Sunday Brunch

We started making a habit of going out to Sunday Brunch every week when we lived in Prescott, Arizona.  Before then, we would go out once in awhile but after we got settled in, we just started doing it weekly.  I think it was because we had more time, didn't have a dog at the time, and wanted to get to know the area as well as check out local eateries.

We continued that habit when we moved to Phoenix 5 years ago.  We would go to church and then out to eat.  We didn't have Winslow at the time so we would drive all over the valley to check out interesting restaurants. We really enjoyed the "mom and pop" ones the best rather than chains like say Denny's or IHOP.

During the pandemic lockdown, we would bring in meals from restaurants close by and then once things started opening up again, we continued the tradition of going out.  Now with Winslow, we would often go to the first church service (instead of the second one and then out to brunch), come home, let him out of his crate for a bit and then around lunchtime go for brunch.  

About 2 months ago, in an effort to save money, we decided to start making brunches at home.  We have made Eggs Benedict, breakfast egg sandwiches, scrambled eggs, and huevos rancheros, but not yet omelets because we didn't have an omelet pan to cook them in.

However, this past week when looking through stuff to watch on YouTube while working, I "discovered" a new food channel to subscribe to Julia Pacheco.  She had a recipe for making a microwave loaded omelet made in a mug.  I showed the video to hubby and I said "let's try it."  He agreed.  We also had a backup plan just in case it was a flop.  

It wasn't a flop!

In our version, we did use the 2 eggs each (so 2 mugs, 2 eggs), 1/4 cup canned spinach each, 1/4 cup Italian shredded cheese each, and about 1/8 cup each of a green pepper we had to use up.  We have 2 microwaves; one cooks at 1100 watts, the other at 1200 watts.  I put my mug in the 1200 watts one for 1:45 minutes and hubby did his in the 1100 watts for 2 minutes.  Both mugs were done at their respective times.

This is how it looked in the mug when cooked. 

We made potatoes and ham to serve with it (not that we need potatoes, but potatoes were one of the items we used to get when we would go out to breakfast; either hash browns or country potatoes or the like).  This is 2 red potatoes and about 1/2 bag of diced ham we had left over.  Hubby put some frozen onions in the mix.  

Here's the omelet out of the mug with the side of potatoes.  It was easy to get the omelet out by just cutting around it and easing it out of the mug.  As you can see, it held together well.  Everything was delicious.

And of course, for us, Sunday brunches out included mimosas so we make mimosas at home.  We get the cheapest champagne we can find and Wal-Mart orange juice.  We have discovered we get 4 mimosas from a bottle of champagne (2 each) for the price of 1 mimosa when we were going out to restaurants. 

We are spending less than a fourth of what we spent going out to brunch every Sunday.  Win-Win situation and everything we have made has turned out delicious!

What is your favorite thing to eat for a Sunday brunch (assuming you eat one)? If not, what is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?

Summer (cooking) in Phoenix

I won't lie, summers are BRUTAL here in Phoenix.  I also won't lie and I will tell you that winters were BRUTAL in Billings, Montana when we lived there for 8 years. I've said it before (and I'll say it again) I was cold in Billings from October until June and their summers got hot (though not as hot as here in Phoenix).  Here in Phoenix I'm warm/hot 3 months (June, July, August).  September brings a little respite, October more.  By November it is pleasant and sometimes a bit cold (but not Montana cold) and February and March and bits of April and May are really pleasant here.

We are entering our 6th summer here.  The first one was absolutely miserable.  I thought 95 was hot! (Now it is "pleasant") and anything over 100 was insane.  Now up to about 105-107 degrees isn't bad, but everything over 110 becomes a bit unbearable.

We have had recently several days at 115+ degrees.  Shattering records left and right.  It feels at times walking outside like walking in an oven.  But you do what you have to do and get inside as quickly as you can.

The air conditioner pretty much runs 24/7 these days.  It gets a little break at night but still runs a lot then.

Cooking can be challenging because who wants to use the oven when it is so hot outside? Who wants to warm the house up more than it already is by using it? 

We keep the house at 78 degrees.  Some people keep it cooler but I refuse to pay a high electricity bill.  We have had solar now for close to 3 years and we pay half of what we paid for electricity with the lease for our solar panels and the few months (mainly summer months) when we have to pay the electric company because we use more than we produce during those times.  

Because it is so hot we don't often want a "heavy" dinner so salads are wonderful but we need a bit of a variety so we try to be creative.  Friday nights are hubby's night to plan what he wants to cook (he does an excellent job in what we have, lots of fish recipes which I never get tired of).  Saturdays sometimes we are over at DIL's house with dinner with her and the kids (son working). If not, we usually just bring in some fast food. For the other 5 nights (if we aren't getting together with son/family on Mondays, his day off) I try to plan things that have leftovers so we don't have to cook every night but can just reheat them.  

We make a lot of foil pack dinners with aluminum foil with chicken and fish that go on the grill.  Grilling can be so hot out there at 6 p.m. and our backyard gets a lot of evening sun.  But with the foil pack dinners you just put them on the grill and check them 20-30 minutes later, depending on what you are making.

Last week we had hamburgers as we had some buns to use up.  Rather than cook them at dinnertime out in the sun and heat, I told hubby to grill them in the middle of the day when there was shade at that part of the house.  He did that and we just heated up the hamburgers when it was time to eat. They came out great!

People who live here in Phoenix are hardy people.  There are so many that have been born and raised here and are still living here.  I admire them.  But then again I know people who were born and raised in Montana and still living there and I admire them too.  There are some wonderful places in the country that have "perfect" or "near perfect" weather but then they usually are very expensive to live there (Southern California).  Most places have some type of thing, tornadoes, hurricanes and the like.  Phoenix is a desert and has the heat in summer. So you put up with it or choose to leave.

Since son/family live here with the grands, we are choosing to put up with it. We sometimes talk about moving some place else but then every place we might consider has something that has us not 100% considering moving there. 

So for now we are staying put......

Stay tuned in case that changes :)

The wee one (grandson) is a native here, born and being raised here.  It will be interesting what he chooses to do when he becomes an adult (assuming the family stays here which so far that is their plan).  

Thankfully the heat here really is a dry one. Low humidity.  I would "die" in a high humidity area.  

Now it is your turn.  Do you like the weather of where you live and would you consider living elsewhere for more weather of your liking? What do you cook in the hot summer months? I'm always looking for new ideas on what do make!

the new job

So tomorrow I start my second week of my new job. 

I like it.

I work a temp job through Kelly Services for a major grocery store chain.  They are converting their termination/discharge/voluntary quit employee files from paper to digital, so my work is to go through the files, make sure there are no rips that need to be repaired, take out any staples or paper clips, and fold back into place any corners that might be folded over.

Easy peasy.

This week I'll be learning how to scan the files into the software to be saved.  Observing it, it looks easy and I'm excited to learn it since a lot of jobs I saw advertised asked for scanning experience which I didn't have but now will have.

I also help open the mail, sort it, and prepare the paperwork for garnishments including court ordered child support.

The office is basically a ghost town.  A lot of the permanent employees are working from home.  There are about 5-6 people in a huge area at a time.  

We get health screened daily.  You stand in front of a machine at a little kiosk and you answer questions like "do you have any symptoms?" "Are you feeling sick today?" "Have you been around anyone with Covid?" and whatnot. Then you line yourself up with the little camera thingy they have and the machine checks your temp and prints out a badge you wear for the day, verifying you went through the health check. 

These are mine from the past week.  I usually don't post pictures on my blog but I'm not really distinguishable in these pictures. The first one from June 7th I was just learning how to line myself up so my face looks huge in it.  I got better through the week.  Wednesday the machine was working but something was wrong with printing out the badges so that's why I don't have one for that day.  I'm pretty consistent in what time I check in; I start work at 8 a.m.

It is covered parking, but not in the basement. That's a relief.

It is casual dress code.  Loving wearing jeans.

In their heyday before Covid, the company had a cafeteria on site that had a grill for cooking hamburgers and a sandwich bar and a salad bar along with other lunch entrees. That is closed. They also had a gym to work out onsite.  That is also closed.  

So far it is going good and I am enjoying the work.  It can be mundane and tedious but it is really quiet in the office (which I love), I'm not on the phone (love that more) and I can listen to music through earbuds (helps pass the time).

A 15 minute commute is an added bonus.   

So I am truly grateful for God for this opportunity. 

We should have called him Fetch

 This is a story about a dog....

Who loves to play fetch with pretty much anything you will throw, but he particularly enjoys squeaky tennis balls.

Somehow he managed to get over 30 of them in the backyard at a time.  I think that could be because he is spoiled.  He will search around for the favorite one at the time and bring it back to you to throw again.  He is really good about bringing whatever object you throw back so you can throw it again.

One Friday night a few months ago before it starting getting hot out we were sitting on the back patio, talking and throwing the ball for this dog to catch.  I started counting how many times I threw it and how many times he brought it back.

I stopped counting at 136.  By then my arm was tired and it was time to go inside.

He likes to shove the balls under the pool fence and then when he can't reach them he'll bark until you go and get them for him. 

This is a squeaky little toy.  It comes in a pack of three (red, yellow, green) from Wal-Mart for less than 3 dollars.  He loves to squeak them and has been known to get the squeakers out of them.  He also likes to fetch these.

But he also likes to shove them under things.  We had to put up a box lid by the printer stand because he would shove them under it and then bark until someone came to get them out (yes he has trained us - mainly me well).  We also had to put up a leftover pleat from our drapes by the sliding glass door by this area so he wouldn't drop the squeaky toy between the railing and the printer table which also would make him bark.  We also had to put something under the stove....you can guess why.  

Front view of box by the printer stand.

When he brings the small squeaky toy back to us when we are in the kitchen, he really tries to bring it right back to us but when he releases it from his mouth it goes rolling all over the place.  It got so bad trying to bend and stoop to pick it up over and over again that hubby got out an old cane walking stick which is good to grab it and drag it to where we are sitting.

Winslow definitely is a fetcher.  He will play fetch for hours if he has a willing partner to throw it to him.  Its good exercise for him though and something to help with this excessive amount of energy he has!

And besides, he's so cute, who could resist throwing a ball for him to fetch?

(If he brings you a toy and drops it to run into position to fetch it and there is another toy right by it and you grab the wrong toy to throw, he'll let you know.  He will only go after the toy he intends for you to throw).

(We watch him really closely and any squeakers he has managed to get out of toys we take away immediately.  That is high on the list of the reasons dogs need surgery to remove obstructions in their stomachs).