Overnighted at the Moser Estate west of Washington, MO with Dr. Jeni and family. Meghan had been taken to school, exactly one mile from the Estate, prior to this old man getting out of bed and coming down to the Great Room for coffee. Looking out the back through the 3 floors of solid windows, I could tell it would be rather bleak and dreary today, or at least thru the morning. I love to be close to a forest at this time of the year when the trees stand naked.....the visual sights thru the trees is wonderful......soooo many vistas can be viewed in the winter that simply do not exist during the other three seasons.
After a few cups of coffee, and a mind full of winter sights out the rear of the Great Room, I decided I needed to hit the road for the city and a bit more shopping for the Holidays. Which......I did, finding myself at South County Mall by 10am. After a couple of hours and many wrenching gift decisions, I headed down the road to F'town...through fog, drizzle, and pure grayness. I stopped in Farmington and had the oil changed in the Buick and then continued on down the road to the stick and brick.
A quick run to the grocery store for some supplies, and then I started to put together a one dish meal for dinner: a southwestern Jambalya(sp??). It is always very, very good and today's, the first in a almost a year, was outstanding.....if I do say so myself....hahaha!!! Onion, green pepper, garlic, olive oil, celery, smoked sausage, Rotel tomatoes/chilies, Western beans, rice, and about a pound or more of shrimp. For the cooking liquid, I use chicken broth.....and in this pot, it took five cans after almost four hours of simmering. The shrimp is not added to the mixture until about 3 minutes before serving as the shrimp become very tough if cooked for more than the 3 minutes. This dish does have some heat to it......but not overwhelming as the other flavors do come through nicely and leave a warm, comfy feeling to the palette upon finishing the meal.
I also used a Tuscan round loaf of bread that is course and excellent with this "comfort food" dish......and of course, the dark red medicine to help with the digestion!!!!!!! An excellent meal to end a dreary day.
Prior to dinner, I had my five students for their 30 minutes each with me for their music instruction. It is sooooo nice to have students that want to learn and work to do all they can to improve themselves each week. My h.s. piano student is like a sponge......he just soaks up the advice and instructions which I give to him.
Anxious to get back to discussing some memories of the Far East......and in particular...Thailand. There IS much more to discuss.....and I do enjoy doing so. The five months I was assigned to Korea.....well, that was an extremely fascinating place to be 36 years ago......soooo different than it is now!
Oh......guess I neglected to mention the dam which broke today.......about 24 miles or so from here to the west. Such an unusual location for a dam.......right on top of a mountain and the "lake" formed by the dam took up the entire mt. top.....just like a fortress on top of a high hill! The concrete "dam" surrounded the entire body of water.....1.5 billion gallons of water......it looked like a strange hat on top of the mt. Weird....to say the least. When electricity was needed, the water came down the mt in huge tubes, going thru the turbines and making the energy.....then all of the water was pumped BACK UP the mountain to the dammed in area to begin the process all over again. BUT.....it is all gone as of this morning!!! At least, so far, there have been no deaths from this tragedy. Just luck......
Sooooo, after a gray day I bring the day to a close........
Life is Good......and I hope for all of you, also!
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