Saturday, March 11, 2017

Two Questions and Two Dinners

Premium Plus sent me a coupon for those burned soda crackers. They never answered me on whether I should send the poor quality items back to them for quality control or not, they just don't care. Refund the customer to shut them up is the new policy for most businesses now! I'll probably buy my favourite Peak Freans cookies with this coupon, so not all is lost! And I'm at it again:

Do you see anything wrong with this Glad cling wrap? It was packaged so badly that most of the wrap is bunched up on the left side, making it impossible to pull out in one piece. It gets all tangled up and rips. I tried to gently fix it and pull it out by hand, without success. So guess what? I just sent an email to Glad Canada and all bets are on them saying they'll send me a coupon. It starts to get to me, the poor quality of everything. I just have to slowly move towards not buying these products and accumulating glassware. I hate cling wrap!!!

Question number 1:  Will my formerly beautiful green rosemary plant come back to life or is it just done? I've had it in the window all winter and slowly but surely, it's dried out completely. I followed directions I've found about sunlight, watering and keeping it away from drafts, but I think I killed it! Any suggestions?

Question number 2: Does anyone have a dog that seems depressed? Charlie seems to go through this every spring/end of winter. She was an outdoor dog as far as we can figure, before we adopted her. But we can't let her loose or allow her to stay outdoors all day long because of the bad neighbours whose dogs are always loose and causing trouble. I'd love to build her a nice dog house and turn our yard into a fortress but it's not feasible in a rental. It's worse on days like today, in the -30's when I just can't be outside too long to walk her. She won't eat all of her food...she lies under my boyfriend's desk all day...she's healthy otherwise. Any advice from the doggie people out there?

Food Time!!! Thursday night I made pork tenderloin with an apricot brandy glaze and fresh steamed asparagus. That pork,'s so tender. I had previously posted the recipe from my Williams Sonoma Grilling book, but I made some changes, so here is my version: Roast Pork Tenderloin with Apricot Brandy Glaze. The asparagus is $1.50 a pound and we had more than enough for the both of us, plus I'm going to serve the rest with dinner tonight. I love our market, I'll miss it when we leave this area!

Last night was burger night again!! This is my chicken burger. It's just a chicken breast cooked in teriyaki sauce, but it was just okay. I need to find a good chicken burger recipe that doesn't involve frying. I have McChicken burgers on the brain...even though I'm quite sure they are not all chicken, they do taste good!

I made our Fries last night. The basil made NO difference, but they sure looked good :)

This is my boyfriend's burger...he loads up the toppings more than I do! And I made the Strawberry Milkshakes again. It was a fun dinner! Usually I wait a little bit between burger nights, but we had this really good melty Cheddar that needed to be eaten up. It's perfect for the burgers, so I made them earlier than I'd planned.

We're in a deep freeze again, so I'm going to spend my day blanching and freezing veggies, and maybe baking something sweet. :)

***PS: My boyfriend convinced me to get a domain name so that in future I can get away from Blogger and try my own web designing. So you'll see my name in the address bar as So far it still points back to Rain's Garden on Blogger. I'll let you guys know if I ever get the courage enough to make my own site and host it!!!


Nicole Thomas said...

I went to glass storage containers a long time ago. I havn't bought plastic wrap or aluminum foil or paper towel and such forever. Makes me feel too guilty. I always have the discussions with my mother in law who wants me to use paper plates at parties and who can not ubderstand how I survive without paper towel ... well EASY ;)
We have 4 outside dogs that are all rescues who came from reserves around here...well u know that. All of them get depressed and somehow not right when they have to stay in the house. They have a big shed full of hay where they cuddle up when its too nasty out ... it's way too warm in the house for them. I bet Charlie would really enjoy a nice run with a nice shelter :) summer project :)
I would say ... the rosmary is done.
Now I am hungry and want burger ... but we're having pizza and thats not a bad alternative at all ;)

Rain said...

Hi Nik, I'm shedding a tear for my rosemary, sigh, I really thought it could survive the winter inside. It did so well outside last summer! Well, I'm stubborn and I'm keeping it in the window anyway, lol...I think that Charlie would love to be outside all the time, but we can't afford to fence the place in for her. All spring/summer/fall, both huskies spend the days out in the yard, probably close to 10 hours each day and they are happy as clams. We took them out before and played tug of war outside until our eyelashes froze shut and she ate all her dinner.


Well, if you're not ready to go to all glass yet you could use Glad Press and Seal which I now use in place of cling wrap because I was having the same problem as you did. There are also things that look like shower caps that you can place over bowls. There are even patterns to make them on You Tube or Pinterest.
As for your poor sweet pup....Nitty has gotten 'sad'....I think, at times, she's never stopped eating though. I've found with my dogs that, like humans, they need to feel needed or have a purpose. I tell my girls thank you all the time for guarding me and what good guard girls they are. When Nitty comes in at night I thank her for checking the property before we go to bed. I know it may sound silly to others....even the cats..I tell them to check for bugs and critters and they do! They jump in the tub as they know spiders come up that way. Maybe I've lived alone too long but I know they need to feel appreciated and that they have a job to do regardless of how small. Just my opinion. It does sound like you have a rough situation with neighbor dogs....maybe you could get a saucer and let her pull you around on the snow? That sounds like fun to me! LOL!
Your meals looks delicious and I swear I gain weight just looking at those burgers! You guys really know how to enjoy life! You could try ground chicken or turkey? I think you need to add some fat though or they can be dry....a little bacon grease? I'm no chef and I'm no good at experimenting....I'm not a creative cook I just love to eat good food!
Enjoy your weekend!


P.S. Yes, the rosemary.....I try every year to keep it alive and every year I fail!

Rain said...

Hi Sam :) I thought about shower caps too. I mainly use the cling wrap when I make pastas and pizza dough for the freezer. I wrap them in that, the in something more freezer-friendly. Otherwise, I don't think I even use the stuff...but when you need it, it tears ugh.

Oh gosh I don't think it's silly at all, I talk to the pets all the time. They love the interaction! When I come home from shopping, I always say in a very excited voice "so what did you guys do today???" they jump up and down as I list off all the possible activities they could have done lol...same with the cats. Ha ha ha...the saucer in the snow, Charlie IS a puller...she's a real husky, we have often thought about having her pull us around, but she's also a cuddler so she'd try to be on the saucer with us! :)

I made a burger with ground chicken once, but maybe the problem was that I didn't have enough fat in did fall apart. I'm not good at experimenting really, I'm a recipe follower, but I have to find myself a great chicken burger!! I'm on the hunt!

Rain said...

Really, you too Sam? I guess rosemary is very volatile indoors!!!

Kristina said...

Rain, I gave up on trying to keep my rosemary indoors. It doesn't last over winter outdoors, and for years I'd dig it up, bring it in, and with no luck it would die before spring. I have an old farmhouse, and the temperature fluctuates , but the lack of sun for the plant is what I think does mine in. If I ever get a grow room started,with lamps, I will try again.

Mama Pea said...

Regarding the cling wrap, someone in the factory should have caught that as it came off the assembly line! I wonder how many thousand rolls went out into the stores in the same unusable shape yours did?

I can't keep even the simplest of herbs (not even parsley) alive over winter inside the house. 'Course, I really don't have a sunny place by a window in which to put them. So, you can see, I'm no help with suggestions for your rosemary. :o(

Being a husky, I'm sure there's nothing Charlie would like more than to be outside . . . even in temps too cold for us humans. Our Bouvier was like that. He would sit on top of the highest snow bank he could find and survey his domain all day. Charlie probably feels spring in the air even though it's still feeling like winter for people. He needs acreage on which to roam. But I know you're working toward that as fast as you can.

I had to chuckle at your burgers for burger night. I'd like to see you both trying to get your mouths around those!

Rain said...

Hi Kristina...I'm glad I'm not alone, though it kind of sucks that nobody is having good luck with the rosemary...I guess it needs more of a "greenhouse" type of condition to survive. Honestly, mine had lots of sun all winter long. Maybe it was just too cold by the window. This summer, I'll be sure to harvest it before the fall so nothing is wasted. Shame though, it was such an ice big plant!

Rain said...

Hi Mama Pea :) Quality control doesn't exist anymore I'm telling you...but I'll blog about the results of my complaint today lol... And my parsley didn't survive the winter either!! The only herb that was thriving was the chive! I have two little pots and though they are growing much slower, they've been producing for our food all winter long. I'm so happy to have fresh chives, though I wish I could have cilantro, parsley, basil and sage too. I have to think about some kind of warmer arrangement, problem is I only have the one window, my office window that gets all that sun. Our bedroom and kitchen does get the same sun, but the cats jump up and down on those ledges a lot so it's not really safe for plants.

Charlie does need space and roaming...poor girl, but you know, she's so much better off here than wild or caged up at a shelter!

You'd be surprised how flat I can make my burger so I can eat it lol...very messy job though! :)

Mama Pea said...

Oops, please give Charlie my apologies for referring to her as a "he." Even though her name is usually a male's, I do like it for a girl . . . doggie or human!

Rain said...

Oh she forgives you Mama Pea :) People do make that mistake. It's because we always wanted a dog named Charlie and she was our first dog, female, we figured why not? :) People who don't know me always think I'm a Rain such a masculine name? That's why I always write (Mrs) before my name when I'm writing to companies and such, though I'm not a Mrs :) Or worse, they try to make it into something complicated like Rah-een. I just say "you know, like the weather" to help them out lol..

Mama Pea said...

We did something worse to our first dog. We named her Augusta (don't ask me why) . . . and you can guess what we always called her . . . Gus. That really confused people!

I've known one or two other people with the name Rain and they were females. So I've never thought of it as a masculine name. :o}

Rain said...

Ha ha ha, Gus...that's funny Mama Pea! Sometimes when I'm mad at Charlie I say in a really low voice "That's a NO Charles." :)