Sunday Snippets

Three days until Rebel Junior is off to France. Packing commences today. We got a nifty suitcase - expandable, on wheels and looks like a big carry on bag instead of a suitcase. Borrowed it from a one of my coop students at work.

Now that I've read Julie and Julia, but haven't seen the movie yet, I might just have to get my mom's copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, look up "beef" and see what I can do with it. May be once or twice a week, in my spare time.

I have one day to scrap book a little photo album for RJ to take to France for Frenchy. 40 photos shouldn't take long.


Both girls dumped a whole whack of clothes in the spare bedroom. I went "psycho" according to Rebel, and took all the clothes, put them into 4! count'em FOUR garbage bags and dumped them into the trunk of my car. There were a whole pile of socks, and never worn stuff in there that belongs to Rebel's BF. oh well. They will end up at the ST. Vincent de Paul Society.

I stopped taking my stuff to the Diabetes Association, because they sell their stuff to Value Village which is owned by WAL MART!!! I try to avoid Wal Mart- except for the $175 I spent there yesterday buying cleaning crap, and stuff like that. I went in to pick up the $6 worth of photos for the above mentioned scrapbook.

Will be writing my first test for my students this week. There's some stress. I've never written tests before. Better make sure it's fair and understandable.

There seem to be some good furniture sales and I was going to buy a recliner for myself for the basement, but decided I will look for a chaise lounger for my bedroom instead. Selfish? Indeed. I want and need somewhere to rest my weary spirit when I want to escape and Calgon isn't cutting it.

I hear there is a football game today? I'll be catching missed episodes of Modern Family instead.

I can't cook meat!

I have come to realize that there are some things, well maybe only one or two things, I just can't cook very well.  It seems that beef is at the top of the list.  It's one of those end of marriage things that comes to the fore when you find you have to do something you haven't ever done, or maybe not done in a long time.  Cooking beef is one of those things for me, along with changing lightbulbs, mowing the lawn, and dealing with mouse traps.
I knew I was in trouble when I took a piece of meat, threw it into the oven, cooked it, and it came out tasting like I was eating plywood.

Beef was something that was XSU's responsiblity.  And I have to grudgingly admit he was good at it.  He got rid of the barbecue - I know I know - and bought one of those electric grill things that he kept in the garage.   He regularly spent time in there with his secret sauces and marinades and I just ate.  You know that the electric grill went with him when he left.  In fact it was the only appliance he took.  I should be grateful for this.  Yet even now, a mere two and half months later, it irritates me to no end that the garage still smells like a bad greasy spoon joint. 

Since XSU left I have tried cooking steak, pot roast, a couple of stir fry thingies, and I have to admit, I regularly bomb on all.  RJ sees beef on the counter top and tells me she's not hungry before I even get started. The only thing I can manage is a good beef stew - a full bodied red wine improves everything;. I can also cope fairly well with ground beef.   My roasts - like chewing rubber.  Steaks - we're talking hockey pucks.  And I realized it's because I haven't cooked beef in at least 15-20 years.  Seriously.

I am going to have to re-learn the art of cooking beef. Home Ec 101. Julia Child, Martha Stewart, Joy of Cooking and every other cook book I own will be found strewn across my kitchen when I throw a steak or a roast on the counter and into the oven. Next summer I will have to buy a barbecue and see how many steaks I turn into hockey pucks before I can actually cook a piece of beef worthy of fancy dining room eatin'.  For the next little while though make sure it's chicken, fish or vegetarian if I have invited you over for a meal.