stoutfellow

Today, I am informed, is World Pistachio Day. I've never heard of it before, but that's a celebration I can definitely get behind.

Unfortunately, it's frigid out there, so I'm not going to go out and buy a bag. Why isn't this set in summer?

I'm still trying out recipes from the new slow-cooker book. This week, I made a batch of "Bean and Cornbread Casserole". First, you assemble beans, tomatoes, onion, garlic, and green pepper, with appropriate spices, and cook that on High for an hour; then you put together a cornbread mix (corn meal, flour, eggs, milk, creamed corn) and pour it over the beans, and cook that for another couple of hours. Basically, it's a one-pot version of the chili and cornbread I made for Thanksgiving, and it's delicious.

I'm thinking I might make a batch for the departmental Cinco de Mayo party, at the end of the semester. I can see some logistical problems, but it might be worth a try.

Shop'n'Save used to be a standard no-frills grocery store. They had a decent selection, low prices, 24-hour service, and no baggers - there was a shelf near the checkers, with paper and plastic bags, where you were expected to bag your own groceries.

Things have changed. The selection is still pretty much what it was, and if the prices aren't quite as low, they're still low-ish. But, though the bagging shelf remains, they now expect the checkers to double as baggers. (I usually have a shoulder bag or a big grocery box, and ask them not to bag anything. Some of them remember without my asking, some don't, and I can never remember which are which. But I digress.) There's also a self-check station, which I avoid. As I've mentioned before, I know most of the checkers, and fairly often have a nice (if brief) chat with them.

They've also begun doing showy promotions. Once it was a "Wheel of Fortune" knockoff, where every purchase would net you stickers, and the right combinations of stickers won prizes. That was merely annoying, and I gather that the checkers didn't think much of it either. More often (three times, now), it's been "collect stickers and cash them in". The first of those offered a variety of quality chef's knives, and I got a couple. The second featured bowls and plates, of which I have a sufficiency; the third, pots and pans. I wound up picking out a stock pot, listed at $99, but costing me only $7 (and 130 stickers, at one per $10 purchase). Since I bought that book of soup recipes over the holidays, this looked like my best option. Of course, it also looks :checks Wikipedia: like there will be a bit of a learning curve.

Shop'n'Save is only two blocks from my house. Shop'n'Save is on the bus route that I take to and from work. I know most of the checkers at Shop'n'Save. Shop'n'Save is convenient.

Shop'n'Save no longer sells whole coffee beans.

Tomorrow I will go over to Schnucks to see if they still sell whole beans. If they do, I will give serious consideration to switching my business there completely. (They're slightly, but only slightly, less convenient.) In any case, I will buy beans there, if I can. If not, I'll check out Dierbergs. If they don't have beans, I may sit down in the aisle and cry.

I am seriously unhappy with Shop'n'Save.

Huh. I was expecting this week's snow to hang around through winter, but Wunderground forecast today's high to be 44F (tomorrow higher, and Sunday higher still); the current temperature is actually higher than forecast, up in the low 50s. The snow cover is already breaking up.

I'll be taking the dogs out for a walk in a little bit, and then making a grocery run - I'm out of cereal, and almost out of drinkables again. I just finished off the coconut cream pie; there are a couple of helpings of chili left, and lots of cornbread. (Some of it is going to end up buttered after all.)

This has been a good break.

The chili is delicious, though a bit watery; I'm hoping it'll thicken a little in the fridge. I ate it, as recommended, scooping it up on corn chips.

I haven't made the corn bread yet. I realized this morning that I didn't have any baking powder, and it has been raining all day. Snow showers in the wee hours, but then it'll taper off, so I'll make a grocery run in the morning. I'm also out of cereal, and nearly out of drinkables (other than water, of course). No dessert yet either. Nonetheless, a satisfying meal, as far as it went.

Last week's dinner dish was a creamy chicken stew - very tasty, but heavy on the stomach. I had two helpings yesterday, to finish off the pot, and... well, let's just say I had a bad night.

There is a dusting of snow on the ground, and we're expecting another inch or two this afternoon. The dogs are excited, even rambunctious.

I am not.

This week, I have a sack of large navel oranges in the fridge. They're quite good; the first one was a little sour, but they've gotten sweeter with time.

I have discovered something odd, though. If I offer Buster a doggie treat immediately after eating an orange, he'll approach and sniff the treat, as usual, and then jerk violently away. He'll gaze at me from a couple of feet away, as if I just tried to poison him. If I toss the treat to him, then he'll grab it up and eat it - but apparently my orange-smelling fingers are simply repulsive to him. This has happened two or three times now....

The music is surprisingly apropos.

1. A couple of weeks ago, I bought a sack of Braeburn (yum!) apples at Shop'n'Save. The bin was next to the bin for Jazz apples (which are .10/lb more expensive), and some of each had spilled into the other. I had to check the tags to make sure I was selecting the right kind. I mentioned this to the cashier; she was a bit dismissive, until I pointed out the price difference.

2. Sunday, it was apple time again. SnS had no Braeburns. I wound up buying Jazz apples (which, it turns out, are a close but slightly inferior approximation).

I am sure these two events are utterly unconnected.

I'm back to cooking for myself (as opposed to warming up frozen meals). Last week, I made another batch of the minestrone "casserole"; I'd hoped for six or seven helpings, but it only lasted five. Yesterday, I decided to try a new recipe, for Italian meatball soup. It looked simple enough - only six ingredients, and "mix everything but the cheese in the slow cooker and cook it for nine hours" - but minor difficulties appeared. The recipe called for a 19 oz can of white kidney beans, but SnS only had them in 15 and 29 oz cans, so I went with the smaller size. It also called for a pound of frozen cooked Italian meatballs, but I couldn't find any, so instead I picked up a pound of raw ground Italian sausage. Finally, it rained intermittently yesterday morning, so by the time I was able to buy the ingredients, it was too late to start the cooker.

So... this morning, I dumped the ground sausage into my small frying pan and sauteed it until the pink went away, then mixed it with the rest of the ingredients and set it to cooking. I just had the first helping, along with a spinach salad (not much in the way of veggies in the soup); it was pretty tasty, and a little on the hot side. I'm not sure it'll last me all week, but it should get me through Thursday at least.

(I'm also being conscientious about upping my fruit consumption - a sack of d'Anjou pears last week, Braeburn apples this week. I'll probably put navel oranges into the rotation as well, with bananas and peaches as outside contenders.)