(no subject)

[auntiemeesh]

Woke up slow to a rainy morning and a cat tugging on my hair. I struggled to figure out what day it was before deciding it must be Saturday since my alarm hadn't gone off. No, wait, it's Thanksgiving! Got up, fed the cats (only surefire way to get them to stop poking at me) and went back to bed.

Mal moped around, meowing piteously all morning, before I realized he wanted me to clean the litter boxes. Which meant a walk in the rain to Rite Aid to buy kitty litter. I also picked up a student desk lamp so that I have some form of light in the living room - or at least some form of light in one corner of the living room. This is a fairly unsatisfactory, temporary solution, but it's better than sitting in the dark for the next unspecified amount of time until I'm able to get something better.

Before I headed out, though, I threw an experiment into the crock pot. It's been simmering and smelling delightful all day. I wouldn't go so far as all that, and it definitely needs some tweaking.

Recipe:

One chicken breast
two potatoes
1/2 large onion
1/3 bag baby cut carrots
2 tablespoons curry powder
3 cups water
1/3 c. instant mashed potato flakes

I misread the recipe and put too much water in, and didn't have the can of chicken broth it called for. When I realized it was going to be too bland and watery, I added salt, pepper and cumin, and about 2/3 cup of rice. This was enough to soak up all the water but it also gummed everything up a lot. Next time I will remember to use significantly less water and put more seasonings in to start. As is, it's edible, and it smells great, but it's not really as tasty as I could have hoped.

As it's Thanksgiving, I thought it might be nice to have some wine with dinner and since I don't actually have anything like that at home, I stopped at the state store to see if it was open. But, yeah, this is Pennsylvania. The state stores are almost never open, certainly not on the sorts of days where people might actually be wanting alcohol. But I do have a tiny little single-serve bottle of Absolut Citron (no idea at all where it came from) in my freezer, so I got a bottle of orange juice and I'll have a screwdriver later if I'm in the mood.

This afternoon, I watched a 1993 version of the Secret Garden that I don't remember ever seeing before. I couldn't find any record of the version that I have vague memories of, so maybe I'm just remembering wrong. Anyway, this one was nice enough. A few too many stop-motion montages of flowers blooming and trees greening up in the spring, reminding me of middle school nature films, but I quite liked the girl that played Mary Lennox, and there was surprise Maggie Smith as Mrs. Medlock, so it was okay.

All in all, this has been a very pleasant Thanksgiving-for-one.

Comments

[shirebound]

I'm glad you had a pleasant day. My mom and I (and a certain dog) spent a very nice, quiet day together.

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

Yay for quiet days together!

[kay-brooke.livejournal.com]

I used to have that version of the Secret Garden, but I don't remember Maggie Smith being in it! I wonder if my parents still have that movie laying around somewhere.

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

It's kind of amazing how much her Mrs. Medlock looks like Professor McGonagall. She also reminded me really strongly of Colleen Dewhurst from that old 80s version of Anne of Green Gables.

[lyda-pearl.livejournal.com]

mmmm, chicken curry sounds good. The absolut is from your stocking, silly.

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

The chicken was okay. Not really anything like a curry - it would need a lot more seasoning to get there - but I think I can improve the recipe with a little experimenting.

Thanks for solving the Absolut mystery. You can tell how often I drink at home, lol.

[wbkbb.livejournal.com]

The chicken curry experiment sounds like something I would do - especially if I had company coming. That's the only movie version of The Secret Garden that I've ever seen, and I remember loving it. (I went with my friend Alison the day my landlord Muffy was getting married at home and I wasn't invited - one of the few times I can really tell you when I saw a movie.)

[auntiemeesh.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't want to be trying a new recipe when I had guests coming over, so I need to fine-tune this one before anyone visits. I also need to see if I can find turkey breasts before Christmas, so I can come up with a good turkey crock pot recipe.

[westwindschild.livejournal.com]

So glad you had a good day. I loved that version of The Secret Garden! (I remembered Dame Maggie being in it, also) I took DB, one of the last movies of my choosing that we went to see together - round about then his Dad came up with the idea of buying me a ticket to a show more to my taste while he took DB to the latest shoot-em-up, a system that worked very well for several years. Not too long after that, a very pretty version of A Little Princess came out, but it wasn't as successful as The Secret Garden had been. I guess if it had been a big hit they might have gone on to do Little Lord Fauntleroy, so we were spared that anyhow, lol.

[ani-no-mouse.livejournal.com]

It always seemed to me that The Secret Garden was a better book than A Little Princess, so I'm not surprised that the movie version was more successful. I also liked LLF as a book, but don't remember much at all about it except for the reversal (and I think re-reversal) of fortune plot.

[westwindschild.livejournal.com]

I never read LLF, but I saw an ancient black and white movie and the kid looked like Shirley Temple with his corkscrew blond curls, and he was just sickeningly sweet. It sort of ruined the whole story for me before I had a chance to find the book.

[(Anonymous)]

I read LLF while we still lived in Schoeneck, so I don't remember it very clearly, but to the extent that I do remember it, the story begins with the kid living in poverty in a NYC tenement and being pretty much a street kid. Then he somehow ends up going to England to live as the heir to his uncle, Lord Fauntleroy, and so becomes Little Lord Fauntleroy. Later he comes back to the US and may be relatively poor again. I think he is always presented as being basically a kid who cares about other people, but not as sickeningly sweet, and certainly not fond of wearing the ridiculous clothes that he is made to wear in the English portion of the story.

[antbee362.livejournal.com]

Sorry the curry didn't come out better but glad you enjoyed your day.
I often wake to some kind of cat grooming (of me). Another option is to have one (Y) keeping me from moving my legs and the other on my back or hip making it hard to move my torso. I do love it though when all 3 of us are cuddled up together.

[whtmtnwmn.livejournal.com]

Yay for happy Thanksgivings!
=D