How Did it Get to be Next Summer Already?

I see that I last posted over a year ago. That was not my intention. But winter was emotionally difficult for many reason - not the least of which the very wintery weather!

I seem to have lost at least one friend over the hard winter, perhaps two - people who I spoke to regularly. One seems simply to have dropped off the face of the earth, and the other ... well, I'm not quite sure what is going on there - just that I hear "I'll call you later" a lot but then nothing ...

Work has been stressful for me, and that is all that I will say on a public forum about that.

But, I've been trying to get myself out of the emotional dip I seemed to have gotten into and I think I'm doing it, finally.

Let me share some of the discoveries I've made ... I'll forwarn you - they are food and drink related.

I make a decent guacamole - but I cheat. I use pre-chopped pico de gallo, then mix that in with mashed fresh avocado, and a liberal dash of lime juice, either fresh or bottled.

I make a pretty good stout beef stew - and I cheat at that too. I think I wrote about that in a previous post, but I'll repeat it here. I buy raw diced potatoes, fresh English peas, celery and carrot sticks, chopped onion, sliced mushrooms and stew beef, and a four or six pack of stout ale like Guinness. I flour and brown the beef pieces in a little olive oil, coconut oil or another healthy oil, then remove it from the pot. Then I chop the celery and carrot sticks into stew worthy pieces (in other words - however big or small I feel like at the moment!), throw them and the onions in, and saute them until the onion is getting transparent. Then, back in goes the beef, maybe some fresh rosemary, a little minced garlic or garlic powder (whatever I have at the moment) and whatever herbs strike my fancy - keeping flavor in mind, of course! Then, and here's the part I haven't quite got perfected, one and a half to two 12 oz bottles of the stout... Too little and it hasn't got that hint of bitter bite, too much and the bitter bite is much less enjoyable. After the stout, add water, and simmer for a while - until the carrots are starting to get tender. If you need to get more beef flavor, add small amounts of beef flavored Better Than Bouillon paste to taste. Then add the peas and the potatoes. The peas will probably take longer to get tender than the potatoes, so you may want to add them earlier - depends on if your peas are fresh or frozen (don't EVEN put canned peas in there!!!). Once the peas are close to done, add the sliced mushrooms and simmer for a while longer or until it all tastes delicious and all the ingredients are tender. Depending on how thick it is, or how thick you like it, at any point you may wish to blend a little flour or cornstarch to thicken it up, but be careful not to add too much or you will have jellied beef stew! :)

Finally, the drinks... I've discovered barley water - a gaming friend introduced me to it! It's pretty simple, really... here's a couple of links: Barley Water by Alton Brown of the Food Network and this answer at Yahoo Answers. Depending on how long and vigorously it simmers, you may find it is a little thick - syrupy, almost. Just add water or ice to thin it down. It's refreshing and has many of the benefits of barley. Don't throw out the barley like Alton Brown says, though - put it away for eating... you can heat it and put honey on it for a lovely hot breakfast, or use it in some stout beef stew ... or any number of ways that you could use rice or pasta. It's good for you and tastes great!

For my next post I will talk about my experiences drinking and now making Kombucha - a fermented tea drink.

Until then - hope you get a chance to try some of the "recipes" I've shared. Be adventurous in the kitchen but try not to burn anything! :)

-- T