Another Family Feast Night

Day started normally. Shower etc. then breakfast, normal fare. I had woken early so was able to be at the helm for eight. I went through my regular Friday morning call with my USA colleagues. I worked on some items that had languished on the to-do list for a few weeks and got things whittled down nicely. I had a call with a colleague in Quebec for a spell and eventually talked hockey, trying to figure out why the Leafs would go after Galchenyuk. We’ll have to see I guess. The call ran past noon so lunch was a touch later than normal. It was comprised of a Stouffer’s Bistro Crustini - Barbeque Chicken panini and a can of Campbell’s Chunky Butter Chicken and Vegetable soup. A filling and tasty repaste to be certain. The ease of preparation of the lunch and my speed of consumption meant that I had some extra time of my allotted forty five minute break. I did some preparation for the pending meal and filmed it. I may edit some things together later. Fuelled up and with a big mug of water I crawled back to my chair and got into the afternoon. I got a call from another colleague in Quebec who I hadn’t heard from in a spell and we got to talking. Mostly about work but I asked him some leading questions about a recent mishap he’d had. He broke his fibulia and tibia in a skiing accident and is still in the throes of the recovery. It was a pretty harrowing tale. After a lengthy chat that had us laughing our heads off at the end I got back to business. I prepared a couple of slide decks and scheduled some meetings for the following week. I answered some questions and posed some of my own to advance some topics and powered down at half four, having put together a full eight hour day of effort. I did my MSC challenges at this point and started to mentally prepare for the family feast to come. I got a call from a colleague down the road who was having a beer and wanted to chat, that took me right up to game time. We start at six, our time. This week my Sudbury sister had chosen Spicy Fried Chicken Sandwiches from the One and Done cookbook. I decided that I wouldn’t make the same slaw as the recipe called for as I hate onions and didn’t want to buy red wine vinegar for just this. I did the rest the same. Except I used red cabbage over green as I had some that hadn’t turned yet from the previous meal we made together. I can summarize that it is very spicy when you put extra cayenne and when you cut up a jalapeno that is about the size of an apple. The chicken was smooth and delicious thanks to the buttermilk bath it soaked in all afternoon. Take a look below at everyone’s version.

Photo credit: STL Sister, responded well to coaching.

Sudbury sister’s overhead version. We chirped her for the photo

I made two and opened one up for your viewing pleasure

I was checking another app on my phone and absent mindedly swiped them all closed when I was done, effectively hanging up on my family. Not sure how the rest of their call went. I uploaded some video and photos to various places and had a short respite listening to my audiobook. At half eight my second video chat of the night commenced. Meat Man, Admiral Bonesaw, the Booj and I jumped on a call and Cheese joined later with a brief cameo by Two Glasses of Wine. We had a couple of drinks and mostly laughed it up remembering better times. Some of us hadn’t heard some stories and others revelled in the memories. I had two beers, matching my total from the previous night. They didn’t hit me as hard this time but I did get louder and ruder, cutting Meat Man off a couple of times (sorry buddy). Eventually the call wound to a close around eleven and I sought the comfort of my bed. I was shortly after eleven when I punched my ticket for the day and whizzed away into the land of nod.