the weekend wrap

An on-call weekend usually means, starting Saturday morning, not venturing beyond walking distance from our apartment {and even that's a stretch}. What it doesn't usually mean is David actually getting called into work...

By that measure, this weekend was not usual. Of course it wasn't. Because, after months of waiting, we finally had an appointment with the DirectTV installer for Saturday morning and David was ready to do all the question asking and paying attention that might accompany such an appointment.

With breakfast just out of the oven David's pager bleated angrily.

"We need you in an hour."

A busy operating room summoned {read: running two rooms and adequately staffed with two anesthesiologists...one of which who preferred to supervise).

At least we had an hour to eat and for David to brief me on the keynotes.

Saturday scones? Not this morning. {Perhaps breaking our tradition negated any possibility of a usual weekend. Should have known}

I saw some beautiful blueberry muffins on one of the many food blogs I ogle and decided I'd give them a whirl. 

This was a risky choice, being that, when given the option, I never choose a blueberry muffin. Just not a favorite. But David loves blueberry muffins. If given the option, that's the one he'd pick. And they were so pretty. So, decision made.

I call my adaptation: superstuffed, jumbo blueberry muffins.

Superstuffed Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins
yield: 7 oversized muffins
adapted from: gourmade at home

2 cups + 1 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup low fat buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups fresh blueberries

Preheat the oven to 500°F. Grease muffin tins or line with paper liners. Set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together 2 cups flour, salt and baking powder. Whisk to combine. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the sugar, eggs, butter, buttermilk and extracts. Whisk until well combined.

Create a well in the flour mixture. Pour in the wet ingredients. Gently stir until ingredients are well distributed and moistened. Be careful not to over mix, lumps are okay.

In a small bowl, combine the blueberries and the remaining Tbsp flour. Toss to coat. Gently fold into the batter.

Evenly divide the batter between muffin tins, filling two-thirds to three-quarters full. If desired, sprinkle tops with raw sugar.

Place muffins in the oven and immediately drop temperature to 400°F.

Bake 20-25 minutes, depending on muffin size, or until a tester inserted into the center of one of the muffins comes out clean.

The original recipe called for 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract, however David is not a lemon fan and I don't typically keep lemon extract on hand so I just upped the vanilla factor. This change met mixed reviews: David thought {thinks} the muffins are perfect {he continues to eat them for breakfast before work}. I think they needed the tartness of the lemon to give them a little something. I also think wild blueberries would bring that tart element, though I probably won't be going back to the blueberry muffin well any time soon...not the traditional style at least. {I did see blueberry goat cheese muffins which are alluring}

The muffins were moist and muffin-y. Good, I guess, if blueberry muffins are your thing. {okay. that is a horrible sales pitch, but I am a really horrible judge. so, really, if you're into blueberry muffins these are probably worth trying - with or without the lemon since the blueberry-muffin-man enjoyed them as is}

With breakfast done and David out the door it was only moments before my phone was ringing, Mr. Install on his way.

I had formed a picture of Mr. Install in my head based on name alone. He was tallish and rather slender. White hair, parted in the middle, kind of dry, thick. He had a salt and pepper mustache. Thin-ish nose...I'm pretty sure my picture was of a maintenance man at Chico's whose name may or may not have been the same as Mr. Install.

Boy was I surprised when his voice came over the line. That's not what he sounded like in my head. Then when he arrived I was bowled over. I even had to email David to tell him how far off he was from my picture. {David, having heard Mr. Install's voice over the phone pictured one of his uncles. also not correct.} I don't think I ever would have pictured this man. He was actually slightly shorter than I {me in bare feet, he in boots}. He had coarse and curly-ish dark blond hair, kind of swept to one side but it may have done that on its own. Prominent darker blond/light brown beard and mustache. Same texture as his hair. Round nose. Not heavy by any means, but he had a stockiness about him. I most liken him to a gnome. Again, not the image I had created on my own.

And he was no quick worker. He arrived around 10:30a and was out the door (some work still-to-be-completed) just before 1p. This part should really not have come as a surprise, seeing as we first contacted him about switching to DirectTV on Feb 1st {please note Saturday's date was June 25th}. He was very nice, however. Tried to joke about his being MIA. I didn't joke back. The disappearance seemed a bit unprofessional to me, the customer {paying more than double for our prior cable service}.

Though Mr. Install has to return to finish the setup, when he left we were up and running with DirectTV - and that made me happy!

David timed his return home impeccably, calling no more than 20 minutes after Mr. Install's departure.

The rest of the day was business. Errand running {notably out of character, but David had already been called in so chances of a second call were slim}. We even ran all the way out to Warwick {this can truly only be appreciated if you've ever lived in a place as small as Rhode Island after living in a more spread out location - like Florida. any venture that takes you beyond your small city is a journey}.

In our adventure we stopped by Whole Foods in hopes of finding vegan marshmallows. No such luck, but we did come away with some ab fab homemade tortillas.

So they aren't really what I would classify as tortilla chips, more like really good, big chow mein noodles. With salt. You can taste the calories applying themselves to all your favorite spots. They're sooooooo delicious. {yes, we went to a "health food" store and just bought junk}

Sunday started with croissants and otherwise was completely uneventful. We made a very brief attempt at bathing suit hunting - to no avail. Seriously there's not much out there. Thank heavens for the internet!