Determined where we end one week and begin the next. John and I took a few days off this week and went to a wonderful Vermont Inn for one night and then to visit good friends in Saratoga Springs. It is a little easier to leave now that we are living with Katie and can leave the dogs and cats with her when we go away. However, she is gone all day so there is a need for the dogs to have someone to walk them and to let them out during the day. Here comes one of my new friends, Jane, who has a walking/pet sitting business and was willing to take us on as clients. That took care of the morning walk then our wonderful neighbor’s daughter took them out for play time in the afternoon after school. A perfect scenario. Sort of. Day 1 was just fine and everything worked out as it should. Day 2, Jane had a personal crisis with one of her dogs to which I said she must take care of the situation and not to worry about my dogs. Checked with the neighbor and as it turned out there just happened to be a snow day so daughter was home from school and could fill in with the morning walk. Day 3, it turned out Katie was home so the dogs didn’t need attending to. However, it was bitterly cold so all they wanted to do was make a quick trip outside and come right back inside again. All in all, everything worked out just fine.
Mid-January Road Trip
On the drive over to our inn in Vermont, we stopped in Chester at The Fullerton Inn tavern for lunch. Such a typical warm welcome with a wood burning fireplace to sit beside, a delicious glass of something yummy and a great home cooked lunch. What a great start to our get-a-way. We had a lovely dinner in Manchester, Vermont where we stayed at The Reluctant Panther. I almost never eat dessert but we decided to share a dessert. It was the best thing I have ever tasted. Peppermint ice cream covered in dark chocolate served with a hot creamy custard. Yum! Very, very quiet in Manchester and only three or four couples staying at the Inn. It was a good time to go before the MLK long weekend. No snow on the ground but we heard rumors that snow was coming for the weekend. We remembered our boots. We were surprised to find out that it was only an hour from Manchester to Saratoga Springs. Somehow we kept thinking that it was a much longer drive. All in all only three hours from our place to our friends home. A wonderful surprise.
Snow and Sous-Vide
We woke up on Thursday morning to the sound of snow plows going up and down their road. It was beautiful with close to six inches of snow on the ground. What a difference it makes. We arrived to green grass and bare trees. Much prettier with the snow. We toured around Saratoga as neither of us had been there before. We saw where the race track is and we drove through the Skidmore College campus which is really beautiful. We went to a fun concert and played a word game that was similar to the old t.v. show Password. We ate delicious meals. Our first foray into sous-vide cooking with ribs that had cooked for 48 hours and then were browned in a stove top pan plus dessert of pears poached in the sous-vide cooker. Fascinating. The meat was very tender and full of flavor. I was skeptical but not anymore. Not sure I will get a cooker but you never know. It is intriguing.
We drove home on Friday with a stop in Manchester at the only needlepoint store within hours of Saratoga Springs or New London, NH. It was a fun stop and within seconds I had the wool I was missing plus some new wool to finish the stocking that I am working on for daughter-in-law. I will go back there in the spring and hopefully find one to do for the baby. We got home and prepared for the big storm that was to come on Saturday. My nephew and his wife came for the night and drove through some awful weather to get here. They were coming for the skiing which I am sure was wonderful after we received at least another six inches of snow. It was deep enough that Katie and I needed snowshoes on our morning walk.
Update on Jenny Lane
While we were gone the painters finished painting Libby and Katie’s rooms. They look wonderful and are finally finished. New floors, new doors, new windows, new closets, new ceilings and now newly painted walls. That’s about 10% of the house done. Not really sure how to figure that out but there is an awful lot of house to go. We also got heat back in the zone for their rooms and bathrooms just in time for the really cold weather to arrive. Thank goodness. The additional piece of work was done on the built-ins for our closet. It has a way to go but is taking shape and we hope will be finished this week. The big goal for this week is to remove the dumb waiter that is in the kitchen and goes to the laundry room. It doesn’t really serve any purpose that we can see although the guys got it working again but it takes up a lot of space. Both in the kitchen and the laundry room. Anyone interested in buying one? This could be a rather exciting event, stay tuned.
My Foray Into Bread Making
Made my first loaf of sour dough bread. The anxiety I felt about the starter was really ridiculous. I did use the wrong recipe for the bread because it used way too much starter however the bread turned out fine and I took it with us to our friends in Saratoga. We had it with homemade split pea soup and both were delicious. I’ve also made the NY Times Unkneaded bread twice and can safely say that it is delicious. Just need to think ahead when planning to bake the bread as it takes 12-18 hours to rise and then another 2 hours and finally an hour to bake. This week’s recipe is Slow-Cooker Ham and Lentils just because we had both on hand. We need hearty soups when in the depths of winter in New England or Canada but I can safely say even down south we would enjoy a warm soup on a cold day too.
Recipe
Slow Cooker Lentil and Ham Soup from All Recipes
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried lentils
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 1 cup chopped carrots
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 cups diced cooked ham
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 32 ounces chicken broth
- 1 cup water
- 8 teaspoons tomato sauce
Directions
- In a 3 1/2 quart or larger slow cooker combine the lentils, celery, carrots, onion, garlic and ham. Season with basil, thyme, oregano, the bay leaf and pepper. Stir in the chicken broth, water and tomato sauce. Cover and cook on Low for 11 hours. Discard the bay leaf before serving.
