weekend update
Friday: Went to Asia Mart and got way too much stuff, but it's all edible, and most of it is keep-able, IYKWIM :)
Saturday: got a bug up my butt to host friends for dinner (I'd actually already invited silverstah and __himself__, but firmed up what I was cooking and invited _good_kitty and her Splendid.
My oven was on pretty much from 10am to 6pm. I got up, scrubbed out the new and old cast iron well, dried it, greased it up and tossed it in the oven while I worked on doing dishes, etc. Then I baked an(other) apple cake. Then I put a 14lb pork shoulder in the oven (cut slits in it, put in a mix of salt, pepper, long pepper, grains of paradise, cardamom and fresh garlic, rubbed that over it, and let it sit out while the cake was in the oven, about 45 min). While *that* was cooking and the cake cooling, I finished cleaning up the kitchen, got B to arrange the shelves against the wall (I now have a baker's rack and a small book case in there to add to the storage, because dude, I have a lot of kitchen stuff), got rid of extraneous boxes, bags, random stuff, swept, vacuumed and mopped the floor in both the kitchen and the front hall.
I have to figure out how to store my root veggies and things. Currently I have a rubbermaid rough tote housing: oniond, potatoes, carrots, apples and grapefruit. There has to be a better solution, but I'm damned if I know what it is. I don't want to put them in the pantry, because I'm afraid that 1) I'll forget about them and 2) they'd be right against the water heater, and that seems imprudent somehow. One of those veggie hangie things i don't think will work b/c we have a suspended (I think that's what they're called?) ceiling in there. Meh.
Anyway, speaking of root veggies, I washed and cut up about 4 med onions, about 1 1/2 lbs of carrots and most of a 5lb bag of potatoes, drizzled with olive oil, tossed with salt and pepper, and threw those in for the last hour of the roast cooking. Pulled the roast out, removed to a meat carving plate thingie, covered with foil, scraped all the goodie off into a small saucepan, and later made gravy from that (letting the veggies continue to cook while the meat rested).
Since I felt it necessary to do green veg, I simmered bok choy with shiitake mushrooms and a little bit of oyster sauce.
Oh, and iced the cake with a "burnt sugar" frosting. Yum!
Kitty and Splendid brought Blue Moon Brewery's Full Moon winter ale, OMG, YUM! Went beautifully with dinner.
A good time was had by all, and I got my "cooking for a crowd" jones taken care of for a while.
This was also impetus to straighten up the public areas of the apartment. The dining room is still in shambles and there are boxes in the (wide) hallways and over to the side in the living room, but it wasn't claustrophobic, even with 6 adults. :)
Sunday: weather was SOOO gorgeous, but Polka woke up with a cold. I imagine it's the one I had week before last/last week. Icky, but *I* felt better for being outside, so I woke B up, got us all dressed and walked up to Guglhupf for brunch and bread. I had their smoked salmon breakfast which is 2 slices of yummy bread, smoked salmon topped with scrambled eggs, *good* hollendaise sauce and minced red onion. B had eggs benedict for the same price. I think I won on that one. :) Polka nursed and played with paper and spoons, and a good time was had by all. We ate outside so she and I could get some Vit. D. :)
Sunday was also Laundry and Dishes Day (we were bad and had left the dishes from Saturday night to do, but everything was done by 4pm, so I don't feel too bad ^_^).
Saturday: got a bug up my butt to host friends for dinner (I'd actually already invited silverstah and __himself__, but firmed up what I was cooking and invited _good_kitty and her Splendid.
My oven was on pretty much from 10am to 6pm. I got up, scrubbed out the new and old cast iron well, dried it, greased it up and tossed it in the oven while I worked on doing dishes, etc. Then I baked an(other) apple cake. Then I put a 14lb pork shoulder in the oven (cut slits in it, put in a mix of salt, pepper, long pepper, grains of paradise, cardamom and fresh garlic, rubbed that over it, and let it sit out while the cake was in the oven, about 45 min). While *that* was cooking and the cake cooling, I finished cleaning up the kitchen, got B to arrange the shelves against the wall (I now have a baker's rack and a small book case in there to add to the storage, because dude, I have a lot of kitchen stuff), got rid of extraneous boxes, bags, random stuff, swept, vacuumed and mopped the floor in both the kitchen and the front hall.
I have to figure out how to store my root veggies and things. Currently I have a rubbermaid rough tote housing: oniond, potatoes, carrots, apples and grapefruit. There has to be a better solution, but I'm damned if I know what it is. I don't want to put them in the pantry, because I'm afraid that 1) I'll forget about them and 2) they'd be right against the water heater, and that seems imprudent somehow. One of those veggie hangie things i don't think will work b/c we have a suspended (I think that's what they're called?) ceiling in there. Meh.
Anyway, speaking of root veggies, I washed and cut up about 4 med onions, about 1 1/2 lbs of carrots and most of a 5lb bag of potatoes, drizzled with olive oil, tossed with salt and pepper, and threw those in for the last hour of the roast cooking. Pulled the roast out, removed to a meat carving plate thingie, covered with foil, scraped all the goodie off into a small saucepan, and later made gravy from that (letting the veggies continue to cook while the meat rested).
Since I felt it necessary to do green veg, I simmered bok choy with shiitake mushrooms and a little bit of oyster sauce.
Oh, and iced the cake with a "burnt sugar" frosting. Yum!
Kitty and Splendid brought Blue Moon Brewery's Full Moon winter ale, OMG, YUM! Went beautifully with dinner.
A good time was had by all, and I got my "cooking for a crowd" jones taken care of for a while.
This was also impetus to straighten up the public areas of the apartment. The dining room is still in shambles and there are boxes in the (wide) hallways and over to the side in the living room, but it wasn't claustrophobic, even with 6 adults. :)
Sunday: weather was SOOO gorgeous, but Polka woke up with a cold. I imagine it's the one I had week before last/last week. Icky, but *I* felt better for being outside, so I woke B up, got us all dressed and walked up to Guglhupf for brunch and bread. I had their smoked salmon breakfast which is 2 slices of yummy bread, smoked salmon topped with scrambled eggs, *good* hollendaise sauce and minced red onion. B had eggs benedict for the same price. I think I won on that one. :) Polka nursed and played with paper and spoons, and a good time was had by all. We ate outside so she and I could get some Vit. D. :)
Sunday was also Laundry and Dishes Day (we were bad and had left the dishes from Saturday night to do, but everything was done by 4pm, so I don't feel too bad ^_^).