Slaying Dragons

Today's adventure: dry milk.
Today I made my first attempt at turning powder into milk. The directions on the can say, "Using the chart below, dissolve indicated amount of dry product in corresponding volume of hot water by shaking vigorously in a closed container..." so I put one rounded cup of powder in with one pint of hot water, put the lid on my pitcher, and began to shake. At which point the hot water decided to make a break for it. The lid popped off, (I was holding it on, but apparently not well enough) and clumpy white water flew everywhere. I looked at the can again. "...or by mixing in a blender or mixer." Hmmm. So, I put a new rounded cup of powder into a bowl with one pint of hot water and began to mix. After a minute or two I poured the contents into my rinsed off pitcher. It was not very appealing, and still very lumpy, but not all over the kitchen this time. So, into the blender for one more try. A minute or two later I had very nice looking smooth white liquid (and a burning smell in my kitchen--my poor blender is on it's last leg I am afraid). So, back into the pitcher, and add cold water to make 2 quarts of ... "DELICIOUS MILK FLAVOR--A Blend of Dairy and Non-Dairy Ingredients--Vitamins A & D Fortified". (Is "Dairy" normally capitalized?) 'Why?' you ask should a Queen lower herself to making dry milk? I shall tell you.

The King is slaying out-of-town dragons at the moment. So, currently he is only residing at the castle on weekends. That makes life interesting for the Queen.
First of all, it inspires grand thoughts--I am going to get so much done while he is gone, and he will be so impressed when he comes home!--but tends to produce more lazy results--I know I should be doing the dishes, but the kid's won't notice if I don't... where's my book?
Second, it imperils the lives of the royal progeny. Especially during the quest commonly referred to as 'running errands'. After a particularly near brush with (what I want here is a word like patricide, only meaning that the mother strangled her child, rather than that the child killed the father... is there such a word?) Anyway, suffice it to say, our first stop did not go so well, and I abandoned the rest of the errands and went home. And, for this particular week, I have elected to avoid all unnecessary outings. The result being that we are out of milk. (Don't worry, we still have yogurt and cheese, the royal offspring are not being denied the dairy section of the food pyramid.) This has been slightly inconvenient, and for the 2 days that we have been out of milk, I have planned a trip to the grocery store, but one thing after another postpones the deed, until the day is gone. I still would probably not have forayed into the food storage area of the dungeon--where the dry milk resides--if it were not for the fact that I decided to make Hamburger Helper tonight, and didn't realize until after I had started that it calls for milk. (It's not something I make very often.) Ah well, it certainly was... an experience.

Tomorrow's adventure: Breakfast with "Magic Milk".