Just because I no longer have a lot of rehearsals to go to does not mean I have had any blog-worthy Mohawk Valley adventures to write about. So my difficulties continue. I could not think of anything to write about while on breaks at work today, but I remembered that I once instituted a feature called Tasty Tuesday or some such nonsense. Since I did plan to do some, well, fixing not cooking (still too hot to slave over the stove), I thought I might be able to get a blog post out of that.
A few factors were at play here. My lovely friend, Kim, gave me some cucumbers from her garden. I had neufchatel (that is a fancy word for light cream cheese, I think) and flat bread. I could make cucumber sandwiches, a recipe I stole from my sister Diane (in my defense, it was not a secret recipe, especially since she recruited me to make said sandwiches before one wine-tasting tour). Additionally, I have had a craving for real, old-fashioned macaroni salad, with tomatoes and lots of mayonnaise. MMmmmmmm….
I stopped at Hannaford on the way home yesterday. The main thing I wanted was hot dog buns (that’s a whole other delicious story), but why just buy one thing when you have a whole grocery store? I went to the cart labeled Local Produce and got some tomatoes and green peppers from Juliano’s Produce in Schuyler. I also got some envelopes of Italian salad dressing mix, which I needed for the sandwiches.
I had no energy for any chopping and mixing last night, but I was determined to do some tonight. For one reason, I needed a blog post. For another reason, I needed some low fat, diet type stuff to eat. I have not completely given up hope of reaching my weight-loss goals. Accordingly, the first thing I wanted to do was to chop some radishes to put in my lunch. Steven had nicely gotten the radishes for me when he picked up groceries last week. You see how prompt I am about these things. Judge me if you’d like.
Before I actually started chopping, I put some water on to boil for the macaroni (shells) (which were not easy to find, because the new canisters I got at a rummage sale are opaque) and put out the neufchatel to soften. The box on the cheese said it was so easy to soften, just 30 to 45 seconds in the microwave. I decided to use patience instead.
To make the cucumber sandwiches, I mixed an envelope of the Italian salad dressing into the neufchatel and spread the mixture on two pieces flat bread. Then I put slices of cucumber on one piece of bread, topped it with the other and cut it into pieces. It makes a very delicious sandwich. I already ate about four pieces.
I remembered I wanted to put chives in my macaroni salad so went out to my backyard and got some. Chives are a most excellent thing to plant in your yard. They come up every year with no further effort on your part beyond planting them the first time, and you can put them in all kinds of things. I washed the chives and as they dried, I chopped a tomato and a cucumber, and put them in the bowl with the macaroni. After adding the chives, I added mayonnaise and stirred. Then I tasted. Yum!
So that is my story of chopping and mixing. I’m wondering if my readers find it better or worse than my more foolish posts. No matter. I can only write what comes out of my fingers at the time and hope somebody likes to read it. Happy Tuesday, everyone.
