Another Goodie

First off - - - the pain in my right knee and leg and foot is almost unbearable .  I don't see a pattern . Sometimes it is not bad but most of the time SO painful and debilitating.  The ice packs help and small periods of activity interspersed with rest and elevation of my legs makes life bearable . Finally , went and got the ordered x-rays and it was tortuous besides having to wait a long time !  Well, got that off my thoughts so now let's get on with  life .

Hobbling around the kitchen when I can ! 

I don't think I have ever prepared Hungarian Stew . So , a  couple days ago I did this .

This is Porkolt (a flavorful stew) Made With Pork .  I had intended to go out a little further and made Galuska (Hungarian Dumplings) to serve with it . But , I had too much pain . Galuska sounds so exotic . But , when I read the recipe I was surprised it sounded so simple .

The stew is so easy , just a lot of chopping and cutting . Sour cream can be stirred in just before serving . But , I like it served on top .  And , of course the stew can be served on top of wide noodles or rice instead of Galuska .

I forgot that I have this nice mandolin vegetable chopper , slicer , dicer , julienner.

It made quick work of dicing 2 large onions .  That's a lot of onions and could mean a lot of stinging in my eyes . But , no tears with dicing this way .  And , it literally only took seconds to dice after readying the onions .  It looks like there are "a zillion different" slicers on the market and opinions .  This is the only one I have and it works great for my needs .  

How could I forget about this very useful and fun gadget ?  I guess because I haven't used it since I bought it quite a while ago .  Maybe,  I am starting to have an 😉 "old memory" !

Hungarian Paprika is a featured spice for this dish .  It is a sweet paprika which differs from regular paprika which is hot . You need tablespoons of sweet paprika verses teaspoons of hot paprika . 

It is so nice to have yummy homemade food in the freezer . And , it is much healthier and flavorful .

I have been having a great time in the kitchen .  It challenges me some and posting on the blog gives me some creative time .

Still , a little color in the garden . Not much but there are some beautiful Autumn colors here and there .  Even though I am hobbling around I have still been going out into the garden to do a few things to keep it presentable  and watered so the plants don't die .

UNFORTUNEATELY , "The Workers" did not work out in helping me with my home maintenance and garden upkeep !  They are not the least bit detail oriented .  Because of my knee/leg pain ,  I did not walk around the house after the debris was blown off the roof last week .  Later when I was able and walked around the house I could hardly believe my eyes with the amount of mess at ground  level . And , I had been specific about ground level cleanup .  And , the surrounding flower beds were a mess with leaves , pine needles and the shedding short needles from the cedar trees .  There are ways of blowing the roof off without this undesired result . There are other reasons for my cancelling further work but I won't go into detail . Back to "square one" .

It is so difficult to find help and as a senior single woman living alone I have to be cautious about anyone entering my home to do inside repair . I must call references (and more than one) in the future .  The few people that I know well enough in the neighborhood to ask , don't have any suggestions .  I'll keep working on it .

 I still do not have my generator connected so I can "just flip a switch" .  I have purchased a 20 lb. propane tank that weighs 37 lb. when filled .  Which means I could not lift it from the trunk . I asked someone who was walking by if he could remove it from my trunk and he and his wife were very helpful .  My area is a desirable area for people taking daily walks . They drive and park in parking lots and then take their daily walks around the neighborhood .

Planning to be back soon .  My garden grown Acorn Squash is ripe !

Mary