What I See

Here is the view from the dining room.  The rolling cart is where that built in desk unit was.  The side of the new fridge.  My frying pans, cast iron casseroles and the largest of my All Clad pots.  The empty jars were being stored but now I can fill them up again with all sorts of wonderful things.

My new computer desk.  Across from the couch where we watch television and read books in the evenings.  You can see a tiny corner of my ottoman.  The desk belonged to a former employer at the Little Traveler in Geneva, Ill.  One of my favorite jobs.  I was in the Cookware/Kitchen Sales Room.  I got to wear an apron and serve at the daily luncheon.  He was upgrading to a larger desk and they put this one on sale in the antiques room.  It took several pay periods for me to pay for it but I have enjoyed having this desk in my homes for many many years now.  And finally it is being used.  As  a desk.  And those are my file containers under the desk.  The large gray box is for taxes and the smaller open box is for current bills and papers I may need.  I put anything I thought I might need in that box and that thought has been a life saver during all this mess.

Here's a better view of my rolling cart and the new fridge.  See how shiny it is?  You can also see the repaired flooring.  Eventually the sun will make those new pieces as dark as the others.  Cherry is very light sensitive and darkens with exposure to light.   I like having my kitchen items handy.  It's nice not to have to get the step ladder every time I want to use something.  Sometimes the thought of getting the step ladder kept me from even using these things.  I love shopping at a restaurant supply shop.  Those plastic containers (with red lids) on the top right come in very handy when making pickles or grape jelly.  If I was still baking bread, they would be handy for letting dough rise also.

I found the tapioca flour recipe for waffles.  I read the comments and around 25% of the people who tried the recipe made a mess rather than waffles.  The others raved about the wonderful waffles.  I also found another recipe that used almond flour and potato flour. These also had a 25% failure rate.  I wonder what happens?  GF baking isn't for the faint of heart.  It also isn't the best tasting product.  You have to REALLY want to eat a waffle--any waffle, to want to eat these.  I am not at the point of wanting to eat a bad waffle.  Now, if I had an allergy to gluten products or a child of mine did--I would try these recipes in a heartbeat and try and make them delicious.  But I am not sensitive to gluten.

I ate an entire bowl of cooked wheat berries.  My tummy hurt a bit as the wheat berries moved along into my intestines but that is expected if you are stupid enough to eat so many at one time.  After they traveled, I was fine.  I learned to love cooked wheat berries in Germany where they were offered in the salad bar at a Health Restaurant.  You filled your plate and then had it weighed and paid.  Salad, vegetables, wheat berries and a boiled egg.  A very good lunch.  My second favorite German lunch was a  dense sour wheat loaf with thin sliced ham, cheese and a very sharp German mustard.  Breakfast was German rolls, good butter and apricot jam.

I never gained weight in Germany (I walked everywhere and lived on top of a steep hill) but was easily recognized (from behind) by my rear end even as a size 12.  I am a very wide bottomed pear.  Perfectly shaped peasant stock for birthing a dozen babies in the field and not missing a minute of work.  (laughing)