Strange Weather Day

This is the time of year when most Minnesotans are tired of the snow and cold.  I would be complaining, too, except that there isn't any snow and today's temperature topped out at nearly 65 degrees.  Late this afternoon a storm rolled through complete with thunder and lightning.  And a tornado touched down north of Minneapolis.  Another one was spotted near our southern border.  A tornado in February has never happened here since the Weather Bureau began keeping records.

And snow is predicted for the weekend.

I think Mother Nature must be off her meds.

Lori is in the northern part of the state for a few days.  Her Dad is suffering the effects of aging, so she goes to see him as often as she can.  Duane was alone, so I asked him if he would like to come over for supper when he got off work.  I had a couple of butternut squash that needed  to be eaten and we both love squash.  A couple of thick pork chops added to it made a pretty good meal.  It is nice to have someone to cook for now and then.

I keep busy.  At least as busy as arthritic joints will allow.  This goofy weather with it's changes in temperatures and conditions every other day seems to bring on flare-ups, but it does help to keep moving as much as possible.  In addition to the usual household chores, I sorted out my dehydrated foods.  I keep them in freezer bags stored in Banker's boxes on a set of shelve behind my bedroom door.  I had gotten lazy and hadn't put some many of the bags into the proper boxes.  Now that I have, I can tell how much I need to dehydrate and what I have enough of.

While Duane was here I asked him to get down a bottle of maple syrup from the top of one of my shelves.  It is nice having a tall person living close by, especially when you aren't much over 5 feet tall and don't climb well any more.  I need the syrup for a recipe of caramel corn that you make using the microwave.  It is really good stuff.

Microwave Caramel Corn

Pop 1/3 Cup of popcorn kernels.  I use my air-popper.

Mix together 5 Tbsp. butter, 1/2 Cup brown sugar and 2 - 1/2 Tbsp. real maple syrup.
Microwave for 2 minutes.
Stir in 1 tsp. vanilla and 1 - 1/2 tsp. salt.
Stir in 1/2 tsp. baking soda.  This will cause the sugar mixture to foam up.
Pour over the popcorn and mix well.

Microwave the caramel corn for 1 minute.  Stir.  Repeat at 30 second intervals until the popcorn is a rich, caramel color.  (Three or four times.)

Duane said he would trade me some caramel corn for a milkshake made using crushed Girl Scout Thin Mints.  Sounds like a pretty good trade to me.  :)