grocery pick up

 I 've been trying the free pick up service at Kroger.  Partly to avoid COVID exposure and partly because it seems to take forever for me to get through the store.  

A lot of that is just because I take so much time looking at stuff but also...sloooow check out process, things not ringing up as marked or had been placed by the wrong shelf tag.

The self checkouts are okay if you only have a few things but the more items you have, the more likely you will run into a glitch and have to stand there forever waiting for an overworked attendant to come and push the magic buttons to straighten it out.

Some of the good things about picking up groceries - It's easy to compare brands, sizes and prices when you are selecting things online.

  

For instance, this time, I was buying three different spices. At the store I would have to look at each brand name and find them alphabetically to compare.

 Online, I quickly search "oregano", see what they offer and click the one I want.

The price is clear so there is no squatting and squinting trying to read a bar code on a tiny shelf tag.

For pick up, you only have notify them you are there (in your pre-chosen time slot) ,pop open your trunk and they'll put your order in your car. (In my case I had to get out to open the back door of the Jeep although I'm sure the attendant would have opened it if I'd asked).

They check with you to be sure you are okay with any substitutions they have had to make for out of stock items.  You can even use coupons if you have them.

At that time they charge the credit card you provided online - you don't have to take it out.

Then you're all set to drive away with your goods.

I like the paper bags. Not so easy to carry but good for other uses around the house.

Most times, all items in my order have been well chosen. I've ordered fresh fruit and veggies with no problems. I haven't bought much from the meat department other than pre-packaged ground beef and my frozen Thanksgiving turkey.

But this time, I got this... just what I figured I'd get by letting someone else pick out my groceries.

A dented can...a really dented can.  This can should have never even been on the store shelf. 

And the order picker had to have noticed how bad this is.  Is this what they would have chosen for their personal use?  Don't think so.

So, I had to spend some time on an online chat with Kroger to get my $1.25 refunded.

I'll probably continue to use the order pick up occasionally, but if I need meats or produce I'll go inside.

first finished quilt of the New Year

 In 2020 I finished only 2 smallish quilts (and quilted and bound a group quilt). I did get 4 other tops put together including this one.

Even though this one was quilted in 2020, I didn't get the binding sewn until New Years Day. So I'm going to count it as my first quilt finish of 2021.

I have been waiting for a sunny day to get some outdoor photos of the quilt. When the sun popped out  today, I hurried out the door and started snapping pictures but the sunshine was only a teaser and the clouds moved over again.

 

The main print fabric and the blue fabric are from a stack of fabric that the Sasquatch surprised me with one Christmas.  It's a heavier weight fabric so it makes a nice weighty quilt.

The print fabric was my favorite so I didn't want to cut it up small.  I originally came up with an idea that would have involved having the red strips of fabric going all different angles but after I put the first strip in, I liked it too well to take a chance on goofing it up...so did it like this instead.

I will try my original idea another time.

It's throw sized at 45" x 66".

For the back I used this blue stripe zig zag.  

I will be keeping this one for myself. I think it will be perfect for using to stay snug while sitting on the back porch on a spring or fall evening.

I did my regular meandering quilting on my domestic machine.

It's been a bright and cheery, mood lifting quilt to work on.

My next sewing task is to trim and re-hem Lonnie's two new pair of corduroys and whatever else is in the mending basket.  

Then back to quilting!

winter walk in the woods

We had a nice sunny day the Sunday after Christmas...perfect for a walk outside.  It was somewhat windy but I was ready to get out of the house for awhile and away from the kitchen with all those tempting leftover holiday goodies.

I put on a warm fleece scarf and some gloves. Of course my cat, Puss, wants to make sure she doesn't miss anything so she came along with me.

We went into the woods next door....

Not too far though. I am pretty sure it's still hunting season and I've seen what happens to the deer!

Don't want to end up like that!

Puss has some funny expressions. Carefully analyzing a scent on a stick above. Below, I believe she is channeling her ferocious wild ancestors.

As far as I know she doesn't go in the woods by herself but she really enjoys going with me...smelling everything and climbing and jumping.

I didn't do a lot of actual walking...more standing and watching her. But it was nice to feel some sun on my face and get some fresh air.

Puss didn't rustle up any little animals to chase but she did find a grasshopper.  Still alive even and trying to warm up in the sun..  He was too slow moving for Puss to bother with - no challenge there.

Back in the house to clean the widdle feets and warm up at the heat vent.

Next up - a nice nap!

Christmas morning

 We had a brief snow flurry on Christmas morning.

Not enough to cover the ground, but it looked pretty while it was falling.

I was late getting my heated bird water bowl set up this year. It's only been out a couple of days.  These Eastern Bluebirds (below) were looking for a drink.

I know they are hard to see in the photo, but there are three at the bowl...there at the edge of the porch.  I haven't been seeing them around so I suppose they are passing through.

We had a quiet and relaxing Christmas Day.  Our dinner was chili and a ham braid and snacky type foods.   Of course there were cookies and 2 different candy and nut boxes we had received as gifts.

Usually, I'm the photo taker on the holiday so I 'm rarely actually in the photos.

I took a couple of selfies to make up for it.

Happy New Year to all!

candy fail

 

A few days before Christmas I wanted to make a couple more batches of goodies.  I had made a few half-batches of different cookies but we have been nibbling on them.

I think it's more fun to enjoy the sweet treats in the days leading up to Christmas rather than have them leftover afterwards...getting stale and making us feel guilty for continuing holiday indulgences.

I decided to make Buckeye candy. I haven't made it in several years and didn't even have a recipe anymore.  I found a recipe online and made up the peanut butter balls...ready to be dipped in chocolate.

That's when things went haywire!  The recipe instructed to melt the chocolate for dipping, adding a couple tablespoons of shortening for a dipping consistency.

I didn't have shortening so thought I could use butter.  WRONG!  The chocolate turned dull and dry - no way to dip anything in it.

Trying to figure out a way to save it and have something edible, I melted the chocolate again, adding sweetened condensed milk and poured that over the peanut butter balls, which I had arranged in a casserole dish. Sort of like a tray of fudge.

It seemed like it might work out so I refrigerated it overnight.  The next morning I sliced it and we all tried it.  It's okay but really overly rich and sweet.

I put it back in cold storage and later (in a few weeks) I might try melting some of it again and tossing with rice krispies or some other kind of cereal.  Or maybe it could be used for cake frosting?

I later read online that butter shouldn't be used in melting chocolate because it has water in it, whereas shortening does not.

I also want to say that I do not like the Walmart store brand of confectioners sugar (used in the peanut butter balls).  To me, it has a starchy taste from whatever they use to keep it from clumping.

This is a different cookie that I tried this year...Raspberry Thumbprints...

They were a bit tricky too...with the raspberry jam wanting to bubble up out of the thumbprint while baking.  

I'm finished with baking now for awhile!  

so scary!

A few days ago, Lonnie was at his desk and I was upstairs doing something.  As I passed by the stairwell, I smelled a burning odor and I walked down to see smoke streaming from an outlet that Lonnie had his ipad charger plugged into.

He was on the phone and hadn't noticed it.

I squealed out, "Lonnieeee, LOOK!" and headed to the basement to shut off the breaker. 

Before I got down the steps he had pulled out the plug and apologized to the person on the phone and finished his conversation.

That did it - the burning stopped. 

Pretty scary though.  many times we leave devices charging overnight or even when we aren't home.

That's all the damage there was and the Sasquatch put in a new outlet for us.

 I have to laugh at this photo, though.

The top of the burned outlet looks like a scared face with his mouth in an "O", and the bottom one has a serious frown because of his injury.

Am I the only one who sees this?  Maybe too much smoke inhaled!

The Sasquatch makes a tart

 The Sasquatch recently got interested in doing some baking.  He knows how to cook things that he likes but I don't think he has really done much baking.

First he made a sweet and tangy lemon tart.  Then he tried out this recipe for a Bittersweet Chocolate and Caramel Tart.   Recipe HERE

He brought some to share with us at Thanksgiving. Delicious! Each bite like candy!

The recipe has a lot of steps and parts of it look tricky...but he said "it's just following directions".

He took photos while making it and wrote about it.  

"The Sasquatch makes a Tart"   (in his own words)

Flour, sugar, and salt. The salt is pink, all I had was Pink sea salt

Add in butter

Wrap and chill for one hour

Roll it out in a perfect round shape like I did in the picture above

Roll it over the rolling pin to transfer it to the pan. Make sure you DON'T put enough flour down when rolling it out. This way you get to use a spatula to try to pry it off the table. This also gives you an opportunity to poke a few holes in it, these holes add flavor.

Use the leftover dough to fill in all those 'flavor holes' that appeared earlier

Cover with foil and add baking weights (rice)

Baked pastry. I used some of the left over to make a small personal size tart in the green ramekin

I used three if these for the filling

Whole milk and heavy cream. Bring to a boil, remove from heat and add the broken up chocolate bars.

Mix until smooth. Pour some of this into a small bowl and add the eggs and mix, pour that back into the pan and mix some more. Pour in to the pastry shell and bake again, make sure to leave enough room for the caramel

Do all the dishes so you can get them dirty again making the caramel

Melt the sugar, never stop stirring it. Be sure you have the butter and heavy cream pre-measured and handy since you can't stop stirring to do anything else.

Butter added

Heavy cream added

Done with the second bake

Add the caramel. Be sure to overflow it in at least one spot, this makes it a lot more fun and interesting when you try to remove it from the pan and the caramel has cemented itself to the edge. Eat your miniature sized tart while it's still warm and gooey and the other one is chilling in the refrigerator. Do the dishes again.