Meat!
Let me begin by apologizing for the poor composition of this photo. But I really didn’t want to fuss with it for long because I wanted to eat my meat while it was still hot! I know, you never thought about the pitfalls of being a food blogger, did you? Neither did you consider the imposition it places on my poor family that has to wait until I choose a plate and get my photos before we eat. At least now you know the sacrifices we make to bring you these daily tidbits from the dinner table.
But it was MEAT! last night. Everyone was pleased. Louisa couldn’t contain her enthusiasm. Well, neither could I because it was such a good piece of sirloin and it was cooked so well (pat, pat on my back). It was tender, juicy, flavorful, and the chimichurri sauce was a tasty, if unnecessary, embellishment.
Back to the composition of this photo, I could have edited out the side dish, but that was part of the story too. I attempted mashed cauliflower again, and I think it was more successful this time. I cooked the cauliflower longer so it was softer and less grainy when mashed, and I added potatoes to the mash, which gave it more body. So we had our cake and could eat it too. Or should I say vegetables? Potatoes? I don’t know, it was a clever way of combining the two side dishes. It wasn’t my idea. I picked up this approach from Joy Bauer on “The Today Show”. You can consider it lightened up potatoes or beefed up cauliflower, your choice, but if you’re looking for a new way to prepare cauliflower, try it this way. It really was good.
Why Chain Restaurants Are Ubiquitous
There was a time, not too long ago in the cosmic sense, when chain restaurants (or any chain store for that matter) were a novelty. When I was growing up during the dinosaur age (I can hear the girls laughing, “ha, ha mom, you’re not that old”) there were Friendly’s, Howard Johnson’s, Horn and Hardart and McDonald’s as your only choices in the New York area. I don’t remember ever eating out at any other chain. These days, you can drive down any major local road and run out of fingers while counting the chain dining possiblities. Was this because chain restaurants produced such great food? Well, you could say the food was consistent, but not usually great. But I think the real reason for their growth was the familiarity factor. Humans are creatures of habit, and familiar things make us feel good.
You may be wondering at this point what this has to do with the tomato soup in the photo. Well, last weekend we were driving around and doing errands as a family. We had hijacked the girls after church to run the errands with us, something they try to avoid whenever possible. But we had them in the car and our travels took us about a half hour from home. As we checked our errands off the list, it was approaching lunch time, and Joe suddenly had the brilliant thought to eat at a restaurant we had known about for years, but never tried. It was a little soup restaurant housed in a log cabin. As soon as we pulled up to the place, Louisa’s reaction was “we’re not going in there.” Similarly, Annie protested she didn’t want soup because she had eaten the canned variety for lunch the day before.
First, let’s pause for a moment to consider what they just said. Someone is offering them a free meal in a restaurant and they don’t want it. Silly kids, in less than ten years they’ll be changing their tunes pretty quickly. But on to the more serious point here, I think what they were really reacting to was the unfamiliarity of the place. It was in a town they had never been to, the restaurant was in a log cabin, and it just looked old and weird, not modern and shiny.
We ate there anyway. You didn’t expect otherwise, did you? The girls were able to have sandwiches since the place offered those besides the soup. Joe and I both ordered the tomato/cheddar soup, a departure from the familiar for me, since I don’t normally like tomato soup. But it was chunky and tangy and good for an unplanned meal. And best of all, from Joe’s perspective, we ate in a log cabin. You won’t find one of those on every corner.
Homemade Pizza and Domestic Dreaming
Oh my goodness, I’ve become boring. Not only do we eat pasta almost every Sunday night that we’re at home for dinner, but homemade pizza on Friday nights has become a regular thing. If you don’t want to call me boring, then feel free to call me lazy instead. By having regular meals you can count on for certain days of the week, there’s much less thought required when planning my food shopping list. Plus, you do become better at preparing certain meals when you cook them repeatedly. For example, after years of experimenting with pizza making, I finally found the dough and the pizza sauce recipe that we all like and turn out dependably time after time. So I’m free to experiment with toppings, tossing on anything I feel like or leftovers (like those chopped up olives) from the frig.
If I can find meals for the other five days of the week, pretty soon you’ll see me walking around with curlers in my hair; my house sparkling; the kids playing quietly in the den with toy soldiers and blocks; a gelatin mold waiting on the kitchen counter; neat stacks of Tupperware in my cabinets; slippers and pipe waiting by the door for Joe’s arrival home after work; and two martinis waiting on the island.
At least the martinis aren’t all just a dream.