We had a busy and momentous week last week. Hilda celebrated her 90th birthday on Thursday. Our main celebration was on Friday, when both my brother and sister-in-law could visit. Pam is still working two or three days a week, poor thing. Just as I never passed up an opportunity to remind everyone that I was the only one in my house who had a job, Pam often remarks that she is the only one in the family who is not retired. Perhaps another year or two.
Here’s the birthday girl. We took pictures with and without the mask, so that we could remember that this birthday was unique in being celebrated in the midst of a pandemic. I still have hope that a year from now, this whole COVID thing will seem like it was a long time ago and that it was over quickly. Then again, we still may be wearing masks next October. Surveys suggest that some people intend to never shake hands again.
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| Hilda with her mask, tiara, birthday bouquet, and balloon |
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| As above, with beautiful smile showing! |
At Hilda’s request, Doug made puttanesca, a tomato sauce with capers, olives, and anchovies served with spaghetti. I made a loaf of sourdough bread and a chocolate cake.
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| Hilda serves herself the beloved puttanesca |
On Saturday, Jane came for a visit to carve pumpkins, help
me set up streaming from my laptop to the TV, and consult on fixing Hilda’s
refrigerator.
Terry had three beautiful pumpkins this year. First we wiped off the mud that had not come off during the preliminary hose-down when he brought them in from the garden.
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| Terry wipes off his pumpkin |
And then we carved. This is the result.
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| Left to right, my pumpkin, Jane's, and Terry's |
After we were done with the pumpkins, Jane helped me assemble the runzas (a.k.a, bierocks or Nebraska meat buns). I made the dough before Jane arrived, and it had been rising during the pumpkin carving. I divided it into 12 portions.
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| Aliquots of runza dough |
Jane scooped up a half-cup of the hamburger, cabbage, onion, and cheese filling and pressed it together.
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| An aliquot of filling |
I slid it off the cutting board onto a rolled-out portion of
the dough.
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| Filling in the dough |
I pinched the dough together, encasing the filling…
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| Sealed runza |
And then put the bun on parchment paper on a baking tray.
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| Ready for the last rise |
They were beautiful!
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| Baked and cooling 15 minutes before we can eat |
And tasty!
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| The final product |
We got the refrigerator drain working again in between dinner and dessert. It was a long day!
We relaxed on Sunday. We had a salad for supper made entirely from produce from the high tunnel.
It was good to sit down in my chair and admire our pumpkins lit up.
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