More ramblings

It's a messy day outside, cloudy and drizzly.  Some folks say there was black ice on the roads earlier, but I didn't find ice on the sidewalks when I took Gabe out.  The temperature is above freezing, the first time in a long time.  Our rain gauge has about 4/10 of an inch at present.  That would have made a pretty snowfall, but after all the cold we've had, I'm glad it's rain.

I've gotten pretty familiar with the Instant Pot lately.  We brought our meat home from the butcher shop yesterday and I cooked a package of cube steak in it... unbelievably tender and good!  I put in a rack and put sweet potatoes above the meat, but they were very over-cooked after 35 minutes.  We ate them, though.  The meat probably would have been fine with 25 minutes, too, rather than 35.  There's a learning curve with these things.  I check recipes online, the cook times and all, but some of them just don't work for me and I have to cook them longer.  I am getting attached to the Instant Pot as I learn more about it.  

I use it once every couple of weeks to make steel-cut oats:  I make a four-serving portion and store it in the refrigerator for quick, hot breakfasts.  Actually it's five or six portions for us, since we have a smaller portion to allow calories for a piece of buttered toast.  This isn't anything like the oatmeal I've always had; you actually have something to chew, instead of something you could drink with a straw.  It was inspired by a breakfast I once had at Cracker Barrel.  I call it "apple-pie oats".  I add a cup of Craisins, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, a teaspoon of cinnamon, and a diced, peeled apple, bring it up to pressure, and cook it for 10 minutes.  Then I let it let it release naturally.  I still haven't tried the cheesecake recipe in it, because we always have some other sweet thing around.  We can't handle two things tempting us at once.  

It seems we just get over one cold and go right into another one, but I see the same thing is happening to most of my Facebook friends this winter.  

Tomorrow I'm going to get my eyes tested at Walmart, first time in two years.  I'll take that prescription to Costco and get some glasses.  We may not do both tomorrow; it depends on whether we have our little girl with us... I rather doubt it, since it's rained all day.  That might put her daddy out of work.

I ordered the kid a child's camera on Amazon before Christmas.  She was SO proud of it, knowing she could take pictures any time she pleased.  Unfortunately, it died, wouldn't recharge or anything.  I returned it and got my money back, then found an adult camera on Ebay for about the same price.  She will be happy to find that waiting for her.  I'll have to get a memory card for it tomorrow, though.  The one I returned used one of those tiny cards.  

We still haven't left the place for days, so it will be strange going out tomorrow.  I just hope Cliff is up to it.  He's slept so much today I finally woke him up and made him check his blood pressure, which turned out to be somewhat high, but not scary-high.  If it doesn't go back down soon, I may be forcing him to see the doctor.  

Gabe is wondering what sort of losers he lives with:  I've been busy with one thing and another today (making chili and processing my last turkey frame of the season) and haven't played with him much.  Every once in awhile he just HAS to have some action, so he'll grab a toy and run from one end of the house to the other several times, just to get some excitement.  

And that's it for what's going on at our house!

Peace.