Day 28 and how we shop these days

I talked with my Mom on the phone during my morning walk today. The 3 hour time difference means being creative when finding a time to talk. Like me, she is an introvert and really enjoys her "alone time", so the quarantine isn't as onerous for us as for some people. On the other hand, she is really independent, like me, and much prefers to do her OWN errands, thank you very much! We commiserated about how hard it can be to have someone else shop from your grocery list: no, actually, I prefer *that* brand of rice; thank you, but I'd really rather have hard, crisp pears, not the soft, mealy ones.

At least I can do my own grocery shopping, but so differently now. Before, I would walk a couple of blocks to the store every day or so and carry home just a few items. Now, the store has "Senior Only Hours", Tuesday and Thursday between 6 and 9 am. So, first, I have to get up at 5:45 am instead of 7. And I have to take the car because I can't carry a week's worth of groceries in my hands. All week long I add to my shopping list and if I forget to write an item down, I usually forget to buy it and have to wait another week.  🙁

The procedure at the grocery store is bizarre as well. At the door is a person with a clicker counter, ticking off the number of people entering the store. When the magic number (undisclosed) is reached, you have to wait in line outside the store (6' apart) until someone leaves. There is a bottle of hand sanitizer on a table next to the counting person and you wipe down your hands and the handle of the cart. Lately, shoppers not wearing face masks have been turned away too. Once inside the store, there is no more wandering hither and yon. The aisles are one way only, up one, down the next -- at least I am getting my "steps" in.

The new etiquette is that you don't overtake and pass another shopper in the aisle. Shopping hell is to be behind an old dear with her health aide trying to decide between 2 different brands of spaghetti sauce -- the only 2 jars on the shelf.  Sometimes a polite "excuse me" will get everyone to turn backs to the center of the aisle and you can slip by; other times it will earn you a furious glare.

There are still shortages of many items and lots of "1 to a customer" or "2 to a customer" signs on the shelves by the eggs, flour, toilet paper, or whatever is short this week.

Fresh meat and fish is limited too. Yesterday, a Midwest meat packing plant closed because one of its employees tested positive for COVID-19; this will have a big impact on the availability of pork, nationwide.

My friend remarked that her store was out of mushrooms but DID have bread flour so ... score! She was headed next to Trader Joe's and then to a bodega. That reminded me of shopping when I lived in a small town in Guatemala. Meat and fresh vegetables from the Mercado Central, then over to the bodega a block away for peanut butter, bread and cereal; then some things we only bought once a month when we took the truck into the Capitol.

Strange days.

Easter Sunday and Day 27

In the list of things I'd like to see continued when we return to "normal", along with no more handshaking, air kissing and hugging of people not family members -- stores closed on Sunday.

Yeah, I know people who work Monday to Friday want to have two full days to get their shopping done. But, maybe another thing that will carry over is work from home and flexible work hours as the rule rather than the exception. Everyone should have time to stop and smell the roses, even shop keepers.

Another thing that I hope gets overhauled is our education system. Regimenting kids into structured classroom learning is not necessarily  the best thing to create well-rounded, thinking and reasoning, human beings. Instead of longer and longer, and more and more, school days why not offer more time for imaginative play, and more time for student-directed learning. Teach the "littles" how to read, then let them choose what to read. Yes, Math is important; but it can be taught in smaller bites.

Year-round school with 2 months at school and 1 month off would help keep students' attention better. If the on and off months could be staggered,  classes could be smaller, with more opportunity for individual attention from the teachers. Working parents would have to be more flexible, but school should not be a substitute for childcare anyway.

It's never to late to start, or Day 26 of Quarantine

When Gov. Newsom ordered a mandatory "Shelter in Place" on March 16, 2020, we thought it would be 2 weeks and then back to life as normal. I thought it might be nice to start a journal, but why bother? In 14 days, it would be all over and would only be a blip in the history books.

Today is day 26. Schools will be closed for the rest of the school year. Today the US logged 524,242 cases, 20,223 deaths, and 28,755 recovered; California had  21,505 cases, and 597 deaths. Santa Clara county had 1,442 positive tests and 47 deaths as of yesterday. It is time for me to start tracking this new normal.

Let's go back to Day 25, because that is a nice number and I still remember what I did yesterday. Day 25 was a gardening day. I planted 2 eggplant plants from Ace Hardware, and 6 Cannabis plants I had started from seeds. They joined the 2 surviving Blue Lake bean plants, a Jalapeno pepper and a Thai Dragon pepper planted a week or so ago. Hardware stores are considered "essential" businesses but Summerwinds and Yamagami Nurseries are not -- so we make do with "big box" plants and seeds, rather than the good nursery plants of yesteryear.

There had been 6 bean plants, one for each leg of my bamboo tepee but either worms or grubs got 4 of them. There are 4 Cannabis plants left for my niece and her friend to take. Out of the 12 seeds ($40), 11 germinated and 10 ultimately survived to transplanting size.

Today, Day 26 will be a baking and a sewing day. I have sourdough mixed up for bread and it is rising now. Each loaf I make is a bit different, but so far, most have been edible and one or two have been spectacular.

While the bread is rising, I will attempt to solve a setting problem with my latest quilt top (planned version below). The setting triangles aren't such a problem, but the sashing between them is driving me mad. Instead of calculating, I've decide to just go with the empirical method.

Turkey Empañadas

My sister gave me,among other things, a 5" empañada maker for Christmas. I decided tonight's dinner would be the perfect time to try it out. It works a treat! Cut out the crust with the bottom, put crust on top, add filling (and egg wash the edge) then fold it over and press to crimp the edges. I can't wait to try other fillings now.

Turkey Empañadas

6 SP each

Ingredients

• ¹⁄₂ large uncooked onion(s), diced
• 8 oz uncooked 99% fat-free ground turkey breast
• 1 cup(s) cooked frozen yellow corn
• 1 cup(s) frozen baby peas
• Salt
• Pepper
• Onion powder
• Garlic powder
• Ground chipotle pepper
• 2 Pillsbury Pie Crusts
• Egg wash

Directions

1.     Spray Pam in sauté pan and sauté onions until soft. Add turkey meat, breaking up while browning it. Add frozen vegetables and season to taste.

2.     Roll out one pie crust just a bit. (If  you don’t roll it enough, you can’t get 6 5” circles.)

3.     Cut out 6 5” circles (or use a 5” empanada maker). Put ¼ cup of filling into center of circle, brush egg wash around edges. Fold circle in half and crimp edges well.

4.     Repeat with second crust. Place pies on parchment lined cookie sheet and brush tops with egg wash.

5.     Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

6.     Alternatively, flash freeze and pack into airtight container to bake later. To bake frozen pies, increase baking time to 40-45 minutes.

Pickle brined chicken??

Yes, indeed -- brined in pickle juice! Instead of tossing all that yummy juice, save it for this dish, inspired by one from skinnytaste.com (https://www.skinnytaste.com/pickle-brined-baked-chicken-tenders)

Instead of baking the tenders, I cooked them on my cast iron skillet with a misting of cooking oil spray. The dipping sauce is 1.5 Tbsp light mayo, 0.5 Tbsp Dijon mustard, a squeeze of lime juice and freshly ground pepper. A whopping total of 3 SP for a very satisfying lunch. Next time, I will try baking them in a bigger batch for a dinner.

To brine the chicken, just toss 2-3 tenders into the jar after the pickles are gone. Leave for at least 8 hours; these were brined overnight. Remove from the brine, pat VERY dry, dredge in beaten egg and again in Panko breadcrumbs. I cooked them, on medium high for 5 minutes, sprayed the tops, then flipped them over and cooked, covered, on medium low for another 5 minutes. 

Since the brine will tenderize the meat, I would imagine even slices of chicken breast would come out fork tender this way.

A decadent lunch today

Since re-starting my Weight Watchers journey, I have been trying to cook more of my meals from scratch. Eating "cleaner" seems to help with weight loss. I discovered Skinny Taste and its creator/author Gina Homolka and feel like I have a new BFF!

Today, for lunch, I made her Waffled Crab Cakes* for 2 Smart Points each. The only problem  is that they are SO good, I ate all 4 (for 8 SP). But, I had a very low point breakfast and  I'll just make sure to have a low point dinner and its all good. 

Later today I will be making her Easy Bagels** (3 SP each) for tomorrow's special breakfast. 

*https://www.skinnytaste.com/waffled-crab-cakes

**https://www.skinnytaste.com/easy-bagel-recipe

Making Infused Butter (cannabis edition)

There are many ways to make Canna Butter, here are the most commonly used.

Top of the Stove Method

1.       Select the herb you plan to use; crumble it up (not nexessary to finely grind it though) and remove (and SAVE) any seeds you find. Weigh, or measure, so you will have some idea of the strength of your final product.

2.       Use only good quality, unsalted, butter. Until you get comfortable just winging it, a good rule of thumb is 1 ounce of herb to 1 pound (4 sticks) of butter.

3.       In a sauce pan, put 6-8 cups of water, butter and herb; over moderate heat, stir occasionally until butter is melted.

4.       Continue to simmer for 1 hour, then turn off the stove and cover the pot. Let it set overnight.

5.       The more simmer and set cycles, the stronger (up to a point) your final product will be. When using this method, I generally do 3 full cycles, ending with a simmer cycle and letting it cool to room temperature.

6.       Next, line a colander or large sieve with 3 layers of cheesecloth. Pour the melted butter mixture through the sieve.

7.       Gather up the edges of the cheesecloth and twist and gently press, to recover the most butter possible. Set the “sludge” from the cheesecloth aside for later use. It can be put into zip plastic bags and frozen for up to 2 months.

8.       Pour the warm water and butter mixture into a straight sided container, preferably one that is taller than it is wide, and put into the refrigerator until butter is hardened. You can also carefully put it into the freezer but don’t leave it until the water is frozen – just until the butter is quite hard.

9.       Carefully remove the hardened butter from the water. The bottom surface may be a bit soft or gooey but that’s OK. There is not enough “good stuff” in the water to use it for medicine or cooking but I have found that my house plants LOVE it.

10.   Re-melt the infused butter and pour into storage containers. At this point, it helps to pour into measured containers: muffin tins, small jars, plastic containers made for butter storage, etc.

11.   You can use the infused butter in any recipes calling for butter or oil (cookie mix, for example) or spread on toast, bread, muffins, scones, etc.

Crock Pot Method

1.       Instead of the sauce pan, put butter and herb into a straight sided glass container that fits inside your crock pot.

2.       Add water to the crock pot (NOT into the butter/herb container) until it is at least halfway up the side or up to an inch below the top of the butter/herb container.

3.       Turn crock pot on and once the butter is melted, follow the simmer and set cycles as above.

4.       Follow above from step 6 to finish.

Best Method EVER

1.       There is a device called the Magical Butter Machine (MBM) which automates this process most wonderfully! They call it a Counter Top Botanical Extractor and more information can be found  at their website - https://magicalbutter.com/

2.       Caveat:  You will see MBMs offered for sale, at often reduced prices, on Amazon as well as all the usual re-sale site. However, the company’s excellent warranty ONLY covers machines bought directly through the company. Given that their warranty consists of sending you a brand new machine for almost any problem or defect, it makes sense to buy directly.

3.       There is a FaceBook group dedicated to the MBM, Magical Butter Users United (MBUU ) where there are often discount coupons offered as well as recipes and tons of advice. The president of MBM is a member of the group and regularly responds to posts. https://www.facebook.com/groups/magicalbutterusersunited/

Last but not least, you can substitute almost any edible fat for the butter mentioned above. I often infuse coconut oil and olive oil; I have not infused lard but have been told that it works well too. These oils can be substituted for butter in most recipes.