Happy Monday, friends! I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah for today's post. I hope you had a good weekend! Mine was really nice, with fun things, family time, friends, and some time at home alone. I'll jump in!
I switched it up again on Friday and picked Dad up at 9:45. I had to go to Jackson again, which is an hour away from his house, for an appointment I had to get screened for TSA pre-check. After we left there, we drove to a small town named Whiteville for lunch; we stopped at an Amish grocery store/cafe for lunch.
This is Backermann's; I wish I could say how amazing our lunch was, but honestly, it was just mediocre. We both got the "quirky turkey" sandwich on homemade sourdough, but my lovely friend Marilyn has forever ruined me for any other sourdough bread that's not hers. Speaking of Marilyn, she was involved in my Friday night plans. After I took Dad back to his house, I came home for a bit to let the dogs out and change clothes, and to make something to take to her house for our dinner. In case you don't already know this, I have started a book club! We met for the first time two weeks ago, and Marilyn came that night, armed with a loaf of her amazing homemade sourdough bread. And thus, the monster was created, because the men in my home inhaled that loaf in the five days that followed. Friends, it was (IS!!) so delicious that I asked her if I could come over on a Friday night and have her teach me her ways. So that's what I did Friday night!
She made us a delicious dinner, and I took pasta and fruit salads, and a bottle of delicious wine that we had with our dessert.
This kind of dinner is my favorite! It was delicious and it all kind of went together miraculously without either of us knowing what the other was doing. We enjoyed a (healthier) chocolate chip cookie with the fruit salad I brought, and we each had a small glass of this wine that you see pictured above. I thought this was a different brand when I stopped in our local Cheers; I love the Stella Rose brand, and this bottle was right next to those. I didn't see the one I went in to buy, but this one caught my eye, and I went with it. The label says it has bright notes of orange blossoms, wildflowers, and honey. It was delicious! I left it with Marilyn to enjoy.
We had such a fun night, and I'm so thankful she taught me how to make sourdough bread! She was so thoughtful to even type up the recipe with instructions for me, and she also walked me through it as she got hers ready for baking on Saturday morning. One "batch" of the recipe makes two loaves, so she kept one and sent one home with me to finish on my own Saturday morning. I followed the final instructions before baking it, and look at how amazing it turned out!
And then when I fed the dogs across the street and walked back home, I took this. It always surprises me to see this in our driveway! Todd brings it home when he's the CDO (commanding officer) for the weekend. He worked on Saturday and Sunday nights this weekend, which isn't ideal, but sometimes just can't be helped. We'll have a date night this weekend, for sure.
What did you do this weekend? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all!
Jenn 🖤
The sourdough is beautiful and I love the look of the wine you brought and the "girl dinner" really came together. Yes, teachers are very scared of AI and Chat GPT. This is why I use pencil and paper and allow very little phone use.
ReplyDeleteI felt like my weekend was long because of having Tom off for four days! I wasn't as productive but it was nice. It was almost like a staycation.
Thank you! It tastes even better than it looks, which is incredible to me. Even my son commented on it yesterday! My boys also know about it and Holly said it was popular with the younger crowd; I guess teachers ARE crazy concerned about students using that in class. I had no idea that was what you meant when you talked about students and their phones. If I were a teacher, I would also ask them to place their phones somewhere they can't have access to it during testing time. That's crazy! The AI thing freaks me out, but I enjoyed using it to search for name ideas.
DeleteThat's so great that you had a good long weekend while Tom was off! Sometimes stay-cations are the very best!
Your Friday evening with Marilyn sounds so nice! What fun to learn something new all while having fun and what you´re learning results in something that tastes delicious. Win-win-win! My kids know all about ChatGPT. Abby has used it for ideas sort of like the cafe names. Meanwhile, we brainstorm careers that AI won´t be likely to take over. (Maybe we should ask ChatGPT that?) Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteIt was so much fun! I love doing that kind of thing: a fun night and a productive one, all wrapped up together. I do think it's great to use only for ideas like that; I was looking up cafe names and book club names. It gave me some great choices!
DeleteThe sourdough looks amazing! I think I could live on bread alone.
ReplyDeleteThank you, it is delicious! I think I could do the same, which is why I never eat it; I am definitely a bread girl and would prefer that over sweets any day.
DeleteThat cafe is just the cutest!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like such a lovely Friday evening and that is great that you now know how to make the sourdough bread! It looks so good.
My girls introduced me to Chat GPT. They use it for letters that they have to write and my youngest for college work although I am sure it isn't allowed.
I thought it was cute too, Kim! It was a good day with him. I'm thankful for every one of those that I can get. Each day is a blessing at any age, even more so at 93! My young friend uses it for her job; she's a graphic design person and she also has to write for her job. She writes the letter and asks AI to arrange it to make it more readable and to correct any grammatical error. I thought that was brilliant!
DeleteI'm so glad you came and the bread turned out so well! I have never heard of ChatGPT. There are so many new tech things out there. Enjoy your Monday!
ReplyDeleteThank you again for the most fun night! You are such a great teacher. I'm glad I wasn't the only one who hadn't heard of that! I want to ask my sons if they know about it, although I'm sure they do since they're young. Have a great day, my friend!
DeleteOne of these days I may make sourdough bread; we just avoid carbs so much now I kind of forget. Sounds like a nice weekend.
ReplyDeleteIt's so delicious and worth the effort! We don't eat a lot of carbs either, my husband and I, but we will eat a small piece of this with our dinner. It's even better dipped in olive oil with sea salt! Thanks for stopping by today; I hope you have a great Monday!
DeleteHow fun learning how to make sourdough! Sounds like a beautiful weekend for sure!
ReplyDeleteIt was SO much fun! It was a great one, and I hope yours was too!
DeleteThat sounds like such a fun Friday night and yay for your bread turning out so well on your first try! Alec and I were talking about how the salutatorian wrote his whole speech with the help of chatGPT and how when their economics teacher found out read it out loud so they could all chime in on which parts they thought were "computer" and which were in fact the salutatorian's words. It was done in a fun way and didn't hurt the boy's feelings at all and the end result was a really great speech at graduation but Alec said as he listened that night all he could hear was Mr. Mizak and some of the class comments on the part of the speech they were teasing/critiquing.
ReplyDeleteIt was so much fun! That is so interesting about Alec's teacher and him asking them to decipher what was real and what AI did. That will make a lasting impression on all of that class, I'm sure!
DeleteYour bread looks yummy! A neighbor gave me some starter a couple of years ago but it was right before my daughter's wedding and I just didn't have it in me to keep things going. I do buy Sourdough from the local Publix bakery and theirs is delish. It's fun to bake your own though. My hubs uses chatGPT quite often for business communication. It's pretty amazing, however my friend who teaches business at a well known university says its a nightmare on that front. Looks like you had a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteThank you; it is every bit as delicious as it looks! I can see why it would be an ordeal to keep going with it; I'll go with it for as long as the mood lasts. I can see that about chatGPT! I think that like everything else, there are pros and cons. I hope you had a great Monday!
DeleteThe bread looks delicious! We need to have a sourdough lesson on our next meetup/trip!
ReplyDeleteThank you; and that is a great idea!
DeleteOh my goodness, that sourdough bread looks divine! Kudos to you! It looks so crusty on the outside. I'm sure it was a real treat! What special men you celebrated this past weekend, too! A good father (or father figure) is one of life's greatest blessings!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Laura! You are so right about that, my friend.
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