Pears and Peppers

Today’s idle pleasure is the pleasure one gets from eating a perfume-y sweet, juicy perfectly ripe pear.   This is always a pleasure, no matter the setting. No other fruit quite compares to the loveliness of a pear. I like them plain, on toasted baguette with a drizzle of honey and lemon, the variations are endless.

 

Cold again today – high of –3C, burr! At least it was mostly sunny.

 



Spike asleep beside me in the office

Banking day today. How did we ever live without Internet banking? How much time was wasted standing in line at the bank? How much time was spent entering individual transactions into Quicken by hand? Today I connected to the bank and in a flash all the credit card transactions were downloaded. I spent a few more minutes to verify the categories and voila – finished. Now I can check the numbers against our budget and see where we stand. I spent some time this fall creating what I hope is a realistic post retirement budget. I wanted agreed-upon allocations so that Carm doesn’t freak out when I want to buy a new pair of socks…  Having a tool like Quicken makes this management a breeze.

  

Today’s recipe is a Red pepper garlic soup. I’d never made it before, but since I had some red peppers that needed using up I searched my recipe books for something. It turned out great despite using too many hot pepper flakes.  I don’t normally make soups but Carm loves them so I’ll try make them more often. At work I often go out for lunch, weekends I rarely have anything – but then I’m starving at 5pm – I’ll have to dye my hair to qualify for the blue-hair specials!



What routine will we settle into in retirement? Eating lunch is probably a good idea. A regular routine is really important for keeping off the bipolar roller coaster – I’d better make sure it’s a healthy one! 

 

I scoured the same book for recipes that will work for camping.  I found 12! Entering them into BigOven will keep me occupied for a while!

Here's some of the recipes (over 1/2 way done!):

   Red Pepper and Feta Spread

   Jalapeno-Cheese Corn Bread

   Lentil and Pancetta Antipasto

   Penne with Roasted Eggplant and Wild Mushrooms

   Faheem's Beef and Tomato Curry

   Indian-style Sauteed Potatoes

   Louisiana Pecan Rice

   Spanish Green Beans

 



Today was Spike’s turn to be ganged up on