A day in the kitchen

Yesterday I decided to bake French Bread from scratch using the recipe found in the Julia Childs book, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". It was great fun, but the bread did not come out of the oven until 9:15 last night and did not look quite like I had imagined it was going to look. It seemed to be a little more dense and thick than I had expected, so I will try it again. As far as taste was concerned, it was good to eat especially with butter, but what is not good to eat with butter on it. It takes an amazing amount of time to make bread and the recipe covered 10 pages in the cookbook. Even though I made a real mess in the kitchen, I really enjoyed it.

We spent some time yesterday afternoon going to the store to purchase the items needed to make beef bourguignon. This will be my next attempt at French cooking. It is no wonder why the French like to eat, all the recipes seem to have butter, lard or wine in them. Who can go wrong with that combination and they spend the entire day preparing the food, so they are very hungry by the time they have the meal prepared. I still need a bottle of Burgundy wine to cook with and yes, it takes the entire bottle in this recipe.

I worked under the kitchen sink yesterday installing a water filtering system that had been in my RV and is great at removing all types of contaminants. It was a process that naturally caused me to go to Home Depot for parts, but what a fun trip. The weather outside was quite cold and with the wind of yesterday, it made it a challenge to get out of the car. I tried handing Sandy the credit card at the gas pumps so she could get out and pump gas into the car, but she respectfully declined the opportunity. :)

Our cold water pipe in the master bathroom froze yesterday morning and we were waiting for it to thaw and shoot water all over the bathroom. Luckily last night at 5 pm, the water came back on without any leaks that we can see so far. We put a portable heater on it last night and left the faucet dripping so it would not happen again. Wrong. It happened again this morning. I am ready for this cold spell to be gone. It is not even really winter yet in Texas. That does not normally come on for another few weeks, when the Stock show comes into town.

I called my boss Will Wenholz yesterday afternoon and told him I was not going to Phoenix to train new drivers this year. This will be the first year in 6 years that I have not been a trainer, and I think I will miss it somewhat, but the cost of being a trainer vs what you make in salary are no longer worth it. In the past they have helped with relocation and rent, but not this year. So I am unemployed for now.

Funny how life is sometimes. I had not heard a word from the Olympics until yesterday afternoon, after I spoke with Will and resigned myself to the fact that I was going to be unemployed, when the Olympics called. They have sent me an offer of employment contingent upon a few items that I feel I can pass or take care of, but will not count my chickens before they hatch. So for now I am happy to be unemployed and if the job at the Winter Olympics comes through, then I will be excited to go.