Brief Time At Home

We made it safely home from Florida, but we aren't staying here long. Our youngest grandson (11) has a hockey tournament in the Minneapolis area this weekend. The team is taking advantage of the long MLK weekend, as are lots of other youth hockey teams. I believe there are 10 teams at just the 12UAA level in this one. And of course it will be such nice weather for a jaunt across North Dakota into Minnesota - NOT! Those poor deluded Florida boys think it will be "fun" to experience snow and cold, and to play a game outdoors on a pond. Ah, well, they're young, plus they did play outdoors in both Quebec City and Fargo last winter. Dennis keeps telling them you're not supposed to head north in the winter.

A few of my plants died while we were away enjoying family time in Florida. Both the amaryllis that were sending up buds when we left flowered and are now ready to have the spent blossoms/stalks cut off. I'm sorry I missed seeing them in full bloom, but not enough that I would have stayed home! The rosemary, one basil, and one of the parsley plants decided they'd rather not go without water two weeks at a stretch. Gwendolyne made the trek north to water them once for me, which was all I asked of her. (It's easier to let plants die than pets I told her.) The two huge pots of geraniums are looking extremely sorry, although there's still some green on them. And the two begonias in the one pot are still looking okay - not exuberant, but just okay. Dennis thinks because there's still green on them the geraniums will make a comeback.

Our Florida daughter sent cuttings from four of her plants home with me. I kept them, wrapped in damp paper towels, in a huge ziplock blown full of air (like potato chips, to prevent crushing) in my carry-on bag. One, a Brazilian something, already has roots starting, so I'm leaving that one in the toweling for now, while the others are all in small rooting jars with water. One is a two-toned pothos, one is purple (looks the roughest), and the other is a bi-colored Hoya. I should have written down what they are. She also threw in a couple small narrow leaves that had fallen off a different variety of Mother of 1,000 Babies I hadn't seen before. It's kind of pink. Kim says as the leaves die, they send up plantlets along the edges of the leaf. I dropped those atop the dirt in the pot where my tea rose died. Actual plantings will occur sometime after this next trip.

Our local cafe was closed this past Sunday, so our community church decided it would be a good day to have soups for fellowship after the service. We might be small, but we have great cooks. There was a pot of knefla soup, one of taco soup, and my contribution, mac & cheese soup. There were cookies, bars, a meat & cheese tray, buns, and fresh bread as well. I hadn't had time to plan ahead, arriving home late Friday and not seeing the email until Saturday, so I had to make do with what I had on hand. (We also weren't able to have our usual Sunday breakfast of French toast with bacon because I had absolutely no bread in the house. Fried eggs and bacon was served, and we will survive.)

Mac & Cheese Soup

1 1/2 C elbow macaroni (or other small pasta)

2 Tbl butter, plus a little more for flour

2 Tbl flour

1 small onion, diced

1 C diced carrot

1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1 qt chicken stock

1 1/2 c half & half

1 # cheese, shredded

1 C ham, diced, or other smoked meat

1/2 tsp kosher salt, or to taste

1 C peas, fresh or frozen, optional

Cook pasta to al dente, about 5-6 minutes. Drain and set aside. Caramelize onions and carrots in butter, 7-8 minutes. Add a bit more butter, sprinkle with flour, stir in mustard. Stir together 1 minutes. Add stock and half & half. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until steaming about 4 minutes. Do not boil. Lower heat, stir in cheese to melt. Add pasta and ham, heat through. Add peas if desired. Salt & pepper to taste.

I used both a red onion and a white one, both small. I sliced my carrots into coins, on the bias. My cheese was half sharp cheddar, half pepper jack. I'm glad I'd picked up the half & half right before our trip and it was still good. I added two slices of crispy bacon, crumbled, and chopped fresh parsley on top. I didn't add any salt because both the ham and the cheeses are salty enough. I did use a lot of freshly ground black pepper. No peas were added this time, but I'm thinking chopped broccoli would be great in this soup. I was finishing off the Dijon mustard, and it didn't want to come out of the container, so I poured some of the chicken stock into the squeeze bottle, recapped it, and shook it vigorously until the mustard was thinned. Free hint for how to get the last of whatever out of the jar.

Happy New Year to all.