Sunday, December 6, 2015

#1564 busy weekend

It's Sunday night already? I had a busy weekend and the time flew by. Let me tell you about it.

I got up early on Saturday morning and prepped our dinner. I made croquetas. They are delicious but time consuming. First you have to make the filling. I put some roasted boneless skinless chicken breast and a little bit of left over ham in my food processor and chopped it all up very fine. I also chopped up some onion. I probably used about half a cup of the chopped onion. I melted some butter in a skillet, added the onion and sauteed until it was translucent. One of my very most favorite smells in the world is onions cooking in butter, even at 7:30 am!  I added the chicken and ham to the onion along with a chopped up clove of garlic and seasoned it all with a bit of salt and pepper. I cooked those ingredients together for a few minutes, then added about a tablespoon of flour to the mixture, letting the flour cook for a minute or two before adding about a cup of milk to the pan. I made sure to stir in the milk very well, then let the mixture bubble and cook until the mixture pulled away from the side of the pan. When that happens, transfer the mixture to a plate and let it cool.  I left it on the counter for a little while until it was mostly cool, then I put it in the fridge to finish setting.

At that point I showered and washed my hair, then I went over to Weight Watchers. No gain or loss this week which is fine. I wasn't very diligent with my eating this week, but I did manage to get back to the gym three times this week, so I'll take the static weight. It's better than a gain!

The next item on my agenda was to give blood. I had put off the appointment for a long time since I was sick all of October and half of November. You can't give blood if you have a cold or are taking antibiotics. I feel good about giving blood. I'm hopeful that my blood can be used by people who need it. I have been giving a "double red". That's where I'm hooked up to a machine that takes out my blood and separates the red blood cells from all the other parts of the blood. The Red Cross keeps the red blood cells, and the machine puts the other parts, along with saline solution, back into me. The process takes longer than giving a pint of regular whole blood, but they are basically taking out the equivalent of two pints of blood although a lot of stuff goes back in to me, so the time in between donations is also twice as long. I won't be due to donate again until the end of March.

After the donation, I went to the mall to walk around and get some Christmas gift ideas and to treat myself to lunch at Corner Bakery. Yum!

My next stop was the Festival of Trees. I'd never been to the Festival of Trees and I really wanted to go, but the parking lot was completely full. I drove through the lot for about ten minutes and never found a spot, so I abandoned the Festival of Trees plan. Maybe next year. I won't wait until the last day to go, probably. :)

I came home and made the croquetas. I had a dish with flour, a dish with beaten eggs, and a dish with bread crumbs. I took a spoonful of the filling mixture and rolled it into a log shape. I dredged the logs in the flour, then in the egg, then the bread crumbs, then the eggs again and the bread crumbs again. I put the croquetas in the fridge to firm up again. When I was ready, I fried the croquetas in canola oil until they were golden brown. I served them with some mashed potatoes. They are super-filling because they are mostly meat. They were dang tasty, if I do say so myself. The boys like them too.

That pretty much takes care of Saturday.

This morning MT and I got up early and went to Pocatello for the day. MT's brother Kevin and his wife Janet were in town and we wanted to see them since they probably won't be back for Christmas this year. The fun news is that they will be moving to Idaho since Kevin was offered a job as a sheriff's deputy in Lincoln County! YAY!!

It was a quick trip for MT and I. We basically went there for lunch and some chitchat and then came home. The drive was nice and it was a good visit.

I was looking at my schedule for the rest of the month, and I think I am only working at most four days a week for the rest of the month! I'll be off on Friday this week and Monday next week because I'm going to visit my family in California next weekend. (So excited!!) The following week of course is Christmas and I'll be off on Thursday and Friday. The final week of the year, I'll be off on Friday (Jan 1). That's the way it ought to be in December! Love it!

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I finished this book! Check out the 2015 Reading page.


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