Oregon at its Worst

It was the worst kind of weather in Oregon today.  The wind was howling and it was pouring rain.  It was definitely not the kind of day I would ordinarily venture out of the house, but venture I did.  It was, in my mind, the last sane day to go to the grocery store in preparation for Thanksgiving.  We are a family of mushroom lovers around here, and so my dinner is heavily mushroomed.  There are mushrooms in my stuffing.  I'm making a Sun-Dried Tomato Stuffed Mushroom appetizer, and a Burgundy Mushroom dish that is both easy and delicious.  The latter two are Ree Drummond's recipes.  And just because I'm such a nice guy, I've given you the links to both recipes.  I'm adding a half cup of chopped onions to the Burgundy Mushrooms, and then I think they will be perfect.  Why all this talk of mushrooms you ask?  Because I don't want to buy the mushrooms until the last sane day...today.  And sane or not, it was still madness at the grocery store.  Whew.  I'm glad that's behind me.  Now I can sit back and cook and cook and cook, because cooking starts tomorrow.

So I haven't done any sewing for the last two days, and I probably won't do any tomorrow either.  Still, I found this cool graphic, and I wanted to share it with you.  With just the two of us at home these days, I'm often halving or thirding or even quartering recipes.  Sometimes, it isn't easy to make the conversion.  I'm pretty good with halving a cup or a half cup or a quarter cup, but when it's a third cup, it gets a little harder.  That's where this graphic comes in handy.  It helps with those conversions.  So, to use my example, a third of a cup equals one teaspoon plus five tablespoons.  So to get half of a third of a cup, it would be half a teaspoon plus 2 1/2 tablespoons.  That's a little easier, isn't it?  It probably isn't that important in regular cooking, but in baking, it's best to use exact measurements.  Anyway . . . here it is for your viewing pleasure.  You're welcome.

by ShannonLattin. Learn about data visualization software.

Tomorrow I'm doing a little bit of cleaning, and I'm also making my cranberries.  Wednesday, I'll make my sweet potatoes, and Thursday...well, you know.  Erik and Mae are bringing dessert and a vegetable side dish, which makes my load significantly lighter.  I loved having little kids around, but the adults they have grown into have brought me no end of joy.  And Wednesday morning, Matthew arrives from Klamath Falls.

I love Thanksgiving, don't you?