Weekend Wrap Up, August 20, 2011

I'm itching to cook.  It's been a week of mostly quick and freezer meals and I'm just about over them.  I really don't understand how so many folks are content to heat up a can of something and call it dinner.  Guess that's why I'm a foodie, eh? 

The good news is that Friday night while Connie played bridge, I finally got the little guest room put together.  My last task was the dressing table.  It was originally Mom's.  Then, it became mine when I was a kid. I don't use it any more since I long ago gave up on the whole eye shadow, mascara, blush routine.  It is now a repository for some of my favorite things.  An angel that was my grandmother's.  A powder box that my great-grandmother painted.  A hat pin holder from our former neighbors Ruth and Leo.  A toasting cup from the cruise I took with my family and Trish, my wonderful friend since 5th grade.  It was to celebrate our 50th birthdays.  Yes, she's a bit older.  No, I don't let her forget that.  A carved rabbit I got down in Madison, IN on a lovely vacation probably fifteen years ago.  An angel my mom brought me from a trip she took with her buddies, the Cruise Girls.  Lots of wonderful memories.  I loved being able to unwrap each piece and put it back in place and think about the people who mean so much to me.  

Saturday was moving day.  Time to clear out the storage unit.  No, you don't want to see the photos of me dancing on the table in celebration.   Bills's old desk came to the house.  Bill and Trish were married for many years.  I was in their wedding.  She was in my first wedding.  Sadly, he left many years ago.  Then, several years ago he died of a stroke.  He was way too young and I miss him to this day.  But, I now have his old desk in my sitting room to use.  We'll move the computer that was on the big lummox of a desk in the big guest room into the sitting room and I'll have a place to blog while Connie's in the family room listening to his beloved Red Sox at full blast. 

A couple of weeks ago, I was really hungry for pot roast.  I know.  It's a fall and winter dish.  Maybe it's because my friend the Mom Chef started writing about fall and apple season.  Or, maybe it's because the temps started falling into the 50's overnight on occasion.  Over the weekend, I browned the pot roast.  Then one weeknight, I cooked it in the pressure cooker.  Hmmm.  Not something I'd recommend doing.  It was lovely and tender.  But, the gravy was thin.  It just didn't have the flavor of a pot roast that's been baked low and slow for several hours.  I think everyone likes their mom's pot roast and chocolate chip cookies the best.  For me, since I've found my friend Liz's pot roast, it's been a toss-up.  This time, Liz's won. 

What to do with the leftovers?  They needed to be eaten last weekend.  Something over noodles.  You can call it beef and noodles.  Or stew.  Or stroganoff without the sour cream.  Whatever you call it, it was wonderful.  I took the leftover beef and cubed it.  Then, the leftover "gravy" (remember, it was thin thanks to the pressure cooker) was turned into a real gravy.  Carrots and peas were added along with some mushrooms.  Voila!

One of our meals was a miserable failure.  We love eggplant in almost any dish.  And, I love potatoes.  I'd found a Greek vegetable dish calling for potatoes, rice, eggplant and some other veggies.  It was cooked with tomato juice.  We both gave it a two out of five and put the rest of it down the disposal.  And, the recipe went in the trash. 

I'm starting to look forward to Labor Day weekend.  Cassoulet or beef wellington?  I'd like to try and make one of them.  Both require a LOT of work and some time and I really will need to spend a day making cat food and should spend two whole days in the office.  And, there's a lot more to do in the house and yard.  So much for wishful thinking!

Hope you've had a delightful weekend :-)

Weekend Wrap Up

I'd imagine most of you are a bit like me when it comes to cleaning out the refrigerator.  Sometimes those clean up the kitchen meals have some rather odd combinations.  Well, that might just be an understatement in my case.  Last week, though, I got lucky.  All the pieces and parts fit together very nicely, thank you.  We were celebrating our seventh anniversary of our first date and talked about going out to dinner at the lovely restaurant where we first met.  Then, fiscal responsibility took over and we decided to stay home.  I'd lost my weekly menu and had no great ideas but did have a bunch of stuff in the fridge and out on the counter.  So, what did I have that needed to be used up?  Watermelon chunks from one of my staff, half a jar of mango slices, a peach, an avocado, the last handful of raspberries from our bushes, a handful of nicoise olives, Casa d'Angelo salad dressing, half a red bell pepper and three English muffins.  I'm sure you've already guessed fruit salad.  You were right!  I had a head of romaine lettuce that I could use to make more Casa d'Angelo salad.  And, the English muffins would make fine mini-pizzas.  It wound up being an absolutely wonderful meal.  The best part though was the split of Prosecco we had tucked in the back of the fridge.  That went over the raspberries in the beautiful glasses my sister-in-law, Pam and my brother, John gave me many years ago.  Pam is the BEST present chooser ever.  I have about 10% of her creativity when it comes to gifts.  So, here's to Pam - thank you again and I love you!  Here are a few photos of our fantastic meal:

On to the yard.  The daylilies are in magnificent bloom.  If you're a long-time reader, you know that I dug about 500 starts from my old yard to bring to this one.  And, I carefully separated the fire colors - orange and red - from the pastels - pink and purple - so I'd have the fire colors in the new back yard and the pastels in the front.  The guys did a lousy job of loading the trucks.  They got one from here and one from there and who cared.  Now, that's what my daylily beds look like.  Guess what?  I'ved grown to love the color chaos.  Kinda matches the rest of my life!  In addition to the daylilies, we now have some cannas - first year they've bloomed.  And, we have hopefully as many persimmons or more than last year.  Last but not least is the lace cap hydrangea.  I'd love to be able to grow the Penny Mac since it's named after Penny McHenry who was a wonderful friend of my mother's and started the Hydrangea Society.  But, since I don't live down south, I've got to stick with the northern varieties!

We made patriotic drinks for the 4th.  They were ummm, ewww.  Way too much Blue Curacao.  A few sips and down the drain they went.

Last, but not least, here's a glimpse of the family party.  The La Brea Tar Pit Chicken Wings were a huge hit at the family party.  I think everyone there requested the recipe.  And, quite frankly, I was ready for an encore by about Tuesday...

Here's part of the crew digging in:

The two kids - Brooke who's my niece's stepdaughter and Alyssa who is my sister-in-law's cousins daughter, provided much entertainment.  (Even though I couldn't get Alyssa to smile while she was in the pool, she did PLENTY of smiling later!)

Gabby did not appreciate John's new pool shooter.

But, John and my niece Samantha certainly had a bit of fun with the shooters.

And, who wouldn't laugh at the pair of Royal Highnies that brother Matthew sent brother John.  Not quite as good as the time I sewed the elder brother John's towels together at the bottom but still humorous.  I can't get the daggone thing to load up and down so here you go: