Dinner bell

Lately, it's been all about the food.  We already ate good, but I've been trying to up my game a little.  I'm a cook that can go in the kitchen, pull out a bunch of ingredients and make something that will be delicious about 90% of the time.  I know how things taste and I can imagine how they'll taste together.  I am less efficient at following recipes.  

I've been trying to learn to follow recipes in Julia Child's cookbooks with results that are...meh.  I've thrown out two genoise cakes and while we've eaten most of the rest, it's just been kind of struggling through it.  And, for some reason, I burn my hand about half the time because I'm paying too much attention to the recipe and not enough to the equipment.  So, I'm stepping back a bit and trying other cookbooks.  

Cooking is a distraction, and I'm throwing my whole self into it, so I spent yesterday in the kitchen.  I made the cake that ended up being the texture of cornbread.  But, I also made a delicious chicken stew that I served over mashed potatoes.  

And, I braised a leek.  We didn't grow up with leeks, but I've been experimenting, putting them in different things like potato soup and sautéing them with a sliced mushroom to fill an omelette.  Yesterday, I found this braised leek recipe with a pancetta dressing.  Who knew that's what a cooked leek tasted like.  It was just a one off thing to see if we'd like it, not part of a meal, but I ate the whole thing as an afternoon snack.

And, I made a pot of sauce with chicken sausage.  Not sure how that's going to be.  It was very greasy when I tasted it, so am hoping I can scoop some of that off now that it's been in the fridge.  The sausage has been delicious on pizza, so this is just an experiment to see how it goes.  

Last week, Rob's 2006 F150 hit it's first repair that exceeded the value of the vehicle, so he'd been shopping diligently for a new truck.  Saturday morning, he stumbled up on an ad for one that was almost too good to be true.  We went and looked at it as soon as the dealership opened and brought it home with us.  I can tell he's very excited and has been playing with it like a kid with a Christmas toy.  Every so often, I realize I don't know where he is and he comes in to tell me some new thing he's discovered about it.  

I'm going to be out for a couple weeks.  I'm having my eyes done...not for beauty, but for utility.  I'm having cataract surgery next Monday and the Monday after.  The one thing that no one has been able to tell me is how I'm supposed to work between visits when my eyeglass prescription doesn't work anymore. That's going to be an adventure.  Everyone says this is going to be a big nothing, and I am trusting in that and am not really even nervous about it.  I can hardly see now, so anything is going to be an improvement.  Unfortunately, due to a secondary eye condition, I can't get the Cadillac of lenses that would keep me from needing glasses.

Everybody have a great couple of weeks!  I wanted to leave you with this thought from Adam Rippon.  

Lane