Well, today my sewing plans were tossed out the window when our pastor's wife called to see if I could take in a meal to a set of new parents (not Ann) today because the appointed person was ill. The new parents have some food allergies (no dairy, eggs or pineapple) so it took some considerable thinking to come up with a dinner idea (my date was supposed to be next week and I was still mulling over ideas). I ended up deciding a hearty homemade vegetable soup with a warm loaf of bread would be the thing.
To make it easier on myself, I decided to use my bread machine. It's been a true and trusty companion, never having let me down in eighteen years. Until today. I found a recipe for Anadama bread (no eggs or milk) and carefully added all the ingredients to the bucket, placed it in the machine, and punched start. Hmmm, strange clunking sounds. Not the usual whirring. Stop, replace bucket, and press start again. Strange clunking sounds. Repeat. Again. Call for Dan. After dumping the contents into a bowl, I handed him the bucket. He looked it over, tried to turn the paddle, and determined that it was frozen; a bearing problem he surmised.
He took the bucket to his workshop and I pondered the mess in the bowl. I decided to dump it into the bowl of my Kitchenaid mixer and try it the long way. The mixer took off and I let it work for ten minutes and then set the dough to rise in a sunny spot on the dining room table. By this point, I was tired, had a mess of bowls, measuring cups, and scrapers, and still needed to make the soup. Meanwhile, Dan brought the bucket back and said he thought he'd done a fix that might work for a while longer, but that I should begin looking into a new machine. I added the dirty bucket to the mess of bowls and scrapers.
We had lunch, I cleaned up the bread mess, and decided to reward myself with a longish break and played a game or two of spider solitaire here on my trusty computer. Suddenly I realized I probably should be starting on the soup. Bless his heart, Dan came to my rescue and began peeling potatoes and carrots while I browned the burger and got out the rest of the ingredients. Before long, we had a big pot of soup bubbling away and the bread was in the oven.
The call came about eleven and it was after four when everything was ready to be delivered. We had finished up a big Costco sized jar of pickles at lunch, so I filled it to the brim with the soup and put the still warm bread in a bag and off we went. The young mother seemed thrilled to have fresh bread and soup.
Meanwhile, I was pooped! We needed to stop at the credit union which is in the local Rosauers to deposit some checks before going to our usual store to pick up a few items. When we finished at the bank, I mumbled something about why didn't we just get what we needed here and save a trip across town, and Dad was agreeable. Now, I don't quite know how this happened, but just slowly pushing the cart through the store's uncrowded aisles was therapeutic! Our usual store is always crowded and frankly, a zoo, but this was actually fun. I felt like I was in another town and I just loved looking at the different items for sale. I found some cinnamon chips for a snickerdoodle scone recipe I just downloaded and we bought our favorite brand of sausages for sausage-in-a-bun nights. By the time we paid and left, I felt refreshed.
We came home, I made a quick batch of muffins, and we ate the rest of the soup that didn't fit in the jar. Dan is off to his men's group at church, and here I am. I made it through the day. :-)
What a day! I suppose the church folk are also delivering meals to Ann or is it just for first time parents? That sounds like such a thoughtful program! Looking forward to more pictures of little Daniel. :)
ReplyDeleteOkay, Chris. Now I'm exhausted too. Can I please have any soup that you might have leftover? LOL
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile - I like bread ANYWAY it's baked. LOL
Hallie, our church delivers meals for about two weeks to all new parents. It's a nice way to help out. We also take in food if the cook has surgery or is in some way "out of commission." Of course we ask if it's okay, but usually the families are grateful. :-)
ReplyDeleteWe also keep some meals in the church freezer and people know this, so if some emergency arises, they know they can stop by and pick up dinner. It's all done by volunteers, and has worked pretty well.
Wow! This post presents so many options for comment! Thank goodness you came up with an idea for the meal. I can fix a palatable meal for two people seven nights a week. Tell me I'm cooking for someone else and I'm immediately freaked out!
ReplyDeleteI belong to an organization that also thinks of food service as a way to be helpful. Unfortunately, the committee has been heard to say, "They didn't want us to bring a meal -- thank goodness!" So now worthy recipients are reluctant to say when they need help.
I like to visit Rosauer's occasionally. They carry so many products that other outlets don't and I believe their specials are as good as the chain markets. We don't have the "zoo" you mentioned.
When I lived in Moscow I found it easiest to do my shopping at Winco at night--say, 9:00 or later. It is nice to be able to take your time in the aisles and not feel like you might be in someone's way. I think I would still find it easy to shop at night, I just don't want to do that anymore. Sunday morning seems to work well.
ReplyDeleteWhen Milo was a baby, Mike and I shopped at night at the old Safeway store. I knew that store like the back of my hand and my grocery list was ordered according to the lay-out. Milo was a fussy baby but was always quiet in the stores. He loved retail.
ReplyDeleteWe do occasionally shop in the evening, but usually I'm not in the mood to go out after nine. Sunday mornings are out, but we do often go after church and apparently, so do lots of other people. Ann used to say Monday mornings about nine were good, but I think she said it's busy then too, these days. The prices are good, but that means that in this economy, lots more people are shopping there. I have a friend who said she'd never shop there (she was a loyal Rosauers fan) but I've run into her at Winco in the last year. Even Mom and Dad come up to shop. It's probably not crowded after midnight, but I'm not going to find out! :-)
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