Pea mash, rain, and optimism

I had a topic for this blog—really I did. But it’s disappeared, perhaps into the fog of a lovely long nap on a rainy day. As the picture shows, my Fort Worth family is surviving in the rain at Waco and of course is cheered by Baylor’s victory. Even though the rain has let up, I will be glad when they’re safely back in Fort Worth tomorrow.

Chandry, my temporary tenant, and I went to Central Market about eleven, assuring ourselves no one else would be there on a rainy day. Wrong! Half the world was shopping. But it cheered me to go—I think subconsciously I’ve been an invalid for a couple of months, and I didn’t feel that way today. Felt capable and independent.

A long nap this afternoon found me still lying in bed sort of daydreaming at 6:30—okay I didn’t go to sleep until 4:00. Love those late afternoon naps on a rainy day. Got up and fixed supper—experimenting with pea mash with watercress—not a success. I’ve done better with pea mash in smaller batches. It’s simply frozen petite peas, butter, salt and pepper—I love it. But tonight mashing the peas took forever, I think because I had too many. I had seen a recipe for adding watercress (which I adore) but decided to invent my own. The recipe called for cooking peas and watercress and then blending, but I thought that would end up mush, so I cooked and chopped the watercress and then kept mashing…and mashing…and mashing the peas with a potato masher. I couldn’t tell that the watercress added a thing, and the peas were never satisfactorily mashed. Next time, the blender. Meantime the leftover, uncooked cress will make a great salad with cherry tomatoes, blue cheese and lemon juice—one of my favorites.

To accompany my failed mashed peas, I had Totino’s tuna straight out of the jar. It comes in several flavors, but I like that marinated in olive oil and oregano. So good. Sometimes I mix it with cottage cheese but tonight I ate it plain.

Sorry to hear that Sera, a local restaurant, is closing as of tonight. Not four blocks from my house, it was a convenient dinner stop with small plates and a nice wine selection. Sort of originally built on the idea of tapas, but it strayed from that concept. Betty and I went there for our weekly dinner often, and I will miss it. Called John, the owner, tonight to say so and wish him well. He’s got a good idea, but it needs to be refined.

The rain is moving on, and I am becoming more and more a believer in barometric pressure. This morning I was in a horribly pessimistic mood, maybe because I didn’t sleep well but mostly, I think, because of atmospheric conditions. I admit the trip to Central Market cheered me, but tonight I find myself happy, upbeat and optimistic. I think it’s because the rain is moving out. Not that I don’t realize how much we need it and what a blessing it is. But I do think weather conditions affect us. I knew a psychiatrist’s wife once who said when a storm was coming, her husband’s phone rang off the wall. May be a long winter if El Niño predictions come true. Meantime, curses on climate change non-believers. Why do they think we have just had the strongest hurricane ever? Glad to hear that damage in Mexico wasn’t nearly what was expected.

Sweet dreams, everyone.

A cooking misadventure

I was all prepared tonight to write a jolly blog in the nature of "Heigh Ho! The Holidays are coming. Time to cook." Went to the grocery and loaded up on ingredients for things to stock the freezer for family and friends. Tonight I decided to make what would be easy--sausage balls. Everyone know that recipe, right? Ground sausage, grated cheese, Bisquick (hate to use it, but....) and a bit of pepper. Recipe warns the mixture will be crumbly. Wow! Was that an understatement. Shape into a ball in your hand--okay I could do that. Then roll into a bill--not a hope. I finally put the individuals balls onto the pan, where they recrumbled. I re-shaped them. Recipe said to move with spatula halfway through cooking to avoid sticking--you got it! They crumbled. And it took them three times as long to brown as it should have. I thought the few cohesive balls were a bit burnt and tasteless. They'll probably go in the garbage. The best part was where the cheese had oozed out and fried on the pan--like the little bits that do that on a grilled cheese sandwich.
I will admit to one error on my part--I bought a small box of Bisquck because I didn't want any left over--turns out it only had 2.5 cups while I needed three. I added a half cup flour. Now, really, what could that hurt?
I have a theory, however, that a little white wine makes everything better, so I put in just enough wine to bind the dough and made two more pans. They were so much easier to do and look so much better out of the oven. They're cooling, so I haven't tasted one yet--and since there are now so few, I'm reluctant to do that. Of course, the wine probably improved them.
But if Christian, my son-in-law, wants to know why he doesn't get sausage balls anymore, he better read this blog.
Next I think I'll tackle the big project--chocolate chip bars, a recipe that makes two 9x13 pans--but not until morning when I'm fresh. And tomorrow night, Jacob and I will make some chocolate mini-muffins that have only three ingredients and are like zero points on Weight Watchers. If all those fail, my Christmas entertaining will be catered.