No sun, no foil...

Hmmm...I knew the nice weather couldn't last. Since I arrived in Pang the it has been fantastic; sure, some days were incredibly windy, but the sun was out most of the time; only once did I experience a rainy temper tantrum and that was after I was in for the evening. Not today. It's pouring outside and all I can think of is that I have work to catch up on before Tuesday. I didn't take any of it home because I was confident that I would be spending a good chunk of my holiday weekend at the school. Yesterday was my day off. Today I have to walk through those flying droplets for about 20 minutes. I bet you didn't think Pang was that big, did you...

Grrr...right now I'm curled up in my recently cleaned house, cozy in my living room. My big mug of coffee is steaming here on one side with my empty plate - which once held my completely unhealthy strawberry Eggos (smothered, of course, in real butter and fake syrup) - on the other. Do you really think anyone would want to push the dog off his/her lap and start to get ready to go out...in that?

So, yesterday I prepped a lasagne that cost close to $35. It wasn't my best creation, but it was the best I could do under the circumstances. Tomato sauce (as a base) was about $10...on sale. Noodles (about $5's worth), chick peas (I brought), carrots (about $2.50's worth), cheese (about $6's worth), green pepper (about $3), onion (about $1.5), small flower of broccoli (abour $2), cottage cheese...no ricotta (about $4), and 1 egg (about $0.75). After simmering the sauce with a dash of italian seasoning, nutmeg, cinnamon, and a touch of sugar (all of which I brought from Ottawa) everything was layered and ready to go. It was at this point that I realized I have no aluminum foil...now, I can say I'm creative with some things but, no matter how hard I tried, the substitution to this one eluded me. That basically means that, as I type this, my fridge is stacked with a huge casserole dish wrapped in plastic bags from the Northern...next to the shepard's pie I put together. There you go, another thing I have to get done today. Run to the grocery store.

I suppose cooking keeps me busy. I bought a whole chicken on Friday because it was $11...no other reason than that. I figure I can cook it up, get some meat for me, scraps for the dogs (just a wee bit), and a good pot of stock to freeze. Now...how to cook it. I think I found the perfect recipe - on a slow cooker website no less! Honey, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, ah the list goes on. Good stuff. Yes, perhaps it's a bit expensive, but only if you don't have the ingredients. Other than the lemon juice, I'm good to go!

Hmm, now I'm hungry. And now I want to cook. And now I definitely don't want to go to work. Boo.