Monday

Another beautiful day. Did you watch the game last night? I had some friends over, then watched TV for a few hours, took a photo or two -- people hate this hat so I wear it whenever possible -- and then hit the sack around 3:30. I've had a crappy month so it's kind of nice to just do nothing for a while. No idea yet if I'm going anywhere this week. Jasper says hi.

Comments

[Earl]

Hi Bill,

I stayed awake to the end of the Yankee game, so I wound up getting to bed at about 12:15, and woke up at 5:45 for work. I could be an extra in Zombie Land today, minus the blood.

[lwt]

i know how you feel about your hat. years ago i had a boss who not only did not like my hat, he especially hated that i wrapped a strand of stars around it for the holidays. my first day back he snarled that christmas was over and i should take that crap off my hat. i told him it was staying put until epiphany. and i wore it in front of him as often as possible. despite his comments about my hat, he was a really sweet boss and i enjoyed working for him.

[Linda]

My sisters and nieces were here over the weekend and helped me put my house in some kind of order. I woke up the next day thinking I was in the wrong house. Now if I just knew where they put my screw drivers and measuring tape.:)

I'm finding that cooking makes me extremely sad. Especially when it's something I know my mother liked. My daughter asked me if I knew how to make beef stew. I told her I'd give it a shot, but I'd hate to ruin a good piece of meat. She loved her Grandma's beef stew, and no matter how good I could make it it won't taste like hers.

I'm starting to wish someone would put me out of my misery.

[aubreeze]

i like the hat! hi jasper!

i'm sorry linda. some days are just hard.

[terrip]

much love linda...hi jasper!

[Evelyn]

Go Yankees! - I made it until the game ended, and crashed. Spent all day Sunday at the Fair Lawn River Road Street Fair, handing out flyers and introducing independent candidate Chris Daggett, and sneaking a peek at both Jon Corzine and Chris Christie from between their attendants and cohorts. Never thought Fair Lawn would get that much politics within a block of each other - and I had to laugh when Chris Daggett slowly made his way up to the Corzine group and offered his hand for a handshake. Sort of a David and Goliath moment.

Larry and I are friends with most of the people on the council, and never, ever talk politics with any of them - no better way than to stress out a friendship than take political sides - but after six hours of standing in the street, the only thing I was interested in running for was a shower and a seat in front of the TV!

[lwt]

linda-do you have a crock pot? as a vegetarian, i have a problem even touching meat but there are times when i need to prepare it anyway. you can make a great [they tell me] beef stew in the crockpot. just throw the ingredients in and leave and go do something else. go window shopping or stop at a bookstore or go to the movies. when you return, bingo. perfect beef stew.

[Evelyn]

I'll second that crockpot statement. The only real trick is to put the meat in first for an hour or so - throw it in first thing in the morning, and add the veggies as you go out the door is how I do it - and just let it cook. For some reason, vegetables take longer than meat in a crock. I finish it off about an hour before dinner by adding a bit of flour to help thicken it and turning the crock on to High. There's plenty of recipes online if you aren't sure.

We live out of that crock pot all fall and winter long - it's a great way to make pork barbeque in the winter, too.

[aubreeze]

i actually made stew in my crockpot yesterday. almost too easy and delicious!

[nan]

great crockpot stew recipe please

[lwt-paging nan]

nan--just looking in two cookbooks for slow cookers, i found 42 recipes. does nancy have your address? i can make copies and mail them to you. i don't want to clog the blog.

[Evelyn]

Receipe? I just throw in chunks of carrot and potato. I wash but don't even peel the potatoes. Maybe about a third of a crock altogether. Add a pinch of salt and a bit of pepper, use whatever lean beef is on sale, cut in chunks - I sometimes use picnic pork chunks. I add about a 1/4 dried powdered ginger, a teaspoon of Japanese soy sauce, bit of garlic and whatever herbs I have from the garden. If I'm real adventurous, I'll add about a half cup of wine or cider about an hour before it's done - the sweetness and the ginger give it a nice subtle taste. One of my friends used to make this with chunks of squash (which I don't like) for the extra vitamins. But the real trick remains to let the vegetables cook a bit longer than the meat, either by adding them first, or taking the meat out for a bit at the end and putting it back in. I'vwe been known to start the crock with the vegetables the night before on low and add the meat and seasoning less salt in the morning, and add the salt at the very end to keep the meat from getting tough. Hmmmm- now I'm hungry!

[Evelyn]

So hungry I forgot to say I add one small onion in the beginning, and sometimes some peas towards the end so they don't overcook. You can also used mashed potato flakes to help thicken it at the end if you don't want to use flour...my kids like that better.

[Michelle G.]

Evelyn, what kind of liquid do you use in the beginning? I told my mother about your recipe and adding the meat later interested her, she puts everything in all at once. Interesting about the salt, too. I didn't know that. I made cream of potato soup in the crock pot over the weekend for the first time and it's back to the drawing board on that one! :)