Bowling, Clouds.

I didn't blog for Thursday so thought I would post today. We went bowling on Wednesday afternoon although at one point it was touch and go. I took things very gently and much to Matt's annoyance, I bowled pretty high scores. I beat him in all three games. I tended to feel a bit better as the afternoon wore on. Then Thursday afternoon we went again and the situation changed, Matt beat me. I bowled like a woman with no arms. Terrible. On Wednesday I wore an Icy Hot patch, Thursday I didn't and I think that was a mistake. Then, much to my disgust, I discover that we can't bowl at all next week because they are resurfacing the lanes. I know it has to be done on an annual basis so guess we have to grin and bear it.

This bit of information came to me from How to Geek - They might look fluffy and ethereal but clouds are quite heavy; the average cumulus cloud (the big white cotton-candy-like ones you see on nice days) weigh 1.1 million pounds. What I want to know is how do they weigh clouds?

Having just had Fettucine Alfredo, I guess I have pasta on my mind. This looked so good to me. I make marinara sauce and freeze it in portion sizes.

Stuffed Shells with Spinach and Ricotta

(makes 4 servings)

Ingredients

• 16 jumbo pasta shells


• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil


• 2 teaspoons garlic, minced


• 4 cups fresh spinach leaves, roughly chopped and packed tightly when measuring


• 12 ounces skim-milk ricotta cheese


• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese


• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese


• 1 large egg, lightly beaten


• 1 tablespoon fresh basil, finely chopped (or 1 teaspoon of dried basil)


• 1 teaspoon salt


• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper


• 1 1/4 cups marinara sauce (click here for a homemade sauce recipe, which we used with our baked ziti recipe, or use store-bought sauce)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.


2. Heat a large pot of water until boiling, add a big pinch of salt to the water, and then add the pasta shells. Cook the pasta shells according to the packageís directions, until the shells are al dente.


3. Drain the pasta shells and set them aside.


4. Add the olive oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and let it cook for a minute, until it starts to get a little bit brown, and then add the spinach. While the spinach is cooking, stir it occasionally for about four minutes, or until the leaves start to wilt ñ- the leaves should still be bright green. The entire batch of spinach should reduce in size by half.


5. Remove the spinach from the heat and let it cool.


6. Grab a mixing bowl and combine the spinach, cheeses, egg, basil, salt, and pepper until everything is evenly blended.


7. Lightly grease the bottom of an 8×8-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Then, pour 1/2 cup of the marinara sauce into the bottom of the dish (spread it evenly).


8. Get the shells and spinach/cheese mixture. Stuff each shell with a heaping spoonful or two of the spinach/cheese mixture (make sure each one is nice and full!), and then place each shell in the baking dish on top of the sauce.


9. Cover the shells with the remaining sauce and cover the dish with aluminum foil. Bake for 25 minutes, remove the foil, and then continue baking for about 10 or 15 more minutes (until the top starts to get golden brown and the sauce starts bubbling).


10. If desired, sprinkle with more Parmesan cheese and extra slivers of fresh basil for garnish.


11. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Fork Knife Swoon

Have a great day
 

Travelling and Arriving, A General Grouse.

There is definitely insanity in my family.

We had two long days of driving, Saturday it rained for 5 or 6 hours and it wasn’t just a sprinkle, it came down in buckets. So much so that when we reached the motel Matt grabbed the overnight bag and we ran into the lobby. By the time Matt actually got indoors, he was drenched. With the result, it was too wet to go out to dinner so we went for some Italian, wasn’t bad but the room wasn’t really designed for dining!! Matt eventually managed to slip out and get the booze bag, by that time we needed a snort. I didn’t get my CPAP machine so didn’t sleep that well. We had no cards to while away the time playing cribbage. Matt in particular wasn’t a happy camper. In my case, I had no computer or anything. However, I did find Hitchcock on a movie channel. Not sure how much I missed, but what a wonderful movie. Will have to rent it or something. I thought Hopkins was  marvellous in the part. So was Helen Mirren.

Sunday we set off and got as far as the Pennsylvania Turnpike, everything running smoothly. We were headed west by then towards Pittsburgh (a fact I had forgotten) I reminded Matt to head west, I don’t know how it happened, we ended up heading east. We finally realised when we went through 3 tunnels, there is only one on our way home. So, we left the road paying a $5 toll and did a U turn getting back on the right road. We had lost an hour, i.e. 2 hours altogether. It also racked up our final toll. However….. We finally cross the border in to Canada and head up the QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way) which is one of the worst I have ever encountered traffic wise. I am not all that familiar with the route as I let Matt do it. We got to a section where we were to branch off and reading the signs I thought we should stay on our current route. No way, so, my fault definitely this time. We dithered around, came off the road and then back on it. Got thoroughly lost. Finally stopped at a garage and found out how to get back to the right route. Finally, we got home about a couple of hours later than expected. Next came the unloading. The Assistant Super was great helping get the shrimp and turkeys upstairs.

Monday, we went bowling. With 5 pin bowling, if you are not on form, you end up throwing three balls for every one of your thirty frames. I did manage to cut that amount down a bit but I definitely was not on form. Then we went to the grocery store, and did a week’s shopping, traipsing round the supermarket. Next we went to pick up my Avon orders. Matt was the one who got to carry all the stuff upstairs although we do have a cart which helps. I might add, we had been doing laundry in the morning, I had been making all kinds of phone calls plus doing our accounts etc. etc. Monday night, my body felt it had been in a rugby scrum with a dozen 300 lb. men kicking and beating me. That is now, right this minute. I said, there is insanity in my family. Would you believe we bowl again on Thursday? The first of the Travel League meets. Oh, I forgot to add I have been chipping ice for ages to free the bags of shrimp and get them in the freezer. The turkeys we managed to get into the freezer last night. Supper was a rotisserie chicken bought at the grocery store with some kettle chips and some tomato juice. I ask you? Right in the middle the young receptionist from our Doctor’s turned up to collect her huge bag of grits and her 2 lbs. of boiled peanuts. She hails from Georgia, what do you expect? I forgot to add that I have been suffering from edema for the last two weeks and my ankles are like tree stumps, travelling doesn’t help matters nor, apparently, does keeping my legs up.

I saw a very odd cloud formation but my tablet didn’t really catch it, it looked like a lot of flat topped cliffs all sawn off neatly. It was a very odd sight, I was fascinated. I also saw a dragon so immediately thought of Father Dragon of course.

No recipe today, sorry, I am just too beat.

Nice to be home though, I think, actually as I told several people today, I need a vacation.

Have a great Tuesday.