goodOnce I was dressed, I contacted the Blonder Half. He was cranky, due to staying up Too Late the night before also. (I was sort of expecting this, given that his dad said he was Out With Friends when I called Saturday night.) We talked for a little while, then Darkside sought Naptime. Darkside has dibs on my weekends, but once he's exercised his dibs, it's all fair game.
So when
myrrhianna mentioned that she had stuff to take to Goodwill and no practical way to get it there, I bounced at the chance to get Out and Do Something with a friend, and eventually made my way over there. The drop-off was really simple and quick. And since it would be a shame to waste a good Day Out, and myrrhianna does not have skill points in grocery shopping, I dragged her to Trader Joe's with me. Fun was had. I wound up getting plants as well as assorted juice. hcolleen now has a potted heather plant sitting in her under-bed cave. I have miniature roses (again), and I'm going to bring one of them to work with me; maybe I'll have better luck there. We went back to her place and I got to meet the cats. We gossiped cats, and then cattiness, and then I made the mistake of attempting to pick up Nibiki-chan. An antibacterial wipe and some blotting with tissue later, I admitted that perhaps when someone tells me that attempting to hold a half-feral cat with sharp claws, a cat who believes that anytime is a good time for good fun, is not a good idea, perhaps I should heed this warning. I think I'm too used to very mellow cats armed with butter knives. And is it not written, "Touch not the cat [without] a glove"?
I went in a homeward direction around that point, and was all set to make us some meatloaf, until I discovered that the meat I'd gotten for meatloaf had decided to have other plans. When you stick a sharp thing into the plastic-wrapped log of meat, and hear sounds more often associated with the opening of a carbonated beverage, that meat had better not be used for meatloaf. So I went and got more meat. And since I was mightily distracted throughout the whole performance, I returned with not only meat, but other random foods and objects.
I talked with
amberfox. That was fun. Meatloaf was accomplished at length, though it did take a rather long time in the baking. This version is somewhat experimental, given that I've never cooked with ketchup like this before.
Meatloaf.
1 large roll of ground beef, I think it's 3 lbs.
1 packet onion soup mix.
About 1/2 cup ketchup, to taste. (To tastelessness?)
2 eggs.
Maybe 2 cups of rolled oats.
Maybe 3 cups of frozen mixed vegetables.
Mix together until very mixed. Pack into large pan. Bake at 350°F until done (took me in the neighborhood of 2 hours). I covered it with foil because
hcolleen is very definite about not liking things that are dried out, and meatloaf is on the list of things that should not have a crust, according to her. Drain, especially if you were like me and wound up getting the meat that probably had too much fat in it. Other than the covering part and the ketchup-in-the-loaf part, this is the recipe I've been making for ... well, it is years at this point, now. The vegetables were an innovation that happened in the "I won't eat my vegetables!" phase of my virtual nephew, the Little Fayoumis. I figured that it didn't matter whether the vegetables were in or out of the meatloaf, since they were going to be cooked to death anyway, and he might as well get them on the sly so it would happen without a fight. (Then I discovered the wisdom of serving the salad course first, and letting him eat his raw carrots with ketchup as well as ranch, and we never had a fight about vegetables again.)
