We haven't had beef apart from the ground stuff for a while because it hasn't gone on sale, so this weekend....
The Choice:
Buy large, fatty slab of roast for $1.99 a pound
or
Buy lean, pre-cubed stew meat for $2.99 a pound
John:
Sensing I really wanted the pre-cubed, red stuff, "Why are you so cheap?"
Me:
Really wanting the pre-cubed, red stuff, "I am NOT cheap!"
(I pick up the pre-cubed, red stuff.)
After we arrive home, I loudly state, "I'm cheap."
Millie, amused at my ludicrous statement: "Mom, you're not cheap, you're free!"
(For those whose eyes have rolled back at yet another Millie anecdote, I refer you again to Isaac Asimov. It's really not too bad as bright sayings of bright children as told by dull parents go, and, besides, it's late and my soggy brain is....well, soggy.)
I made the most delicious torte for a church meal on Sunday.
It wasn't a bit soggy.
Arggh, that's not just a Mille anecdote!! Sounds exactly like what one of my brothers would say to me, and I refuse to even consider the possibility that they might be bright (and some of them certainly aren't children any more!).
ReplyDeleteBTW, if you're going to use cubed meat, I highly recommend Italian Hunter's Stew, which disappears in a flash around here. (3 gallons of stew made by free labor {me{, devoured by the masses {them}. . .but it's really good stew!)
P.S. I like Millie anecdotes. I just wonder how she started getting tutored by my brothers. . .last I knew Millie couldn't even read, much less have secret correspondences on the proper words at the proper times.
ReplyDeleteI am cheap too. That precubed meat calls to me too. It is nice to have a husband who encourages 'the good life' now and again. Matt would say, "Why did you buy THAT when you can just cut it yourself?" Then, I would have nothing to say because...there is no rational answer except the obvious. Another temptation for me is chicken. Sometimes you just want boneless skinless chicken...but often I have to settle for the 'work' of skinning and eating around bones. OF course, there is an up side. At least I don't have to settle for the work of cutting off heads, plucking and all THAT jazz. I may NOT be farmers' wife material after all, because I prefer the grocer version. :-)
ReplyDeleteHey. I think buildabelly is calling your name for that torte...
Titi,
ReplyDeleteI think the stew sounds delicious, but if it's the kind I'm thinking of, it's got stewed tomatoes in it, which I steer clear of in stews and soups for John's sake. (It's so weird. He loves raw tomatoes more than almost anything on earth, he loves spaghetti sauce, but he doesn't like cooked tomatos.)
I think it only took one short visit to your home for your sneaky brothers to train Millie in the Fine Arts. :)
Rebecca,
I called myself cheap when I got home b/c I realized that in my head, I was justifying the extra cost by the fact that I would have trimmed and discarded all the fat on the other, which made their $/pound more comparable, which made my splurge not as splurgy, which made me...still cheap. Incidentally, that's how I rationalize buying boneless, skinless, too! :)
I usually buy either whole chickens on sale or b,s,breasts in bulk when they're on sale. Do you have any Price Choppers nearby? I don't know what you pay for breasts with bone and skin, but when we lived in Greene, we would buy boneless, skinless breasts on sale at Price Chopper or Gregg's Big M for $1.79 a pound (or on really good sales, $1.59 a pound), which made it nice to indulge in the lazy girl's way!
(I'm with you 100% on the cutting/plucking sentiment. When we have someday chickens, Lord willing, I'd like to invest in a good chicken plucker....or maybe just use my children as such!)
oh, the torte
ReplyDelete2 white chocolate cake layers, each split in 2
each layer spread with my mom's wild raspberry jam, basic cream filling, and grated chocolate chips
frosted with delicious, fluffy, not-too-sweet Flour Frosting (which sounds gross but is one of my favorites)
garnished with grated/ground chocolate chips and chocolate spikes (I don't know what to call them, but you melt chocolate, let it cool,then break or cut it into the shapes you want to use to garnish the cake)
full recipe will follow next week.