Because it is a bit slow around here you are getting a perplexing read today. I haven’t written a jumbled blog in a while so strap your mental seat belt on and get ready to be tossed from tale to tale.
It’s mid-week and rainy here in NE Oklahoma, doesn‘t happen often at the beginning of September (the rainy part, not the mid-week part “that happens every week“). I don’t have anything on the agenda today other than helping with the youth program at church this afternoon. I might run into the glass shop if the rain lets up a bit later. Other than that, it is just up-in-the-air, do as I please, go with the flow, whatever floats my boat, etc., etc., you get the idea.
Over the weekend J and I (okay, J) loaded the trailer down with wood that he’d cut from a downed tree and we took it to the cabin so we’d have warm fires this winter. As we were leaving I asked why he loaded the trailer instead of putting it in the back of the pickup. He said he had debated between the trailer and the pickup because he was always worried about having a flat on the trailer because he didn’t have a spare for it, but it was easier to load and unload off the trailer, so he’d decided on the trailer.
Well, you know how it goes, when you mention what you’re afraid of, sometimes that’s the thing that happens. Just a little ways out of Vinita we hear “flap, flap, flap” and know his fear had come true. He pulled over and sure enough, one of the tires was flat. Because he didn’t have a jack, tire iron or lug wrench we had no way of removing the tire. He made a u-turn (on a narrow 2 lane road, pulling a trailer none the less) and we drove back just a bit to an R-V sales place. The gentleman let J park the trailer there while we drove back into town to a tire shop. The people at the shop were very nice and drove J back out to the trailer, removed the tire, came back to town, put a new tire on the wheel and drove back out and put the tire back on the trailer. All for a mere $15 (plus the price of the new tire). Yes, the flat tire was a hassle, but it sure was a blessing that it happened before all the places in town closed for the day and that we found such helpful people.
J loves (loves) to grill, so Monday evening he grilled and we set the table on the patio and dined alfresco. It was just a bit cool for the sundress I was wearing so I actually had to wear a sweater. As a matter of fact, earlier in the evening when I was cleaning up the patio I actually thought we might have to light a fire in the patio pit. We didn’t, but with the way the weather is looking it might not be too long in the future before we do.
That evening we dined on a rice pilaf (it would have been wild and white rice pilaf, but I got busy and didn’t start the wild rice in time), slaw with fresh bell peppers from the garden; and the star of the show was a cedar plank grilled tilapia with a fresh pico de gallo (also made with peppers from the garden).
We used the cedar plank sheets that I hard bought earlier in the summer. After we soaked the sheets we wrapped them around the seasoned tilapia filets, tied with soaked kitchen twine and threw it on the grill. Boy, was it a yummy dinner. As a matter of fact, and really not to toot my own horn, but I’d have to say it was comparable (if not better) than the grilled tilapia and rice I dined on at Outlaw’s Crab Shack in B’ville the other night. J had dined on shrimp at the Crab Shack so he couldn’t compare the dishes , but he did say that he really liked the tilapia we’d made and wanted to have it again SOON.
Because this August weather has been cooler than we are used to, my stomach’s mind has turned to warmer, comfort type foods. Last evening we had brown beans with ham, fried potatoes (with just a bit of onion thrown in) and green chili cornbread. This is also what I’d served the Rotary members for their lunch yesterday along with the liquor-laced brownies. Unfortunately, one of the member’s wife had felt the same way and made a big pot of beans he’d been eating for 2 days already. Poor fella – beans 3 days in a row.
Also, here while back, I made a pot of fresh green beans and new potatoes (oh yum). Don’t you just love to snap green beans? It is one of those “mind-less”, quiet tasks. I have always found it such a pleasure on a hot, summer day to sit outdoors in the shade, a glass of iced tea nearby, a neighbor or (when I was an unmarried young girl at my mom’s house) a sister, chat a bit, share a laugh and “just snap beans”. Could you ask for a simpler blessing!
Last week my dad brought me some eggplant that my cousin had given him. I decided to try my hand at Baked Eggplant Parmesan. I’ve never made anything with eggplant before, but I know it is a very “moist” vegetable and know that it can get very mushy. So, to pull some of the moisture out before cooking I salted it down and let it drain. After it had drained, I rinsed and rinsed it to get the salt off then continued on with my own dredging ingredients and baked it. I called my dad to come and give it a taste trial with me. Just as he was showing up I spooned a bit of store-bought marinara sauce on top, sprinkled a bit of mozzarella cheese and put it back in the oven until the cheese had melted.
Our mouths were anxiously awaiting the trial. Well, to make an already long story a bit shorter; I should have rinsed it a few more times. It was soooo salty neither Daddy nor I could eat it. The flavors (what you could taste “behind” the salt) were good and I can’t wait to do it again, but this time I will not use as much salt to drain the vegetable and I will rinse it a bit longer. It was a good trial and a good laugh though, and we know even the great Julia Child enjoyed laughing at her own mistakes.
Well, I think I’ve wasted enough of your time. Hope you found something here you liked or something to make you chuckle because we all know life is funny, even if it means laughing at yourself sometimes.
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