T Stands for the Back Up Plan

    Hi everyone. Happy new week to you, and for everyone who stops by for T Day over at Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog, happy T day to you also.

   What's new with me?  The good news is that our temperatures were a bit warmer than they had been. This was especially true this past weekend, and they say Tuesday (this T Day)  we could hit 40 (or a bit more) degrees F/4 degrees C. It's been weeks since it has been that warm even though that really isn't all that warm. But since I'm used to really cold temperatures it feels pretty warm.  I'm very excited about that. 😀

   Last week I made 2 loaves of this banana sandwich bread. It's  not a quick bread, but a yeasted bread that you add bananas to. 

   Besides adding bananas, you add cinnamon and orange peel. Unlike  banana quick (or unyeasted) bread, I can't say it tastes very much like bananas, but it does have  a unique flavor and makes delicious toast or even French toast.

   I've made this bread a couple of times before, and the recipe comes from this bread book that I've had for years. 

   I know not all American robins migrate, but I was quite excited to see this guy out eating bird food on the ground by the feeder.

 I know we can't count on spring until April (and sometimes not even then) but I can hope, maybe, this is a sign it's coming early this year. 🤞

    The other good news was that when I went to check the beehive on Sunday there were some dead bees laying in the snow. You may wonder why that is good news, but since it needs to be above 50-55  degrees F/10-13 degrees C before I can open the hive, I need to look for signs that they are still alive. You can usually hear the bees if you put your ear on the hive, but seeing it's winter the hive is wrapped so you can't hear inside. Seeing a few dead bees on top of the snow (and we had our last snow a week ago) means that there are live bees inside and they have cleaned out some of the bees that haven't  made it.

  In last Friday's post I shared a bit about the dog saga where Maddie was taking over Pete's bed. I mentioned how Pete was quite upset about it. Not that there was ever any growling, because those 2 get along quite well (they can even eat food at the same time out of one dish although they always get fed with their dishes). Well I think those 2 have come to terms that they will take turns in the bed.

   The only thing Pete didn't like was when Maddie decided  maybe they could share it together. I didn't get a photo, but as soon as Maddie crawled in, Pete got up and left. I don't know if she was trying to take over the bed and get him out of it or she wanted to be close to him. By the look on his face he was quite disgusted. 😡

   Finally I need to share a drink for T this week.

   This past Saturday my daughter and son-in-law were coming home from a little winter vacation and were flying into Manchester (New Hampshire). They were due in at lunch time so we were planning on meeting them for lunch. However, Friday night my daughter said she was starting to feel awful and when we texted with them Saturday morning she said she thought she had a fever and felt really terrible. Sadly our lunch was cancelled. I haven't seen my daughter since Christmas, and I was looking forward to seeing her.

  But just because they couldn't make it to lunch, didn't mean my husband and I did have a backup plan. We decided to drive to Manchester anyhow and go to the Puritan. The Puritan is a large family friendly restaurant that is known for their chicken tenders. They serve lots of other food, but I have only had their chicken tenders. I keep thinking maybe if they were closer to home (they are an hour away) I would try other things, but since I only get there 2-3 times a year, I stick with their chicken tender meal. 😏

  They are also known for mudslides, and they have a big mudslide menu. The special for February was a strawberry cheesecake one, so that's what I had. Well I only had the half size because that is actually enough for me, especially when I was driving. 

  I finished the mudslide, but I can never finish the chicken tenders. I'll get 2 more meals from the ones I took home.

  That's all for me today. Have a great new week and T day too.