Marty and I constantly get emails on the VT Spätzle Gmail account. Most are emails from the food organizations, wholesale orders, farmers markets, customers, upcoming events, etc. We also get so many emails from “individuals” who want to redo our website or total bullshit emails that equate to calls from Peggy regarding an extended warranty on my vehicle.
One email popped up on the banner screen on my phone since I had all other notifications turned off; my phone would never stop making noises. I read The Vermont Spätzle Company on Humans of the World TV Series/Vermont. I stopped what I was doing and read it.
This is what the email we received from Erica said:
Dear Marty & Julz,
It’s Erica here, I am the producer at Britalians TV a UK TV Channel based in London and distributed in 18 countries worldwide with shows on Amazon Prime Video in the UK and the US.
As part of the next season of Humans of the World which we will shoot in Vermont this late February sponsored by the Vermont Tourism Authority, we will be showing Vermont Culture featuring independent business owners across different sectors that are a good representation of the Vermont community and unique local culture when it comes to food and drink, hospitality, art, music, fashion and textiles, farming, maple sugaring, farm to table places and craftsmanship.
Would you like to feature The Vermont Spätzle Company and become one of the sponsors of this Vermont season?
Wait! What? Holy shit! After reading the whole email, I spoke with Marty; he just read the email too. We both couldn’t believe that a worldwide tv show based in London even knew about our small business. Small business as in it’s just the two of us.
We saw some of the other Vermont businesses that already acknowledged participating in the show. Big names and players in the food and hospitality business. I won’t name them; they may want to keep it quiet until the program is filmed and aired.
Becoming a sponsor is about USD 2,000, which certainly isn’t in our budget for advertising and marketing. We know a lot of small businesses in the food industry here in VT and wondered if they received an email as well and if they could afford it?
Besides the price, advertising our product worldwide would get us great exposure, but the influx of inquiries and orders is not something just the two of us can handle. Not by a long shot. We aren’t ready for prime time like that.
We were very flattered and found it exciting that Britalian TV knew of us and did their homework on our business with info from our website and social media accounts. Pretty cool, right?
Marty sent back an email thanking them and explaining how small our business is. He invited them to stop by or pick up some of our spätzle available in stores throughout the state while they are here to try it.
People don’t think when you put things out there on social media, good or bad, that anyone in the world can see it, like Humans of the World. 💯
My parents grew up in the Italian section of Elizabeth, NJ, called Peterstown. I was raised in an Irish Catholic family. My grandmother, Nana was the matriarch of the family. My father called her the little general.
Nana followed old-school catholic rules, meaning that even when the pope told Catholics they could eat meat on Fridays except for the Lenten season, we still didn’t.
Nana was a tough cookie when it came to religious stuff. I spent a lot of time with both of my grandmothers; at Mema’s, we played cards, joked around, and ate Stella Dora cookies, while at Nana’s, we prayed. I must have said a million Hail Marys and Our Fathers at her apartment.
One Good Friday, we knelt on the floor, not leaning back on our heels but straight up from 12-3 pm, the time when Jesus hung on the cross. It was brutal as a 7 or 8-year-old, but it didn’t bother Nana at all. She said it always turned cloudy during that time; even on a sunny day, she was right most of the time.
What does all this religious stuff have to do with a pepper and egg sub, you may be wondering? It has everything to do a fancy toast I made a few days ago and Fridays during Lent.
Fancy toast.
Lent this year starts on Ash Wednesday, March 2. I’ve always hated Ash Wednesday not for what it symbolizes, but as a kid, I hated seeing the ashes on people’s foreheads. I hated getting ashes that always got into my eyes, and it was like the priest knew and put an extra-large cross of ashes on me.
My birthday is February 28, and I remember Ash Wednesday somehow fell on my birthday one year. Ugh!
I’ve mentioned I always picked either Chinese or Italian food as my birthday dinner, but that year I picked Howard Johnson’s and had the fried clam strips. Someone brought my birthday cake to Howard Johnsons, and everyone in the place sang Happy Birthday to me. I hated that more than the ashes that were ground into my forehead.
We ate pepper and egg subs a lot on Friday nights, along with pizza. After we moved to Vermont, I thought pepper and egg subs were just a New Jersey and New York thing since no one up here ever heard of them.
I was surprised when I researched this and found out it is the number two sandwich in Chicago. The Italian beef sandwich is number one. Both sandwiches were created by catholic Italian immigrants and are still loved by everyone.
The only steak sandwiches I am familiar with are Philly cheesesteak sandwiches which are shaved and chopped up beef, onions, and cheese on a crusty sub roll. I like mine the traditional way with Cheez Whiz.
Since the beginning, there have been arguments about what type of cheese or how to prepare the beef. There has also been a dispute between two famous cheesesteak rivals for years, Pat’s and Geno’s right in Philadelphia.
Pat’s chops his thinly shaved steak and uses Cheez Wiz on his sandwiches. His claim to fame is the speed at which the sandwiches are made.
Geno’s slices his steak and uses provolone cheese. Since the provolone takes longer to melt than the Cheez Whiz, Geno’s sandwiches take a whopping ten seconds longer to make, but between rivals, I guess Pat’s thinks speed matters to customers.
Back to Chicago, their Italian beef sandwich is thinly sliced steak topped with sautéed peppers and spicy giardiniera pickled vegetables. This sounds amazing also.
Pinterest photo The Italian Beef Sandwich has me drooling! I will be making one of these soon!
Finally, pepper and egg subs! I’ve never seen The Sopranos’s HBO series since we have never had HBO, but Tony Soprano’s wife Carmella makes pepper and egg sandwiches. There is also a version of the sandwich in the movie Moonstruck.
People in Vermont always ask me whether people really talk like The Sopranos in Jersey. Another question is, do they really act like that? Of course, they do, and it isn’t exaggerated; it’s really like that.
The pepper and egg sandwiches I remember as a kid are different from what I see on the internet. These sandwiches made today have sautéed green peppers with scrambled eggs mixed into the pepper mixture. No, no, no!
The sub I remember has sautéed green peppers and onions on top of the scrambled eggs in a sub roll. What in fucks name is the difference? The mouthfeel, look, and taste, that’s what.
When pepper and egg sandwiches are made the way, I remember you taste the delicious sautéed peppers and perfectly made scrambled eggs. I’ve made pepper and egg subs both ways, and there is a difference. Huge!
When the two are scrambled together, you lose the flavor, and oily goodness from the peppers, and the eggs almost appear curdled. All the pizzerias I ever had pepper and egg subs served the peppers and eggs separately.
Pinterest Photo Scrambled together. Meh.
I made pepper and egg fancy toast one afternoon for lunch a couple of weeks ago. I sautéed peppers, onions, and garlic in olive oil until soft.
Slowly scrambled French-style eggs.
I broke the pepper and egg cardinal rule by adding uncooked baby spinach to the English muffin. I scrambled eggs then placed them on top of the baby spinach. Then, I topped the eggs with the pepper mixture and parmesan cheese. Yum!
It tasted like a pepper and egg sub, except it was on a toasted English muffin instead of the roll. I had so many childhood flashbacks to all the pepper and egg subs I ate on Friday nights as I was eating my fancy toast.
Where we lived, there was a pizzeria practically on every corner, and all their pepper and egg subs were good. I don’t recall having a favorite.
So if pepper and egg subs are something you forgot about, I am reminding you about them. If you never had one, try one. I looked at many pizzeria menus and saw pepper, and egg subs listed, or make one yourself. I didn’t see any here in VT, though.
I looked through pepper and egg sandwiches recipes, but most of them cooked the egg in with the peppers. I did find this link for pepper and egg sandwiches that seemed pretty close to how I make mine, except I don’t add herbs as they do.
Tonight, we are having our next-door neighbors over. Arthur and David are from the Washington DC area and are here for the holiday break. I am making several small plates instead of a regular dinner. We enjoy their company and look forward to them retiring and living here full time.
That’s it for now. Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend, guys. 🙂
This afternoon while doing my hair, I noticed my reflection reflected itself in the other mirror I was using. I grabbed my Ipad and snapped a photo. I am not a photographer and rarely see cool things to shoot except food; I am glad I captured this moment.
I woke up on Monday, and that terrible vertigo I was experiencing was gone. Thank goodness! Good thing too because we had to make a lot of spätzle this week. This upcoming weekend is President’s Day weekend, with schools on vacation next week.
The ski resort restaurants that feature our spätzle on their menus must be expecting big numbers placing large orders from us. Good for them after losing so much business during the pandemic. 🤗
Many wholesale, retail customers have also placed orders for second homeowners and Airbnb travelers who cook. It makes my heart happy that some people love to cook and entertain at home rather than go to crowded restaurants every night of their vacations. Plus, you don’t have to worry about getting pulled over and getting a DWI.
Last night, my belly dance class was great! All three of my students paid for the month and came every week. The three of them are doing so unbelievably well, and we are having a lot of fun. Yip!
We ended up eating Marty’s birthday dinner later than I expected, well after 9 pm. I was starving and exhausted, waiting for the Cheeseburger Pie to reheat. It was as delicious as ever, so were the tater tots I served with it.
The upside-down pineapple cake was dry. I am critical of my cooking, which helps me become a better cook. The cake was dry because it was a boxed gluten-free cake mix; it tasted ok, but you needed a big drink while you were eating it. Oh well! Next year, I’ll remember to make time to make my own cake.
Today, Marty went on the Saratoga, NY delivery run himself while I stayed home to clean the house. It is amazing how much hair and dirt collects in a short amount of time. The filth that can accumulate in just a week makes me say each time I empty the vacuum bag, “Holy shit, we live in filth!” They wouldn’t believe me if anyone came over since the house looks clean; it must hide in deep, dark places. 😜
Tomorrow is Friday once again; boy, they come quickly! We have a lot of spätzle to make for more orders and the Troy Farmer’s Market on Saturday. We are so blessed that our business is booming and appreciate our customers who support our small business! Thank you! ❤️
Klaus is happy the project is over, and he has a new cozy area rug to lay on. He used only to have a runner in front of the sink.
We finished with the kitchen project! The main construction and painting took only over a week since we didn’t change the footprint but putting together all the little details took longer than expected. It’s always the way.
Before and after photos.
At the end of this project, we bought on Facebook Marketplace a brand new exhaust vent hood that cost half price from a previous buyer that changed their mind and went with something different. We used 2 gallons of paint and 3 boxes of tile and grout. We purchased a new area rug, three stools, a couple of shelves, and a cabinet organizer for the design.
Lots of clutter everywhere. Look at the countertops!
We decided to purchase new glassware that matched. We also picked up a box of 12 caterers’ white plates and bowls. We bought new spice jars on the two raw steel shelves from a small business artisan. Then a few miscellaneous odds and ends finished out the look we wanted.
Our kitchen design is industrial meets farmhouse with lots of straight lines and simplicity. My kitchen is even more functional than before since everything is so organized.
Shitty labelsTwo right ones were the junk.Spice jars and cabinet organizer.We paid attention to small details. Glass dish detergent pump bottle may be my most favorite detail, better than an ugly Dawn bottle.
The old kitchen was fun, funky, and functional, but we were ready for a change. We are happy with the results, and I say out loud while cooking how much I love my new kitchen! Yes, I am still obsessed with keeping it clean.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend. ☺️
***I just researched “industrial farmhouse kitchens” and found we nailed it more than I thought. Yay!
In my Facebook memories today, there were photos of our kitchen from 7 years ago. I loved it, but now when I look at it, I can see clutter. Clutter that got dusty and greasy if I didn’t stay on top of it. The other thing I noticed was how dark everything looked, dark like the rest of the house.
Back in March 2020, during the lockdown, Marty and I decided we wanted to lighten up the house. We wanted things to be light and airy. The once loved dark red dining room, midnight black bedroom, and suede brown living room needed to be updated.
One by one, we began tackling each room, starting with the living room painting it the color sailcloth white. What a difference it made! It did feel light and airy. Now we were on a roll.
Before it was dark and cluttered, especially the bookshelf. I took these photos last night. The before was taken at night too. What a difference.
Noah moved out that month, so we painted his room and turned it into an office for the business. We painted the room the same color as the living room since we had leftover paint. Marty found an old filing cabinet second-hand that we needed desperately. The office was done in two days flat.
Our office before and after.
Next, we painted the dining room a light gray. Marty wheeled-and-dealed on Facebook Marketplace, selling our dining room furniture and buying second-hand ones changing the room completely.
The dark dining room, darker at night.So much lighter and brighter. Less clutter too!Midnight black bedroom. Super dark.There was also a huge armoire on the other side of the room that isn’t in the photos.
Our bedroom needed lightening up; the walls were midnight black and purple silver metallic. Marty wanted it not only light in color but in furniture too. The large furniture pieces we had were over 30 years old and took up the whole room.
Our bedroom feels so much lighter without the clunky old furniture. Everything is petite to fit the size of the room.
We painted the bedroom Edelweiss white, how appropriate for a German-based business; we had to use it. We changed out the old ceiling fan for a second-hand crystal chandelier, something I always wanted. We also picked up two new small bedside lamps for our new nightstands. New meaning new! 🤗
Marty quickly sold our bedroom furniture on Facebook Marketplace, then found two small second-hand dressers. I found a Parisian framed print that I loved on a free pile we saw in New Platz, NY! Big score!
It feels like we are in a small bedroom in Paris or bed and breakfast when we lay in bed. I love it, it’s perfect, and didn’t cost very much.
Here’s where the knee bone is connected to the shin bone analogy. The staircase and upstairs hallways now looked dirty and disgusting. It’s always the way, isn’t it?
We decided to hire someone local to paint it for us. It’s always tricky trying to paint that tall space above the stairs. Two guys came in and finished the job in three hours. Thank you very much, guys! It was the best idea ever, even for DIY people.
We bought the paint to repaint the kitchen cabinets last winter as another covid project, but neither of us felt like tackling that project. Painting cabinets and removing all the hardware sucks, plus we were in a funk that covid was still so severe. (Little did we know it would still be going on a year later.) So, we put the paint away to age like a good wine.
Then, this winter, we got out that one-year-old paint and were finally inspired to start the kitchen project. The last thing I am waiting for is chalkboard labels for the new spice bottles I ordered. The jars came with black paper labels, but they were shit. OMG, I was pissed when I saw them. I hate that they cheaped out on the labels when the bottles were so nice.
The ridiculous part is I put the labels on all the jars and wrote the spice names on them. That’s when I had a shit fit about how cheap they looked and ordered the right ones on Amazon. I also ordered a white sharpie; the white marker that came with the labels was total crap too! They are coming today; then, I can redo them. Guess what? Then we will be finished!
I don’t know if we changed because we are older and want simpler things, or was it the updated design we kept seeing on decorating and home shows over the last few years? Less clutter, straight clean lines: light, bright and airy. I think they call it industrial farmhouse.
Over the next few days, I will be putting together the “Finished at last” kitchen project blog post with lots of photos taken along the way. I can’t wait to show you how it all turned out.
I started the prescription for my vertigo last night. I have to take it 3 times a day for 7 days. It makes me tired, and I can’t drive on it. I can’t drive anyway since I can’t look both ways without getting dizzy.
I was still very dizzy today when we made deliveries in NY. Marty is a trooper and is helping me with things that require looking up or down. It felt good to get out of the house. Supposedly, it takes a couple of days of taking the Meclizine for it to start helping.
Thank you to the readers who suggested the Epley Maneuver. I read all about it; I will try it tomorrow after production. I’ll have to watch a YouTube video; I learn from watching and not reading about how to do something. Thanks again, guys! ❤️
I missed the first belly dance class of the new year because I had a sore throat, a headache, and dizziness. I took a rapid home test for covid, and it was negative. It was gone when I woke up the next day. Weird.
The following week I noticed that I kept getting dizzy every time I tilted my head or turned a certain way. I thought it was still from what I had the week before since I knew two other people, Martin and a girl from the bank who had the same symptoms. Weird.
The dizziness came and went, but I noticed it whenever I got into my truck or bent down at work. I have not been dizzy when teaching belly dance classes, including calibrated spin drills. We stand up straight with good posture and never tip our heads, so that makes sense.
At the last farmer’s market, we were at, I heard about three other people experiencing the same symptoms. None of us had vertigo in our history. I kept thinking we all must have had the same viral thing earlier in the month.
Since Sunday, the dizziness has been worse. I had to hold on multiple times when we were in Bennington on Monday. The dizziness continued throughout the day.
Yesterday, while working, I was very dizzy. Dizzy enough to call my doctor, I only go to the doctor for checkups, or if something is really wrong. I was lucky enough to get an appointment that afternoon.
From what my practitioner said, it was classic vertigo. She prescribed a medication to help and referred me to physical therapy. I am waiting for a call to set up an appointment.
I had no idea how or why I suddenly had vertigo or how PT could help me. Here’s what I learned from Wikipedia; you can click on the link if you want to know more.
I got dizzy again today in the production kitchen, so I had to figure out how not to tilt my head as much and turn around slowly. I work in a 5×5 foot space in my batter-making area, moving around that small area quickly and constantly.
Later today, I will go pick up the prescription if I need it; I am very sensitive and react to many different medications, so I will take it when I have nowhere to go or nothing to do.
I will teach my belly dance classes tonight and go on with life as normally as possible until this thing goes away. Fingers crossed.
Since belly dance class last Wednesday night, I haven’t been away from the house. I had nowhere to go, plus I didn’t want to go out in sub-zero temps and messy roads. Last night, I hit the cabin fever wall. Marty, the dogs, and I have been cooped up together for too long.
Still 1/2 thick 4 days later.
Skye, my truck was still encased in ice even though she was started up a couple of times. We had to stop on the highway pull-off when some of it started to let loose. We didn’t want a chunk of ice to crack someone’s windshield.
Every stop we made, we pulled more ice off of the truck. I was shocked by how much ice there still was on everything on the ride. The trees in the forest looked like they were covered in crystals when the sun shone on them. It was still so beautiful four days after the storm.
No filter or effects, It’s just Mother Nature since I am not a photographer.
When we got home, some ice finally began to melt, dropping ice chunks down below. Thank goodness, since we are under a winter advisory again. More ice and snow are forecasted. Ugh! Snow is one thing that I expect living in Vermont, but everyone can agree we can live without the ice.
I probably jinxed myself when I wrote, “Fingers crossed the power stays on for good, and poor Otto can finally relax, meaning we can too.” Yeah, if only.
Yesterday, I spent a big chunk of time washing all the bedding for our bed. That’s king sheets, a duvet cover, a malaise quilted blanket, a top blanket, and Otto’s furry blanket.
When Otto is afraid, he pants and drools everywhere, buckets, it seems. After the two previous nights of him freaking out over the power failure, stuff need to be washed.
Whenever I make the bed with clean sheets and blankets, I can’t wait to crawl in and go to sleep. I am strange that I have to make my bed every day, even if it means right before bedtime. I can’t sleep in a wrinkled, rumpled bed. The wrinkles are so annoying to me that I can’t get comfortable. Now when it comes to a nap? I could sleep on a damn cactus.
At 10:45 pm, the power went out for the third night in a row! Then it came back on. Then it went out again. I am sure the other 81% of the residents in our town who lost power all said the words, “Oh, shit!” simultaneously.
Otto started his usual freaking out. I gave him Thunder-wonders right away. We waited to see what would happen. I went up to bed with Otto at midnite since he seemed to have quieted down. I lay there listening and waiting. I tried to meditate, but I couldn’t focus. I sang songs to the musical Hamilton in my head. Finally, between 1-2 am, the power came back on.
Otto didn’t freak out when the power came back on, thankfully. Marty came up to bed, and we could finally go to sleep. The bed was comfortable and smelled so clean! Just like bleach, I told you I am a little strange. To me, the smell of bleach equals clean. It’s ridiculous we have white bedding with a dog who sleeps with us, but that’s what the top blanket and Otto’s blanket are for.
I am not going to mention anything about the power today…at all! Enjoy your Sunday!
Ugh! It’s been a rough 48 hours! We live on the Southern Vermont and New York State border. Marty and I kept checking the forecast for the big snowstorm that was forecasted.
At first, they predicted 5-8 or maybe 12 inches on Thursday night, then another 4 inches on Friday. We were prepared for snow. We were so prepared that we doubled up on production earlier in the week and made deliveries first to the Rutland, VT area, then to Saratoga, NY, after production the next day.
Then wholesale orders started pouring in, which is what a business always wants, but we are a two-person team and felt like we were drowning in spätzle. Thank goodness we still had Friday to fill these orders.
I was following along on my friend Jon’s blog, Bedlam Farm Journal, his post on the storm’s track with a radar that seemed very accurate. Jon and his wife Maria, my friend and belly dance student, live right over the border in Cambridge, NY, only a few miles from us.
From what I could see on Jon’s radar, we were in for a big ice storm and not snow. Oh, shit! This is never good. 😖
Thursday, it rained all day with temps hovering around 44 degrees. As the day went on, the temperature began to fall. By 8 pm, the rain turned to ice. Everything was glazed over within half an hour. Dammit! The guys were on a rescue squad call, so I was nervous with them out there driving and walking.
Otto woke me up at 1 am on Friday. He is petrified when the power goes out and comes back on; along with fireworks and thunder. I feel terrible for him when he is so scared. Usually, I give him Thunder-wonders and wrap him up tight in a blanket.
Sam heard me up and filled us in on the scary situation. Power was out in the entire area. There was half an inch of ice on everything; trees were snapping and falling. No wonder Otto was so afraid. The sound was horrible and scary.
Friday morning our trucks were encased in ice. Trees were hanging over and some were split on their tops leaving big branches behind. A few of the new trees that we planted in the fall were crushed. I hope they can be saved.
Somehow, after a couple of hours, we all fell back to sleep until morning. In the morning you could not walk or get into your car they were so encased in thick ice. Sam had a class at the hospital that he had to get to. He chipped his way into his truck and let it warm up. He came back inside while the truck warmed up, then walking back to the truck, fell on his butt, scraping up his arm and leaving his pants soaked. He left with wet pants because he had to.
My ice gripper “rubbers.” Remember wearing the shoe kind of rubbers? Not the other kind! 😜
Of course, we couldn’t work in the production kitchen as scheduled. The simple act of walking was impossible; the only thing that saved us was ice grippers for our boots. We walked around looking at the trees down and accessed the damage.
I walked over to our neighbor’s house, who lives out of state, and took photos. A heavy tree limb ripped down the electric line from the street to their house. Definitely not good news to report to them on a Friday morning.
Our kitchen window last night.
By the time Sam got home from his class at the hospital, it was HORRIBLE! Bad, bad, bad out.! The roads were a blanket of ice, it was like a war zone with trees down, and things smashed everywhere.
Marty and Sam worked most of the day to get into our vehicles and work on the driveway. I stayed inside, trying to keep warm since we had no power.
Marty hooked up a small generator to our brand new heated water lines that blew two weeks ago due to zero-degree weather. We couldn’t afford to have that happen again. Literally and figuratively.
For the rest of the day, we felt like sitting ducks. Sam went to the rescue squad and heard the severity of the power outage. It wasn’t good. Our town’s sub-station was down along with many wires from all of the trees that fell or lost their branches. Fuck was all I could think when he told us that. He said we might be days without power.
It began to snow which made matters worse. The already heavy ice-covered branches didn’t need heavy snow on top of it. The town set up a warming area located at the local high school. However, it was hard to get the word out to people because there was no cell service or internet.
Before Sam left for his overnight shift, he helped Marty hook up our larger generator. All we wanted to turn on was our refrigerator and mini-split heater. We unplugged almost everything else not to make the generator work so hard. Again, we had no idea how long we would be without power.
Initially, Marty and Sam hooked up our gas fireplace insert to a small backup battery but had to shut it down quickly when the carbon monoxide detector alarm started going crazy with the word “gas” flashing on the screen. Just before that happened, I began to feel weird and light-headed. No wonder why.
I went out on the front porch with the dogs until the propane dissipated. That’s when the guys got the mini-split hooked up instead. At least we finally had a little heat which we were very grateful for.
Sam and I used a french press coffee pot. We had to go old school and look in a cookbook for the water to coffee ratio.Whenever we have to light candles for light, I imagine what this house would have looked like back in 1832.
I could cook through all of this; I just needed to light the gas stove with a match: not that I would make anything real to eat anyway under the circumstances. I wanted biscuits and gravy, but I wasn’t going to attempt that in the dark.
Finally, the hard-working Green Mountain Power employees restored our power after 18 hours. I ran around the house like a fool, showering and blow drying my hair just in case the power went out again. Trees were still falling, and it was still snowing.
81% of our town was out of power for 18-24 hours. It was a miracle the Green Mountain Power crews got it fixed so quickly. Teams came down from the northern part of the state to help, working outside for 12 hours straight in single-digit temperatures.
If it weren’t for all the road crews, who kept on top of the roads the best they could, the power company trucks wouldn’t have been able to maneuver around as easily. A big thanks to everyone who helped with the situation.
I use potato starch to make my roux. I had to add a pat of butter since there wasn’t enough grease from the lean sausage I used. The sausage gravy is done when your spoon leaves an open trail when dragging it across the pan.Finally!
After my shower, I made us biscuits and gravy since it’s all I thought about all day. I used a new gluten-free biscuit recipe that worked brilliantly! I finally had flakey biscuits that rose. Yay! The meal hit the spot on such a cold, miserable night.
We lost power again during the night. I knew immediately because poor Otto started freaking out again. The power came back on again around 4 am. We fell back to sleep eventually after he calmed down.
Out our bedroom window at 3 am. There were 7 power trucks parked down a line in front of our house.
We were now so far behind in production besides missing our farmer’s market; we still had those big wholesale orders to fill. We thought about going into production this morning, but something told us to hold off.
Trees look like crystal chandeliers! love the sunbeam shining through the trees this afternoon.
We briefly lost power a couple more times in the morning and early afternoon. If the power went out during production, that would be disastrous, possibly ruining our equipment and wasting expensive ingredients. Thank goodness we listened to our gut instincts.
Our window screen.
Sam and Marty figured out why the gas fireplace insert failed because the screen on the chimney top must have been covered in ice like the screens in the windows. Thank goodness for that carbon monoxide safety monitor. I kept thinking that the place could have blown up, or we could have been taking a dirt nap. 😵 We will be waiting until the ice melts before relighting the gas fireplace.
The beautiful sunshine today didn’t melt any of the ice. It looks pretty though.
So, it’s been a stressful couple of days. Fingers crossed, the power stays on for good and poor Otto can finally relax meaning we can too! Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Cheers!
Our freshly painted and updated kitchen isn’t quite complete as we are still waiting for a couple items to arrive. It’s taking forever but we special ordered those items knowing it would take longer.
Just moved all glassware to wipe the shelving! Freshly sanitized countertops.
I am out of my mind obsessed with keeping the white cabinets and shelves as clean as the day they were painted. This leads to constantly wiping down our honed black granite countertops that are already 16 years old. Best purchase eve by the way.
The countertops are in the same condition as the day they were installed. They look great when they are clean compared to the cleanliness of everything else.
Listen, I cook hard in my kitchen; I mean the way I used to in professional kitchens. Flimsy, home kitchen cookware and utensils don’t hold up to #10 cans and constant use. They all end up bending or breaking. For instance, this morning I was making a pot of sauce for Tuesday and my Oneida can opener shit the bed mid-way opening a #10 can of San Marzano tomatoes.
In the trash…
I was being so careful when I was frying up the Italian sausage and while making my meatballs to not make a mess. The more I try to be neat, the messier things get. Then I had to contend with this mid-open can issue. Shit!
SOB!
All I could imagine was while I was prying open the can with a cleaver and church key, cursing my head off, was the can would open and splatter the whole clean kitchen.
As I was struggling for over ten minutes with the cleaver and can I kept thinking maybe a newly painted and updated kitchen wasn’t such a good idea for me. It couldn’t handle it when I got into beast mode cooking.
Finally, I got one side opened a little bit; just enough to pour the whole tomatoes slowing into the blender a little at a time. Hallelujah! The rest of the sauce making went off without a hitch.
Yes, of course I deserve a nice and clean kitchen but I can’t let it make me turn into a crazy person. I have to cook the way I cook and clean up afterwards. Hell, the old kitchen held up pretty well for 16 years of hard cooking and making thousands of meals. I literally mean thousands. I figured it out one night while laying in bed trying to fall asleep with insomnia.
Now, the sauce is on a low simmer for the day and the house smells so good! The kitchen is clean and I don’t have to worry about messing it up again later since we were invited to Martin’s house for dinner tonight.
The three of us love having Sunday dinner together and playing an extremely competitive game of 5 Crowns; which turns out to be the most fun card game ever!
After I publish this, I will be sitting on the couch, still in my pjs reading my book, “I, Eliza Hamilton” which I am enjoying very much. I still have a few hours before I have to get ready to go to Martin’s.
Sharing the sectional with Klausie-boy and Otto.
We are back in the production kitchen early in the morning to fill a bunch of wholesale orders that came in over the weekend. Thank goodness the orders keep coming in; we are very blessed. ☺️
I love waking up to flowers on my dresser.
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and weekend guys. We are one day closer to spring! I even bought myself a bouquet of flowers at Aldi the other day to remind me that spring isn’t that far away!
