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Jul. 30th, 2005 01:22 pmI can do things with a potato that would make you weep. Occasionally, when I'm home alone, I will bake myself a potato for lunch and then I am happy for hours because It. Was. So. Good. The key to a perfect potato is to drizzle some olive oil and kosher salt on it and then wrap it in foil. And then, sautee some diced onions in butter (margarine) and throw in a can of mushrooms (optional). Today I threw the cheese (just processed, sliced singles) right in the pan to melt. It was PERFECT.
I'm in a fairly good mood today, even though my boy is at work, because I have been pretty productive. I've done the majority of my MM work, and almost all of what's left is just not ready. I guess I'll have to work on it tomorrow, too, although I had kind of planned to go play with M on Sunday. I think we're going to stay home, mostly, and try to work on house things. Except for the grocery shopping.
I seem to be in a foodie mood today.. trying to figure out what kind of meals I want to make this weekend, since we're staying home. Since he gets home quite a bit later than I do, we usually eat separately. I could wait, but my stomach has issues lately, and I tend to get queasy if I get hungry. Anyway, that means that eating a real meal together at home is kind of a luxury these days. And, for some reason, I've been thinking about making the Beef Thing, and I think I'm going to have to try it.
When I went to visit M in Sweden for the summer in 2000, I didn't know how to cook. I've gotten quite into cooking--when I want to--after we got married, but at the time, my cooking skills were limited to spaghetti, baked spaghetti, possibly lasagna (those three things involved, by necessity, pre-made jars of sauce. I still tend to use them, but I CAN make a real sauce now if necessary) and pot pie, but I couldn't make that in Sweden because I didn't know what substitutions to make and I didn't feel like fooling with it anyway. We really, really thought that M would be doing all the cooking once we were together full-time. Anyway, I did a lot of trial-and-error cooking over the summer, and somehow, we came up with this pasta and beef dish that we never came up with a better name for than the beef thing. (We probably spent hours, in total, thinking about it, though.)
Anyway, I'm not sure exactly how it evolved into what it was, but it was basically rotini with little cubes of beef, onions and mushrooms and a cheese sauce. But, we've never made it since we've lived here because of the cheese sauce. It was a pre-made sauce, sold in little paper boxes in the refrigerated section, and I have no idea what was in it. At this point, neither of us really remember the exact details of how the dish tasted, and agree that it probably won't be as good as we remember because my cooking skills have improved so much that it wouldn't compare with the stuff I make now. It was a white-ish color, somewhat thin. I don't even remember what it was called, although M probably does. It had a kind of mild flavor, though, and we sometimes added cheddar to the skillet to make it stronger. I just wish I could taste it again first to boost my memory before I start trying to recreate it.
I worked on the books last night, and again this morning. We really, really should get rid of some of these. And I should stop being so organized. (Although I don't have them in library-fashion, so I'm not nearly as organized as some people. ;) We now have four full-size bookcases, plus a narrowish one in one side of the big thing that M lugged from Sweden, and a short but wide one, built for me by my grandfather and cousin for Christmas one year. That one, which I love, of course, I have on the inside half-wall by the stairs. The kind of fun thing about it is that it is our Incoming bookcase. It only has books we haven't read yet in it, and then we put them in the other bookcases when we're done with them. (Ideally we put them away, but generally, since there hasn't been room for them until now, hence the new bookcase, I just stack them willy-nilly in front of some other books. Not pretty.) Anyway, it's beginning to look quite nice in there, though I still have quite a bit of work left.
I'm in a fairly good mood today, even though my boy is at work, because I have been pretty productive. I've done the majority of my MM work, and almost all of what's left is just not ready. I guess I'll have to work on it tomorrow, too, although I had kind of planned to go play with M on Sunday. I think we're going to stay home, mostly, and try to work on house things. Except for the grocery shopping.
I seem to be in a foodie mood today.. trying to figure out what kind of meals I want to make this weekend, since we're staying home. Since he gets home quite a bit later than I do, we usually eat separately. I could wait, but my stomach has issues lately, and I tend to get queasy if I get hungry. Anyway, that means that eating a real meal together at home is kind of a luxury these days. And, for some reason, I've been thinking about making the Beef Thing, and I think I'm going to have to try it.
When I went to visit M in Sweden for the summer in 2000, I didn't know how to cook. I've gotten quite into cooking--when I want to--after we got married, but at the time, my cooking skills were limited to spaghetti, baked spaghetti, possibly lasagna (those three things involved, by necessity, pre-made jars of sauce. I still tend to use them, but I CAN make a real sauce now if necessary) and pot pie, but I couldn't make that in Sweden because I didn't know what substitutions to make and I didn't feel like fooling with it anyway. We really, really thought that M would be doing all the cooking once we were together full-time. Anyway, I did a lot of trial-and-error cooking over the summer, and somehow, we came up with this pasta and beef dish that we never came up with a better name for than the beef thing. (We probably spent hours, in total, thinking about it, though.)
Anyway, I'm not sure exactly how it evolved into what it was, but it was basically rotini with little cubes of beef, onions and mushrooms and a cheese sauce. But, we've never made it since we've lived here because of the cheese sauce. It was a pre-made sauce, sold in little paper boxes in the refrigerated section, and I have no idea what was in it. At this point, neither of us really remember the exact details of how the dish tasted, and agree that it probably won't be as good as we remember because my cooking skills have improved so much that it wouldn't compare with the stuff I make now. It was a white-ish color, somewhat thin. I don't even remember what it was called, although M probably does. It had a kind of mild flavor, though, and we sometimes added cheddar to the skillet to make it stronger. I just wish I could taste it again first to boost my memory before I start trying to recreate it.
I worked on the books last night, and again this morning. We really, really should get rid of some of these. And I should stop being so organized. (Although I don't have them in library-fashion, so I'm not nearly as organized as some people. ;) We now have four full-size bookcases, plus a narrowish one in one side of the big thing that M lugged from Sweden, and a short but wide one, built for me by my grandfather and cousin for Christmas one year. That one, which I love, of course, I have on the inside half-wall by the stairs. The kind of fun thing about it is that it is our Incoming bookcase. It only has books we haven't read yet in it, and then we put them in the other bookcases when we're done with them. (Ideally we put them away, but generally, since there hasn't been room for them until now, hence the new bookcase, I just stack them willy-nilly in front of some other books. Not pretty.) Anyway, it's beginning to look quite nice in there, though I still have quite a bit of work left.
