Week of November 14-20

Last week the Commercial Appeal had an article about slow cookers that included several recipes.  I love my crockpot!  A couple of them sounded good and I had a weeknight things to do this week, so I clipped them out to try.

Tuesday night was my Search class (this week was Homer's The Iliad - good stuff!) and I made African-Style Braised Chicken in Peanut Sauce.  Delicious!  But the chicken literally falls off the bone, so you have to be careful eating - little bones were everywhere. 

Wednesday I made Beef and Wine Stew.  Again, the meat was fork tender.  However, I didn't think it had much taste.  Maybe more seasonings next time?  I used red wine, but the recipe also suggested a dark stout beer and maybe that would be better. 

Thursday night I had a Grants Review meeting for the Women's Foundation, so Walter was on his own.  He had leftover beef stew (shock) and said it was better than the night before.  I haven't tried it as leftovers, so I can't say.

Friday I went over to Broad Street and spent a few hours helping them set up for their New Face for an Old Broad event this weekend.  I worked like a dog!  Got home about 4, then Becky picked me up and we hit the Potters's Guild Show and Sale at the Botanic Garden, then the Holiday Bazaar at Memphis College of Art.  I got a very nice casserole dish by David James Johnson at the pottery sale; unfortunately, I was on a beeline to a couple of paintings by Michele Pinstein at the Bazaar only to have them snatched them out from under my nose.  But I bought a "whimsical" candy dish and some really neat notecards.  Here's a picture:

We went on to meet our cute boys at Cafe 1912 for dinner.  I'm sorry to say that our service was less than stellar and it was so noisy I could hardly hear Becky, who was sitting on my right.  And I had to decline my onion soup because it was burned and way too salty.  But my crabcake was wonderful, Becky loved her grouper, Barney had a huge, and I mean huge, plate of mussels that he scoffed up, so all was ok in the end.

Today I want to get back over to Broad Street to see it in action.  Very exciting stuff!  It's so wonderful to see a neighborhood pull together to try to improve their area.  Would that every neighborhood would take that initiative.

Oh, one other thing I did on Friday.  The Poplar-White Station Library has been driving me nuts with the weeds and trash all around it.  So Friday morning I went over and picked up all the trash, then emailed Keenan McCloy, the Library Director, to ask her to send Public Works over to trim the weeds.  I also offered to meet with her to come up with better landscaping.  No reply as of yet.  Mark this date, folks.  We'll see how long it takes...