This Week on the Dining Table

It's the "Will You Look At That!" Edition--

This was a potted hyacinth I bought last Easter for myself.  I love the smell of hyacinth.  It's one of my all-time favorite flower scents after gardenia.  After they bloom and die back I never can get the bulbs to bloom again if I plant them outside.
I didn't replant these but had thought the chipmunks that plague our yard had dug them up(as I left this pot on the back deck)and ate the bulbs this Summer.
Then in late Sept. I noticed green shots coming up out of the pot and it was the hyacinth bulbs growing again!  I brought the pot inside when it turned cold later that month, watered it regularly and put it by a window and week by week we noticed the green shoots getting taller.

And voila!.....they put out flowers last week!!  Of course the stalks are suppose to be about 8 inches taller before they flower but I will take this anyway. lolz
When the blooms died back the pot will go back outside in the deep freeze that is our yard now before bringing it back in about February to try to get it to bloom again.

Have you had any luck growing perennial bulbs?


Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week.......

1. Sunday--meatloaf, sweet potato fries, Brussels sprouts
2. Monday--Italian Torta, Caeser Salad
3. Tuesday--Pecan Chicken, Mixed Veggies
4. Wednesday--Kielbasa on Rolls, green beans
5. Thursday--Rockfish, Cauliflower, Garlic mashed potatoes
6. Friday--Guinness Beef Stew
7. Saturday--Leftovers

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--meatloaf, sweet potato fries, Brussels sprouts
2. Monday--Italian Torta
3. Tuesday--Leftovers(Hubs had tacos, I had chicken soup)
4. Wednesday--Kielbasa on Rolls, baked beans
5. Thursday--Guinness Beef Stew
6. Friday--Rockfish, Green Beans, Garlic mashed potatoes
7. Saturday--Hamburger on roll(We had Chinese out for lunch w/lots of veggies)

I had enough leftover roast chicken to make a small pot of chicken soup so I had that Tuesday for dinner and the Pecan Chicken got pulled from rotation.

The bag of frozen Rock fish we bought at that Grocery Outlet last month was a bust.  The "lemon pepper" marianate it was in wasn't peppery at ALL and the lemon part was a sort of "lemon flavored sludge" coating the top of the fillets.  After baking the fish I scraped the sludge off of mine before eating it after tasting it the way it came.  It was a good price, the product was fine but the marinade was far from edible.  We have 2 more pieces of this fish to cook but will be scraping the marinade off before cooking next time and we won't be looking for this product again. 8-(

The Italian tortas(think pizza pot pie)were so-so as well.  It was something different but I won't go out of my way to buy these again, unless they are very inexpensive(as these were).

As for my grocery spending last week......Target, the Bread Outlet to stock up, 2 small trips to Weis for loss leaders and Turkey day needs, and a few things bought at Ollies(Good Stuff Cheap!)for a total this week of $63.51 OOP.   Month to date is $243.88 spent for November.  $28.42 of that spending was for food bank donations which I am done buying for this load.
I still have $56.12 left in the $300 food budget for the month.

Leftovers going into this week.... Chicken Soup, Beef Stew, Meatloaf, Baked Beans, Brussel Sprouts, Green Beans.

Here is this week's "food plan"--

1. Sunday--Leftover Meatloaf, G Beans, B Sprouts, Potatoes
2. Monday--Leftovers(chicken soup/beef stew) or Breakfast for Dinner
3. Tuesday--Eating Out
4. Wednesday--Chili(from Freezer)or Leftover soup and/or stew or ?
5. Thursday--Turkey Dinner
6. Friday--Pecan Chicken, Corn Casserole, Cauliflower
7. Saturday--Leftover Turkey Day meal

This week will be a hodge-podge of meals(1 night Eating Out, Leftovers 3 nights, 1 new meal)with Thanksgiving Dinner thrown into the mix.  Gotta eat all those Leftovers before Thursday to make room for all those Thanksgiving leftovers, am I right? lolz

What I need to buy for this menu?.........still need to buy celery, carrots and rutabaga for Thanksgiving Dinner, which will be bought later today.

What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Was last week's plan successful, did you go off plan or did you not even plan what was going to be eaten last week?

Any great deals on food at your stores this week?

Sluggy

Giveaway Winner

And the Winner is.........

KIM from "Out My Window" Blog!

Out My window November 6, 2015 at 1:23 PM

I am so confused, is that a comment?

Congratulations Kim!
Please email me your mailing address so I can get this out to you asap.

And thank you to everyone else who entered and comes back here to read my pitiful scribblings every day.

One more Giveaway coming up for 2015 so stay tuned!  8-)

Sluggy

Last Day to Enter.....

....my giveaway, that is!

Get in one more entry to win all this nifty stuff........

Just make sure if your entry isn't link to a Blogger profile with your email address or a blog that I can leave a comment on to let you know you won that you put your email in your entry comment or email me your addy privately using my email linked on my Blogger profile.

I have had to draw a substitute winner once so please don't make me have to do it again.  ;-)

I have another Giveaway coming, due to start on Black Friday, and it should be a BIG one!

Anyway, the link to enter the Giveaway is HERE or use the link on the side bar.
Please tell me what you are thankful for this Thanksgiving on your last entry comment.


Sluggy

Our Trip to IL....Part 3 The Musical, History and Booze Weekend

 Despite the drinking binge of Friday evening and a night spent on the bed dubbed, "The Crippler", I was up early and feeling good.

Den was up early too and hard at work in the kitchen making a yummy breakfast with which to spoil us guests.
An egg, bacon and roasted red pepper with basil croissant sandwich?

Yes please!

Then it was off to explore Sonya's town.
We went up to the town's Historical Society Museum housed in an old town school building.

Hubs contemplating how much worse his current eye condition treatment might have been 100 years ago on this medieval-looking torture device.

A vintage dentist's set-up.  Open wide for that drill........

And yes I am a smart ass if you haven't noticed yet.
They had a display of hand painted porcelain china as a large national deluxe china factory is near this area and still in operation.

These vintage hand painted plates were on display with antique photos of the women who painted them.  I thought the plate on the left in this photo was amazingly life like.....that bug painted onto the plate was so realistic and I told everyone within earshot about this.

A second, closer look and I saw that the dead bug was in fact a dead bug laying on the plate.
I guess someone needs to tidy up the displays a bit sooner than later.  ;-)

After a leisurely poke around this small but jam packed museum(bonus points it was FREE!)Den took us up to Woodman's over the border in Wisconsin.
I kept telling Hubs about this Liquor Valhalla and he was eagerly anticipating this excursion.

And Woodman's did NOT disappoint!
Hubs took a good hour to make a decision about what to buy.

And this time I came prepared and had money put onto my debit card(Woodman's only takes debit or cash, no credit.)just for this visit.

Another great thing about Woodman's(besides the prices and the variety of beverages)is that sometimes if you buy stuff you get free stuff with it.

Eldest son wanted some MN made beers and Woodman's had a Deal on them-Buy 2 packs and get a free block of cheese........

Good beer and local cheese.  What's not to love?!?
I ended up with 2 blocks of free cheap for 4 packs of beer and I got to tick Eldest Son off my Christmas shopping list.

After coming home to Sonya's we sat and chatted the rest of the afternoon and Den worked his culinary magic and made us a feast for dinner.
Pot Roast with mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Corn and Butternut Squash.
Mmmmmm....

More talking and imbibing followed well into the evening.

Another night on the "Crippler" and I was still doing fine.
Sunday morning Den again cooked up another great hot breakfast.  I was feeling rather spoiled and loving it!

Sonya Ann and I went up to CVS later that morning since Den was not feeling great(a sore throat and maybe the beginnings of a cold or flu)so we went to get him some cough drops, throat spray and soothing drinks.
I had an old CVS cash card with about $11 on it so it was as good a time to finally use that.

I could really get use to drug stores like this in Illinois........

My view down the liquor aisle at CVS.

I even found some bottles of liquor on clearance.
What is not to love about a sale on alcohol and using an old CVS money card to get it for free?!? lolz

Back home to Sonya's to get Den his sick supplies so he could rest comfortably for the rest of the day and recover before he had to return to work on Monday morning.

About 1 pm Hubs headed off to have an adventure at the local library.
Sonya had found that her library was hosting a Drumming Circle on the Sunday we were visiting so Hubs put this on his agenda.
Hubs drums.

Sonya and I went for the experience too, just to sit in the back of the room and spectate.
Well only 3 people including Hubs showed up for the activity so the leader of the group(behind Sonya in the photo below)coaxed us into service to participate.  She had brought extra drums and other noise making instruments, I don't have a clue what they are called, so Sonya Ann dragged me into the circle and soon we were joining in and whacking on musical instruments along with the rest.

Who knew we were so musical, right?
We may have totally embarrassed ourselves but with only 5 people there(and no recording devices in use)we are ok with it.  I think Sonya Ann found a new side of herself she didn't realize she had.
Not the ballsy "let's crash this party" side but the artistic "I can hit a ribbed gourd with a stick" musical side.  We practically fought over that ribbed gourd and stick thing and who got to beat on it......

Before we broke off and left there was time for a group selfie to commemorate the experience.

On the way out of the building Hubs noticed advertising in the lobby for other activities/group meetings, including one called "Chess and Cookies".
Hubs is a long time chess playuh and who doesn't like cookies?

The next week or so I kept hearing Hubs talking about maybe it wouldn't be so bad an idea to retire to Illinois near this library.
Sorry honey but that ain't happening.....

Us three "Artistes" did some shopping afterwards.
I had Kohl's Cash to use so we hit Kohl's.
I didn't buy these Chicago Bears growlers but found a couple of other things for Christmas presents there.........

We also hit a nearby Dollar Tree.
You can pretty much find the same stuff in all these stores nationwide but I did find a pair of readers in purple they don't have at my local DT.

How do you like my big purchase?

We saw this barn-like building on the way home from shopping.
I thought it was very odd to find advertising for Rock City in Northern Illinois......

Turn out that Rock City is also a village in North Central IL so this could have been advertising their love of Rock City IL rather than the tourist attraction in Chattanooga TN.

Den feeling as bad as he did still insisted on cooking dinner Sunday night.  I feel bad because I didn't get a photo of what he made but I was too busy stuffing my FACE full of the Barbecue Pork Sandwiches he made.
The poor man was standing outside in the cold with his charcoal grill smoking a pork butt to make this meal.

But it was so good I had seconds!

I had thoughts of asking Hubs if we could adopt Den but then decided not to, because that would mean since Sonya Ann and are are cousins that she'd be married to her adopted cousin.....or something like that.

Yeah, I am nice like that......


Sluggy

Go Enter This Giveaway!

Fellow blogger, Linda, at Practical Parsimony is holding a giveaway which ends November 30th.
Use the link HERE to go enter it.

Be sure to tell her I sent ya! ;-)

Sluggy