Weekend? What weekend?

Listening: Rosalie Sorrels on Spotify.

I had a four-day weekend and spent most of it with Dad, working on my brother's truck.  Long story; more detailed than interesting.  And it still won't start.

Mispickel felt left out.  Seriously.  She tried to open the door to the garage to come investigate.  If that washing machine were just a little closer to the door handle, she would probably have enough leverage to open it.  Notice that she's huge.

Finally, she gave up and sulked.  She never lies with her face down and her eyes open like that.  She's not napping:

I was tired and frustrated by Monday afternoon, and then it started to rain, and the truck was persistently dead, so Dad took a nap and Mom and I went to the antique malls.

We found some Fiesta.  She likes the buffet plates (a Kohl's special) and I got the mugs to take to work.  The Sea Mist oval deep platter was unnecessary but cheap.

She found some souvenir mini pitchers on sale for two dollars apiece.  She liked the pine cones on the Yellowstone ones and I liked that the Pike's Peak one had the altitude (and we've been to both places). 

In between doing greasy things on the Ranger, I made two loaves of no-knead bread.  I still don't really have the hang of it but I think I will, and . . . mmm, homemade bread!  (This looked better in real life, I swear).

Monday night, I made a rhubarb pie.

2 bags frozen rhubarb (I honestly think frozen works better for pies than fresh)

1 1/4 + cups sugar (to taste.  Don't try to skimp too much, though, because, healthier desserts aside, rhubarb is ungodly sour and you just can't get away with cutting the sugar that much.)

1/4 cup tapioca flour (you can buzz pearl tapioca in the blender)

small pinches of cloves and nutmeg

two pie crusts (mine are frozen.  I'm lazy and I hate making pie crust)

Egg white to brush top

10-inch pie plate

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Line pie plate with one crust.  Prick second crust with a fork or cut out steam holes in whatever shape you like.

Cook rhubarb with sugar, spices, and tapioca flour until it thickens and tries to gum up.  Scoop into crust, cover with second crust, crimp edges, and glaze with the egg white. 

Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce oven heat to 350 and bake 30-60 minutes.  I usually put this on the middle rack with a pizza pan underneath to catch drips in case the pie runs over.  Also, I have an electric oven so the temperature doesn't drop right away and I think this shortens the cooking time at 350; the original recipe said 45-60 minutes but that would have been way too long.

I had pie for breakfast.  Well, not only pie, but dessert after breakfast.  Because why not?

I was cruising eBay yesterday--I've been trying to stay off but was looking for something for a friend--and found four yards of this Concord Christmas print.  I have a fat quarter of this at home and it's one of my favorites, ever.  I've been hoarding it for fear of using it up.  So, yeah; sold!

It's been raining for three days.  I'm not really complaining, but for practical reasons it might have been better that we not get an entire spring's worth of rainfall all at once.

That would be Cypress Creek.  I've seen it higher, but not in the past few years.