What To Do On A Day Off

Amazing how one wakes up early and energetic when one does not have to go to work. 

I had the day off and opened for the cat to explore le jardin before sunrise. As you can see, all I could see around me was mess. 

I go in and open the fridge to get milk for my cereal and can barely find the milk. I look at my counters and they are filled with groceries to organize.

So with the help of some Lebanese internet TV entertainment (click on this link if intrigued), I was all set for a productive day.

First I tackled the fridge. The fridge on the left was the pre. The fridge on the right was the post. See how easily you can now find the beer and see what else is there?

Clearing the counters necessitated some cooking projects. The stove got busy cooking chickpeas and fava beans to freeze, making chicken stock from frozen leftover chicken bones, and getting some home-made yogurt going (click here for home-made yogurt recipe).

Waiting for the pots to boil, I tackled a container of pistachios. 

If I keep them in their shells, they are going to go stale. So here is a kitchen tip for you.

Kitchen Tip Take the shells off the pistachios, put them in a tight jar and leave them in the fridge. This way, when you are looking for pistachios for a dessert or baking project, all are shelled and ready for you.

And you cannot imagine how much shelling pistachios feels like meditation.

Back to the stove. Now that all was cooked, I had generated seven containers of cooked chickpeas, five containers of cooked fava beans and three containers of chicken broth - all ready to freeze.

But this was the state of the freezer - so time to tackle organizing it prior to adding to it. See how nice it looks now.

Half a day off later, kitchen was organized and cleaned up and I was ready for a long nap.

I love days off....