Sisters, Sisters

Ruth and I have been cooking together for about four years now.  Just in the last month I also started working with/for her, two days a week.  It's a good thing we're good friends.  It reminds me of that short song from White Christmas.  See it here.

We were sitting side by side at the reception desk Friday; Ruth was dictating to me and I was typing.  We were working together trying to get some correspondence done, when one of Ruth's tenants came in.  She commented, "Boy, I wish my sister and I could get along like that."

I really am fortunate though.  We do enjoy each other's company a lot.  Yesterday made up our week's menu, went grocery shopping and then made three salads together: Morocccan chickpea barley, Broccoli with Grapes, and Cauliflower Apple.  We also made a beef stew (which we ate for lunch, but there's enough left for another day) and borscht.  This morning she came over and we whipped up three different types of perogy casseroles (spinach and feta perogies with a cream sauce; regular potato cheese perogies with a cream sauce, and plain old ordinary cheese perogies with butter).  This was the first time we tried doing perogies without the cream sauce, with just butter, and they didn't stick at all!  That was in the my three-pot slow cooker.  In one of my larger slow cookers we had the borscht, and in the other large slow cooker we had cabbage rolls.  Then we also threw together three pans of pear upside down cake.  Got everything started and dashed off to church (5 minutes late).   We have enough leftover perogies for at least one more meal and a fair amount of borscht but all the cabbage rolls went.  There's also lots of salad left.  I've done up the dishes three times since yesterday morning, but still have pots and pans to do up along with another load in the dishwasher tomorrow morning.

I'm very thankful for my new dishwasher too.  It means that I don't have to wash my dishes before putting them into the dishwasher.  (This is a very good idea).  It also holds more and is much, much quieter.

It has not been a quiet relaxing weekend.  After cooking with Ruth all morning, I went into the office with her in the afternoon and worked with one of her other employees at organizing her files, from 1 to 5 pm.  When I got back home I was so tired I was in bed before 9 pm.  This afternoon we babysat Emmet and Jane while their parents had a date.  Then I had a short nap, followed by sewing.  I had a grad dress that I finished hemming, and a top and shorts that I promised to shorten for someone else.  I also whipped up a pair of shorts for Jane (and Emmet) because Rachel had sent her kids without the diaper bag and we needed a change of clothes for Jane.

It is now evening.  All the sewing is done.  I'm sitting where I cannot see the dirty dishes in the kitchen - they'll wait for tomorrow.  I've done a bit of planning for this summer's VBS, but need to talk it over with someone else before I send it off.  It's been a good day.