Friday, January 14, 2011

Hello Day! We WILL get this done!

When the world says, "Give up,"
Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."
~Author Unknown


Still without a car (my oldest is using mine) The tow truck got stuck at the end of the driveway yesterday, (3 times), spinning his wheels and making ice... and then the driver told me to "clear the end of the driveway and then call back..."
Nice..it was the towns trucks (and then him) that turned it into packed ice in the first place...they always turn around in our driveway.  The joys of living on a dead end.  There's only so much a shovel can do with that!..I have no salt..because I have no car to get it with...I DO have sand, so once we get the ice down a bit I will use that.  I don't like to buy salt because it kills plants, and I generally only use sand up by the house on the walk, and to safely walk down the driveway.  The driveway is lined with Hostas, and the salt kills them when it runs off. 

We never had a problem with the apron, and getting in and out before, in the 25 years here. ......oh well.    He wasn't in a good mood when he showed up in the first place.  It appears the person on the phone that sent the call in, told him it was a simple jump. 

Not what I told him.  I told him it was a new battery and the car would probably would need a tow...

Water under the bridge....
So today I chop with my other son (who is not working right now). We will finish digging around the other side of the corral (sure would be easier if we had a snow blower.  I am running out of room to put manure bags in the back, and need to go around the other way for access to my "spot").
And then we will work at chopping ice in the driveway...

I will have to do all my running around over the weekend so I hope it doesn't snow..or if it does that it isn't much...we are running out of cat food...

Here's one picture from yesterday - looking down our driveway (towards a neighbor's house across the way)  Doesn't seem to look that bad....my oldest goes in and out all the time! (I haven't had a car to try it yet but I do not think it would be a problem..never is usually!  I mean we lived here 25 years!)  After this picture, my youngest and I cleared about 3' on each side of the driveway so a truck could get in...and he still couldn't.




Today's FFWD is gnocchi a la parisienne (page 374). 

I generally don't make this type of gnocchi, having an Italian background.  The recipe is with a bechamel sauce, with grated Parmesan.  (and I have had them in a great restaurant Upstate many years ago, with a goat cheese sauce.  That was really good!) 
My grandmother always made potato gnocchi, and that's what I make.  Although my grandfather did prefer to eat them plain with butter, and Romano or Parmesan or a mix, a little plainer then the sauce Dorie's have.  So I will try these and see how it goes...

See ya later...thanks for stopping by and listening to my rant!


Janie

7 comments:

  1. Looking forward to your gnocchi - good luck with it! :)

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  2. Ugh... it certainly did help that the driver was in a bad mood. Looks clear enough to me!

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  3. Jessica...have to make it for lunch, time didn't allow today...I was so looking forward to it (I love gnocchi) (yeah I know..it's not a re4al time required dish! ) Tomorrow for lunch!

    Krystal,
    It really was...he could have had us let it roll down the driveway and he wouldn't have even had to turn around...Oh well...!
    Hopefully tomorrow!

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  4. I hope you can get towed by this weekend and do your shopping, Janie, as more snow might be coming. It is already beginning to feel like a long winter!

    I make both potato and ricotta gnocchi. My husband loves both. The mushroom soup you made last week looks so good! I haven't bought Dorie's cookbook as yet so I'm out of the loop.

    Have a good weekend!

    Hugs, Pat

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  5. Thanks Pat,

    I hope we don't get a lot either. I try to keep ahead in the winter, but this car thing threw a wrench into everything. I always worry about running our of animal food (the humans can make do!) but I have "my" car today and tomorrow, so I will get done what I can do. The garage isn't open after Noon today, and won't reopen until Monday, and it doesn't look like the car is going to get there anytime soon...but as long as I can get some things this weekend we will be ok until we can get it done next week...go with the flow, right?

    It is the Monday into Tuesday storm I am worrying about..it looks like it might be more ice then snow..or at least there is some ice involved in that one...

    The soup was good, and easy. And I'm going to make the gnocchi today for lunch. It is neither a ricotta or potato gnocchi. It is a soft pasta dough, in a bechamel sauce with cheese in it. I think the Fr version uses gruyere and another type of cheese, but the book uses a mix of Parmesan and another. I never made that kind of gnocchi, but it's pasta, it has to be good!

    I Love Dorie's book. Like you, I Love cookbooks, and have some that I have only used one or two recipes out of, but I keep them because I Love the story behind them. But this one, yikes! Every recipe in it sounds good, and so far every recipe tried works. There might be one or two I won't do because no one in the house will eat it, but one or two out of a whole book is pretty good...

    Stay warm!

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  6. We had snow. But not THAT kind of snow. I think most of ours is melted now. But it's been raining for nearly 24 hours.
    Brenda

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  7. They changed our forecast again...after tonight and tomorrows single digits (!!) and 20's, and snow into Tuesday (they say it'll only be about an inch), it will change to rain and be mild until after Wednesday. I am sure at night we will get a least some black ice...which is the worst part of winter, that's for sure! Isn't winter over yet?

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