Saturday I spent a good portion of the day cleaning and organizing our pantry, kitchen cabinets, two refrigerators, two freezers and our deep freeze.  And yes, I realize there are only two people living here!

It felt good to get rid of stuff I know I’ll never use and to use up what I actually have.  I even found canned crab and crab seasoning from Williams-Sonoma, so I made my SIL some killer crab cakes for her lunch this week. Open-mouthed smile

Guess where I went Saturday afternoon?  The gym!

charter

Hannah and I joined Charter Fitness last February.  There was one in our town, its only $10 a month, and its convenient.  Well, the one in our town closed, so the closest one to me is in the next town over.  It’s right by the grocery store where I normally shop, so its not that far out of the way.  It’s about 4 times the size of our old one though!

I did 1.5 miles on 15% incline at 3.5 mph, then did 4 miles on the bike.

          1.5    4 miles

After a productive day like that, comfort food was what was on the menu.  One of Tony’s favorite meals – boxed Zatarain’s red beans and rice with kielbasa.  We just throw everything into our rice cooker and it cooks up in about a half hour.  I kicked it up by putting 3/4 a cup of sauerkraut on the bottom of mine – so good!  Tony wanted to throw up in his mouth a little at the smell of the sauerkraut.  Me?  I can eat it cold out of the can!

beans 002

My Mom’s been looking for a replacement desk for her office for her new house for a while.  A long while.  So when she found one that she loved on craigslist, immediately rented a van and picked it up.  Um, only one little bitty problem – both my sister and Hannah had other plans and couldn’t get to her house to help her move it in.

That’s where Biz, #1 child of our Momma (suck it Charlie and Jennifer!) came to the rescue.  I got to my Mom’s about 10:15 yesterday morning.  We had to first get out her old desk, which was a corner unit.  Much as we tried, the damn thing wasn’t going to fit – yet somehow we know the movers got it in without taking it apart.

My mom realized that the movers had to remove the door to get it in!  Luckily, we unscrewed enough of the pieces and it was able to be removed in several pieces.  This is where it got interesting.  The desk that we were bringing in was all one piece – hutch and all!  It was laying flat on its back, and I watched my 72 year old mom climbed over the wheel wells to get to the top of the desk.

Somehow the two of us managed to get it in the house, only a tiny scratch on her office floor – not too bad!

the desk

Then after returning the van, she wanted to take me to a Thai restaurant for lunch that she’s wanted to try out.  Sadly, they were closed on Sunday.  So we went to a Mexican restaurant that was next door.  My Mom asked a customer if the food was good and he said he ate there a lot – thumbs up!  Three steak tacos, rice and beans for only $6.75?  Yes please!

lunch with mom

We quickly realized we could have gotten one meal and split it.  The taco meat was a bit tough and didn’t have a whole lot of flavor either – my favorite part was the refried beans!  Well, at least now we know.

After my big clean up of our deep freeze, I found a bag labeled “pork ragu.”  I actually fucking labeled something in my deep freeze!  I thought it would make a great lasagna.   I used whole ricotta cheese, real shredded mozzarella – no healthy short cuts in this recipe!   It baked for an hour and the whole house smelled wonderful.  I let it sit about 10 minutes before cutting it.

beans 005

The verdict?  It tasted like ass.  It was dry, the pork in the ragu was super tough and overall a huge disappointment.  Tony gently suggested that I get his Mom’s recipe for her lasagna – so Bonnie – please send me your recipe when you get a chance!

So after my Saturday workout, I have 131.35 miles left in my 170 mile challenge – I see a 10 mile bike ride at lunch in my future!

What’s your worst dinner flop?  Make it a great day!