Non stop

Today started early. . . 5:30am early.  I have no idea why I got up that early but I was awake so I decided to get started. 

The pool is coming along although we have a long way to go. Right now I’m just pushing the dirt on the bottom to losen things up. (I did this wearing my winter coat) 

At least you see the bottom of the pool. Yesterday it was a cloudy mess. In a day or so the chemicals will start to clear it up and we will put in the automatic cleaner to pick up the junk off the bottom.

For lunch I made the most delicious corn chowder. Everyone’s bowl looks like mine!  I got the recipe here https://www.thechunkychef.com/hearty-homemade-corn-chowder/  I changed up the recipe a lot which is what I usually do. I’m a pretty good soup maker and I used the recipe just as a guide and added my own touches.  Jenn and I  had seen corn chowder on Top Chef and thought it sounded good. The secret to the success of the soup was smoked paprika plus I added a jalapeño. No leftovers!

After lunch I made a quick trip to Aldi. I love that store. I went to get bread for dinner and a few other staples. I shop frequently at Aldi but I can’t use it as my only go to store. They just don’t have the diversity I need for all the cooking I do. The fun part of Aldi is I always find something unexpected when I go there. On this trip I found frozen fruit bars (yum) and discount eggs (I bought 2 dozen bargain cartons) I read on another blog that the water from hard boiled eggs is good for house plants. I let the water cool on the counter and then fed my plants. If you zoom in on my first picture below you can see my plants are treated well and reside in polish pottery planters. One of my plants is even potted in a polish pottery colander! It’s hard to see in the picture but the shelves also hold a mustard crock from France, a wooden cow from Switzerland, a small bowl made by the twins with stray Euro coins inside and blocks with names of all the states where we have lived. I love this little corner of my house!

egg water

Dinner tonight was a lot of work but it was even more delicious than the soup! I made lasagna with a sauce that cooked nearly all day. Maria was over today and helped me assemble. She took home a beautiful lasagne and a loaf of garlic bread along with a dozen hard boiled eggs for later. The shots below are the before and after shots. 

I always bake lasagna on a cookie sheet because it tends to bubble over and make a mess. 

I did a bunch of other things today too and was truly super productive!