Snowy Saturday

I got up at 6:23 AM and put a pot of coffee on. After downing my pills (my usual weekday breakfast), I decided I was still hungry, so I made some soft boiled eggs for breakfast. I did the usual shave and shower and morning chores (clean the litter boxes, refill the cat feeders, feed Newt and turn his light on and take the kitchen garbage out to the garage).

I got dressed and left just in time for my first appointment, my 9:30 AM haircut. My friend B__ had just reviewed the "suggested" tipping for Christmas list with me this week. I was surprised to learn I was supposed to have tipped my barber (and I have used the same one since I first moved to Redford) for Christmas. Well, duh!)

In my defense, the only experience I have had with tipping for the holiday's was when I was a kid and my Mom and Dad would leave a Christmas card with some cash in it out for the mail delivery person. But, government regulations forbid that now.

Anyway, I tipped her an extra ten dollars and told her have a nice Holiday. When I went outside, the snow (that's supposed to start around 9:00 PM tonight) was falling fast, and the wind was blowing it sideways! I drove carefully to the eye glass place. With just a little fussing, my new glasses fit perfectly! It's a new look for me (I went back to full frame glasses. I'm tired of breaking that stupid fishing line that held my old lenses in!) But, I like it. I'll report other people's observations as they become available.

Next, I drove through the blowing snow to the bank, where I found the ATM was broken. Dammit! Waldenbooks was next, to pick up a Christmas present. Then I drove to the Kroger's for my bi-weekly grocery shopping. Place was PACKED!!! One lady remarked to another that it's always this way when there's a Winter Storm Warning. I dunno... but it makes my "Go to Kroger to avoid the mob at Meijer's" theory look a little stupid.

I left there, but couldn't go to the feed store (I got no cash and they don't take debit cards) but, I still have some bird seed left, so that's okay. I did stop at the CVS drugstore where my bank has a little ATM machine and got some dough. Then I drove home and unloaded all my goodies.

The snow has stopped, so the next thing on my list is to refill the bird feeder, the suet cage and the squirrel feeder (used the last of my peanuts for that). With the coming storm, I have flocks of birds and squirrels out there. Not five minutes after coming inside, I watched in amazement out the kitchen window while grackles fought with cardinals and sparrows for the bird feed and squirrels fought with blue jays for the peanuts. Nature in the raw can be pretty damn ugly!

Okay, I've probably mentioned this many times before, but the bi-weekly grocery shopping calls for a brutal review of the contents of my fridge. Living alone, I am constantly worried about keeping leftovers "too long". So, every two weeks, on "full-grocery shopping" day, I pour out any remaining milk, buttermilk, half-half and/or heavy cream, sour cream, bread, etc. I review the "use by" labels on all my shredded cheeses, salad dressings, mayo and so forth. I also pitch any old leftover food containers (like mashed potatoes, chili, soup, etc.) still in the fridge.

So, I do all that, but now I'm at a quandary. What about the Beef, Mushroom and Barley soup I made for my Mom? As I reported, I messed up by dredging the beef with flour before searing it. I have tasted it, and adjusted it all week long. And, it's really "okay" but do I really want to take her some soup that's just "okay"? I hem and haw for a while, then decide, screw it, its not good enough for my Mom, so in the trash it (and about 4 or 6 hours of work) goes.

So, now I have a problem. I may or may not be able to drive to see Mom tomorrow (they are now predicting 8-12 inches of blowing, drifting snow for Sunday) but, if I can, what soup can I bring her?

I do know she loves beef and barley soup (and she makes the best!) and I was pretty set on bringing her some. But, there's a problem. I don't have enough of my homemade chicken stock left. So, I check, and there are two packs of beef short ribs in the freezer (remember, I share the contents with Jake and Carla) so, I take one out to thaw. Meanwhile, I thaw out another � round streak, too.

I also decided (before shopping) to make potato soup for Mom, using Jake's recipe. Since it's his, not mine, and I did not ask permission, I will not reproduce it here. The big difference, though, is in using baby redskin potatoes, peeled and oven roasted. However, Kroger did not have "baby" redskins, so instead of me peeling the 20 or 30 potatoes he had to, I only peeled and cut up six big redskins! I am sure there will be a subtle taste difference, but, hey, I just couldn't get them! Honest!!

Meanwhile, I put some oil in my 5-quart Dutch oven and when it was heated, I braised the 6 beef short ribs on all sides. After that, I put them into my stock pot and added 3 quarts of cold water. I poured out the oil, and then deglazed the Dutch oven with dry vermouth. After scraping up the good brown bits, I poured that into the stock pot as well. I decided to go with the old-style stock method, as used by me, my brother Carl and every line chef I ever knew, for time immemorial, so I rough-chopped celery, two onions, 5 cloves of garlic and 3 carrots and four dried bay leafs and threw it in the water. I added the seared beef short ribs, hit boil, and then put it on simmer at 2:00 PM. I'll either pull it off around 9:00 PM or let it go all night. This will give me the meat (plus the cut up round steak) and stock plus extra beef stock for the freezer.

Back to the potato soup. I clean out the Dutch oven and render the required amount of bacon and then add the onion and, later, the garlic and thyme. Meanwhile, I am oven roasting 4 pounds of cut up (large) peeled redskin potatoes (tossed with olive oil and salt and pepper). My emailed recipe speaks of 450 degrees F. oven temp and "until tender" So, I set the timer for 20 minutes and keep checking every 5 minutes afterward. It turns out to be over 40 minutes in my oven, and at that, the tops of the potatoes have all turned brown. I pull them out and set them to cool.

Meanwhile, I have added the 4 cups of homemade chicken stock (which leaves me with only four frozen cups left!). I took out about � quarter of the "most obviously roasted" potatoes, cut them into cubes and reserved them. I like "chunks" in my potato soup and these look really cool!

The rest go into the simmering soup. Here my emailed recipe calls for hand mashing them and so I do, for a bit. But, unlike Jake, I have other options! So, I get the immersion blender out and puree the f*ck out of this. So, you can't "see" the onion, bacon and/or potatoes, but you can taste them. I add the reserved potato chunks and let it simmer for another hour to get happy. This is perfect! Mom will love it!!! And, I must admit, kudos to Jake, as this is perhaps the best potato soup I have ever tasted! If it was any other potato soup, I would recommend adding shredded cheddar cheese to the top of each bowl, but believe me, this doesn't need it!

So, now its 9:00 PM and I do a quick check outside. Not sure when it started again, but the ground is now completely covered with snow. I can't see any grass, now. After reflection, I decide that the beef stock still tastes a bit "light" so I will simmer it overnight. It could be I added too much water at the beginning.

So, for my dinner, it's the last of the pasties and a bowl of Jake's potato soup. And, I watch TV until bedtime!