It is Sunday as I write this, and I was up at 6:45 to start cooking the jambalaya, but the rice isn’t cooking right. I am in recovery mode and seeing if I can get it better without burning everything. So I am stressed.
Later: It worked out, and everyone loved it. I set the pans to heat on low and then ignored them for twenty minutes. That worked. Cooking is hard for me when it goes wrong, and just slow cooking is the answer (not my style). But I did not finish this blog until early Sunday evening.
Annoying: My Internet connection failed at home on Sunday morning, so I was using my iPhone for access while I cooked.
Going backwards, Richard and Laura and I talked about religion, the class I am teaching for Sunday School in May, and race issues for a while (avoiding, for the most part, talking about the President). We talked until after 11, and I arrived in Beaverton late. I quickly got into bed and started reading, and managed (I had a cup of coffee at Richard’s) to read another chapter, moving into August 1929 in the book about 1929. I then started to get sleepy and slept until just before 6:45, when I planned to start cooking for Sunday.
Before this, I managed to score dismally in my copy of the board game Grand Hotel Austria, including the add-on, Let’s Waltz. Richard and Laura were more than 75 points ahead of me at the end, and Richard won by about 10 points. Laura missed an achievement goal on her turn, and Richard scored first, earning an additional 10 points (Laura was unhappy to miss that and come in second). While I managed to end well, I had not been able to get an engine together like Laura and Richard. I was lost as usual in this game, but I do like all 3D models of desserts and drinks, and that you serve them to customers before they take a room in your hotel. I did score 15 points for serving the Pope. It was not nearly enough. Still, I enjoy the game and the close game between Richard and Laura. We then played three hands of Flip 7-card game, and each of us won one.
Before taking Air VW the Gray over to Portland, I chopped veggies and meat for two 12-serving portions of jambalaya. It was over three hours of chopping. Nine cups of onion, plus spare. And four cups, more green pepper and celery, each, slicing up 3 pounds of sausage, and disassembling a cooked Costco chicken. I watched a movie for some of the time, the new Dungeons and Dragons film. I stored all of this in bags to be ready for Sunday morning; I planned for it to be fresh for our church Southern-style lunch.
(This is Mom Wild’s bang-chopper. You put slices on the sharp metal — yikes — I cut myself — sharp — and slam it down. Best to use smaller slices, otherwise you smoosh it.)
I did use the EV to get to Safeway next. I was surprised it was still locked in charging mode when I tried to use it, and I had to unlock the charger (requiring three presses of the unlock button). It was frozen on 99% charge. I later learned that when under 100%, it stays locked even when set to take a partial charge. I must have slid the charge to only 99% the night before. Since its last update at the dealership, the VW has been charging at 80% by default, even at home. I have to override it to 100%. Hmmm.
Lunch, late, was Popeye’s, and somehow I paid $16 for lunch for three pieces of chicken, two small sides, and a giant Diet Coke. It was never that good of chicken. I should have had a chili at Wendy’s.
Before all of this, I rose around 7 and was not suprised to see the corner of my yard in the back filled with water again.
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 