Where's the lamb?

A couple of months ago on a cold Sunday afternoon I sat down with my family and watched Julie and Julia. It reminded me of how much I love cooking. In my life I cook almost daily, and I enjoy it, however, it has been a long time since I have tried anything more involved than risotto. After the movie I decided to try cooking a more difficult meal each week. That never happened. I did do eggs benedict one Sunday morning, I'll count that as one meal in two months. Now that I have five children in my home,and one of them in that dreaded senior year in which the time it takes is only outpaced by the amount of money it costs, I spend a good part of my time in the kitchen. Did I really want to try anything too taxing?
On a feild trip to Topeka last week I read an article in Food & Wine that included three Morrocan recipes. Surely I could do these. Sunday night while on my bimonthly shopping trip I picked up the few ingredients I needed. Everything I would need, except for the main ingredient for my Lamb and Noodle stew. The week before Easter I had bought a beautiful lamb roast at Dillons, so I had not expected any trouble. I had roasted the lamb right away with a simple garlic and salt paste rubbed on it, why hadn't I saved it? Sunday at 11:00 pm there was no lamb to be found in Liberal. Not to be detered I pulled a beef arm roast out of my deep freeze to make Beef and Noodle Stew.
Wednesday was to be the day. The weather was forcasted to be cool and windy, so I would not want to be outdoors, and I had nothing else planned. Of course work got in the way. I worked a half an hour late in the Elk office and needed to put in a couple of hours at our local office. I made it back into town at five and decided to put off the local office until I had put the girls to bed. I didn't read the recipes thoroughly before I started, which is unusual for me, normally I visualize the whole thing to help make a plan. Diving right in I did not notice that the noodles were to go through a longer process than simply boiling them. I started with the eggplant dish since it seemed to take more time. While the eggplant was charring in a stainless steel pot, not the cast iron cassarole, I started the beef dish. The recipe called for a cilantro bundle. For a second I stared at the cilantro thinking it would just be easier to chop it and toss it in. "Are you going to do this or not?" I asked myself. Had I really become such a lazy cook that walking into the next room and cutting a piece of string was too much for me? I tied the cilantro and tossed it in the pan. It was not difficult. I put the saffron into a skillet to toast for ten seconds. I pressed it with a wooden spoon and started counting. Miss Universe walked in with Huggy bear. I grabbed my tea and walked to the sofa to talk with her a second. While we were talking the fire alarm went off. The saffron was black. I started over with a new batch. The eggplant dish was finished earlier than I expected. I put it in the oven which was still warm from toasing the almonds. It was then that I noticed that the noodles required two forty minute steaming sessions before they went into the water. As I reached the point where the lamb was almost done I stressed out and started to think about skipping one of the steaming sessions. It was already after seven-thirty, I needed to get the girls in the shower by eight-thirty. They were outside jumping on the trampoline with Huggy bear and Sebastion. I decided not to skip on the noodles. I started the pear desert and made myself another cup of tea. By the time I sat down to drink my tea I realized that I was almost done. The noodles would need a two minute boil and the pears could poach while we ate.

The dinner was delicious. It took three hours for me to cook it, but I think I can cut that down to one and a half next time. The girls did not get into bed until ten, which meant that I didn't finish up at the local office until midnight. It was good though, and it made great leftovers on Thursday.

The last few days

A diagonal line will never be as attractive as it is on my work schedule. A diagonal line through a day denotes a day off. Today is a diagonal line. Last night I stayed up late again reading so I slept until 10:00 this morning. That is a lovely feeling. My body has told me many times over the years that the ideal time to sleep is from 2:00 to 10:00 in the a.m. If I had my way I would never argue with that logic.

The book I finished last night was The Time Traveler's Wife. It is the best fiction book I have read this year. After I finished reading the story I went ahead and answered all of the book club questions in the back before putting it down. Still not able to put the story away I went out and watched part of a hooters beauty pageant with dh just so I could find somebody to talk to about it. He was kind enough to feign interest while I talked as long as he didn't have to turn the channel. Then I took a few minutes to point which breasts I thought were real before going to bed.

Full of domestic energy today I have already seared a roast, de-glazed the pan with a Merlot, added it all to the crock pot with potatoes, onions, and carrots, made a pie crust, and invited Anna and her family over for supper tomorrow night. The roast and apple pie are for supper tonight. My mom gave me a large bag of apples and promised to buy the vanilla ice cream if I bake the pie. Tomorrow I am going to try out a chicken recipe, which I found at chicklit, and serve it with french bread and couscous.

Saturday night my neighbors through a party and didn't invite us. They are new to town and just invited the few friends who moved from Missouri with them and a mutual friend of ours. He was supposed to invite as many people as he could to make a party of it. Anna asked if I had been invited. She wasn't invited either so we joked about calling the police about the noise. We carried our beers to the computer and started watching Eddie Izzard on youtube. Some friends of ours came over and insisted we go to the party. She went right over while I went home and cooked supper for my family. Side note: if you are going to chop garlic and onion after a few beers be careful. Later dh and I went over and made joke about not being invited. It was a good night. I wound up in bed at four in the morning. Luckily my family never complains when the family breakfast doesn't start until noon.

48 hour fast

I am not a crazy person, well not totally, yet today I found myself shouting obscenities at my car radio. There is a local morning show that I used to listen to regularly. For a variety of reasons I don't listen much anymore. This morning I dropped my kids off at school, yes literally, and happened to hear the d.j. saying that it was ridiculous to choose a candidate based on gender or race. I didn't know what he was specifically talking about at the time. I shouted "Fuck you Ramon, Fuck you!" very loudly. I do happen to agree with his statement, we should choose our leaders on their ability to lead, it is just that he says things with no consistency. This man is a man that I have heard, more than once, say that he would never vote for a woman president. For him to be judging anyone else on how they choose their candidate is ridiculous.

On a different subject, I am fasting today. Around last Wednesday I decided to do the seven day detox. I did it a few years ago and I felt great when I was done. When to start is always the hard decision. Anna had just told me that her and a few friends were inviting themselves over to my house Saturday night. Sunday is when we have our large family breakfast, so I put it off until today. Last night at ten I decided to go in and have one last meal. What did I choose? A huge bowl of cereal. Wheat and dairy a a large part of my diet;I am going to miss them. Miss Universe is doing it also, she is the one who mentioned it first. This is her first time so I am curious to see how she likes it. I talked to Tams last night and she said she should do it with me again, but I am not sure she will. She is the one who loaned me the book and did it with me a few years ago.
I washed all of my tea pots and put them aside. It is all herbal tea for me now. Tea pots aren't really required for herbal tea since they come in tea bags. All of my wine glasses are washed and snug in their cupboard. Since this seems to be a time of renewal I think I'll season my cast iron skillets tonight. At least once in the winter I like to cover them in shortening and leave them in a 200 degree oven all night. I was washing one of them this morning and the smell of what I had cooked last wafted up to meet me. Yesterday morning I had sliced beef fillets and browned them in olive oil. They were heavily seasoned with salt,pepper, and garlic. I set them aside to be put in omelets. I then poured a few cups of red wine in the skillet to deglaze the pan. I added a can of beef broth and let it cook down into a thick sauce that was perfect to saute mushrooms in. The mushrooms were put into the omelets too. The rich beefy smell coming from the skillet filled my head and made me wonder if this fasting was a silly idea.

Halloween is here.

This is a busy day, Halloween today, Nanowrimo tonight. Every year the firemen in our community spend Halloween night at the fire station handing out candy and serving food to anyone who stops by and wants to eat. As the wife of a fireman I am making chicken and noodles and a large pot of chili for them to serve. My kitchen is usually fairly well stocked so I didn't bother to check and see if I needed anything from the store. Last night around 11:30 I realized I was out of beans, a basic ingredient for chili. The worst part is that I had just came back from Guymon. I'm sure I have mentioned this before, but I live in a town without a grocery store, so wheneverI find myself in a larger town I pick up a few things we need. Last night I honestly didn't think we needed anything except toilet paper and shaving cream, necessities for the holiday, so I didn't buy anything else. This morning we ran to the quick stop and I was surprised to find beans there. Now I can move on to other projects.

The Science fair is also today, of course Jason waited until this morning to mention he needed to rebuild the bridges he had used for his project. After that was done and I had ironed shirts for Lane and Jason to wear today I dropped them off at school. Back at home I started looking for a costume for Miss Universe, Fria Chica and myself to wear to the spook parade. This is the first year I haven't spent the whole month getting children's costumes ready. You would think I would have spent the extra time starting on my costume, but only if you didn't know me. Of course I put it off until the last minute. We have decided to go as the Blue man group, but have no bald caps. What will we do? I'm not sure yet. I'll figure that out in between going to the office to do a bit of work, making pooky a burrito costume, and peeling potatoes.

Potatoes. Before I moved to this area chicken and noodles was a soup you added crackers to and ate it like a soup. Here in this part of the country, and I am sure this can't be the only place, they are ladled over mashed potatoes and ate like a gravy. It sounded strange at first, but now I admit this is the best way to eat chicken noodles.

Last night Jason, Lane, and I went to the Goodwell haunted dorm. It wasn't as good this year as it always has been before. We decided to drive back through Guymon and go to their haunted house. It was very good, better than last year. We stopped for a milkshake and fries on the way home and arrived home two hours past their bedtime. It was worth it. Haunted houses are a tradition for the three of us. Lee never goes. He doesn't like to be scared. Dh goes with us occasionally depending on his mood. the three of us go every year. While in Guymon we stopped at the store for supplies. We ran into Lee's math teacher which doesn't surprise me at all. We always run into someone else from our town no matter where we are. She looked at the toilet paper, laughed and said that better not show up on her house. I assured her this was for friendly fire aimed at a friend. Now I am off to get things done. If you haven't signed up at Nanowrimo yet go do it now. You'll have fun, just do it.

HAVE A SPOOKY HALLOWEEN!!!

Sunday breakfast leads to late night movie

When my children were babies I had this idyllic picture of them sitting at the table doing homework;I helped them while I cooked. Many times over the years this dream has came true. Some days, like yesterday, there was almost too much of a good thing. A large Sunday breakfast is becoming a weekly staple for my family. My mom, sisters, and their families come over and we eat way to much. Then we play cards and eat more breakfast food in the afternoon.
Last night Lee was doing a book report and writing a movie. The movie is for his multi-media class, and is a real neat project. The book report was on The Slaughter House Five, which I haven't read but have had it on my to be read list. Jason was trying to find a project for the science fair. He decided on testing the strength of different bridge styles. We had to run to Guymon for supplies then come home and put them together. All in all it was a good day.
One of the supplies he needed was fishing line. Dh gave him a reel of it and we decided to take it off the reel and wind it on a dowel. In between these two stages we ended up with a large tangle of fishing line. It was already past Jason's bedtime so I sent him off and finished it myself. I popped Notting Hill into the vcr to watch while I worked. It was almost two in the morning before I finished. This morning Jason asked me if I could just bring up his materials around twelve thirty. I guess that long night could have been cut short. It was good I didn't put it off though. I am cooking for the rec. board today. The bread is rising, the chicken is boiling, and the pie crust is resting. Untangling fishing line is job for night time.
Notting Hill movie is one of my favorites. I couldn't even tell you how many times I have watched it. Some of the movies I watch over and over again have a certain part that makes the whole thing worth seeing again. This isn't one of those movies. I can't pick out the best part. Everything from this being one of the last movies Hugh Grant wore the floppy hair style in, to the witty banter endear it to me. I'm not sure I will get this next quote right, so forgive me. One of my favorite lines is "James Bond never has to put up with this sort of shit." This line isn't uttered by either of the leads, which makes it even better to me. It is said by Max. He and Bella have the best love story to me. The main story line is great, but the love between Max and Bella puts me in tears every time.
Enough about movies. I could go on all day, but that is surely getting tedious. I have a confession to make. I do judge books by their covers. I also judge wines by their name. It sounds like a dicey way to choose a new wine, but I have had just as much luck that way as I have had by doing research. I was with Fria Chica the other day and I said across the store, "hey I found one named after you, Sweet Bitch."
She replied "The one next to it is you." I looked and it was named Royal Bitch. I bought her namesake and we tried it that night. Since neither her nor my mom are drink much wine I still had half a bottle left this morning. I poured most of it into the chicken I am boiling for chicken and noodles, and am drinking the last glass right now. It is early for anyone but the serious drunks to be drinking, but it felt right to have one glass before I go in to have a nap.

Before I get started I need send out a quick thought to one particular driver.

Hey, guy in the over-sized, blue pick-up. That's right you, the one with his name painted on the back window. I don't know what your hurry was last night, but did you really save more than a second or two by passing me right before you slowed down to turn? Or was your turning such an important event that it deserved two vehicles slowing down for it rather than just the one? I hope, for your sake, that you are more considerate to people than that when you are not driving, because if not you are a real asshole.

What does that say about me when merely having to slow down when I didn't need to caused so much ire?

Dh just called me and asked what I was doing. After my answer that I was cooking supper for tonight he very cautiously said that he had forgot to tell me that we had been invited to a shrimp fest tonight. You would think that after fourteen years he would know that I am basically a lazy person. Instead of getting angry, I was thrilled. Not only do we get to eat a meal tonight that I don't have to cook, but I now also have supper ready for tomorrow night. Luckily I was making stuffed shells, which in my opinion is better after it sits a day.
Usually I don't start cooking supper at 9:00 a.m. unless I am making something that needs to cook all day. Most days I start looking through the cabinets to figure out what I'm going to cook thirty minutes before I need to have it done. Since I'm already starving by this point I grab a handful of Manzanilla olives to eat while I look. Today I was making an exception because I am working all week. On Friday an office called to see if I would fill in Monday and Tuesday afternoon and all day Wednesday. I was already scheduled to work in an office here in town Thursday and Friday. Now I need to go call my sisters and collect on some free babysitting I've surely earned.