JUNE 7 - Compliment the Cheffess? HAH, Chilly Days and Warm Cats

What's for supper, what's for supper, what's for supper? We had pounds of dead animal parts in the freezer, but sorely lacked veggies - unless you counted the huge bags of potatoes and onions leaning against the wall near the kitchen. However, since my husband has never complained about a lack of veggies, I decided to make a beef stew and turn it into a beef pie.

So I chopped up beef, shook it with flour, salt and Garlic Plus - don't tell him I use Garlic Plus, please, as he hates garlic - and browned it up in Canola Oil in my trusty old cast iron frying pan - one my dad gave me when I was a relatively new bride, and remains intact as I've never used it for bopping people's heads, no matter how much that would have been deserved.  Then I poured water in the pan to loosen up the yummy bits,and put the meat, three chopped up onions, salt, pepper, and the yummy bit stuff in a roaster, and set it in the oven for a couple of hours. To finish the pie, I just slopped the stew into a pie crust, topped it with another pie crust, and popped it in the oven with the oven fries and some left-over-from-God-knows-when mashed potatoes for moi.

So, supper's supped, and I was stupid enough to ask:
'So, do you like it?'
'Well, I'm still eating, aren't I?'
Indeed he was, but then he may have been very hungry. I still hadn't learned my lesson.
'But is it good?'
'Well, it's not the best - but then again it's not the worst, either.'

The picture above is almost like a warning to me - there are bars on the vertical blinds, bars on the chair back, and stripes on the placemat and the turner-over thingie and the cutting board .

This blog could very well have been my final one if I hadn't washed and put the cast iron pan away. I'll just remember how much he loves my Oven Fries, which are made with a big shake of Garlic Plus. Ha.

It was another windy and rainy wintery day in Surrey, very unseasonal, and not very useful when I want to phone someone back 'home' and brag about the weather. I even had the heat turned on most of the day, and that was something I swore I'd never do in June. I don't know when, of if, we are going to get some traditional west coast lower mainland weather, but I sure am looking forward to it - except for the usual two or three day heat wave in late July or August. I don't want that either. However, the way things are going now, I wouldn't be surprised to see an iceberg floating down the Fraser River on my way to work on Sunday.

In case you are wondering if I found a home for the brown cat - I have. It chose the shelf on the bottom of the cabinet that I'm using for my record player stand, and doesn't seem to mind listening to Kenny Rogers records.

I was never the biggest fan, but seems I have collected quite a few of his records - and I have reached the K section in my Listening To All My Records marathon. Unfortunately, the only one I sort of kinda enjoyed sounds as scratchy as sandpaper, so it will become part of my Record Bowl pile, whereas the others will go to my Thrift Store donation bag.

Now, if I had checked Howard's lunch box before I searched my baking cupboard for muffin ingredients, I would never have baked these.

He was hoarding 2 bars, a baggie stuffed full of Peanut Butter Cookies, and a Banana, which were plenty of lunch treats for one more day of work. So now I have 12 Cherry Chocolate Chip Muffins cooling off. Hopefully they won't be the worst - but I bet they also won't be the best.