Nothing much

Nothing much to talk about.  I really dislike this time of year - it's neither this nor that.  No sense in doing anything in the dirt cause it might snow.  One minute it's hot enough to sit outside in shorts the next minute your shivering.  Do I wear a jacket, or just a hoodie?

But then I'm not planning on doing much gardening this year anyway.  So it's even worse whenever I happen to walk by a display of seeds.  It's no wonder my mother refuses to give up her huge garden.  The spring before my mothers sister passed away, my mother outfitted her with one of those "help, I've fallen" things around her neck.  After all it was gardening season and who had the time to go and check up on her all day long.  They only lived about three blocks away from each other, as the way the crow flies.  My aunt lived three houses away from an elementary school and a block away from a high school.  And her alley was usually the short cut for the smokers from the high school.  One day my mother was happily gardening in her back yard when she heard a siren that sounded like an ambulance.  And it was getting closer and closer, then sounded suspiciously three blocks away.  So she got on the phone, and no answer.  Since my aunt didn't drive anymore and whenever she left the house she was instructed to take the portable phone outside with her.  A couple tries more on the phone....nothing.

So she called a neighbor of hers. Sure enough the ambulance was at her place.  So my mom high tailed it over there.  Some high school kids heard cries for help in the bushes.  And after investigating found my aunt - she'd had a stroke and was in the raspberry bushes.  Not the best place to have a stroke.  All those prickles and thorns and all.  She sent back into the garden soon as she got out of the hospital.

I went to the market yesterday and the entrance was the usual assortment of barbeques and patio furniture.  I had to return something about 2 hours later when I went to pick up the g'kids and couldn't believe the transformation in 2 hours.  A delivery of hanging baskets must have been unloaded in those 2 hours.  And I'm thinking.....it's going to snow for sure now.  The first delivery of plants usually gets snowed on, or frozen out.

I was shopping for supplies for dinner
Salisbury steak
Kale and Brussel sprout salad

Don't remember the last time I made Salisbury steak, It's something one orders in a greasy spoon kind of place my husband adores.  In fact it was probably a main stay of his rotating menu when he was working on the road.  I believe he thought he'd died and gone to heaven when he came to the table. It was a thrilling moment for him. He lite up like a xmas tree, he was so happy.

It was very good.  I didn't use veal (why would anyone yyukkk) but basically followed the recipe except spiced it up more and used panko instead of soaked up bread.  For the gravy I couldn't find any organic beef stock so I used veg stock and doctored it up with some bragg's and about 1/3 cup of leftover onion gravy from last week that I happened to freeze from leftovers of dinners past.  I used just regular mushrooms sliced.  I also used potato starch not flour.  It was very good. But it sure was time consuming.  I'm still trying to figure out why dinner took sooooooo long and why it was sooooo arduous. And the mushrooms already came sliced.  I started at 430 and dinner wasn't served until 630.  Way to long for something as simple as this, with mashed. I only had a chance to take three swigs of wine during the whole thing.  I kept loosing my wine glass in the mess of stuff all over the counters of prep. I even left my husband with a sink full of potatoes and a knife and peeler (whichever he prefered) with instructions to put them into a pot of cold water and throw them outside while I was gone.  Maybe next time I will make the hamburger steaks a day ahead.  Even though they really weren't that time consuming.  When I make my own mix of hamburger meat I grind up the meat into 500-600 gram bags and then freeze them, when I'm planning on using hamburger I thaw out and then grind a second time just before using.  I always manage to find a couple big roasts on sale comperable to the price of ground sirloin.  And then some pork chops or roasts on sale. It's a wierd obsession of mine to grind my own meat.   So maybe it was all the cleaning of the kitchen aid that was time consuming.

The Kale Brussel Sprout salad was amazingly good.  I'm really pissed that my daughter took ALL the leftovers for lunch of the salad.  I was hoping to get a taste of "day old" salad.  It's probably really good.

All and I mean each and every one of the brussel sprout haters LOOOOOVED this salad.  And me, a Kale hater even liked it.  I couldn't find any roasted salted almonds so I bought some regular almonds in the baking aisle and sliced them and then drizzled some grape seed oil and salt on them and into the toaster oven.  Twice-----the first one burnt.  I was standing doing something, I can't remember what and suddenly I smelt burnt popcorn.  WTF  whose burning popcorn?  Dinner is almost ready and someone is making popcorn?  I never knew burnt almonds smelled like burned popcorn.

Maybe that's what was so time consuming.   Have you ever sliced almonds?  A thankless job, specially with a buggered up right wrist.  Anyway the salad was a winner.  Though it did lack something.........
We decided that it would be wonderful with maybe some pomegranate seeds.  Or may some of those black diamond spicy almonds?  It needed something......But still was very good.

Both of these will be put on the rotation menu.  Thanks to Rachel Rappaport for inspiring the Salisbury Steak and mushroom gravy on mashed and Thanks to Dinner with Julie for the salad.  I'm texting my daughter to bring home some brussel sprouts and almonds for a remake.  This salad will probably be made over and over again.