Julia and Me and Eddie and Mr. Bojangles

So...today Eddie and I made boeuf bourguignon. It's kind of a French beef stew...who cares what the crap it is because it smells AMAZING while it cooks for 3 hours!!!!

This is all the stuff we had to buy at the store. Food cost was $52 but we spilt it so $26ish each. With all the left overs we ended up with it was VERY reasonably priced. Also, you do NOT need parsley, I just saved you $.89, you're welcome.  And yes, Paula Deen is the Patron Saint of my kitchen, sorry Julia!

We also bought wine, $23 for 3 bottles (two good ones and one to cook with that ended up not tasting too shabby.)

I was in charge of patting the beef dry so it would brown properly while Eddie cut the rinds off the bacon. After drying 3 plates of beef off I was a little grossed out by all the blood on the paper towels and understood why some people would become vegetarians.

Until....

I smelled the bacon boiling. It doesn't really matter how you cook bacon, it always smells fabulous. Sorry vegetarians, more bacon for me!!!

We then browned the meat in olive oil. Note to whom ever plans on making this dish: buy a pair of tongs or your hands will get zapped with hot oil when flipping the meat with a mere fork.

After the meat was browned we sauteed the onions and carrots in the same meaty oils. We added more carrots than the single lonely carrot the recipe called for, I would have even added more than the 3 we tossed in!

 Toss it all back in add 3 cups Chianti, 3 cups beef stock and some seasonings and put it in the oven for 3 hours! BOOM!!! Easy.

While we waited for the boeuf to be done we sauteed a pound of mushrooms in butter (also making the apartment smell wonderful!!)

And boiled some pearl onions in beef stock. After both were ready we just set them aside for when the beef was ready. If you think those two items are something you can NOT add to the dish then you are mistaken, they really add to the meal.

As do potatoes!! We chopped some up, threw olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and Lawry's Season salt on and put them in the oven too. They took about 45 minutes to fry up.

While waiting we also drank some wine. I'm not a big wine drinker, I prefer vodka, but I thought OK, Julia Child recommended red wine to drink with the dish, I'll try it. I had about A glass of wine. It was alright, I would drink it again but also, not my first choice!!

ALMOST DONE! We separated the solids from the liquid to make a kind of gravy. It was worth it.

Julia would be proud. Thank God I went running all this week!! It was very good and there was about 4 more serving left over after we both got fed. Yum.

Taking my first bite while my exercise ball judges me in the background. I know, 300 crunches!!!

Not a very funny blog posting but I bet you're hungry now! Jealous?!?! I thought so.

Everyone's a Critic 2.0 / I'm THIS Close

If I don't watch it, this could be me.

So... I recently watched the HBO movie Grey Gardens. I've seen the original documentary from the 1970s and the people on 'Hoarders' don't got nothin' on the Beales!!



I really enjoyed the movie because it gave me a better understanding of the two women from the documentary and their true stories...not just their own idealized versions. Jessica Lange was very good as Big Edie and doesn't have a bad voice either. But I felt Drew Barrymore was the best in this role, probably the best thing she's ever done. She was dead on as Little Edie and even trained her mouth to talk like a normal person and not how she normally speaks, out of one side of her mouth, like Bette Davis after her stroke!

After watching that movie I found a super cute video of cats making biscuits. The cat getting the rub down is the same breed as  Mr. Bojangles.

After I watched it I looked up the reason why cats do that. Let me share:

Q: Why do cats knead?

A: That loud purring followed by the sharpening of claws on some soft spot is called “milk-treading.” A nursing kitten instinctively uses his paws to draw out milk, gently pushing on his mother’s stomach to increase the milk flow. When older cats behave this way, it’s a good sign that they’re happy, content, and probably recalling their kitten hood.

The fact that I spent that much time looking up cute cat videos and cat information is a little scary to me. I don't want to become the crazy cat lady in my 20s and when I only have one cat. I hate to think how nutty I'll be if I get more!!

Then I looked on my iPhone. I have 81 photos on there, 32 are of Bojangles. If I die in a car wreck and someone finds my phone they will think, "Whoa, that chick was really into her cat." Here are some samples to prove it.

Covering his eyes from the sun coming in so he can keep napping.

That's right, I'm knitting with my cat. I'm doomed.

I understand he's super cute and awesome but I need more photos of other things or else I'm on the road to Grey Gardens, 30 cats and a giant raccoon!