How .75 cents Made Me Cry.

My plan:

Go home. Do the laundry. Decide on delicious dinner. Greet boyfriend as he walks in the door, make him sit down and relax because he was super stressed out earlier. Present with delicious dinner and silly movie. Cuddle. Relax.

What happened:

Get home. Start laundry. Go back upstairs, snack for a bit, relax, go downstairs to continue laundry, more clothes in hand. When I get down, I find every single washer has been taken, except the two I had used earlier. ..Okay, not a problem, but a bitch for drying. I foresee a problem but shrug and accept it.

I transfer my clothes to the two remaining driers open, start them up, put the rest of my dirty clothes in the now-empty washers, start those up, and head back upstairs.

*inhale*

Relax for a bit, read. Head back downstairs to move now-clean-but-wet clothes to drier. Eeeexcept every drier is taken and running. ...Poo. Again I shrug and note the remaining time on my driers, go back upstairs and wait.

Chris gets home as soon as I head back downstairs. I will note that I still have no idea what I'm making for dinner, nothing is thawed, and I have no brilliant plan. *sigh* Oh well.

We head to the laundry room, hand in hand, so I can finish it up and get it done. He empties one drier, grabs clothes from the second one.

"Uhh.. these are wet."
"...What?"
"They're really wet."
"Well god dammit.. I guess we'll have to run them again."

Annoying, but manageable. I insert the laundry card, select the cycle, hit go, remove card, wait... ...wait... ....waaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiishit.

C: "Derp."
A: *blank stare*
C: "Piece of shit.."
A: *continued blank stare*

...

And then I snap. See, I only had .75 cents left on the little laundry card. Enough for one more load of laundry. ONE. I now have THREE loads of wet clothes that need to be dried.

Except the machine to load the card doesn't accept cash. Plastic only.

Not only is it JUST plastic, but it only allows increments of $10 to be put onto it at a time.

...

My electric, water, and internet bills are doubled because they're past due. I have $20 in my bank account, $13 on my credit card, and a shitload of change in a jar taunting me with it's precise amount of uselessness in this situation. I need to pay for gas, and food, for another two days before I get a smaller-than-usual paycheck, which will be going entirely to past-due bills.

And now I have to put $10 on this little fucking laundry card so I don't have 3 loads of wet clothes growing mildew in my bathtub until I can deposit all those jar-coins into my account at the bank tomorrow like the poor son-of-a-bitch that I am.

I managed to hold myself together while paying to dry the clothes that were supposed to be dry already. Again. Meanwhile my clean-but-wet clothes continue to lurk in their washer-based dens of mildew growing wonder for another hour.

I managed to grab the hamper with the dry clothes in it, storm out, stomp home, throw the bag down in disgust and sit on the bed for a full two minutes before angry bitter ashamed tears started (against my strict orders that they discontinue) while Chris sat next to me apologizing for not having any money of his own to help me do the laundry.

I even managed to completely deny that I was crying for another five full minutes until it got to be too much and I clung to Chris sobbing about how idiotic it was that the money machine didn't take cash and how that would have solved so many problems.

I finished crying, Chris made me giggle against my stubborn I'm-still-sad-so-there mentality.

C: "We'll be okay. We always pull through bad times."
A: *sniff* "Times have been bad?" *weak smile*
C: *blink* "Pffft! No. What bad times. None." *too big smile*
A: *giggle and hug*
C: "What's for dinner?"


***

Not really moving things, just a shift.

I know I think a lot and change things a lot, but I've decided to move all the cooking posts over to my new blog, Mostly Mise En Place. I'll still be posting on here, but it probably won't have much to do with cooking. ^^; Sorry for the confusion.

Alex

New Years Dinner, totally not late at all.

This totally isn't late. It's even in the title, see?

So, after conferring with Chris, I've decided the following will be my format: Post the recipes -> Post any differences I made, things I didn't like, or places I screwed up -> Post my pictures, with captions. Anything I cook without first referencing a recipe I post in detail, step by step.

Sound okay? Let me know. ^^;

Pan Seared Top Sirloin with Pan Gravy, Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Mushrooms, Baked Potatoes.

I started the potatoes first, set the timer for a half hour. At the half hour mark I put in the brussel sprouts and mushrooms. When I put them in, I started everything for the steak.

The Steak + Gravy

- Approximately half a white onion.
- 1 garlic clove
- Half a stick of butter
- 2 Sirloin Steaks
- Worcestershire Sauce
- Beef Broth
- Dry Cooking Sherry
- Salt
- Pepper
- Dry mustard (optional)

Before you do anything, put your largest frying pan on the stove. Turn the burner to medium high, and let it warm up.

Salt and pepper your steak on both sides. I used dry mustard powder to add a little bit of flavor, but I'm not sure it added anything.

Start with your onion. Chop that puppy up! You want it to be fairly well chopped, but not iddy biddy pieces. For the garlic, just slice it up fairly evenly. Not see-through, but not huge chunks, either.

Something like this. Cry your eyes out, you deserve it.

Put the butter in the pan and wait for it to melt. If it starts to bubble a lot, turn the heat down a little. Some bubbling is okay, but you don't want it to burn. If it turns brown, that's way too much heat, and it won't taste good.

When the butter is melted, toss the onions in. Spread them out so they're evenly on the bottom of the pan.

It should sizzle a little when you put it in. It should also smell delicious.


When they start looking a little soft, toss the garlic in.




When you start to smell the garlic (it shouldn't take long), move everything to the very edges of the pan and put in your steaks.


Mmmm...

At some point, before you flip the steaks, you should give both of them a splash or two of that Worcestershire Sauce. This stuff is the essence of wonderful tasting beef, and I damn near always use it on my beef.

Steak isn't steak without this stuff.

Let it cook in the middle of the pan for about 5 minutes. VERY IMPORTANT: Don't fuss with your steak! Leave it alone and let it cook for God's sake. If you keep fussing, it won't cook evenly, and you won't get those wonderful charred bits that have all kinds of flavor.

This part is totally optional, but I like to crowd my steaks with the onion and garlic. I don't know if it does anything or not, but I like to think that the aromatics infuse themselves somehow into the meat. I only leave them there for one flip (about 5 minutes). Any longer and they'll start to burn and become little bits of charcoal.. Not tasty.



Cooktime for the steaks (at least for me) wound up to be something like this:

Put into pan -> Cook 5 minutes -> Flip -> Cook 5 minutes -> Flip -> Cook 1.5 minutes -> Flip -> Cook 1.5 minutes -> Remove from pan.

When they're done, they should look deliciously brown with tasty crusty bits on both sides. The onions and garlic will probably be browning at this point, that's fine.

Oh my...

If you timed everything right, the potatoes should have been done by now.

Some of the skin came off the potatoes while cooking.. that's fine, they make delicous pre-dinner chips. ;)

When you remove the steaks, pour in enough beef broth to cover the bottom of the pan. Using a spatula (preferably wood), scrape all the little black bits off the bottom of the pan and stir around. Add a splash or two of the sherry, and stir occasionally.

It should look something like this when you pour everything in...

Season to taste. When the liquid in the pan reduces by about half, remove from heat and put into the gravy vessel of your choice.

And it should look like this when it's ready.

Pull out the brussel sprouts when they're done.

*drool*

Prepare your potato to your desired taste. Unfortunately for Chris, we didn't have any sour cream. :(

Results

Steak: Omg delicious. It came out somewhere between Medium and Medium Rare. Steak isn't worth eating without any red in it. :P

Potatoes: Also delicious. The fake bacon bits I used had turned stale on me, so while that was a little distracting, there was enough potato to hide it.

Brussel Sprouts: I made a mistake with these. The rack was in the top slot, and I was preoccupied and busy and totally forgot to move the rack to the middle, where it should have been to cook these correctly. So while the outside was perfect, there was a tiny core that, while warm, was not the deliciously cooked vegetable I was aiming for.

Mushrooms: My bad. The recipe I normally use involves a 400 degree oven for 30 min.. The brussel sprouts and potatoes require a 350 degree oven.. It didn't work out. They tasted a little funny and didn't have the texture I was looking for. *sigh* Oh well. I learned.

We had Mexican bottled Pepsi to drink with dinner as a treat... Also delicious. Overall, we were both incredibly pleased with dinner. :)

Suck it, 2010.

The end of the year is nigh, bringing about an almost inevitable look back at everything that's happened this year.

*deep breath*

1: We get a new apartment!

2: Chris lost his job the day before we move in.

3: A man falls through our roof, wtf?

4: We buy the BMW!

5: BMW explodes. :(

6: We get the Talon!

7: I become a dog bather. Suddenly I'm wet and smelly all the time.

8: Chris gets screwed out of one job with the school district because of a typo, is given another. Hooray income!

9: I become a dog groomer! Yay way more income!

10: A drunk driver plows through the fence of our complex on her side, the fence and trees in front of it land on the Talon. >_O

12: Chris finds out that the "permanent" position at this school is, in fact not permanent.

11: Chris replaces the radiator and alternator, only to get into another accident which breaks the new radiator.

12: Dad fixes the BMW! Hooray car!

*deep breath pant.. pant..*

I also got some new friends, gained a crafting buddy, met a tea fairy, threw a Silly Hat Tea Party, and managed to survive all of it in good health.

:)

Dinner tonight! Pan seared top sirloin, baked potatoes, roasted brussel sprouts, and roasted mushrooms.

Mmmm...

Now, I'm going to -try- and make sense. Don't expect a lot, because this is my first time. For a lot of things. I've never taken pictures while cooking before, so I missed a few steps (sorry). I've never tried to blog about making something before, so I'll probably miss something.

Also, most blogs only do particular dishes, for good reason come to find out. I'm not sure what my layout should be. Do I post a breakdown of how I cooked the whole thing, and note how I screwed up (as I will do almost every time, somehow)? Or do I just do a recipe at a time? I dunno. I think I'll start with the first, and see how it goes from there.

I'll still be posting where I pulled all the recipes from, if I can find it.

Results to come. :)

New Template!

After lots of fussing, I think I'll stick with this one... Let me know. :)

I was worried 'cause it's all red... and this is called "my green blanket"... but I'm beginning to not care.

But look! Some complete stranger drew me in the corner! That's cool, right?

Yeah.

Don't mind me.

I'm fussing with skins for this thing right now. If it's a little rough around the edges, it's cause I had to go to work and couldn't finish what I'm doing.

Sorry for the mess. ^^;

*blink* Oh crap, I have a blog, don't I. ...huh.

Well. ...This place is dusty. Internet... dusty.

What would count as dust on the internet? God knows. ANYWAY.

Let's pretend I've been a good little girl and have actually been posting on here. So it will totally not be awkward for me to pick up this poor thing and pretend it's not rusty and dusty and disused and start using it.

Shabby chiq is in right now, right?

---

So Chris challenged* me to start cooking more! Our culinary experiences lately have roamed all over the fast food spectrum, and frankly we're both tired of it. He suggested that instead of grocery shopping every week, we go every day. That way, we would eventually build up enough in the fridge and the pantry to have a lazy day and make something from strictly on-hand items.

At first, my old argument of "But I only buy things that are on sale and it's cheaper that way" sprang into mind. ...But then I also remembered exactly how God-awfully expensive fast food is and, in the end, we would probably end up spending around the same amount of money.. if not less by doing it his way.

Before I agreed, I reminded him that in able to do this sort of shopping schedule properly, we would have to create a menu a week or so in advance to prevent too many headaches. He nodded absently. *sigh* I don't think he really understands what goes into planning a menu.

BUT. He's also promised to start helping with dinner, especially on nights when I'm closing (9pm) and coming home dead tired and stinky. It's like he's challenged himself to start cooking and has finally taken what I've told him COUNTLESS times to heart: You have to actually cook to figure out how to cook. You won't learn if you don't screw up a few times.

He made us hamburgers and french fries the other night from scratch... I don't think he really realized all the little steps involved in it. Perhaps he even has a little bit of an idea what I get to do from now on.

I'm very proud of him, but at the same time I have a little 10 year old girl in the back of my head, covered in flour, pointing and laughing full out in his face.

..*cough*

Tonight was Beef Stroganoff, a dish that I have never ever had, cooked, tasted, or even knew what went into it before I looked the recipe up. Chris requested it, so of course I said "Okay!!" totally not knowing what it was.

I was pretty sure pasta went into it at some point.

I surfed AllRecipes for awhile before I found a fairly simple recipe (Butter, beef, onion, sour cream). Of course, I have learned to cruise the comments on AllRecipes, because there's always little helpful tidbits in there. The comment area is actually where I found my recipe for the evening. *laughs*

My simple four ingredient recipe had dry sherry, mushrooms, beef stock, salt, pepper, and paprika heaped on top of it with absolutely no measurements except to only use 8oz of sour cream.

Chris assures me it was wonderful, and while I did enjoy the taste a whole buncha lots, I still have no freaking clue whether I got it right. As it is, I think I got the sauce a little thin.

---

On top of Chris' challenge, I added a little a few of my own on top of it:

-I'm going to try to cook as many of the (hundreds) of recipes in my bookmarks folder as possible. All my favorite blogs will be scoured for recipes, keeping in mind the Chris will be cooking at least once a week.

-I'm going to write about my successes and failures on here (or have a minor tissy on facebook), and if you're really lucky, I'll even post pictures.

-I'm going to clean as I go. ie: Put dishes in the dishwasher after I use them, clean up my pans after I use them... You get it. This one will probably be the hardest, but I'm hoping it will become a habit.

It's a little early for a New Years resolution, and as a rule I normally don't have them... but I think I'll make an exception this year.