Twice a week (Monday and Thursday) I open the mall Customer Service desk. On those days I bring my lunch with me; I get hungry before I can take a break, and as long as I have things cut into bite-sized pieces I can eat in between fielding customer questions and answering the phone.
This week the boss asked if I could change my schedule and come in early every day. I rearranged a couple of things, then told him I could do that. However, that meant I had to come up with manageable lunch food four days in a row.
My go-to protein is chicken breast, but I don't want that every day. This morning I looked in the refrigerator for the package of sliced turkey Hubby Tony took out of the freezer last night. It wasn't in the meat drawer or on any of the shelves. (As I was putting the finishing touches on my lunch I found it in the fruit drawer. I'm guessing he was in a hurry to get out of the house this morning, or his coffee hadn't kicked in yet.)
The only other protein option was a carton of eggs in the refrigerator door. I decided to scramble a couple for my lunch. They'd be messier than cubes of meat, but it would have to do. I cooked the eggs in the microwave then cut the mass into pieces. I now had a piping hot serving of eggs ready for my lunchbox, but there was a problem. All I had to package them in were plastic containers, and I didn't want to put the hot chunks in there.
Mother Nature came to the rescue. My phone said the outside temperature was 1°. I dumped the eggs on a plate and set the plate outside in the garage. Fifteen minutes later they were completely chilled and ready to go.
Five years ago today: Perfect Potion
Works even here. I made a new brownie recipe last week that started with melted butter, sugar, and cocoa powder. It was to cool before adding the eggs, one at a time, so I sat the batter out in the garage where it was about 50 degrees. Sure enough, in about 15 minutes the batter was cool enough to add the eggs. In your temps, though, the batter would have frozen! I would have had ice cream.
ReplyDeleteFrozen brownie batter sounds pretty good to me :-)
Deleteand it would be safe from animals in the garage!
ReplyDeleteYep.
DeleteI do remember that whenever I made a giant pot of chicken soup or stew, I could leave it out in the snow for a half hour and then bring it in to put in the fridge. Here in Hawaii I have to set it out on the counter for a couple of hours before it's cool enough to put in the fridge. Once I even forgot I set it on the counter and had to throw it all out. Oh yes, I do remember the advantages of the cold weather. : - )
ReplyDeleteKay, I can relate to your soup story. I'm so scatterbrained I have to set a timer to remind myself to do things!
DeleteI don't really get a lunch break, so I always bring small things to eat between classes like cut up apples, cheese, a sandwich, etc.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how many types of food you can eat on the run...
DeleteLol. It really is cold out. I just think of going out and my nose gets frozen.
ReplyDeleteIt's supposed to be above freezing today here. Good thing, because we have another winter weather system coming through. The warmer weather means it will be rain, not snow :-)
DeleteWow I think our lowest this past week was 11. We had a refrigerator delivered last weekend and I was able to empty the other one and leave stuff in the garage until I could put in the new one. I had bottle water out there and some navel oranges that I decided to bring in once the temp dropped. I don't think a frozen orange would be any good and a frozen bottle of water is pretty useless too.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty frigid for your area, isn't it? Sounds like you put the cold to good use, too.
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