random thoughts – Day 2,168 (Sunday) – prep and dread

Snow and ice sculpture.

The shadow of an approaching blizzard loomed over the day like a comic supervillain. At dance practice, I noticed the snow and ice balanced on the edge of the roof. The thick snow had slid and hung off the roof like some sort of avalanche in the making. The icicles hung at crazy angles that looked like monster fangs. It was fascinating, and also hard to photograph from inside due to the full screen outside the window and impossible from the outside due to the deep snow behind the building.

Driving home from dance practice, I mentally ran through the contents of the pantry and decided I would go to Aldi if the list of needs was longer than two or three items. The items I came up with were half-and-half (for coffee), milk (for cooking and baking), and refried black beans (for more empanadas). Then I remembered there was enough half-and-half for a couple days and I had bought instant milk for baking purposes so I was off the hook and spared a pre-blizzard grocery run.

To use the remaining box of pie crusts approaching its best by date, I baked a cherry pie using canned pie filling. Lessons were learned. First, canned cherry pie filling is okay, but not that great. The edge of the crust was overbaked because I didn’t put the foil on the edges quickly enough to prevent such.

Cherry pie.

The biggest lesson was that not all off-brand pie crusts are alike. Specifically, Hannaford store brand pie crust isn’t as good as the off-brand pie crust I used a few days ago for the empanadas. The Hannaford crust stuck to itself and cracked during the unrolling step. The other crust had been rolled with parchment paper which made it much easier to unroll. Unfortunately, this is only partially useful information because I don’t recall the brand of the other pie crusts or where I bought them and the box is out in the recycle bin.

At 8:15 p.m., the snow hadn’t begun yet, but it’s coming and preparations have been underway. Parking bans, trash delays, and school cancellations announcements rolled in during the day. This afternoon, a recorded phone message, a text, and an email notified me that my Monday appointment with the surgeon for the final follow-up appointment for last year’s broken wrist is cancelled. A blizzard warning is in effect for five counties (including mine) until Tuesday morning at 7:00 a.m. The governor declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm, and certain trucks were banned from traveling on Massachusetts highways as of 5:00 p.m. Yikes. 

The Weather Channel app says the magic hour for the snow to arrive in Gardner is around 9:15 p.m. I feel like the host of a family event who is dreading the arrival of that one predictably loud, obnoxious family member (with luck, the family has just one) and hoping that maybe it won't be too bad this time.