It's June, it's not supposed to be raining in the SF Bay area. Yet two days of rain, rain, and more rain have curtailed my outdoor activities. Mother Nature needs to get with the program.
However, in the gloomy gloom of yesterday's overcast, cold wet day I decided to try my hand at making chicken and dumplings a la Grandma M. For the technical people out there, the "dumplings" are more like wide noodles and not pastry dough dumped in lumps into the chicken stock. So if you want to call it chicken and pastry, you have my permission. And let me pat myself on the back while I say "Damn, I'm good." Yummy yummy in my tummy. My mom would be so proud.
Now since this was my first attempt, I did tell RTL that we would be ordering dinner in if the chicken and dumplings tasted like ass.
Which surprised RTL because I never have back-up plans for experimental dinners. Yet, last night I was unsure of my ability to make things taste good and I really didn't want to eat comfort food that wasn't comforting. Needless to say, I surprised myself and was very pleased with the product.
Now for anyone who has eaten chicken and dumplings, you know that salt is a necessary evil in making it taste good. I had ceremoniously salted the water for the chicken stock and added the salt for my pastry dough, but I still didn't have enough salt. And so I did the Grandma thing and used the box of Morton's to "add salt to taste." I was also crossing my fingers that RTL didn't turn around and see what I was doing. Flashback to Thanksgiving 1992; the place is farm country, North Carolina. Now picture RTL dishing a pile of chicken and dumplings on a plate with a gleam in her eye as my mother waves her arms in a "stop, put it down" fashion without attracting Grandma's attention. RTL forks up some pastry and chicken, puts the forkful in her mouth, her eyes widen in shock at the taste and she swallows the bite whole and proceeds to down a glass of tea. My mother leans over and tells RTL that Grandma had literally turned the box of Morton's upside down and swirled the salt in for several long seconds. Needless to say, we didn't eat Grandma's chicken and dumplings again. But you understand why I didn't want RTL to catch me with the box of Morton's.
I pray everyday that my taste buds don't go before their time. It happened to both Grandma's and mom hasn't succumbed yet, so there is still hope.
RTL just called from work to scare the bejeezus out of me. Those of you who have known me since I was knee high to a grasshopper know that I believe that if you put your wants and wishes out into the universe, then the universe will make sure it happens. I also believe that RTL and I lead a very charmed life. However, we've also realized that sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for because sometimes you aren't quite ready to reap the rewards. That's how we got to California and that's probably how we're going to get to Europe.
So what did RTL have to say to scare the bejeezus out of me? Informal discussion with one of the big cheeses who said they are looking for someone to be director of a big client in Europe and all she had to do was "say the word." Now this also comes in with last week's conversation with a client who offered a job in Europe - all she had to do was "say the word." Good yes, but we were thinking more into the future not "just say the word" fast. It's just really freaky since every time we have a "where do you want to go next" discussion we say that we aren't going to pick anywhere because then we'll be moving in 6 months. I'm not ready to move yet, I've still got things to fix on this house. We'll be sitting down to talk about this turn of events so that we can shape the timeline more to our liking, hopefully.
Decisions, decisions.
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