue for dinner today. So I'm busy defrosting some shrimp and the rice is out of the microwave cooling and I'm going to make buttery shrimp.

I got the Trader Joe's mashed potatoes to see if they were good enough to use for Thanksgiving, but even though they were certainly better than your run of the mill pre-made mashed potatoes they aren't half as good as mine. Plus Ralph's is selling a 10 lb bag of russet potatoes for $1 this week, so I'll just make 10 lbs of mashed potatoes. I may even invest in a can of salmon and make salmon cakes...sooo yummy!

Grocery shopping tomorrow should be fun. Ralph's is finally stocking turkey legs/thighs so I'll get some and use those for Thanksgiving. I'm really relieved because there is NO WAY I could eat a whole turkey and I don't like white meat as much as dark so I didn't want to buy a breast.

I think the shrimp should be defrosted now, so happy Saturday night everyone!