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| Dinner Compliments of Neighbor S |
Neighbor S called me in the evening and said they were celebrating her husband's birthday and asked if one of their guests can park in my driveway as she wasn't sure if there would be enough room in her driveway. I said yes, of course. But, the guest was able to park in S's driveway, after all. S called back a few minutes later and asked if I would like to have some barbecue for dinner and I said I'd love to have some. A few minutes later she brought me a feast! A plate of barbecued meats with a side of eggplant (I think), with onions, tomatoes, etc., Armenian cheese and spring onions, lavash bread, and fresh fruits. Everything was so delicious! I couldn't finish all what she brought me; the leftovers are in the fridge for another meal.
It was a sunny day, today. Not that much warmer than the last couple of days have been, but, it was sunny! I was woken up in the morning by a kitty paw patting my face! I brushed it away and tried to go back to sleep, but, no, it patted my face, again! "Meow! Breakfast!" LOL.
So, breakfast for him and the outside cats and tea for me. Then, morning prayers, followed by responding to blog comments (thank you, everyone, for your comments), and catching up on a few blogs. Aunt C called to check on me and cousin N texted. Then, I checked on the garden and picked a sprig of curry leaves and a handful of blueberries. I froze the blueberries and used the curry leaves to make spicy sauteed garbanzo beans for brunch.
In the afternoon, I sat down to sew. I had cut out the pieces for six additional cat blocks and I sewed them, today. I know I cut the pieces fairly accurately, but, I am hopeless at maintaining proper seam widths when I sew on the machine. All my finished cat blocks came out in different sizes! LOL! I trimmed them down to more or less the same size, but, it is going to be interesting! I prefer hand sewing to machine sewing for this very reason, but, machine sewing is faster!
I still felt like sewing a bit more after I finished the cat blocks, so, I cut strips of some thicker fabric that I had in my scrap basket and started sewing them together with the intension of making a rug. Maybe for Dancer to sleep on, instead of the folded towel he sleeps on, now (when he's not sleeping on my bed or the sofa or his cat tower, that is!)
Later in the evening, neighbor T called for our weekly Sunday chat and I called friend R and chatted with her for some time. Afterwards, I video chatted with my daughter. She had a productive day, doing some cleaning, laundry, and cooking. I know that Debra, enjoys seeing my daughter's weekly meal prep:
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| Daughter's Weekly Meal Prep |
She made Sri Lankan curries, this week - dhal (lentils), kale mallung, mackerel curry, spicy sauteed garbanzo beans. We thought it funny that we both made garbanzo beans, today! She didn't take a photo of the rice she cooked to go with the curries.
Today, I am grateful for:- A sunny day
- S bringing me dinner
- Phone calls, etc., with family and friends
- Good neighbors
- Working appliances and the power to operate them
Today's joyful activity was sewing, wonky seams and all!
Susanne had asked about my daily cleaning schedule. I try to follow the one that I made back in 2020, with a few tweaks as needed. I usually list the day's tasks as part of my daily to do list, but, I don't always list the "dailies" such as cleaning the litter box.
Your dinner looks delicious. You are blessed with thoughtful and generous neighbours.
ReplyDeleteI think we must have the same 'make' of alarm clock :) although, fortunately, mine doesn't work as efficiently as it used to. X
Yes, I am blessed with lovely neighbors and the dinner was delicious! Ha, ha, too funny about having the same "make" of alarm clocks! :D They are the best, though, aren't they?
DeleteThe feast from your neighbour looks really delicious, so kind and generous of her. Sounds like her husband had a good birthday too. Oh dear what a shame your machine sewing didn't quite go to plan. We're going for a drive today and I may be missing in action for a few days but I'll be back :)
ReplyDeleteIt was a very delicious meal and yes, S and her family are very kind and generous. They truly are a blessing to me. I need to be more careful when I sew! But, I'll salvage the blocks and work around the imperfections. :)
DeleteHave a safe drive, Eileen, and a wonderful little getaway. I'll 'see' you when you get back! :)
What a feast from S! The picture is making me hungry. :)
ReplyDeleteIt was a wonderful meal, June. I'm enjoying the leftovers, today! :)
DeleteS to the rescue again ... it looks delicious! As does your daughter's food.
ReplyDeleteI'm not very good at keeping accurate seam width either so I always use a marker gauge (made out of a post-it) now. That's nice and cheap and easy to make, so it doesn't matter when I lose concentration and stitch through it!
I finished all the photos of the studio lights and sent in my enquiry and now am relaxing (it's 5pm), I'll phone my sister next and then get something to eat before I spend the evening trying to come up with some ideas of what to photograph for the SPSH.
I'm getting quite spoiled by S's meals! :)
DeleteI used to have a piece of masking tape on the machine, marking the 1/4-inch mark, but, it came off and I didn't replace it. Must do that before I do any more sewing!
You've had a productive day! I hope you have a lovely evening. I'm looking forward to the SPSH!
Hi Bless! You have wonderful neighbors who share....and I know from reading your blog in the past, that you are the same way! Glad your daughter is doing well. Andrea
ReplyDeleteHi Andrea, what a surprise! I see that you've started a new blog! Hope all is well with you. :)
DeleteI'm happy to learn that you had a lovely barbecued feast from S. as we also had wonderful barbecued ribs and chicken at our son's on Sunday. We were very fortunate that they had power, as the city had been visited by a devastating storm and many people all over were affected when trees toppled and power lines came down. On our way home today after DGD's horse riding, we were on a road where there were 2 or 3 crews repairing downed lines and in one spot a huge area was spotted with twisted sheets of metal roofing, 3 or 4 feet across. We couldn't see where it had come from.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Bushlady. I'm glad you were able to enjoy a visit with your son and family over the weekend. I about the storm on one of the news websites I read! I'm glad your son's home had power, there was no damage, and you had a safe drive home! The weather is certainly changing, isn't it?
DeleteI'm kind of surprised that your daughter sticks to a lot of Sri Lankan foods and homemade food as opposed to a western diet. I'm assuming she's fairly young and a lot of the young adults have diets that aren't too healthy since fast foods are so easy to grab after work. In the long run of course, she's better off since fast food is loaded with fat, salt, etc. She's probably much healthier also with homemade foods since she can control the salt and add spices for flavor instead of so much salt. I notice when we eat out they over salt everything. Blech! Denise
ReplyDeleteMy daughter loves Sri Lankan food and Japanese and Korean food, as well. She loves vegetables and prepares mostly healthy meals. Of the two of us, I'm more likely to want hamburgers, pizza, and fast food! She does work with nutritionists, so that probably rubs off on her, as well. :)
DeleteWhat a nice birthday feast from neighbor S! Everything looks so good.
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes, I do like to see your daughter's food prep. lol. She is so nice to indulge me :) and it all looks delicious. The sauce on the mackerel curry looks very nice. Is that one of your milk sauces/gravies?
How do you make your spicy chick peas?
It sounds like you enjoyed your sewing. I'm sure the seams will all work out in the end. At least that's my motto!
It was a wonderful meal (and she brought some cake, the next day!)
DeleteYes, the sauce in the mackerel curry is one of the milk gravies that we make - onions, tomatoes, garlic, curry leaves, curry powder, chili powder and/or green chilies, cooked in coconut milk (or dairy milk), and the canned fish is added to it, towards the end of the cooking.
I had posted about how to make the chick peas in this post:
https://bless2cents.blogspot.com/2016/04/spiced-garbanzo-beans.html
Basically, you saute onions, curry leaves, mustard seeds, green chilies, and add the cooked or canned chick peas. The color of the end product depends on how much curry powder you add and how dark the curry powder is (we like a type of curry powder called dark roasted curry powder).
I am having fun with the sewing - the seams will work out - the original quilt pattern joined the blocks without sashing between them; I can put some sashing and make it work! :)