Boeuf Bourguignon

So the meal went well, not as satisfying as all the work Michael and I put into it, though. Sunday night we cooked from 8pm to 1am and then cleaned up from 1am to 2am. Needless to say, we were both exhausted when 7:30am rolled around.



We refrigerated the food and served it Monday night to our friends Vinnie and Cambria. Cambria tried to guess what we had made and shouted and jumped up and down when we told her "boeuf bourguignon". "Julia Child's 'Boeuf Bourguignon!!!" She had been wanting to prepare it since she saw the wonderful movie Julie/Julia (as did we... )

The meat was a little overdone, and it just didn't taste as "amazing" as it smelled. Oh well.




On the other hand, Michael and I had such a good time cooking together that we felt like we got an inexpensive date night out of it. We danced around each other as the broth boiled and the bourguignon simmered. We rolled our eyes in delight smelling the brown braised onions. And even when we were exhausted and starting to get grumpy (that can happen at 1am) we still laughed as we scrubbed down the kitchen from our cooking escapade.

It was a wonderful night.

Monday, as well was a great time. Vinnie and Cambria are awesome and we thoroughly enjoyed sitting and talking for 4 hours. I don't know about them, but I wasn't ready for the night to be over when they left. Leaves me in anticipation for the next time we can all get together.



Lord, thanks for great friends, good wine, and wonderful days full of laughter.

Southern Charm

Tonight I have a potluck dinner with all of the wives at the Commander's house! I signed up for a veggie.

As some of you know, the west is very different from the south... no drawls, sweet tea (they look at you funny if you ask for some), or southern hospitality - people just aren't nice! So I'm bringing some of my southern roots to tonight's dinner with one of my favorite veggie dishes: Zucchini and Squash! (It helps that I've been craving it!)

Here's the recipe:

3 sm. zucchini, washed

3 sm. summer squash, washed

2 lg. onions, halved and sliced thin

Salt and Pepper to taste

In small amount of oil in skillet, cook onion until transparent. Remove from pan.

In same oil, cook zucchini and squash (which have been sliced thin) until just crisp and tender. Combine with onions and serve.

Now I'm thirsty for some of Mom's sweet tea! It's good to be a GRITS!

The Monday Mad Dash

As usual, I'm in a glorious sleep dreaming of gum drops and sugar fairies when I hear it. The TRASH MAN! I've forgotten (again) to put my weekend trash can out to be taken away to trash heaven.

Then, the familiar questions start:

- Is he going around the corner, or did he already pass my house?

- Did I throw anything away that will rot if I don't make it?

- How much trash do I actually have?

- Can this wait till Thursday? I need my beauty sleep.

No, I need to see if I have time to get my overflowing, rotting trash out to the curb in time to be taken away. So... Where are my clothes? Obviously this is a Monday morning pattern. I need "Trash Day clothes". Like a superman suit that I can quickly change into.

Quick! Where are my pants from last night? I know I threw them over in this corner with all of my other disheveled clothes... Aah! Who's that in the mirror???? Oh, just my "sleep" hair. Grab a hat.

Faster! Did I grab all of the trash from around the house? Did I clean out my fridge? Oops. I forgot about that... Hm mm. That old yogurt can wait another week (hold on, I said that the last two weeks... maybe I should run it out to the can...)

I made it! With time to spare! Yes! Now, do I start my day or finish my sleep? Rats. Start my day wins...

And therein ends my Monday Mad Dash...

F-U-D-G-E!!!

I'm waiting for paint to dry so I can put on my next coat. Just wanted to share this fudge recipe I found (thank you, Martha Stewart!). You decide for yourself whether or not you like it. It's super easy, quick, and tastes delicioso!

Fudge Recipe by: Katie Paulus

2 cups sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream
6 tablespoons butter
5 cups mini marshmallows
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups chocolate semisweet chips
1 teaspoon vanilla

1) Melt sugar, cream, butter, marshmallows, and salt in saucepan over medium heat until smooth

2) Add chocolate chips and vanilla

3) Stir until chocolate is completely melted and smooth

4) Pour in 9x13 pan

5) Cool at room temperature for 3-4 hours, until set

Notes:

Lining the pan with long strips of wax paper before pouring helps remove the fudge when ready to serve!

I sprinkle sugar across the top of the fudge before I serve it. This takes away the apperaces of grittiness (whatever) if the sugar didn't dissolve completely.

This recipe is a hit for us! It makes great holiday gifts. Bon a petit! (whatever)

To Georgia and back again.

I'm home after a long weekend full of working, packing, unpacking, traveling, playing with a two year old... you get the drift.... I'm happy to be home!

Michael is also gone at this time. This is the first time that he has really been away from me. We've been communicating through e-mail, when I have internet access which hasn't been that often. I've really been convicted about how I spend my days without Michael to care for.

Here was my schedule for today:

7:00am - Breakfast at some hotel outside of Emporia

8:15am - on the road home

10:30am - at the store deciding whether or not to unload (I did have a nap on the road)

11:45am - finished up at work and drove Elaine home

12:30pm - I realized that I had left my can opener at Joy's house. (I was in dire need of it because I didn't have any food at home and the only thing I was craving - I'm not pregnant :p - was beans and hot dogs)

1:30pm - home after getting my can opener and picking up two movies

2:00pm - lunch and a movie, ok, two movies

5:00pm - I piddled around the house washing sheets and cleaning up

7:00pm - I'm still piddling

9:00pm - piddling some more

Now - I'm tired and ready for my own bed!

So was it okay to not be as resourceful (sp?) with my day as I could have? I don't know. It kinda felt good to not have an agenda and only need to worry about how I'm being taken care of.

Hmmm.

And, I didn't mention this earlier, but I have found that I'm a pretty big baby when my husband leaves. :) I was almost a bucket of tears when he left on Monday and now I'm counting down the hours till Thursday!

I'll get used to it I suppose. The Lord is my strength!

Mmmm good!

I made dinner! Hurrah!

I'm a big girl now! Actually, I'm really trying to improve my domestic skills... so... I'm on kitchen duty... more. Hmmm. I don't know if this was the wisest decision... poor Michael. He doesn't know what he's getting into.

This was Tuesday's dinner:

This is the wonderful seasoning that makes the dinner good.

I was so proud of myself! I even made dessert! Mom's favorite: snickerdoodles. They weren't KF (Katie friendly) but that's ok.

I look forward to cooking in the very near future for my hubby!!!