Torrential Rain Tuesday

Tonight I had plans with mom. To go for a walk around the neighborhood and then come back & watch episodes of Chopped, on food network.  It was gray but not raining yet so we planned to just stay close to the house and if we got damp on the way home...... So be it! We were just headed out the door when the heavens opened wide and it rained..... And rained......... And rained..... From about 6-10pm!

So, in the meantime I helped mom with Manila choir folders, cutting off the tab and then she reinforced/taped the opening and filled it with choir music.

And we watched chopped. Loved that show! 4 contestants. 3 rounds-appetizer, entre, dessert. 1 mystery basket with 4 ingredients. 3 time limits: 20 minutes for appetizer, 30 each for entre & dessert. Winner goes home with $10,000.00

My favorite episode was featuring "leftovers" among the 3 rounds there was leftover mashed potatoes, flat coke, a sub sandwich, ice cream sundae, handful of ketchup packets, already cooked meat..... Another episode had a dessert item in each round-a 3 tiered cake, tower of colored macaroons, and frozen hot chocolate. My favorite use was using the filling from the macaroons in sauces.  Flavorful and very colorful! One was just a general episode-the item I would have not wanted to use??? Purple jelly beans in the dessert round.  Used as filling for a wonton and a crepe. Unfortunately there was also a theme of overlooked meat!

Plus..... It was educational. We used Mom's iPad & Wikipedia to look stuff up during the episodes. Duck confit-duck leg preserved over time with an inch of fat. Preserved lemon-a quartered (but not separated) lemon, preserved with salt in a jar, kept in the fridge & occasionally turn the jar over. Cardoon-a cross between artichoke and celery.

We finished off the evening with Mom's homemade raspberry ice cream. Good times!