I missed 2 days of work last week. In addition to the day off I took on Monday, I also spent a day taking care of medical stuff. Yuck.
It was a good thing I was off on Monday. D1 had a Key Club service project which entailed providing refreshments to 40 kids, so I was glad I could help with that. There is no way Mr. Dependable would participate (or if he was willing, he would likely have been late).
I have no idea how D1 is going to manage all her activities next year. She has cheer tryouts in a month, and she is hoping to make the team again. If all goes according to her plan, she will have cheerleading, Key Club and class president to juggle next school year. She will also need to take Driver's Ed at some point after early June (when she will be eligible to take the written test for her learner's permit). Throw an AP class into that mix, and I'm already out of breath. I'm feeling sorry for her and this school year hasn't even ended yet.
This is the time of year when work becomes fast and furious too. Disgruntled parents have had enough and try to push schools around. It all happens in late spring. Too bad because I'd love smooth sailing for the next month. Without any holidays left to look forward to, I'm just trying to survive til the weekend. The weekend is when I can unwind and relax. I enjoy sleeping in on Sundays. Because I get up before 5:30 daily, "sleeping in" is sleeping past 7:30, which might not be what other call "sleeping in". The weekend is also when I have time to bake things.
Speaking of baking. . .in late 2012, I had a pv (photovoltaic) system installed at my home. It cost a pretty penny, even with the energy tax credits, but I'm glad I did it. I don't think HELCO fees will ever go down. Prior to the pv installation, I was only minimally aware about how my baking was adding to the electric bill. Since installing pv, I've been very conscious about energy consumption, and I've been trying to look for ways to control my usage (blame the many cloudy days in Hilo, but I have never had a "Joe" bill. . .KumuKit commercial protagonist). One of my recent adaptations has been using the toaster oven to do my baking. My toaster oven can accommodate a pan up to 12" x 12".
One of the first recipes I tested in my toaster oven was sour cream pan biscuits. I was shocked to see a well-risen, golden brown slab emerge from my toaster oven. Since then, I've done a lot of other things in my toaster oven. These are all things for which I would normally have fired up the big oven. Now it seems like such a waste to use the large oven for something which fits in the toaster oven. Wish I thought of this even before I got pv.
Regardless where they are baked, these biscuits will not disappoint. They are sweet enough to eat with just a slab (yes, I meant slab) of butter, but because I have a sweet tooth, I love to smear jelly on them too. The greatest challenge for me is being sure I have sour cream in the fridge.
click on recipe title for printable recipe
2 C Bisquick
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 c sour cream
Preheat oven to 400 degrees (375 degrees for dark coated pans). Grease a square pan (8" x 8"). Combine Bisquick and sugar. Add eggs and sour cream. Mix well. Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes.
On Saturday, The Help and I drove over to the dry side of the island to pay a visit to the conures at Petco and to stock up on provisions at Costco. On the way back, we pulled off the road so The Help could gather dry branches to make into perches. Someone must have cut down a huge tree because there were chunks of wood scattered on the side of the road. I buy CalOak firewood from Safeway for about $5 for just under a cubic foot. I told The Help that if I had a saw, we could chop the chunks into manageable size and bring them home for firewood. The Help said he was glad we did not have a saw. Now why would he say something like that?
As far as food goes, this wasn't a very exciting weekend for me. I got to eat my
ahi nicoise salad at Village Burger on Saturday, but I actually had pork & beans (yes, canned) and Hillshire Farms cheddarwurst little smokies too. I guess the cheddarwurst little smokies was foreshadowing because Mama & Papa Help returned from Honolulu and brought back some kim chee sausage. Papa Help saw it at Palama Supermarket and had to try it. They loved it so the brought some back for us to try. I thought it was okay (keep in mind I do not like Portuguese sausage). . .better than Portuguese sausage. The Help loved it and can't wait to get more. He ate it with rice, taegu, and some kind of Japanese pickled cucumber which tasted like chiso.
I missed 2 days of work last week. In addition to the day off I took on Monday, I also spent a day taking care of medical stuff. Yuck.
It was a good thing I was off on Monday. D1 had a Key Club service project which entailed providing refreshments to 40 kids, so I was glad I could help with that. There is no way Mr. Dependable would participate (or if he was willing, he would likely have been late).
I have no idea how D1 is going to manage all her activities next year. She has cheer tryouts in a month, and she is hoping to make the team again. If all goes according to her plan, she will have cheerleading, Key Club and class president to juggle next school year. She will also need to take Driver's Ed at some point after early June (when she will be eligible to take the written test for her learner's permit). Throw an AP class into that mix, and I'm already out of breath. I'm feeling sorry for her and this school year hasn't even ended yet.
This is the time of year when work becomes fast and furious too. Disgruntled parents have had enough and try to push schools around. It all happens in late spring. Too bad because I'd love smooth sailing for the next month. Without any holidays left to look forward to, I'm just trying to survive til the weekend. The weekend is when I can unwind and relax. I enjoy sleeping in on Sundays. Because I get up before 5:30 daily, "sleeping in" is sleeping past 7:30, which might not be what other call "sleeping in". The weekend is also when I have time to bake things.
Speaking of baking. . .in late 2012, I had a pv (photovoltaic) system installed at my home. It cost a pretty penny, even with the energy tax credits, but I'm glad I did it. I don't think HELCO fees will ever go down. Prior to the pv installation, I was only minimally aware about how my baking was adding to the electric bill. Since installing pv, I've been very conscious about energy consumption, and I've been trying to look for ways to control my usage (blame the many cloudy days in Hilo, but I have never had a "Joe" bill. . .KumuKit commercial protagonist). One of my recent adaptations has been using the toaster oven to do my baking. My toaster oven can accommodate a pan up to 12" x 12".
One of the first recipes I tested in my toaster oven was sour cream pan biscuits. I was shocked to see a well-risen, golden brown slab emerge from my toaster oven. Since then, I've done a lot of other things in my toaster oven. These are all things for which I would normally have fired up the big oven. Now it seems like such a waste to use the large oven for something which fits in the toaster oven. Wish I thought of this even before I got pv.
Regardless where they are baked, these biscuits will not disappoint. They are sweet enough to eat with just a slab (yes, I meant slab) of butter, but because I have a sweet tooth, I love to smear jelly on them too. The greatest challenge for me is being sure I have sour cream in the fridge.
click on recipe title for printable recipe
2 C Bisquick
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 c sour cream
Preheat oven to 400 degrees (375 degrees for dark coated pans). Grease a square pan (8" x 8"). Combine Bisquick and sugar. Add eggs and sour cream. Mix well. Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes.
On Saturday, The Help and I drove over to the dry side of the island to pay a visit to the conures at Petco and to stock up on provisions at Costco. On the way back, we pulled off the road so The Help could gather dry branches to make into perches. Someone must have cut down a huge tree because there were chunks of wood scattered on the side of the road. I buy CalOak firewood from Safeway for about $5 for just under a cubic foot. I told The Help that if I had a saw, we could chop the chunks into manageable size and bring them home for firewood. The Help said he was glad we did not have a saw. Now why would he say something like that?
As far as food goes, this wasn't a very exciting weekend for me. I got to eat my
ahi nicoise salad at Village Burger on Saturday, but I actually had pork & beans (yes, canned) and Hillshire Farms cheddarwurst little smokies too. I guess the cheddarwurst little smokies was foreshadowing because Mama & Papa Help returned from Honolulu and brought back some kim chee sausage. Papa Help saw it at Palama Supermarket and had to try it. They loved it so the brought some back for us to try. I thought it was okay (keep in mind I do not like Portuguese sausage). . .better than Portuguese sausage. The Help loved it and can't wait to get more. He ate it with rice, taegu, and some kind of Japanese pickled cucumber which tasted like chiso.
Got my toaster oven from Amazon about two weeks ago an it has worked great. I am so satisfied with the purchase that I want to share the discount that I received off of my Toaster Oven from Amazon: http://amzn.to/ZKoBte - They have many to choose from.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I hope to post more toaster oven-suitable recipes soon. I've got a few I'm working on. Aloha!
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