Friday, January 04, 2008

Happy New Year

I sincerely hope everyone has a really great new year. Except George W. Bush. And Senator Clinton.

Not likely they read this, however, so I suppose I'm safe.

Well, it was a New Years to remember. I don't think I've had a year that ended on such a sour note as this one in ages, and I'm not going to go into it, so phlllhhbbbhhhttt to those who are morbidly fascinated with emotional traumas and the stamping-out of burning ducks. Suffice it to say that "Learning has occurred".

One of the things I learned was not to buy a roast beast from Butera Market. I love the Butera. Nobody goes there. There is always plenty of breathing oxygen, the food is good and fresh - but their meat department is wretched. The meat LOOKS great - but I've had 2 instances of late where standard preparation of ordinary meats has resulted in extraordinary failures. Meat from Caputos from now on.

This was a bit of an issue, as I had planned a nice dinner for two for Jan. 1 - Roast Beast, veg, orange AND white potatoes, and onion soup.

Fortunately, I had a couple of pork chops in the fridge, and had made extra on the soup, so the meal was adequate regardless the roast-from-hell.

I've never had a roast do this to me before. It got all hard and uncuttable on the outside, and was farking RAW on the inside. So I cut off the hard part, and tried again to cook it and it grew a hard shell again with THAT inside being raw. (and no - the meat was NOT previously frozen)

Enough is, in fact, enough, so I gave up and thawed out the chops and did a quick broil up on them. With a bit of bruschetta on top they were excellent.

S came over for lunch on the 29th (30th?) and we went to Applebees. (Yes, I realize I have just skipped around chronologically - deal with it) They have drastically changed the menu at Applebees since the last time I was there. This can only mean 1 of 2 things - either Applebees is being quite daring and innovative..... or it has been an awfully long time since I was at an Applebees. I suspect the latter.


381 days

(P.S. - Congratulations, Senator Obama!)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awwww come on. I for one am morbidly fascinated to hear about your duck disaster. Please tell us, give us details. Oh wait a minute, YOU DID TELL US. AHHAHAHAHAHA

rauf said...

God appeared in White House and told George Bush to invade Iraq.
Poor Bush is only following God's orders. But God forgot to tell Bush how to come out of Iraq.
Now the world has to wait for Bush to get fresh revelations.

Believe me Sew, Bush is not lying.
It could be true that he met God. But this phenomenon is called temporal lobe epilepsy. Its a mental illness. We have to wait for another attack of epilepsy in white House.

As you move along you keep learning what not to do. Your mom grand mom or great grand mom did not become great cooks on day one.
One day your children would say that mom is the greatest cook in the world. You have time Sew, please don't worry.

on your behalf I wish George Bush and the Clintons a happy new year.

BBC said...

I had a wonderful New Years experience. Odd about the beast. I've only been in an Applebees once so don't have much of a clue about them.

2008 should be interesting.

FOUR DINNERS said...

Was it an Aylsbury duck?

I talk to God all the time when I can get a word in. Not fair. She didn't tell me she was God when I first met her.

Catmoves said...

Gee, black and red duck? You sure are talented Sew.
We had a precooked ham and escalloped pots. Yummy stuff, minimum effort.
I have noticed a number of changes in chain restaurants lately. They all seem to believe their customers don't really like the taste of meat, so they have to put some California style gunk all over it to cover up the taste.
Suffice it to say that I have become very careful in reading the menu and ordering it the way I would like it. It works, Sew, try it.

Anonymous said...

Aw Sew, what a shame, I'm sorry to hear you had a crap New Year. May 2008 be really great for you!

Love your "great new year. Except George W. Bush. And Senator Clinton". brilliant! I heartily agree.