Saturday, 17 October - Cold, rain, not what I moved here for!

Yeah, I know my friends in Maine will call me a whiner when I'm complaining about 40-45 degree temperatures in mid to late October, but even the local weather personnel have pointed out that the past 5-6 days of barely above 50 temps has been the longest, coldest stretch of weather in October since records have been kept.  The cold and damp have put a hold on about everything.  Though we haven't yet had a frost (that may come tonight), it's difficult to work outside when it's so wet.  So we've found things to do inside!

1.  Spice cake.  This was going to be like heaven.  Unfortunately, I left out the sugar.  Figured they were candidates for the trash, but come to think of it, split, buttered and grilled, they'll be great as a side with soups or stews, other items even.  After all, they ARE more like biscuits than cake!  So maybe that wasn't such a bad accident after all.

2.  Rice.  Barry cooked a super load of rice so we'd have leftovers for other dishes.  Several years ago, I borrowed Maureen's rice steamer, and liked it so well I wouldn't give it back -- had to buy her a newer, larger one.  Good deal for both of us though.  Anyway, we had rice for dinner.  Then Barry made rice pudding with some, and right now, the rest is in a fried rice.  Three meals for about $.75 of rice ain't bad at all!

3.  Squash cookies.  Yup, we have a ton of squash in the freezer, and more out in the carport, so I had to do SOMETHING with the stuff.  I found a great recipe, and when the cookies came out of the oven, Barry had the idea to put cream-cheese frosting between them.  Squash Whoopie Pies!  They're in the freezer now, and will be individually wrapped once frozen.

So, even though we can't really work outside, we've been up to interesting things anyway.  Next up, squash pie, apple pie, and that spice cake -- different recipe and I WILL remember to add sugar!