I Warned You

Didn't I? 

I'm still trying to get rid of this bug Bob gave me a week ago. And come Tuesday, I have to have some minor surgery on my foot. 

To make sure it heals properly I'll be on crutches for the next three weeks. So I spent most of Saturday cooking stuff that we could easily reheat for at least the next week.   Good stuff, not some frozen pizza or TV dinner. 

I first went to the farmers market to get some of summer's last sweet corn. The old farmers's wife told me they will have one more week of sweet corn. Picture me sad since we missed several weeks in late spring just when Indiana is the sweetest place on earth. 

Got a seedless watermelon to take to my brother's lake today when most of the family will be there.   I'm making some coney dogs in the morning. I have some veggies, but I'll have to see if I feel good enough to cut those up too. 

Then I headed out to the grocery and got some stuff to stock up on. Got home and grabbed my favorite pot from the under the stairs closet I cleaned out a few weeks ago. 

A couple years ago my mom bought me this magnificent beauty for my birthday. 

And it's not just gorgeous, it's fabulous too.  Although I love my Emerilware non-stick stuff, non-stick just will not brown things right. 

So I started using this instead.  Before I even got all the groceries unpacked, I put this baby on the stove and fired it up so it would be hot when I added the olive oil and the chuck roast.   It is extremely heavy, so I take extra precaution around the ceramic stovetop. If I win the lottery, I would buy the top of the line gas stove. Probably a Wolff. 

That was the second chuck roast since when I make just one we barely get two meals out of it 

Just when you think you are about to burn the whole thing you removed the roasts and place to the side. 

This darned IPad can take some pretty decent pics. I only use it for that purpose because its easier to put pics in blogs with the app I found a few months ago. 

I had this stuff lined up on the counter for the next step.   I created/improvised this recipe while we were in Florida. I can't really call it a stew or a beef roast, it's somewhere in between. But it tastes pretty darned good. 

Imagine the pepper mill here. Oh. And ignore the wine in the back.  That's just there for decoration.  Really.  When we were in Florida, I found two boxes of this kosher salt some of the renters had left.  I like it.  Bought some up here today. 

The pot looks ready.  All those nearly burnt bits just make for a richer sauce. 

Add some onions and garlic. 

A few minutes later add some beef stock, thyme and some tomato paste. 

This time of year I would normally have fresh thyme from my yard, but this year, what with the Italy trip and all,  I just didn't have thyme to plant some. (See what I did there?). 

In the menatime, this was what was going on outside right about then.  Stuffy hot. 

The clematis is taking over the swing my dad built 23 years ago. When we built the deck we had the guy add the arbor or whatever you want to call it so we could hang the swing. Then I planted the clematis. This drives Bob crazy, but I just love it when it gets like this. Usually it's all the way over the top, but Bob had tried to hack it down early in the spring.  

Guess who won. 

Another day or so and it will look like snow is covering it. 

Anyway, I threw the roasts back in the pot, covered it and let it simmer.  A little later I added the carrots.  

In the meantime, I had fresh green beans to snap and cook and I had a crockpot full of sghetti sauce. 

I wait until the beef gets really tender, then I take it out and get rid of the extra fat. I also add just a bit of corn starch to thicken it slightly.  Somewhere between a gravy and a soup. If I overdo the thickening, I can always add some more beef stock. 

While everything was simmering, I ran out and filled the bird feeders because the poor birdies had emptied them in just a couple days. I also provided the birds with a clean bath since the green scum on top was getting yucky. 

The other day I had assumed a pretty yellow finch had committed hari-kari when I found his body in the tubing in the snail that stands guard over the hummingbirds and the bathing birdies.  Poor little guy.  I unhooked his limp body from the snail and he immediately dropped to the ground.   The next day there was nothing left to be found. I'm thinking of calling the homicide detectives to see what's up with that. 

Just as I finished getting all of that done and watering some of the plants suddenly this happened. 

Why that actually looks like some long needed rain. A second round along with last night's quick shower just might green up that grass again.  We even got a late night third round. Looks like Bob will be cutting the grass come Tuesday. I might need someone to take me to surgery if that happens. ;-)

Can someone please tell me why these two utensils have the same name?  Did they run out of ideas?  All they had to do was go through some of those crackerbox housing additions and look at street names to get some creative ideas. 

And the last time I bought thyme, I actually needed chives, but the store didn't have any.  Luckily they had this anyway. 

Strangest time I ever bought thyme. Tastes just like chicken. I mean chives.