sirloin, mustard greens, baked potato


The second half of a sirloin roast shown earlier sliced thickly.

Marinade
* soy sauce
* Worcestershire sauce
* dry mustard
* sherry vinegar
* sugar


Pecans are heating by carryover heat as the steak slices rest off the burner. 


Greens
* 3 strips thick bacon
* fennel seed
* salt and pepper
* sherry vinegar
* sugar


I'm not hungry. Not one bit. Perfectly satisfied. But I'm eating all this anyway, extra food on purpose in the gallant effort to fill out these 30 inch waist jeans. Without wearing t-shirt and regular shirt and a sweater layered and tucked in. I'm tired of my thinnest pants being loose, tired of there being a gap. The pants gap invites people inserting their hands. And that hand sticking is all well and good were it not for cold hands. So, extra food. I'm uncomfortably full. Eating without actually being hungry, I honestly don't know how people do this.

pasta in cream sauce, mushrooms and broccoli


Dough.
* One egg and another egg yolk and one half egg shell of water.
* Three rounded tablespoons semolina flour
* Three rounded tablespoons of all purpose flour
* One long drizzle of olive oil




Singed in a pan with generous butter and salt then steamed until done.




Sauce
* heavy cream
* chile flakes
* dry mustard
* nutmeg
* black pepper
* salt

Grated Parmesan cheese.  

sweet potato with pecans and whipped cream


Brown sugar.


Butter.


Whipped cream.


Pecans.


potato with roasted red pepper gravy

Mashed potato with red pepper and tomato gravy.


Large potato microwaved 12 minutes




The gravy is this roasted red bell pepper and tomato soup reduced by simmering by nearly half. This box of soup was purchased through jet.com. I did not understand from the site that box will contain 12 cartons of 8oz each. I was expecting quart containers as usual but these one cup one serving portions are fine. They are cutest little things. And the weird thing is, I did a unit price cost analysis between offerings, all the same product and this is the least expensive. Ovaltine was like that too. The smaller sizes are cheaper. Not much, but c'mon. 







caldo de res




Nearly half off. 

The grocery store nearby is the strangest thing. One of a large Colorado chain. There are two, actually, equidistant in opposite directions, one direction to the heart of capitol hill, characterized as a sociological study in miniature, and the other at the edge of downtown and the edge of public housing, a bit more homogenous. That location offers all the meat of all the other locations but a lot of upper cuts do not move so they are discounted regularly, that is to say hourly. There are alway, always, ALWAYS great cuts in the bin because they simply do not move. They have to get the cuts out of there. They cannot move. A dilemma. Everyone there is stretching the dollar for their tight family needs. They are not urban hipsters. 





I guess I should say the pressure pot makes short work of this. The elements are browned first in cast iron. They're pressure cooked as a stir fry, in increments, three fast increments with cold water sprayed over the pot between heat sessions to bring it all down quickly, then opened, ingredients added and resumed so that vegetables are first seared and the charred flavors captured with deglazing and braised in another pot, in increments so it all  does not turn to mush, under pressure to compress hours to minutes. Beef then carrots  then everything else. 

How does that work? The first time the pot is opened the beef is tested for tenderness with a fork. However tough the meat is informs you how long the next session should be. Now you can guess better how much longer to complete the beef and how long the carrots will take. It's still a guess. The second time the pot is opened things can be removed if need be, if the beef is getting too soft then remove it, for example. Add the final vegetable to capture their flavor and cook them. Best to try ending with all ingredients at once if possible. That's how I do it, a willingness to open the pot and check for progress and then get right back to it as if not interrupted. 

seared vegetables in cream

Burned vegetables, actually, and sauce made of straight cream. 


The pan is used to sear vegetables and steam them per their individual requirement. They are not fried all at once. A lid controls steam. Steam cuts off the sear and controls the extent of cooking. I want each piece burned on one side. They are not stirred around nor shaken.  

The same pan heats the flavor elements, exotic ingredients extracted from remote lands such as garlic and ginger and mustard and nutmeg and some kind of specific chile powder like cayenne or chipotle or habanero, smoky paprika, what have you. 

The fat in the cream distributes the charred flavor excellently.


Honey baked ham from the isolated hinterlands of West Virginia. This stuff is real. Although sliced for sandwiches, I don't care, it's great with everything.


This should be offered in restaurants.

The sauce is like thick soup and the extra is wonderful spooned from the plate. Perfect with bread.

Graham crackers and milk



I tasted one of these by itself and its flavor amazed me so deep and rich and buttery and full for a cracker and better than I remembered and then I thought, "Man, I need some milk." 

broiled ham open face sandwich with cheese sauce.

It's not a sandwich because nothing is sandwiched between two things. A similar thing is called croque monsieur elsewhere but that's usually an actual sandwich. Roasted would sound better but that implies natural fire and isn't necessarily underneath the heat. It's very close to pizza, bread with cheese, ham, and tomato on top. And basil.



Then on the other hand, the sauce has wine in it and there is a lot of it poured all over and covering everything. Like fondue. 



bacon and jalapeño mac and cheese


Not my idea. It's from that college kid who was arrested for being drunk and obnoxious while being a privileged white boy. Up to his neck in debt for a college degree, a must where he comes from, and the guy can't get a mac and cheese on demand at off hours. 


My bacon stash. 








Just as I took the first bite through the first slippery noodles and the thick cheese flavor spread across my mouth the jalapeño bloomed to its heat and the cumin made itself noticed a faint knock on the door the deliberate sound of our UPS driver. "You're just in time for mac and cheese."

"Nah. No thank you."

"It has jalapeño and bacon in it." 

"Nah. Not for me."

"I just had my first bite. It's delicious. Have some." 

"Okay." 

He brought two boxes, two separate orders, both the same thing with one tiny difference. Two reams of card stock paper. Man, am I glad that I noticed the flier from Quiznos downstairs. It's printed on the most excellent paper I've ever held in my hands. Perfect for pop-up cards. It's thin and rigid. At length I discovered it's coated with clay film and rolled under extreme pressure. Reviews on Amazon rate the product highly. Although somewhat expensive it is perfect for printing. That's what they're raving about on Amazon. 

The card paper changes everything. Now it's a whole new ballgame. 

Here is my pop-up card site if care to look at them. List at the bottom left. 

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