I’m waiting for and praying for our usual Summer Drought. I hate, hate, hate a wet growing season.
I’m not having nearly the production I normally do. Rain, overcast skies, no sunshine. I’m sad. :(
Luckily, I can find my way to the Piggly Wiggly. :)
Just came in from watering and saw my first mosquito. It came near my face then it did not even trying to bite me. Just left. Picked my first shishito. Looks like I have a bunch of red raspberries to pick.
Thrift store finds & cooking ‘adventures’ (I should know better)!
The widow of my first cousin (she’s 81) has had a bad 2 weeks ... 2 falls. She’s very banged up, but hasn’t broken anything. She’s getting depressed because it’s scary not knowing when you’re going to faint or your legs just won’t hold you up. The docs have done testing, but can’t find anything specific.
Anyway, mom and I are trying to cheer her up & help her when she needs it. I’ve taken her to 2 doc appointments, text her every day & see how she’s doing, if she needs anything, etc. She and her husband used to go to our lake cabin fairly frequently & about 30 minutes away was the local, very popular, BBQ joint. They had rice pudding & my relative LOVES their rice pudding - if you bring up Ralph’s, she will be talking about the rice pudding.
My 500 casseroles book has an ‘Old Fashioned Rice Pudding’ recipe & I decided to make it for her. The recipe calls for a 1 quart baking dish. The smallest dish I could find was an 8 x 8, 2 qt. On the way back from a haircut yesterday, I stopped at the Goodwill in the small town next to ours, hoping I could find something and I did! A beautiful little glass 1 quart baking dish/bowl. It’s older*, not Pyrex, but thick glass, very sturdy, $4.00. Then I spotted a cut glass bowl, smaller size than what we have ... it is footed, so the bowl isn’t directly on the table. So cute ... $4.00. Last ‘find’: some Dr. Seus’s books - brand new for $2.00 each - bought 3 and they will be Christmas gifts for the nephews (all under 4 years old). I grew up with Dr. Seuss ... so silly and fun.
Now for the part where ‘I should have known better’. I whipped up the rice pudding (easy recipe) and poured it into my ‘new’ 1 quart baking bowl/dish. Hmmmm ... it’s pretty deep - is the middle going to set up within the allotted baking time? The answer is “NO”. I added time, but finally had to call ‘uncle’ - the sides/bottom were getting too dark & the middle was still liquid. I got out the 8 x 8 and transferred the pudding to the larger, shallower dish & popped it back in the oven. The liquid set up within 5 minutes (2 eggs in the recipe). It wasn’t pretty, but it was ‘tasty’ - very good, actually (and I don’t really like rice pudding - I think it’s the texture).
I had warned my CIL (cousin in law) that I was running late and finally told her I was on the way ... with pudding. She was happy to get it - thought it was very good! I visited for an hour & a half, too. Making the pudding for her was well worth the effort & next time (mom wants me to make her some), I will use a much shallower baking dish. I believe we have found our 1.5 quart Corningware dishes that should be perfect :-)
Busy day - company coming tomorrow. All the grocery shopping got done yesterday. I will probably run over part of the lawn with the mower - tomorrow will be a week since last cut - it’s right on the borderline of getting ‘shaggy’, but still looks pretty good. We used the newly paved driveway for the first time yesterday - it’s really nice, looks great. While I was delivering pudding, mom trimmed around all the trees, front & back, which saves me a lot of work. Last big ‘to do’: go to town & pick up BBQ at our local stand - very good BBQ, can’t wait for lunch tomorrow.
*My glass 1 quart dish is Vintage Glasbake Maid of Honor (Sears). Mine is clear glass, most of what I saw is milk glass (white) with some blue flowers. My bowl may have had a top originally or may just be a serving bowl - I can’t tell & don’t see the exact bowl online.