A Good Day

Today was a good day. I love being able to say that. I love looking back over the day and not thinking of anything that went particularly wrong.
Today I got to go out for lunch with my husband. He's been away the past two evenings and I was feeling like I never get to see him anymore so he phoned me this morning and asked me where I'd like to go for lunch with him. It was a nice treat. We rarely do that.
Today I knew I had company over and I didn't need to clean for them. It was already done! I did tidy up some cook books I had sitting on the table, and I washed some dishes, but there was no rush to get things ready and presentable. That was nice :)
Today I talked on the phone with both my mother and my sister. That's not exactly rare, but it has been a while. And they were both good, long talks - not just short little blurbs.
Today I volunteered for two more things. A little on the dumb side, but in my opinion, if you don't have to double-book to agree to something, you're not too busy for it. To be honest, I did sort of double-book for both of those, but one social thing we cancelled and one commitment we rescheduled, so I'm just getting to help out with more! And I really do like to feel useful.
Today I finished rewriting the cafe schedule for the 8th time and I think this is the best schedule yet. It made the best use of people, freed up some of my time and coordinated certain people with special events. I'm glad it's done.
Today I made a great dinner. I really did. And it wasn't just great because it tasted great (which it did) it was great because it was low stress, and nothing went wrong while I was making it. I made the Stuffed Chicken Thighs for the entree. I had to debone the thighs, which went off quite smoothly, and then I had to make the stuffing, which was easy. The hardest part was stuffing the thighs and it was a breeze! Just lay open the boneless thigh, put the stuffing in the middle, fold up the sides and hold it together with a toothpick! I had them in the oven at just the right time, and then I set about making my roasted veggies. I had some squash, a red pepper, some of those adorable silver-skin onions and some apples that I chopped up, drizzled with oil, threw in a crushed garlic clove, sprinkled with Alpine Touch (the ultimate seasoning salt) and a dash of salt and pepper. They were amazing! I made up a salad with green pepper, tomato and celery and found that I had a tiny block of asiago left in my fridge so I grated that over it and it turned a normal salad into a really good one. Dinner was supposed to start at 6:00 and at 5:50 my chicken was done, and then I got my dessert ready. Take Asian Pear halves, core them and dip the cut side in lemon juice. Put each half in the center of a parchment paper square, sprinkle some anise seeds in the middle of the half, drizzle with honey and fold up the paper. Pour a bit of cider into the pouch, twist the top to seal it, and bake for 45 minutes! They were ready just in time! And they were quite nice. I'll be making them again.
Today I agreed to cook dessert for a family get-together this weekend. Millionaire Shortbread should do I think. And that's just plain fun :)
Tomorrow I have to make a trip into the church, make my Millionaire Shortbread, maybe make my biscotti dough, and then make a romantic dinner for Matt - it'll be the first evening we've spent alone together in quite some time. That sounds like it'll be a good day too :)

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)