Deb's Lunch … and dinner and breakfast too

I’ve always said that rhubarb custard tart is my Waterloo, the recipe I can never get right. A few days ago, I thought I found a recipe that would work. I baked it last night, and even though this is definitely my best ever, I still had a few problems. I had too much custard, it wouldn’t all fit in the shell; I tried not to over fill, but it ran over just a bit.

A custard tart is one of those things that you need to eat right away, so I decided to take it to work, where there’re more eaters. I cut it in half and left a slice for Mark at home, then I packed it into my metal 13 x 9 x 2 pan with the snap-on lid. I carried it out to the garage and tried 3 or 4 different ways of attaching t to my bike, and of course I dropped it  in between the last two.

Here’s the (suitably adapted) recipe.

Rhubarb tart, overflow

fresh out of the oven, Thursday night

After being dropped, while trying to bunge the pan to my bike rack

Trimmed up

I’m having a terrible time with this post.

I wanted to write something quick about the sucky start my day had had on Wednesday. But I didn’t finish and kept on writing on Thursday and Friday, and Saturday, and got caught up in trying to record things that happened later, that seemed related, that I observed – and of course, the food. Topped off by trying to edit on Saturday AM, on my new iPhone 6, where the Word Press app doesn’t work quite the same as I’m used to.

And now I see that I didn’t even get in watching Tina Fey and Ray Romano on some of Letterman’s last shows – but I’m sure there’ll be plenty of blog writers on that – and what I thought about an incredibly scatological commercial I saw, and the new toilet paper in the bathrooms at work. And the Sesame Street top-10 list. Network TV, that I’ve been oblivious to – Letterman made fun of JC Penny’s slogan, “When it fits, you feel it.” which evidently has been around for over a year.

The original title was “not a good way to start”, then I crossed that out and re-titled to “random observations”. The iPhone 6 Word Press took out the html strike-through code, by the way.

So, the original title has become perfectly meta.

I also got sidetracked by seeing a brief Facebook post by a friend, about how her day had started off sucky, and through the kindness of strangers, got better. I wanted the same feeling from some Friday morning blossom shots – see below.

Wednesday dinner: Roasted Green Beans & Potatoes with Shallots

I generally try to be polite – online snark has such a way of blowing back on you – but …

On Wednesday, I stayed in bed a little late and checked email on my phone. There were a bunch of messages related to the budget discussion for an organization I’m co-chairing, including a request from my co-chair to take the conversation off email to the phone. Which makes me feel like a scolded teenager.

Mark’s cat came and got back in bed with me – nice – but just then the heat came on. We’d opened windows and forgotten to turn it off; it was pretty warm outside overnight, but it got below the 68° that the thermostat was set at.

I remembered I’d forgotten to reply to an especially clueless student – although, actually, some other stuff I found out today turned that delay into a good thing.

The cleaners had been here on Tuesday, and that night I washed all the rugs, getting rid of winter grit, and replaced them with clean ones. Wednesday morning, I came downstairs and fed the cats, and the black one immediately puked up her breakfast onto the counter – not usual for her. I noticed other small puddles of cat froth in the back hall, and realized that somebody had frothed on the corner of one of new clean rugs. Already.

I was planning to bike, I had a pan of gluten-free brownies for a work party, internship students graduation thing, and I was going to go to the library and pick up a prescription, after work – all much easier by bike. It wasn’t raining when I was puttering around the kitchen, but just when I decided to go out, our 20% chance of showers started coming down. I had a new pannier and I got that installed, and then I went back in and ate a banana and read for a few minutes. Naturally, Hammie decided it’d be fun to jump in my lap, and flop her tail across my banana. But it was still raining pretty hard after all that, and 9:14, so I decided I better walk.

I had to juggle the ALA conference bag with the brownies in it, and my regular Hermione green bag , and my umbrella – and because I had on my slippery raincoat the straps kept sliding off. And of course by the time I got to work, it was almost sunny. Although it did rain some more, after I was inside.

Despite the rocky start, it was an OK day. The work party was surprisingly fun. I left the last of the gluten free brownies in the SLIS library for students and headed home. I left my work laptop at work. I made roasted potatoes & green beans, with some of the wintered over shallots I bought at the 2nd farmers market sliced in. I ate them with garbanzo beans on top of lettuce. I munched up a bunch of other stuff while I waited for the potatoes & beans to get done as I recall. And this was after having a sandwich for lunch, 1 1/2 slices of that no-knead bread, a few thin slices of aged Gouda, an egg, and I ate the extra half with peanut butter and jelly.

And oh yeah, I made rhubarb bars. My 9-inch baking pan was still at the library with the last of gluten free brownies in it, so it seemed like a good idea, Wednesday evening, to go out and buy a foil pan for the rhubarb bars. And pick up that prescription I didn’t get in the morning, by bike.

The grocery store didn’t have any 9-inch foil pans, so I bought a pack of two shallow 12 inchers. Which turned out to be a good size for the bars – except – the foil pan had kind of scalloped edges, to which the bars stuck. And I was worried about transporting the floppy foil pan by bike – the bars would crumble. I ended up cutting off the edges to make nice square bars, and packing them into a plastic container. I should of used my metal 13 x 9 x 2 pan, that has the snap-on plastic lid, that I can bunge cord to my bike rack. Oh, well. To fill the bars, I used the rhubarb jam/puree I made on Sunday, according to the recipe from this rhubarb & cheese-filled coffee cake. I had also chopped up and macerated some of the rhubarb in sugar, a la this recipe, but this (fibery) rhubarb didn’t soften – it stayed hard and green. I threw that in, too, and was worried that it would not get thoroughly cooked in the bars. And it still didn’t seem like enough filling, so I threw in the jar of jam that had the strawberry, cherry, and apricot jam solids, leftover from filling the spoon cookies. The bars were praised at the meeting I took them to Thursday, and again I took what was left over to the SLIS library.

Foil pan – note scalloped edges

Thursday started with Hammie on top of the frigermator – so that was kind of fun.

The rest of Thursday, was a blur of meetings – I had 11 draft personnel policies to read before the first meeting – and trying to grade, and emails to try to get students placed in internships this summer. I thawed out hamburger meat, flour tortillas, and veggie broth, to make beef enchiladas, but when I got home I just wasn’t that hungry. One of the meetings included lunch. Union catering box lunch – plastic clamshell with a turkey & cheese sandwich on a soggy bun, salad: mixed greens in a little cup with a pouch of dressing, bag of chips – that I took and left on the goodie table at the SLIS library with the leftover bars – and a chocolate chip cookie that I took one bite of and decided I best save the calories for the rhubarb-cherry-strawberry bars. After work, I spent almost an hour and a half writing up my notes from meeting with the candidates for Dean of the Graduate School, since feedback was due May 8th. Then I had bar edges and ice cream for dinner, and watched Ripper Street. Don’t know what they’re going to do with Inspector Reid, now that he’s killed someone – although, we are watching this a year late –  I just checked the episode list, and now have an idea <grin>.

On Friday, I woke up and couldn’t decide why I hadn’t elected to work at home. Maybe it was because I had a 2-hour block of exit interview slots with graduating students from 9:00 to 11:00 – but only one student signed up, for a 9:00 – 9:30 appointment, and it was a phone call. My other timed things for the day were a lunch at noon at Union South, and a phone call with my co-chair regarding the budget, continuing the conversation that started Wednesday. And we had tickets for the symphony, last of the season.

I biked in, and took pictures of blooming trees on the way there and on the way back. Did the interview with the student, came home, and ate bar edges for breakfast. I set up my computer on the kitchen counter, and worked, though just more administrivia – I still have not done a significant amount of grading. I biked to the lunch, another Union-catered affair, same sandwiches as Thursday, so I elected to have salad and a cookie. Much better cookies this time, same salad, better dressing, NOT in a pouch, in a bowl with a dipper. Naturally, I dripped salad dressing on my skirt. Came home, worked some more, had the dread phone call, which was surprisingly not terrible – until my co-chair found it necessary to scold me. Sigh.

Mark took me to the Apple Store to get my iPhone 6. When we got back at around 5:30, it seemed more important to play with the iPhone until it was time to go to the symphony, than to make the enchiladas. To transfer all my stuff from the old phone, since I had not been backing up to the cloud, I had to back it up to my computer. Then, when I connected the new phone, turned out that my old iPhone 4 had a higher iOS then what they were shipping on the 6s – so that was an hour+ download. The uncertainty of getting all my stuff to transfer to the new phone required stress eating, so I had leftover potato salad and fried rice and two graham crackers with Nutella. I wasn’t able to turn the new 6 into my own phone until after the symphony. Now I think I like the iPhone 6 OK, but I’m not sure. I’m still in the missing the way my old phone worked mode, and getting used to the change. Mostly, it’s too big. The off button is in the wrong place, too.

Here’s all the blooms from Friday morning – enjoy:

Pause Play Play Prev | Next

Let’s see … on Sunday I baked cinnamon rolls & pecan sticky buns. And a loaf of long-rise bread that came out spongy, but good.

I mis-timed the bread a little bit – I started it on Saturday around noon, so got up at about 6:30 – waaay too early for a Sunday – to  shape the loaf and let it rise, after the recommended 8 – 18 hours of rising. The dough was a little too wet; think that’s why it came out spongy. I set the oven on timer with the cast iron casserole I was going to put the bread in, and went back to bed for a bit. Baked the rolls, started laundry, biked over to Whole Foods for milk, and the green beans called for in this: Vegetable Toad-in-the-Hole. I didn’t have all the herbs – just used thyme that I had in the freezer – and used the garlic butter I made from the sprouty garlic a few weeks back, to cook the vegetables in, instead of slicing and peeling more cloves. And, I didn’t add the extra teaspoon of whole grain mustard – the recipe said 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon.

We ate the sweet rolls, and the Toad-in-the-Hole, and strawberries and a banana and a kiwi, and bacon, for breakfast.

Then I worked for a while, did more laundry, and we walked to Sundance to see While We’re Young (this New Yorker review also covers White God, that I saw at the film fest).

On Monday, I took a plastic container of the sweet rolls to work, and had some of each for breakfast.

But before that, I had an 8:00 AM dentist appointment. My dentist, who I’ve been seeing for like 30 years, not counting the 5 years I was in Chicago, is retiring. My mom and my kids all went to her, too. The people at my dentist’s office were all very sweet – they called me a few days before my appointment, to let me know that Dr. Kelly was retiring, and her replacement was going to be able to take more kinds of insurance, including mine. I’d been self-paying for years. Anyways, after I got cleaned, Dr. Kelly came in to check my teeth, then brought in her replacement Dr. Christianson, so I could meet him. She used to take a month off in the spring and go do dental care for kids in Haiti – but I guess she broke her hip last year, and is thinking maybe not this year. And that she can find kids who need dental care, closer than Haiti.

Dr. Kathleen Kelly

Came home after work, and we went to see Rhiannon Giddens. I’ve been kind of obsessed with the Another Day, Another Time concert that T-Bone Burnett put together, after the Inside Llewyn Davis movie. Giddens does what I always liked about the Grateful Dead – researching and interpreting traditional songs. And in fact they do some of the [sorta] same ones, like Sugaree, that’s Jerry Garcia’s version; Giddens does it more like Elizabeth Cotten. All around this world – or Hang me, oh Hang me, as Dave van Ronk called it, is in the Llewyn Davis movie.

Tuesday, Mark got up at 5:00 and went back to Chicago – I just went to work – meetings, both online and face-to-face. I got home at a decent hour, and thought I’d make turkey club sandwiches on that spongy bread. I had to open the online meeting room for some students at 8:00, so I thought I had time to read John’s paper, but I burned the bacon. Well, not really burned, but dark and crunchy. The way Oma liked her bacon. Megan and I ate it in the sandwiches anyway.

The rest of the week was basically the same – off to work, or maybe a walk early – and then staying late. Not much time for cooking, although of course I still ate.

Wednesday I walked first thing – got coffee at Colectivo on Monroe – because I had to drive to work, in order to go out to Sun Prairie for a site visit. Rounds of meetings, although I did sneak out for a walk after the 9:45 to 10:15 meeting – I had a check to deposit, and went up to the square, to the farther away credit union. At 5:30, there was a poster session, for internship students, so I was at that until about 7:00. I bought pad thai on the way home, which I gobbled before opening an online meeting for some students. This group had more technical glitches than usual, and it took almost an hour to get them set, and I need to login and open the room so they can practice more on Sunday afternoon. I made banana muffins, after the practice session, from the Sarabeth’s Bakery book. More buttery than usually do, and sour cream. And the bananas sliced instead of mashed.

Thursday, it was Teaching Academy new fellows induction, and home for class at 7:00. Leftover cold pad thai, and vegetable toad in hole, for supper. The sungold tomatoes in the toad in hole were particularly tasty as a leftover. I wanted to watch Ripper Street on Netflix, but it wouldn’t load. I ate great handfuls of chocolate chips and mini marshmallows, either in frustration or tiredness, and went off to bed feeling a little queasy.

chocolate chips and marshmallows

If you think the week starts on Sunday, then mine started back in Indianapolis. I got up and made a pot of coffee in the room, wrote a blog post, and then got packed and dressed. I checked out and put my stuff in the car, although to find the car, I had to walk up and down a few levels in the parking ramp under the Pan Am Plaza – which seemed kind of desolate to me, and just realized that because they closed the ice skating rinks there last summer.

I found the closest ATM – not the greatest experience – the plastic door of the money dispenser was cracked and loose, and 2 of my $20s blew away, although I got them back. I went to the expensive Starbucks again, and got an iced coffee for the road.

If you think the week starts on Monday, then mine started in Chicago. I got up and made coffee, with my pour over cup top Melita filter holder, and then had two online meetings with students. I had a peanut butter & chocolate Kind bar for breakfast, and then I went to meet John. The plan was get coffee, and we ended up at Le Pain Quotidian. We each got a pot of their coffee, which was better than the cafe au lait’s I had drunk there before – hotter and stronger. John ordered a ham & cheese croissant that was good; I got a carrot muffin that was heavy and doughy.

I drove back to Madison, and got home at about 3:30, 4:00ish. I dropped my bags at home, and then took the car back to the UW Fleet Lot, behind the bike shop and Mickie D’s on Regent St. Walked home on the bike path, and got unpacked. While I was on I-90 in Illinois, the gas gauge on UW Fleet hybrid seemed to be dropping precipitously – so, although I was trying to hold out for Belvidere, I stopped for gas at the exit before, where there’s a giant truck stop. Depressing dark bathrooms, where the stall dividers hang crooked, really crummy paneling and ceilings, in the kind of cheaply built in the ’70s or ’80s structure that can only be knocked down and start over, but the owners can’t afford to. I bought a pack of Reese’s, but then I still stopped at Starbucks at Belvidere, and got a cookie, thus using up just about all my calories for the day. Regardless, I still felt hungry at dinner time, and heated up a serving of the matzoh spinach cheese pie, and ate it with Pasqual’s corn chips. I plugged in my work computer in the kitchen and tried to clean up email, and then re-watched Sunday’s episode of Game of Thrones.

On Tuesday after work I took the bus to the Sequoya Library, and then walked home from there. I had this big idea that I’d put the chicken Spanish rice I’d been planning on making into the oven, then go grocery shopping while it cooked. But I didn’t get home till 6:15. I still made the rice, using up the chicken thigh meat I’d frozen since Passover, when the bones were the shank bones on my seder plate, and some veggie broth that didn’t get into the matzoh ball soup, and a small can of V-8 lurking in the back of the fridge, and two hunks of cheese, where I pared off the mold and grated what was left. Oh, yea, and the end of a jar of salsa.

I went out for groceries after dinner, and tried to get just enough to last till the weekend – yogurts, and bananas, and some broccoli slaw.

Lunches on Tuesday and Wednesday were the slightly soft strawberries from Mark’s fridge that he asked us to eat up, with honey & pecans, and a bagel on Tuesday, and a carton of yogurt on Wednesday after I shopped.

Wednesday night, I had two online class meetings, one at 6:00 and the other at 7:30. I had Tricuits with spreadin’ cheese when I got home before the first class, then microwave s’mores on cinnamon graham crackers during my unexpected almost hour-long break between the two classes. After class, I needed ice cream. I scraped off the icey parts of the gallon plastic bucket of Schoep’s that had been in the freezer for too long, and ate what was left with diced candied ginger and maple syrup.

Schoep’s bucket, waiting on top of the fridge, to get added to my collection. They used to be 5 qt. buckets, now they’re only a gallon

Thursday I had meetings all day, both phone and f2f, and the one that went 11:00 – 1:00 included lunch. After my first phoner,  I walked up State St. to get a card to send to John’s former assistant coach, from back when he played rec hockey, in 8th and 9th grade. The coach’s wife, who’s a year younger than me, died earlier this month, from some kind of dementia. I hate it when people younger than me die.

A few of us from last meeting of the day, which got out at 5:15, a mere 45 minutes late, adjourned to the Union and split a pitcher of beer and some fried cheese curds. Thursday was cold, but sunny, so I biked. When I got home, I asked Mark which leftovers he wanted – matzoh spinach cheese pie, or Spanish rice. I heated up the last of the spinach cheese pie, and we ate it with coleslaw. I think I went to bed early.

On Friday, I worked at home, trying to get all the emails sent for student practicum placements this summer. I didn’t make it – still have 5 or 6 left to do. We just ate whatever for dinner – I had Jarlsberg melted on ends of bread, with tomato jam and coleslaw. Mark bought tickets for the Barber of Seville, and we went off to that. It was a long show – we didn’t get home until after 11:00. One of the singers, playing Dr. Bartolo, I think realized that his long black robe and flat curled hat made him look a bit like Marilyn Manson, or maybe Jack White – and he camped it up. We had hot chocolate and went to bed.

Post-opera hot chocolate. I don’t think Mark finished his – dumped it down the sink when he thought I wasn’t looking.

On Wednesday, I was scheduled for my last Film Fest volunteer shift from noonish – 11:45 – to 4:00. I put on the work calendar that I was on vacay, but actually worked at home in the morning.

Had a big bowl of cereal for breakfast, and then walked to Sundance at Hilldale.

I had one ticket for Gemma Bovery, and planned to swap one of my vouchers for a ticket for Rachael. We had a fairly elaborate scenario – I gave her a voucher, and took the other three with me, along with my real ticket. I was going to work my shift, have a snack, and then get in the ticket holders line, and go in and save seats. Rach would get in the rush line, and swap her voucher for a ticket, and meet me. Of course, being us, there were multiple texts and check-ins, but it all went fairly much accordingly, although with one big improvement: when the rush ticket sales table was set up at about 4:45, I went and begged, and got a real ticket for Rach (pictured above).

I felt pretty good about my volunteer shift. I got the heat turned down in the theater – the venue manager for that afternoon was a Sundance employee, which helped – and I knew how to turn on & off the spotlights for the introducers.  And I finally figured out the damn walkie-talkie. I think I’ll try to do it again next year.

We got perfect seats, and settled in for a pleasant evening. Probably the only downside is that instead of a snack, I got a beer to drink while I waited in line. I kind of nursed that beer until almost film time, and then got another to take into the movie, to drink with the popcorn Rach bought. Which unfortunately put me to sleep – I’m still a little embarassed. I missed the part of the film where Gemma’s husband left her.

I liked it – a gentle French critique of an aging boomer, Martin, (ex-bobo parisien = bourgeois bohemian from Paris) who moves to a small village in Normandy and becomes a baker. He’s obsessed with literature, especially Flaubert. Gemma Arterton plays his new neighbor, who he also become obsessed with. She hasn’t read the classics, and instead has moved to the country to pursue her vision of the good life.

We walked home – it was still light – and I threw a few too many handfuls of salted nuts and couple of dates down on top of the beer to sober up.

Whew – sort of caught up. It’s Sunday morning, time to drive from Indy  to Chi-town, so I’ll have to tell you about the digital library conference later.