People panicked here in the Seattle area last Thursday, as evidenced
by my local Fred Meyer being completely out of shopping carts when I
arrived around 6pm to pick up a few things. I had done my major shopping
the day before and as always I managed to forget something. I soon found
where all the shopping carts had gone - they were manned by restive
customers standing in lines 20 deep, going halfway up the aisles. I
must say things were pretty calm despite the gridlock and lack of
essentials like bread and bananas. Fortunately I had "about 12 items"
and the express lane lines were more reasonable.

Friday I left work around 12:30 and headed toward the kids' school.
I thought I might grab a bite for lunch before their early dismissal
at 2:15 due to impending snow. Sure enough the flakes started coming
down hard around 12:45 so I went straight to the school and after
about 30 minutes had rounded up both my kids and we were on our way.
Our trip home usually takes about 25 minutes but on Friday everyone
decided to hit the roads at the same time so it took us two hours,
mostly due to gridlock in the Central District. Fortunately I had
pizza and clif bars for us to munch on during the journey. My main
concern was my bladder but it still had some room left by the time we
got home.

Friday's dinner was bratwurst with sauerkraut and fried potatoes and
a tossed salad. Saturday's breakfast was pancakes and bacon. Then we
went out to play in the snow. We came back in for some pasta with red
sauce, and discussed what our afternoon adventure would be. Well we knew
we wanted to go sledding, it was just a matter of where. I tried my
chains and decided after driving a couple blocks that maybe it's better
to walk to the nearest hill rather than drive, park in the snow and not
be certain if my car could get moving again. I'll save driving for when
it's necessary.

After sledding we came home to warm up and have some sandwiches.
The boys' mom came to pick them up and I was on my own. I had the
leftover brats and sauerkraut for dinner and some chips. Ice cream
for dessert.

Sunday morning I tried Bob's Red Mill "Organic Whole Grain High Fiber
Hot Cereal" for the first time. I bought it because I've been wanting
to try something organic and they didn't have organic steel cut oats,
and I thought this might be the next best thing. Well, the texture is
about a 1.5 on a scale to 10. There's nothing to really chew on, and
it's got this glutionus almost rubbery consistency. The added butter and
almond milk helped a little but I think all hope is lost here as far as
an enjoyable eating experience. My homemade breakfast sausage offset
the unpleasantness enough that I could choke down all that fiber. There's
a recipe for muffins on the bag which I may attempt, although I will
be prepared for a rubbery result.

I wanted to make my lentil soup but didn't have any ginger so I decided
to take a different approach. One of my kids loves that recipe but the
other one says "there's some weird taste in there" which I suspect if
not the lentils themselves might be the cumin. So I came up with something
that tastes good with no cumin: tomato sauce and oregano! Here's the
procedu dice one carrot and one celery stalk, fry in oil of your
choice (I choose olive) and then add some minced garlic. Once they're
all tender add 4c veg stock and 1c lentils. Let that cook for a while
and add 1c tomato sauce, and oregano. Easy, and very tasty.

After fortifying myself with a large portion of this lentil soup I
headed out for a walk. The residential streets don't get plowed here
but the arterials were wet or slushy. I didn't see a lot of cars driving
around.

Dinner was a massive BLT with dill pickles. I took my other BOGO pork
shoulder out of the freezer on Friday in anticipation of being stuck for
several more days, but temps are rising and this may all be over by
tomorrow if the rains come and wash all the snow away. But the rain could
freeze, too - so it'll be roast pork for dinner, with carrots and
potatoes.

I'm scheduled to report for jury duty tomorrow, so regardless of what
Mother Nature decides, the disruptions to normal routine will continue
for me.