Tuesday, March 22

Up around 7:30 this morning, and did a treadmill session and weights exercises after breakfast. Mother came over mid-morning and worked on her jigsaw puzzle, and Hubbie went out to work in the yard.

Once I was ready for the day, Hubbie came back inside and freshened up to accompany me to the WDCS to shop for groceries. We shopped for both ourselves and Mother.

Back home, Mother had heated chicken noodle soup and muffins for our lunch. Afterward, Hubbie went to a Master Gardener's home to dig forsythia bushes...some to be potted for the organization's upcoming plant sale, and a few to bring home and plant in our yard.

While he was gone, Mother and I spent most of our afternoon in the kitchen, where I split, cleaned, and baked the remainder of the butternut squash that grew in our flower bed last summer. I also peeled and used the food processor to slice potatoes for an au gratin recipe that Mother put together (recipe follows).

Then I put another pot of chicken on to stew. Once it was cooked, I set out a few pieces to cool, which Mother used to make chicken salad for making sandwiches to take with us to the museum tomorrow for a brown bag lunch during a film festival event. I put the broth, with a few pieces of chicken, into a container for the freezer. The rest of the chicken is in the refrigerator for Shih Tzu, who, at 17 years old, needs special encouragement to eat.

After that, Mother returned to her jigsaw puzzle, and I went to my office to search for an article I wrote for our local newspaper years ago. It's about the origins of squash, along with several recipes for using it. I thought I could use this article to submit to the Master Gardener monthly newsletter, but I can't find it...drat! I'm supposed to submit an article by April, to be published in summer, and now I'm back to square one.

Around 4 p.m., Hubbie returned home and immediately looked for likely places to plant his newest acquisitions. In the meantime, Mother and I finished putting supper together. The potatoes and squash, along with the rest of the corn-on-the-cob, and Chinese beets, really hit the spot. The potato recipe is a new one, and we definitely think it's a keeper.

POTATOES DAUPHINOIS

3 tablespoons melted butter, divided
6 peeled russet potatoes (but we used 12 small red potatoes), cut into 1/8-inch slices
1 garlic clove, minced (we used garlic in a jar)
3/4 cup (3 ounces) Swiss cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt (we omitted this)
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
(and we added no-salt seasoning and paprika...sprinkle to taste)
1 cup 2 percent reduced-fat milk, heated (we used skim milk)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spread an 11-by-7-inch dis with 1 tablespoon of the melted butter.

2. Arrange half the potatoes in dish. Sprinkle with half the garlic. Drizzle with half the remaining butter. Sprinkle on half the cheese and half the salt and pepper. Repeat layers. Pour hot milk over potatoes.

3. Cover and bake 40 minutes or until potatoes are tender, milk is absorbed, and top is browned (cover can be removed during the last few minutes to help brown).

After supper, Mother went home, and Hubbie and I watched the 2009, R-rated movie, "Tell Tale," starring Josh Lucas. A man receives a heart transplant, and then becomes haunted by his heartbeat, which drives him to find out how his donor died. More and more, he takes on the personality of the donor, doing things that he himself would never dream of doing. This is a re-imagined version of Edgar Allen Poe's short story, "The Tell Tale Heart."