Today felt like a molasses day, and not in a good way. I can't blame the weather. It was pleasant: not too cool, not too warm; I left the windows open all day and was rewarded with nice breezes. I can't blame the conveniences of being here: water, sewer hookup, electricity. I'm using them all in abundance, in ways that I wouldn't if I were boondocking. Why, with all these greens I'm washing, you'd think I was living somewhere with plenty of water!
Grump factor 1: I can partly blame wading through the latest batch of mail, and starting to sort through my tax records. I had plenty of time to work on them today, and plenty of pleasant news in the mail. The taxes aren't likely to be terrible, but they're about my least favorite thing in the world to work on. I am prone to throwing "tax related" things loosely into a folder, willy-nilly. Eventually it all has to be sorted. Do I change my ways and impose some sort of order as I go? Well, I haven't yet.
Grump factor 2: the night before last I realized I'd run myself out of coffee, and had only half a cup yesterday morning. So yesterday after doing laundry, I made a trip to the grocery store for coffee; the salad greens you see above; the ingredients I'll need for the Aji de Gallina, now that the Aji Amarilla paste has finally arrived; and pet supplies that ran the ticket up past reasonable. Then, today, I realized that I'd need to go to the grocery store AGAIN in order to make those lemon bars. It doesn't matter which recipe I choose; I'll need sugar and butter. So, another trip to the grocery store.
I wanted a small bag of sugar, and was rewarded with the "easy pour" boxes that they're discontinuing. Okay, 4 lbs is more than I'd wanted to buy, but I shouldn't need to get any more this trip.
I hadn't been pleased with my attempt at pulverizing sugar enough to powder it, so I gave in and bought powdered sugar. I had these choices:
and then spotted this smaller bag of powdered sugar that doesn't contain cornstarch.
It, er, has tapioca starch instead. I'll be interested to see how it behaves.
Gratitude check: I should not allow those grump factors above get me down. I'm grateful for leisure and health to do this sort of things, and money enough to do them although I'm hardly rich. But I've really had to struggle to feel gratitude today.
Gratuitous desert tracks, that I enjoyed spotting. Wouldn't this make a nice embroidery pattern?
And finally, I'm grateful for leftovers...or planned-overs, as Anna N would have called them. I got home from the grocery store with too little time or energy to cook. I still have a bit of this panade left over after tonight, and I have the ingredients already prepped for another entire batch.
When exactly I'll get around to making the enchiladas, or aji de gallina, or bacon-wrapped asparagus before the asparagus goes off, is anyone's guess. But tomorrow, by golly, I'll be making those lemon bars!
