Rain Means Green, Indoor Days = Baking Time, Avon Arrives

Home on the Ridge

When we woke up on Monday, May 13^th, it was to another dull, cloudy, rainy day. Good grief, Charlie Brown! Make the best of it, we say. Again, again and again. So, we had our tea and I abandoned my walk again. Again. It wasn’t very warm, sitting around 37F/3C but at least the strong winds of last evening had calmed considerably. We don’t have great grass up here, weed-less grass has never been a ‘thing’ for us but the rain certainly has greened up what we have, grass and weeds alike. So, there is one good thing about the rain, I guess. 

It's so rocky up here but where the grass grows
it is green

First thing on the agenda was to get the garbage down to the road. We finished our brew and I got the bag ready and checked the recycle bins. Only one needed to go so I put them by Ptooties. Bill drove them down before 9 am. The pickup is around 10 so we were on time.

These are the dishes I borrowed from Pat
They sit in water to be baked

We also wanted to take a trip into Durham so got cleaned up and did that. Stopping at Rob and Pat’s first for her little dishes, we had a nice visit for half hour or so. It is always nice to see them and Bill and Pat are able to joke around with each other. Rob and I were pleasant to each other today, for the most part. Ha ha, we have fun and they know we love them to death. 😊 From there, we drove to Foodland, the local grocery store and I ran in to get some bread for Bill and some heavy cream for Jell-o.

Heating the cream, Splenda and vanilla

Bill needed some vapor barrier for the Hangar so we stopped briefly at Home Hardware. Look at us, supporting local economy!! One last stop at the Esso for a fuel up and then we headed home. Nasty cold day so his plan was to work in the Hangar with our electric heater. The door won’t close tightly but he’ll figure it out so his feet especially don’t freeze and that it is warm enough to work on his airplane too.

Finished product

Inside the Suite, I had my own plans. Custard, Jell-o, banana bread and slippers. I have a nice ball of the chunky wool I love and want to make myself a warmer pair. Apparently, this weather is sticking around so I want to have warm feet! Without the furnace running, the floors are where we notice most of the coolness but our Blue Flame picks up that slack when we have it on. We are very pleased with our electric infrared carbon heater and it has been working just about every day for us since we've arrived home.

My sisters Avon order arrived

I made bacon and eggs for breakfast and then we got the dishes out of the way. Bill went out to work on the Hangar again and I carried on with my custard recipe. Wish me luck! I boiled water and prepared some sugar-free, carb-free Jell-o so it is setting in the fridge. Raspberry this time. I finished the custard and although it only made 4 single servings, it looks good and is another dessert we can eat, guilt-free.

My big ball of wool waiting to be made into
slippers

Bill isn’t big on bananas, he wasn’t keen on the milkshake because not only did I add strawberries and pineapples, I added a banana. He could taste it and his nose wrinkled up. So, with 4 leftover bananas looking like the picture below, I offered to make him Banana Date Nut Bread. Well, he sure likes that idea! I got everything blended as per the recipe and my own variations with the fruit and nuts. Just before pouring it into the loaf pan, UPS drove up the lane with my Avon order. The young driver left after hearing our ‘story’ and saying “I want to do this!!” 😊

Inside, I got an idea. Madame IP to the rescue! Not that it would take any less time, but our convection oven has worked today so let’s see if I can bake banana bread in the instant pot. Why not? I Googled it and came up with clear instructions (which I need) on how to go about it. I sprayed the inner pot and used the Pot-in-Pot method as recommended. Next step, I spooned the mixture in and covered it semi loosely with foil and crimped the edges to seal.

The banana bread ready to go in the IP

My baking pot has a handle so I just added a cup of water to the main pot, set the trivet in an placed the pot on top. There was no need to use any makeshift handle for the trivet or the pot. I baked for 60 minutes and while waiting, I walked down to the mailbox to see if there was any mail. It was drizzling so I got a bit wet but it was worth it. The FREE sunflower seeds that I’d ordered from Vesey (Honey Nut Cheerios offer) on Facebook arrived! Yay!

You got Mail!

Once the baking was done and Madame beeped, I let it release naturally for 15 minutes with the lid on. Next, I released any excess steam manually, removed the lid,  the inner pot and then the foil. I let it sit for 15 minutes before testing to see if it was done. They recommended turning it gently upside down onto a plate. Easily, my bread came out and I let it cool for another 15 minutes (the recipe should be called 15-15-15 bread) and sliced a piece for Bill. He is the tester.

It doesn’t look like regular banana bread, instead very firm, not crumbly. That can be good but Bill said it tasted very good and that makes it alright by me. Another Instant Pot success. We sat together, after he closed up ‘shop’ out in the Hangar, and we watched some of our recorded programs. Bill works tomorrow so we won’t be able to watch them until later in the week and by then, we’ll have a bunch of new ones. At 5:30 I started supper.

Sunflower seeds for the bees

Tonight, was fish and chips. I cooked the French fries in the air fryer and the pollock filets on the stove. Everything turned out great and we were eating and cleaned up by 6:30. The fries took longer than I expected. I made him a couple of sandwiches and between us, we got his food ready for his time in London. Breakfasts, lunches, suppers and snacks. It takes a bit of planning and a bit of prep.

Now my feet are really warm!

After dishes, we watched more television and read some of our books. Bill finished his J.A. Jance and now reading James Patterson’s Princess. I finished my blog posting and then joined him in our recliners.

Supper was good

Clemson had a good day. He slept for most of ‘our’ waking hours either beside me in my chair, on his Daddy’s lap or upstairs on our bed. In his old age, sleeping, eating and doing his business are top priorities. Just like a baby, funny how we start that way and end up that way. LOL This has been a day of rain and cold temperatures. I managed to fill the hours by baking and crocheting. I have a new pair of slippers to show for it. I’m happy to have indoor things to keep me busy.

I hope your day has been a good one. Thank you for your visit!