Sunshine on my Shoulders...

Sunshine today!!! I almost forgot what that looked like! It brightened up my whole Wednesday.

When I got home, I started a load of laundry, turned on the dishwasher and put the beginnings of the Beef, Mushroom and Barley soup back on the stove to warm up.

The other day, my friend B___ and I were discussing, of all things, Beef Stroganoff. That got my taste buds tingling. So, I also have a pound of this year's beef order hamburger in cold water to thaw for my dinner. It's a sort of "mock beef stroganoff" - one step above Hamburger Helper and one step below making the real thing. It's sort of a Sandra Lee "Semi-Homemade" thing (but not her recipe).

BTW, I did stop and take a picture Tuesday night of one of my pasties for poor Anonymous! He gives new meaning to the words "food porn!" And, yes, that is a real term, describing photos of food so delicious looking you almost... well, they are REALLY mouthwatering, okay? My God! Food porn? What a country we live in!!!

So, back to the soup. I wish now I hadn't dredged the beef in flour/house seasoning mix. Why? Because the broth is really thick and I wanted it more like consomm� (to start with, anyway). But, on the other hand, that's okay, because they want Mom to eat thick stuff.

While it's warming up, I make up the mirepoix: 2 cups of a sweet onion, chopped, two carrots, cut to a small (1/4 inch) dice and two celery stalks, also cut to a small dice (I cheated here, BTW. You remember me buying a ton of celery and parsley to practice my knife skills? Well, I used the small diced celery I froze back then, in an equal amount to the carrot).

I saut�d that in olive oil and butter for about 20 minutes before adding an 8-ounce tray of regular white button mushrooms, sliced thick (recipe calls for 1 1/2 pounds of sliced Crimini, but you use what you got... I can always add them later if necessary).

I tossed that around for another 10 minutes or so and then added 3/4 cup of pearl barley. I let that get happy for a couple of minutes and then added it all to the simmering beef and stock mixture. That has to simmer for about another 40 minutes, so, I took a break to write all this down.

After the barley was done I did several taste tests and seasoning adjustments. I am trying NOT to use salt (it's for my Mom, after all) and its throwing me off a bit. I added some fresh ground pepper, tasted, no, not right. Thinking... thinking... Added a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce and, okay, its damn close! Another teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce and it's so close!!! A tablespoon or so of kosher salt and it would be over the top, but I resist the urge and call it, not perfect, but very good.

I called my brother Jim, regarding an email my brother Joe sent about the modifications required to Mom's house before bringing her home (in 10 days), but just got his voicemail. I left a message and hopefully he will call me.

While the soup is cooling, I start my dinner. I browned the hamburger ad added a sliced onion. When that was ready, I added two cans of cream of mushroom soup and a cup of sour cream. While that bubbled away, I made some wide egg noodles and then plated it.

Result? Tasted like crap!!! I ate about 5 forkfuls because I was hungry, but the rest went into the garbage disposal. Note to self: If you want the real thing, MAKE the real thing, dammit!

Now, I'm hungry, my legs are sore from standing so long and I'm tired. So, no TV, no reading, I went straight to bed and sleep at 9:30 PM.