Day 3 - Bunco, weather, Boiled Dinner

Day 3 - It's 5:00 and it's the first time I've had to sit at the computer and blog today. I may even have to do it in pieces and publish it tonight when the house is a bit more quiet. We'll see how this goes!

Last night was my Ladies' Bunco Night here in my neighborhood. Bunco is a game of dice, played in rounds. I won't bore you with rules, but if you want more detail you can click here. Anywho - we (The Girls) in my 'hood get together the first Friday of each month and play this game together. There's usually anywhere between 10-22 of us, and we take turns hosting. To quote what I found written about Bunco - "What is Bunco really? Well, it is a social event. A party! It's a blast! We get together once a month, leaving the cares and worries behind, and leaving the kids with their fathers or baby-sitters. We fall off our diets, snacking on M&Ms, hot dips, cold dips, or anything else we can get our hands on. We have heavy hor'dourves and seconds on dessert. We drink our favorite spritzer, Chardonnay, or Drink-of-the-night, and we talk. We talk about our kids. About the neighborhood. About our husbands, our jobs, their jobs, TV shows, current events, and anything else that might tickle our fancy. Oh yeah, and we play a silly, mindless dice game with wild abandon, hoping to take home a few more bucks than we arrived with (it's $5 for us)." This is exactly what I would have said in my own words!

I left last night with $30 in winnings for the highest score (set by the hostess). Last month I won $60 for the lowest score (set by the hostess also). Cool. But I won't brag anymore. Because the last time I was on a winning streak, I bragged. Big time. And then it took me almost a year to win again. Karma.

Today was a beautiful sunny day - high only got to around 55 degrees so it was a good day to throw open my windows and get some dusting and cleaning done. I am going to take down all my Halloween decorations this week, as I'm eager to get it back into the attic and prepare for the days leading up to decorating for Christmas. I will do that full swing the week of Thanksgiving. I host an ornament exchange at my house on the first Saturday in December, so I want things decorated in time for that. And it comes up pretty quickly once November arrives. In fact, we just signed our contract to have our Christmas lights installed on our house on November 17th. Here's what last year's lights looked like.

Tomorrow's the big game. Did you know? Instead of making Clam Chowdah (yes, meant to sound like a Boston accent), I decided to whip up a New England boiled dinner this afternoon. It smells awesome!! I feel like I'm at Nana & Papa's house with the rest of the family. My parents are on their way over to enjoy it with us for supper. YUM! I'm still going to wear my Colts Blue though...

Here's my recipe:
Cook time: 3hrs
Prep time: 15 min for peeling veggies
Yields: 6-8 servings

1 Smoked Picnic Shoulder (approx 10 lbs)
1.5 small peeled whole potatoes per person
1-2 lg cabbage heads, quartered
2 Med. whole onions, peeled
1-2 turnip (optional)
#1.5 of carrots peeled, whole

In large stock pot, cover with water 2" above ham. Add 2 bay leaves and boil for a total of 3 hours. Turnip can cook with this since it takes the longest.
Add carrots to the pot 1.5 hrs before eating
Add cabbage & potatoes to the pot 45-1 hr before eating

Drain, cut up ham and serve on a large platter with lots of butter, mustard & vinegar on the side to taste. Some crusty french bread and Enjoy!

*Note: If your pot is not large enough to cook the vegetables & ham together, the ham can be taken out when it's done and covered for an hour with foil until ready to eat. You can then throw all your veggies in the water and cook them up. You really can't mess this up. So Simple!