Expired Beer And Smoky Chowder

December 17, 2013

Good morning.  Brrr, it's cold here.  It's just 3 degrees F and working it's way up to 29F later today.  The sun is shining now, but soon it will start snowing again, and keep on all day and into the night.  We are expecting another 2-4 inches according to the Weather Channel.  We shall see.

I took a photo this morning of the ice in my yard.  Once this snow covers up the ice, it will be even more treacherous walking out there.  We do put down "Snow Melt" but a lot of the ice that it melts just re-freezes. 

Our dwarf Helen has been naughty.  A couple of nights ago, she informed me that beer has an expiration date on every bottle and can.  Now, if this is true, then I am in big doo doo.  I bought a twelve pack of Sam Adams beer at least two years ago, and I still have more than half of it left. 

I told her that every once in a while I enjoy having a bottle of it in one of my fancy goblets.  I got a bottle of it out of my refrigerator, and we looked it over to find an expiration.  After a couple of minutes, Helen found it and read it aloud.  It said that it's expiration date was July 16, 2012.  Well now!  Ain't that enough to bust my bubble!  It expired a year and a half ago!!!

Folks, that means that at least three of the last bottles of beer that I enjoyed were already expired.  This can't be good.  Now I will have to dump out all my beer.  This is going to hurt!!  I may only have a couple of beers a year, but I just don't like the idea of dumping out all my Sam Adams.  Helen, you should have kept this information to yourself and left me to my happy stupidity!!

Yesterday started off quite wonderful.  The mail lady delivered a box of Christmas goodies from Kyra.  Oh my, there was even a present in there for Joe.  Now he can't wait for Christmas morning to see what it is!  (It will stay under my tree till then.).  I was good and put all the presents on a little table in front of where my tree is. 

Wow, these look super!  Kyra, thank you so much.  We are going to have so much fun on Christmas morning.  Joe will be staying home this year, so it's going to be extra nice.  I do believe I'll cook us a dinner.  (I wasn't going to cook a big dinner for just me and Pogo.)

After all of this, I was really perky, and decided to make a pot of corn chowder.  Mmm, Mmm.  This is one of my favorites.  I got everything ready, and par cooked my potatoes, and then put it all together in a big pot.  While it was cooking, I tried catching up on a bit of my emails. 

OH NO!!  I should never walk away from the stove when I am cooking!  Just as I began to smell the funny odor, there was a knock on my door.  It seems the smell went out into the house and Helen was concerned for me.  It's okay.  I'm alright.  But my corn chowder is now burnt!! 

Such a mess.  The chowder spilled over the pan onto the stove, and half of the chowder (it seems) is burnt to the bottom of the pan.  When will I ever learn?   I tried to rescue a couple of bowls of it before I dumped the rest of it down the toilet.  Then I put the pan in the sink and filled it with water to soak.  Joe said he will try to clean it for me later when he gets home from work. 

All was not lost though, because I ate one bowl of the chowder that I saved, and it tasted pretty good.  A bit smoky, but tasty.  Today I want to make pasta and meat sauce.  I think I'll stay right in the kitchen until it has finished cooking. 

Last evening,  I got an email from my Secret Santa.  It is so good to finally know who she is, and I can't thank her enough for all those wonderful presents and the fun that I've had.  Her name is Anne, and she really is such a nice person.  You can check her blog by clicking on her name.

This morning I got another lovely surprise in my email.  My friend Kyra has made me two more gorgeous scrap pages.  One I will save for later because the kit she used hasn't been published yet.  Here's the one she made with Jasmine's photo.  Isn't this gorgeous?   The kit she used, "Where Is The Time?", can be found on her blog by scrolling back to November.  Her friend Arlene made the beautiful frame cluster from this same kit. 

I was watching the Jewelry Television Channel this morning, and after such a trying day yesterday, I felt I deserved a little treat.  I can watch this channel for hours and not be tempted to call in and buy anything, but this one item I could not resist.  It's an orange Ethiopian Opal surrounded by Black Spinel and set in Sterling Silver.  The Christmas special price was only $49.  This is just perfect for me!! 

I may be old, but I do love pretty things.  And this will definitely help to improve my cooking skills.  I think.  It will also make me feel much better about having to get rid of all my Sam Adams beer.  Maybe I can use some of the beer to shampoo my hair?  Hmm, food for thought.

Well now, I think I have babbled enough for this morning.  Now it's time to get dressed and find some mischief to keep me busy.  Till tomorrow, Y'all be safe and have a fantabulous day.

Hugs, Edna B.