Let's start you out with a picture from a few days ago. We took a little trip (more than a 3-hour tour) to the casino. Nothing much to report from there. But when we got back, it was of course too late to make a trip to town for my magical elixir. So I had to make my own. Of course I had the 44 oz cup. Ice from FRIG II's freezer. Two bottles of Diet Coke. And my cherry and limeade powder. Now separate, because the magical additive is apparently no longer available.
Anyhoo... I took the cup, full of ice and flavor powder, down to my lair, to get the Diet Coke bottles from the mini fridge under the stairs. Look what happened when I poured it in and put on the lid:
Isn't that cool? It looks like alligator skin to me. I make my own magical elixir a couple times a month, but I haven't noticed the bubbles doing this. I wonder if it has something to do with the separate cherry and limeade powder. That's the only thing different about it.
Anyhoo... Wednesday, I spent many hours completing only three menu items for Thanksgiving dinner. I started with the roasted vegetables, putting in baby carrots, peeling and cutting up potatoes, and then peeling and slicing onions into wedges. The Hidden Valley Ranch powder got sprinkled in between each layer. Then bacon slices were strewn across the top, courtesy of a meaty Ponytail Guy.
While the "vinchtables," as a young Pony called them, were roasting... I took the pan of 20 eggs that I'd boiled and cooled during the peeling and chopping, and sat down at my mom's former kitchen table, to toil over the deviled eggs.
Sweet Gummi Mary, making deviled eggs takes FOREVER! Even though I'd added some vinegar to the boil water, the storebought eggs did not want to shed their shells. In fact, they held onto their shells tighter than Ruth Buzzi as Gladys Ormphby on Laugh-In holding onto her purse-weapon! It took 90 minutes to get those eggs peeled and the filling made and then stuff them and slice olives to top them. No. Not all 20 eggs were deviled. Some were for chopping as a layer in the 7-Layer Salad.
I didn't even leave for town until 3:45. I'd planned to work a bit longer, to get the salad finished, but I was afraid the stores might close, and prevent procurement of my 44 oz Diet Coke and scratchers. So I made the salad when I got back home, before making chicken-meatball subs on hot dog buns, with provolone cheese and marina sauce, for Farmer H and The Pony's supper.
I did not partake of the Ponytail Guy's meatballs. I still had my lunch to eat at 5:30.
That's a lot of work for people who will stuff their faces, not say thank you, then do a disappearing act when it is clean-up time. I say next year, let them do all the work, the prepping, chopping, peeling and so on, while you sit back and peruse the internets.
ReplyDeleteRiver,
ReplyDeleteThe Pony was more of a helpster than he's ever been. Farmer H... not so much. Story coming up.
Any kind of egg other than scrambled or in an omelette makes me sick--especially deviled eggs. (Yeah, I was a lot of fun growing up. I hated most picnic food--deviled eggs, potato salad and all chicken except for the breasts. If I didn't potentially have students trolling the internet in search of me, I might make a joke about that last item.) And anything that has Miracle Whip instead of mayo? As Amy Winehouse sang, No, no, no." So, I would never spend time making those two dishes, but the rest sounds like it was delicious.
ReplyDeleteI did enough carb-loading to last me for several weeks. Now I'm imitating a sloth...
Sioux,
ReplyDeleteEvery picnic has its pooper, and that pooper was YOU, Madam! As for making those two dishes... you wouldn't have to eat them yourself. Are you one of those anticareaboutpeopleites?
No. I have trouble making a dish without tasting it, to see if the seasoning is right. I could not taste deviled eggs without hurling (literally) and would be on the verge of barfing if I'd have to taste potato salad.
ReplyDeleteI'm a pooper about some activities, but picnics aren't one of them. Give me a PB & J sandwich and some potato chips, and I'm happy.
Sioux,
ReplyDeleteAt the risk of making you retch... The Pony and I BOTH tasted the deviled egg deviledness before I filled them. I was about to add more mustard, when The Pony said, "NO! It's just right." He was correct. When the afternotes kicked in on the flavor, it was perfect.
The Pony is very picky about his food. It's not the flavors, but the texture, he says.