More with the cooking and the blogging

While my parents were here visiting, we had many adventures....and now it's back to regular days of shoppingcookingwriting...

I went to the market that doesn't smell so strongly of fish...because it's easier to buy food when my stomach isn't churning.  The last 'quick' shop for groceries was almost intoxicating, but I didn't go overboard because it was just to fill the gap between what we already had, and what I wanted to make. The intoxicating effect was a delicious air of baking bread, cafes, and chocolate.  Ya, they had just baked something chocolatey...I felt like the cartoons when they float off after the little drawings of wafting scents....luckily, I didn't bump into anything!

Today, I had three days of meals floating about in my brain as I went through the aisles looking for food-"ooohh-that's a great teal eyeshadow shade--do we need any soaps/shampoos/etc...? No, we're good on that, paper towel, no....don't need that aisle.  Kids are having friends come over tomorrow night, snacks and drinks to cover that... Oh-new pillows, that's timely, and wow, they take up almost the whole cart."  Chatted with the butcher boys...bought meat to cook with fire...and then came home unloaded it all and started a short kitchen storm.

The things to make were lasagne, check that, baked spaghetti because there weren't really any lasagne noodles in the pantry after all, soup for lunch, and cucumber salad.  Got it all happening at once, and remembered that I'd just made a successful batch of beans, and I had left over cheese sauce in the fridge...so the soup turned into bacon-bean-cheeseburger soup.

Four slices of bacon-fryed up, cooled and crumbled (and to be honest, I picked off the fatty and stringing bits 'cause they gross me-then wondered why I bought bacon instead of pork loin, realized it was the fat, and carried on...ending up with nice bits of crispy bacon)  The first whiff of bacon in the pan was great-it's been months since I've had or done anything bacon.  Added the cup of chopped white onion, and stirred...took a couple big spoonfuls out of the ground beef I was cooking for the lasagne  baked spaghetti out of its pan and into the soup pot.

Rest of this soup was garlic paste, pepper, and raw peas, carrots, and corn, the beans, and filled the pot with water, let the fire do the rest.  When it was all done, I stirred in last night's cheese sauce, and had lunch.  The dinner dish is in the oven, there's soup for kids' lunches, or tomorrow.  Friday dinner's already to go too-the chunk of beef, to be served with a tomato-onion chop that Jeff likes, purple potatoes to be done with garlic, and broccoli... With the pieces of salmon in the freezer, we're all set for the next few days, and that's a wrap, as soon as I pop in the procedure for the cucumber salad.

The only cucumbers here are field, (no English seedless, sadly...) so the salad is a seeded cucumber, which I accomplish by carelessly ripping the seeds out of the lengthwise split half.  Then, just because sometimes I like uniformity (I hear you laughing, stop it!) I cut the onion in the same shape as the cucumber 'smiles'.  So the bowl ends up with slivered red onion and cucumber, for the dressing, I don't mix anything ahead, because I'm thinking, I have to stir it anyway, and I like the vinegar to get on first. So I drizzle the veggies with apple cider vinegar, and then stir in some sour cream...and because too much uniformity is too much, I drizzle the balsamic glaze over the top...to be there for flavour without turning the pretty colours all to brown.

That's it-a little food moment.  Also, I get to have more thyroid medication- perhaps I'll be done with my afternoon napping needs soon?!

Cheers and chao!