So, while all y'all are talking such lovely food, I'm sitting here waiting for the boiling water in my big chicken flavor Nissin "Souper Meal" cup to soften the noodles and reconstitute the cello package of "vegetables" and "flavor." I already sliced open a ripe avocado, sprinkled some "Jane's Crazy Mixed-Up Salt" on both halves and ate it with a spoon. Really nummy appetizer! Cherry flavored "licorice whips" will be my dessert. I asked my best friend, who is a real foodie, if the liquid in my pressure cooker after the pot roast was done is "beef stock." I had saved it, stored in an air-tight container - anybody know the brand "Lock & Lock?" - in the fridge in the hope it could be considered something worth saving. Wow. It's actually a usable by-product! I hate those little beef bouillon cubes so this is really nifty! Okay, go ahead and laugh. Not everybody's mom lives long enough to teach their daughters such things. My step-mother was not a cook. (I learned to live on tuna sandwiches, Ritz crackers, and those frozen "minute steaks" from the age of 13 to 17, when I got out of the house in a shot-gun wedding.) My first, second, and third MILs each felt sorry for my lack of culinary arts so I received a variety of Betty Crocker cook books. Those disappeared over the years - I walked away from a whole lot of belongings when the last marriage dissolved. :/ Eh. In the intervening years, I didn't have any use for those cook books, anyway. Regarding Miss Sparkle and her brood of four's "day spa" adventure today, the set-up I cobbled together was fairly mediocre, so I will re-work it tomorrow. However, the experience DID seem to perk her up to the outdoors (sectioned-off deck) as an okay place to be with her babies. Let's hope tomorrow's efforts will be even more successful as a chick broadening - but safe - excursion.
