Chocolate Pie

I don’t think that any of our clocks were set back before we headed off to bed. Even still, I realized and even commented that we were in effect going to bed at 9pm on a Saturday. I joked with Mindy that she should never report this to any of my friends. And because of such an early bedtime, I was wide awake at 6:30am ready to begin my Sunday.

 This marked the earliest I’ve woken on a weekend day without reason for some time. Like any other day, I started a pot of coffee and then jumped headlong into my exercise regiment. Ykraps and I headed out for our walk at 7:00am sharp. The sun was just coming up and it was even warmer than Saturday. Once again, no frost. It was 47 degrees.

 Because I was up so early I felt more at ease than I generally do. Gone was that feeling of being behind the eight ball or that feeling of fighting the clock. I had plenty of time to contemplate my day before taking any abrupt action. I waited until 9:00am to set out on my run. In the interim, I did some writing, read some headlines, and sipped on coffee.

 If I recall correctly, Mindy got up around 8:30am. Because she was up some early she planned to grocery shop this morning before heading in to work. That would enable me to continue work on my first chocolate pie this afternoon since some of the major ingredients were on the grocery list. We sat on the sofa together. We even ventured out on the deck for a spell. It was already about 50 degrees. 

When Mindy headed up for shower, I took off on my run. I ran along Trabue & Hague. What a lovely morning for a run. I was actually warm basking in the bright sunlight. As expected, Mindy was still busy getting ready when I returned from my run. While she finished getting ready, I went to the shed to check on my mannequins. J No, not really. I retrieved yet another bag of Patchmaster that we had stored there. I knew it was old but how old I didn’t realize it at the time. All I knew was that it hadn’t been opened. I figured I’d spread it on a few more bare spots in my newly established lawn area. I used about half of it. I checked for a date after finishing up. Holy smoke! The seed was tested for germination in 1999. Not sure that it’ll grow, but we’ll see.

 After heading inside, it wasn’t long before Mindy headed out for the grocery store.

My first order of business was making something to eat. I made a simple ham & cheese sandwich. It went down easy. I also ate two of Jacob’s leftover gates-of-hell wings. They were good too. Next, I got organized for applying polyurethane coats number 3 & 4. Before the third coat, I sanded with 220 grit paper. I removed a few slight imperfections, including a few unfortunate gnats.

 The third coat went on easy. In the meantime, I already knew that I’d be applying a fourth coat to hopefully prevent having to refinish it again too soon. The factory finish was ridiculously thin. While waiting on coat #3 to dry, I did some yard work. I carried all the walnut leaves and debris to the compost pile. Afterwards, I started the sprinkler on my new grass. I intend to take full advantage of all this Indian summer weather.

 I headed back inside. It wasn’t long before Mindy returned from the grocery. I helped carry in her haul. After she got everything put away she left again, only this time for school and report cards. After contemplating my options, I chose to take a nap in the recliner while using the heated massage pillow. As often happens whenever I rake leaves, my entire body was aching. The brief nap and massage was just what the doctor ordered. Ahhh!

 I woke around 2pm. I checked the Vikings football score online. They were winning 21-7. Wahoo! Time to start my chocolate pie. Before mixing up the pie filling from scratch, I rolled and baked my pie crust. That went pretty well, although the crust shrunk about ¾” ( note to self for the future iterations). The recipe for the chocolate pie filling was surprisingly complex compared to mixing instant pudding. I used evaporated milk, flour, sugar, corn starch, and unsweetened baking chocolate. Later, I added three egg yolks, vanilla, and butter. The entire time it was heating/cooking, stirring was a must to prevent the chocolate from coagulating. The key, as I was told, was to avoid lumps while allowing it to reach a thick consistency. That was tricky but I did it. I was pleased with the outcome. Against recommendations, after allowing it to cool for ten minutes, I poured it into my baked pie shell. I placed the completed pie in the fridge. It looked delicious!

 After cleaning up the pie mess, (boy was there ever a mess) I went to the deck to apply coat #4 on the table. This time I planned to put on a much thicker coat. I took great care to put it on extra thick around the edges, which will be more prone to wear, without creating an uneven appearance. It took about 30 minutes to get the last coat applied.

 Jimaken brought the kids home around 3:00pm. They immediately set out to play with their friends.  As a favor to Mindy, I spent the last half hour before she got home vacuuming the family room and living room. Unfortunately, the downstairs vacuum cleaner handle broke off as I pulled it from the foyer closet. Crap! I remembered that it had been rigged/repaired a while ago. I had to improvise yet another repair before it was again useable. That took about ten minutes. 

I finished up the vacuuming around 3:30pm. Mindy got home a few minutes later. Once she was home I went up for shower. We planned on leaving for her mother’s just after 4pm. I was ready to go just before 4pm. Before we headed out, I wanted to check the Vikings score. Their game ended earlier than most. They won 28-21. Wahoo! 

We arrived at Gloria’s before anyone else. Jacob & I tossed the football out front while waiting on others. Everyone else arrived around 4:30pm. There were a few family members absent but still a large turn out (13 of us). We had baked pork chops, cheesy rice, & potatoes and green beans. The chops were sensational! I had two. I watched football from the dining room during dinner clean-up. Dessert was served immediately after. Perhaps in celebration of Tuesday’s election, we had two choices, ginger bread (Obama) or strawberry flan cake (McCain). I had a piece of both. J We gathered our stuff and departed around 7:20pm. 

Jacob asked if he could walk Ykraps with me once we were back at home. I’ve never say no. I enjoy his company. I view those walks as an opportunity to get closer. The kids took a bath earlier in the day at their dad’s. As one might expect, that sped the evening’s bedtime prep along. I worked on my blog and downloaded pictures before settling in for some Sunday Night football. It was a good game – the Patriots and Colts. Mindy & I went to bed just before halftime. We were both suffering from the EDT transition. Although it was only 9:30pm, our bodies weren’t fooled a bit, it felt like 10:30pm.