Chicken Spaghetti - Not Waffles

I've had a rough week. My mother went to the emergency room Monday with her COPD (emphysema) - she had to go by ambulance - she couldn't get her breath. She's still in the hospital, but hopes to go home tomorrow. I stayed with her the first three nights and my daddy's stayed the last two. It just doesn't do to be in the hospital without a loved one there to get help when you need it.

That brings me to the chicken spaghetti. It is the only casserole my mother will eat. She is a very picky eater. I've made this before and she loves it. It's Pioneer Woman's version. Without the green peppers and pimientos. So I'll put it in containers and freeze it and they'll have a few meals. I made spaghetti and meatballs for them recently - I am happy when I can fix something they'll actually eat. I also try to make it a habit of picking up some Sheridan's frozen custard - chocolate, of course!

So instead of waffles, chicken spaghetti. I don't want to overdo it in the kitchen. I was inspired to make banana nut waffles, but the guys are a little burned out on waffles and it's just as well - it would've been too much for my miniscule kitchen counters.

I'm going to see Last Chance Harvey (Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson - love her) with my friend Jennifer today. We'll get an early dinner afterward. I'll be at the movie instead of watching the biggest basketball game of the year - Memphis v. UT. I hope the Tigers will pull off a victory against their biggest nemesis. Last year, I think they were the ONLY team we lost to during regular season. I think it's a psychological thing. It certainly puts a damper on the atmosphere around here when we lose to them, but it sure is happy when we beat them. We've only ever beaten them once in football - I think it was 1997. That was a day that will go down in history.

Gotta close - lots to do before Jennifer picks me up at 12:30. Maybe this week will be a little easier.

Paris in February

Just the thing to help me make it through the winter. A trip to Paris. To be honest, the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. I'm meeting my two closest (remaining) friends from high school there for a weekend in February. I reconnected with Hope (in Phoenix) and Edith (in Cupertino, CA) after losing Gladys in August. Gladys lived in Jackson, TN and we were very close. We'd fallen out of touch with the others (we were our own little nerdy clique) but we spent so much time laughing and reminiscing about our wonderful high school experience. So when Gladys died, a techie friend helped me locate Hope and since she'd kept in touch with a few others (including Edith) it was just a great and comforting thing to reignite these very old friendships (almost 30 years since we graduated, if you can believe that). Others I've reconnected with include Darrell, who lives near Atlanta, Chip, who's here in town (had lunch with him yesterday) and Tommy, who's on his way to the Middle East to serve our country again (he's a captain in the Navy Reserves). It's like it was yesterday, they way we've picked right up where we left off. If you make the effort to get in touch with friends from school, I think you'll find that it adds a whole new dimension to your friendships - people who knew you when you were still a kid know you in a way your newer friends from your adult life can't know you.

Back to Paris. It was Hope's great idea for the three of us to meet in Vegas for our own little reunion. Edith goes there pretty frequently, so she knows her way around - best hotels and tricks to save money. Biggest one was to get a Harrah's rewards card (Paris Hotel is owned by Harrah's) in Tunica - I got a $77/night discount for the room Hope and I will be sharing. Edith is a bit of a princess and wanted her own room. I guess that's the payoff for devoting yourself to your career and not having kids - lots of extra money! I have a feeling one of the hotel rooms will be very empty since I'm expecting a 48 hour, two night slumber party for adult women! Edith is treating us to the Cirque de Soleil show, and of course, we'll eat, gamble, eat, drink, walk around, and did I mention eat? Calories don't count on this trip.

The pictures are of the "landmarks" in Las Vegas. The Eiffel Tower is half scale of the one in France. It'll make for some great photos. We'll get a monorail for the strip so we can see all the great themed Casinos. Almost like Epcot's World Showcase (for grownups). I'll be watching Oceans 11, 12 & 13 and any other light movies set in Las Vegas. And maybe CSI. We're all so excited!

On to waffles. I haven't made waffles in a long time (my son has turned into a health nut) so I haven't been blogging lately. My good friend Julia recently asked me why, so I thought I'd get back in the saddle. When I pulled out my 22 year old waffle iron, I realized that I'd forgotten to ask for a new one for Christmas. This one is impossible to clean since the cooking surfaces can't be removed. So I just pour some batter (before I add blueberries) and cook a throw away waffle to remove the burnt-on blueberry remains from the time before. I guess it's no worse than cooking on a grill - the heat kills any germs, right? The copious quantities of Pam I spray keep the waffles pretty clean.

Oh, I tried something new today. I added vanilla extract which I brought back from St. Thomas this summer. It's different from what we have here - it smells and tastes kind of flowery. It made my waffles smell great. And of course, I used buttermilk. Kiddo decided he would try some buttermilk the other day, and he was unpleasantly surprised at how bad it tasted. Does anyone really drink the stuff? It's great to cook with, but I can't imagine anyone drinking it straight up!

Since I'm in such a domestic mood, I think I'm going to make tomato bisque and black-eyed pea salsa for dinner tonight. I had the best tomato bisque this week in the restaurant in Botanic Garden - Fratelli's. I have canned tomatoes and bought cream, but of course, it needs lots of other ingredients. Also, I need to get fresh cilantro and black-eyed peas. So if I can manage a trip to the grocery store and stay in the mood to cook, we'll have a great supper tonight. Oh, for the black-eyed pea salsa recipe (it's amazing), check The Pioneer Woman website. It's in my list of links at the left. Click on the cooking tab. Love this site. She does lots of great giveaways - great stuff like gift cards (big - $250 or so) and cameras, printers, KitchenAid mixers. To enter, you answer her simple questions, like "What are you doing for Thanksgiving?" or "What are you wearing?" or "What was your worst year in school?". Only thing is that she puts the contest up and it ends pretty shortly after she posts it - 12 to 24 hours, usually. I guess that's a great way to ensure frequent visits to her site. Not that she needs it - it's just so much fun. It makes me want to move out west and be a rancher's wife. She's madly in love with her husband and four young kids (who ride horses and castrate calves and help with lots of the everyday work of raising cattle). So it makes me happy everytime I go there!

Ok, I guess I should finish this post (waffles were finished some time ago) and get some stuff done. Oh, just to let you know, I think I have a new, weekly accounting gig (I should find out this week) and it's just around the corner from my house, flexible hours - just wonderful. This makes me so happy - went out on a limb when I booked the Vegas trip, and needed to figure out a way to pay for it! I'm expecting to pick up some other projects since this is the time of year when accountants are in demand. I CANNOT go back to preparing tax returns, but I'm happy to help people get their stuff organized for their CPA, or any other things that come along. I'm hoping my business will pick up this year and maybe I'll find projects I really love. I've come a long way since a year ago. December was VERY slow and I was getting discouraged, but of course, no one does anything during the holidays, except party and eat and shop... So things are looking up. I hope your new year is off to a great start, too! Over and out.