Fire pit in lieu of a grill, LOL, I am guessing. Pit barbecue, you know?

I didn't feel like cooking so we had Chinese takeout. I had the orange chicken (what a surprise, right?) with egg rolls, white rice, and crab rangoon. My hubby had the General Tso's chicken.

I thought pit might be a catch all for grill, bbq or fire pit. Either way, the best I smoked some chicken yesterday so we could have a couple easy peasy meals. Tonight was quesadillas. Funny, at one point I made quesadillas a lot, sometimes on a griddle and sometimes on the grill. I kind of forgot about them for a long time. Now I've made them at least three times in as many weeks. They are so damn easy and another good use for leftovers.

Today I'm doing errands I guess. Heading out the door to get a haircut, get my honey switched over to Cricket, and go to the library to pick up some DVD's for the next few days. Our library gets so many new ones every week that we almost never need to rent. I found out recently that Cricket uses AT&T towers. I switched and tested it with a couple of trips to eastern KY. Worked just as well as Verizon used to and less that half the price. My wife has Metro PCS and hates it and hates the phone. So I told her I'll switch her to cricket if she will get a phone just like mine since I'm the one that has to do all of the network administrating.

My housemate Kathryn and I unloaded the freezer into untranslated bags and the freezers of the 2 household refrigerators, and then rolled it out onto the deck (off the living room) to defrost. While it was defrosting we interviewed a young scholar from Japan who will be doing 3 months of research at the nearby National Archives II building/warehouse. His gf will join him in a couple of weeks. I am hoping he will take the basement/garden apartment in my home at a nice premium due to short stay and two people. Not every landlord will be able (or willing) to help them to make best use of the transit system and the museum and entertainment opportunities as we will be. We sort of "sold" the added value of all of that. Kath is the transit and arts guru and I am the logistics, American history and geography person here. We are both at home with guests from all over the world, so that does help. Next, lunch at the local deli for me and then time to dry out, reset, and refill the freezer.

I use pit short for BBQ pit. I prefer wood or charcoal, do not use gas. We may finally get some weather relief this week. It's that time of the year when we are grateful for mid 90's. At my real job today. Although lately I've been just as busy on weekend and after hours, and grateful for it. This thread is so much fun. I love hearing about other schedules, sometimes you can pick up a good tip.

I am cramming last-minute tasks into few hours because I added distant shops. This means I have an opportunity to do things in other cities while I am there that I cannot do here. But this busyness is good. The real opportunity is to get rid of clutter. I just have to prep it and get it outta here. *chomps gargantuan wad of gum* *adjusts ball cap* *glares at clutter* "Youuuuu're ouuuutta here!"

I worked earlier and then came home to the repulsive idea of cleaning anything, so I cleaned one thing: my guest bathroom. It's my husband's preferred throne so I guess I made him happy, if he even cares. Who knows.

I am making my famous 5 cheese homemade macaroni and cheese. It has heavy cream, Vermont white sharp cheddar, local orange sharp cheddar, Gruyere, baby Swiss, and aged Romano. I have grilled chicken under the macaroni, and then the cheese mixture, then bacon and a sprinkling of Panko crumbs for the topping. We are having fresh garden salads for a side for less guilt, LOL.

That sounds yummy. I have a 4 cheese recipe that uses cheddar, gruyere, fontina, and asiago.

I've never had mac and cheese...

My wife won't eat anything but Kraft. No decadent mac and cheese for her, if her mommy didn't make it for her when she was 10 then it's just not right. I"m off to wal mart to buy salads. We had a late lunch and dinner hasn't happened yet.

HA! I'm a 10 year old and still like Mac & Cheese from a box. But I like decadent as well.
Have you tried the Cracker Barrel ones? They're quite excellent.

No I haven't. I will pick one up after my kitchen is done. The only one I've found that she likes besides kraft is the Velveeta ones. I make them for her and I eat salad, or quinoa, or just about anything else. I can't handle salty boxed foods.

I like those too, but the CB ones are even better. I also picked up one from Zatarins Sunday when I was at the grocery store. I might try it tomorrow.

@Irene_L.A. wrote:

I've never had mac and cheese...

Then you must try some. Try something rich like the JAS recipe or Macaroni Grill dishes. bgriffin says that Cracker Barrel has a good dish. Or, indulge in the boxed stuff. As a foodie, you might be inspired to add a little something green for color and flavor, or a little something red which will further enliven the inimitable orange of boxed mac and cheese dish sauce.

Wait. You could take the orange sauce to a mystery shop and have that color replicated. But I digress.

I have not made mac and cheese in... more than two decades? Fortunately, there is a cheese store within mystery shopping distance that provides all the cheese I could ever want for mac and cheese, or anything else and cheese. Oh, now I will have to schedule a conveniently located shop and visit the cheese store. See how you are?!?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2017 02:01AM by Shop-et-al.

OMG. If my husband and kids wouldn't have tried it I would have served nothing but that until they learned to like it, by golly (like my stepkids and canned peas, but that's another story). My stepkids are now mac n cheese snobs. They seriously HATE the boxed crap...boxed mac and cheese sucks.

Didn't Roy Blount, Jr. say something funny about macaroni? So now I have to find that... see what you've done?!?

@JASFLALMT wrote:

They seriously HATE the boxed crap...boxed mac and cheese sucks.

My relationship with mac and cheese is similar to my relationship with shrimp. I like it all. Anyway you cook it. Any degree of "quality." Heck I would eat a meal of cheap frozen SeaPak popcorn shrimp and boxed mac and cheese and be happy about it.

If I have to eat it, I want Jas's version....too much salt in the boxed stuff, fresh cheese has to be the winner.. Should I ty some at Red Robin, i get a free B-day meal.....

I've never had it at Red Robin, but why not? I had some really good lobster Mac and cheese somewhere a few years ago but can't remember where.

@bgriffin wrote:

My relationship with mac and cheese is similar to my relationship with shrimp. I like it all. Anyway you cook it. Any degree of "quality." Heck I would eat a meal of cheap frozen SeaPak popcorn shrimp and boxed mac and cheese and be happy about it.

There is a line, more so with shrimp. Bad seafood is disgusting. Bad shrimp is only good for fish bait.

I get the shrimp. I will eat any (fried) shrimp. However, most mac and cheese from delis or restaurants is mushy and disgusting.

Agreed about deli mac. Gross. Mine is baked, which gives a nice crust on the top.

Making smoked BBQ pork loin in slow cooker; laundry; groceries; possibly a trip to Ikea for a few odds and ends for the apartment; shampoo with deep conditioning treatment. This is my day to chill before launching into August shops. Will probably make a blueberry crisp or pie.

I'm 'touristing' in Dallas with Oldest and Youngest Sons while Hubby is in training classes. Poor him :-)

Errands, later Baskin Robbins shop, house stuff and trying to find jobs in my town....have all the food places I can handle.

I am on the road again. One distant job + two fun activities = a perfect shopping day. Then, I have to round up all the clutter for its upcoming liberation and relocation (aka donating is a useful thing to do while on tomorrow's mini road trip in a different direction for mystery shopping).

*edit to update* Call me Perfect and Perfecter. haha. My perfect day got perfecter when a bonused shop popped up in the middle of nowhere (given where I live and was on the road) and I scheduled it on the fly. Sometimes, the shopping just flows...

Then, it is nothing but work in town, out of town, and at home for the rest of the month. The money will be good, the space will be good, and the eventual naps will be good.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/2017 03:38AM by Shop-et-al.

I will spend my day looking for work since I did not have any shops today. I also will clean house a little and take a nap.

I'm irritated. My normally thoughtful husband was not being very thoughtful. I have fairly full days or work the rest of this week. Friday is his mother's birthday. We were supposed to take her out for dinner. My husband tried to get a reservation at this restaurant she wanted to go to but they only had a 5 PM and a 7:45 PM available, which are too early and too late respectively, so instead of talking to me first, he told her that we would just have her and her boyfriend up for dinner Friday night around 6:15. Then he came in and announced that to me, telling me he was thinking either lobster or Chilean seabass, neither of which does he know how to cook. I suggested a different restaurant, but he said that they are all going to be busy because of Hall of Fame weekend and the World Series of Golf going on. So I reluctantly said okay (even though this means I will have to rush to get everything done), and that Chilean seabass was going to be a better idea. He said he was leaning towards the lobster, but I shot that down because the seabass will cook faster and is easier to prepare. But this means that I have to come home tomorrow, do reports, and then clean my house because my floors are disgusting and my stove is dirty (and my MIL will certainly notice), and then Friday come home, do reports, and hustle to polish wine glasses and silver, break out the good dishes, set the table, prepare appetizers, cook dinner, and then wash dishes while everyone else sits, drinks wine, and chats. At least I can get him to go buy the food instead of my having to hit the grocery store as well, but I am just so much better at picking out good seafood (growing up in FL) that I am praying he gets a good cut of fish. If it was my idea that would be one thing, but after a long day of work I was looking forward to going out to dinner instead of working for several more hours!

Since he is saving all the money it would cost to go out, how about he hire someone to clean your house and polish the silver? While he is at it, he can pick up some prepared appetizers to pop in the oven or some no cook snacks like olives and nuts ala Ina Garten.