Running Chick

I put the second coat of paint on the walls, then finally took care of the rest of my oustide stuff. The weather has been crazy - no snow, and in the mid to high 40's for about two weeks. I read somewhere that this time last year, we had 19" of snow on the ground. Not that I'm complaining, but it's been a long time since we've been snow-free at Thanksgiving. Tomorrow I'll decide if the walls need a final coat. If not, then the tape comes off and I do touch-ups. Josh wants to fix the heater vent, put in another electrical outlet and add a light switch and light to the closet, so I can't move my stuff back in until that's done. Right now, it's all crammed in the back and middle bedrooms. I'm having a few friends over for a dinner party on Saturday and hopefully they won't end up weaving their way to the bathroom through all my stuff. It could make for an interesting party game, once the booze starts flowing. Kinda like a real-life version of Jenga!

Paint!  I finally got fed up with the mauve-ish color I selected for my bedroom way back when and after much pondering, selected a really nice green/brown color called Sierra Taupe.

Saturday and Sunday were spent clearing out the bedroom, removing the outlet covers, washing the walls, scraping, patching, sanding, washing again, taping and finally putting the first coat on.

My helper

My other helper

Sierra Taupe

The first coat is on, and so far I’m happy.  Painting is always a little bit stressful for me because I’m always afraid that the color I spent agonizing over will look like crap once it hits the wall.  Fortunately I like this right away.  Tomorrow, coat #2 goes on.  Hopefully I’ll still be happy.

Later on, we made Pizzas of Awesomeness!

Mine. Awesome!

Josh's. Awesome!

My new favorite thing, pomegranates!  They take some serious maintenance to get the little seeds (avrils) out, but so worth it in the end.

They’re a little bit weird to wrap your head around - sweet, juicy and crunchy all at once.  Whaat?  But after the initial few bites, I couldn’t put them away.

 

Glamour shot!

For dinner tonight, I whipped up a tasty baked acorn squash with sausage.  I didn’t really follow a recipe and I didn’t really measure anything, so my recipe is a big vague.  This dish turned out really well – quite delicious - so I deem it a success!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

• Acorn squash
• Sausage, cudighi. Could also use ground turkey.
• Onion
• Celery
• Red pepper
• Salt & pepper
• Brown rice

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Cut the squash horizontally and scrape out the seeds.
Place the squash cut-side down on a baking sheet, bake for 45-60 minutes or until fork tender.
When done, remove from the oven and turn cut-side up on the baking sheet.

Brown the sausage over medium-high heat, set aside when done.
Saute the vegetables in the same sautee pan with a splash of olive oil until tender.
Add the sausage back into the vegetables, combine.

When the rice is done cooking, add to the sausage & vegetable mixture.
Season with salt & pepper to taste.

Increase oven heat to 400 degrees.

Spoon the mixture into the squash until full. Top with shredded parmesean cheese.

Return to oven and bake for 5-10 minutes, or until cheese is golden.

You can also find the recipe on the wiki, if you so desire.

Serve with a glass of Turning Leaf Pinot Noir or your favorite later.  Yum!