WEEKLY MENU 02.19.23
We’re seeing the light at the end of the winter tunnel during the Weekly Menu 02.19.23~
Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday are the spring precursor on the Weekly Menu 02.19.23, but it is COLD around here today. Easter isn’t until six weeks after Ash Wednesday, but we’ve got our eye on spring, at least. Because gorgeous Lake Erie is nearing record-level lows of ice coverage, it’s still impacting our weather, and will for the next several months. (Who are we kidding? Lake Erie impacts our weather all year long. If we don’t have lake-effect snow, we can get lake-effect rain.)
Our winter has been uncharacteristically mild, and the lake temperature is hovering at a balmy 36 degrees, (according to the Erie Water Temperature and Wetsuite Guide) which is troublesome from an ice-dune stand point. Haver you ever seen ice dunes? They are crazy cool, although they are also very dangerous to climb on. They’re often not as sturdy as they look, and are, naturally, very slippery.
They’re important as well as being pretty:
“Lake Erie is like a big tub. The greater velocity of wind that pushes against that tub it pushes the water so you can actually have water three or four feet higher on one side than the other side,” said Joe Pfadt, Member of the Presque Isle Advisory Committee.
Having an uneven distribution of waves can cause erosion to the shoreline.
“If we didn’t have ice dunes then they are just going to hit sand and wash out on top of the beaches end up on the road causing us all kinds of problems and erosion. Help protect that shoreline they reduce that velocity that the water has when it crashes on the shore. It hits that shoreline and it gives them something else to hit,” said Pfadt.
YourErie.com
That protection hasn’t been in place so far this winter, and unless it gets and stays cold real quick, it’s not going to happen, which doesn’t bode well for the beach come summertime. We’ll keep checking!
Mardi Gras is on the Weekly Menu 02.19.23!
Of course, it’s on Tuesday during the week, which makes it a little tough to celebrate unless we’re going to go all New Orleans, Louisiana on it, which we are not. This year at least.
Mardi Gras has nowhere near as much paraphernalia attached to it as the recently celebrated Valentine’s Day, but, rest assured, Amazon has you covered. (Affiliate links follow – see Disclaimer Page for details.)
We’re going old school Mardi Gras décor around here – a trio of sanding sugars from the grocery store will cover us just fine. Who knows – we probably have purple left from last year. This cheap combo has all the colors you need – plus one:
Our Mardi Gras “party” is super low key this year too~
We’re having a pot of Jambalaya, although we could slide in some Cajun Wedding Soup just as easily. They have spice and a lot of meat in common, which is good, as we’re going vegetarian on Wednesday and Friday. Tough week for the boysies.
Bert and I are shuffling off to Buffalo on Sunday to pick up D at the airport at noon, and I’m hoping to talk Bert into hitting up one of the old-school Italian restaurants in that region for lunch. It’s almost impossible to find good, old fashioned Italian restaurants in Erieland, IMHO.
So Sunday din-din is a little different this week. We’re having make your own deli sammies for anyone that’s still hungry come dinnertime. We’re finishing the meal with the cheesecake that I didn’t make for Valentine’s Day. (All the fixings are in the house, but we had So. Many. Cookies. left from Super Bowl Sunday that it didn’t get made.)
Everyone loves a good Mexican Street Corn Casserole, so we’re making it the star of dinner on Ash Wednesday by adding beans and other good for us items. Friday is vegetarian again – although a creamy, hearty pot of Potato Leek Soup isn’t much of a penance.
