Its probably just as well....

Hey All,

Well, it turned out to be a nice kinda sunny day here in good ol' SLc, UT. I was hoping to hit the links today, but alas it only just now got sunny and there is still a brutal chill to the air.

Ya'll haven't heard much from me, well, for a handful of reasons. Recently my work blocked access to my social media sites, and have been being downright ruthless about IT policy, so my 20 minutes in the evening I would normally spend blogging or photographing great and easy homecooked food has been spent catching up on the days events. Also, life in general has taken an AMAZING twist. I'm not sure what has kicked over, but I've decided to quit letting minutia ruin my life. Crazy work BS -- OUT! Crappy body image stuff -- OUT! Feeling like people just don't get me -- OUT! A lot of this has happened in the past couple of weeks. I had some really amazing validation happen on the career front. While I'm not changing jobs anytime soon, I finally got potential employers to say, "Wow, you are way experienced and awesome, can we keep your resume on file should a more senior position open up?" Its made it a lot easier to let go of trying to prove myself every time I turn around. I've been letting work flow naturally and organically, and I'm pretty confident I'm rocking it. Friday alone I did more science in 4 hours than I had been doing in a year...out of fear and concern for the minutia, my productivity had been sucking. I also had a really cool friend wander back into the local area. She's one of those people that just knows me and is really a fuckton of fun! The past two weekends have been spent having some of the funnest times of my life....yes, the fun I have with her rivals the fun I have at Burning Man. The past two weekends have been spent dancing and bitching and just having fun....not often I get to do that. Thanks Ang, for reminding me what it is like to live open and free!

So that brings us to tonight. Through Ang, we met this amazing new boi. I don't mean to gush, but damn. He's cute, he's fun, he's smart (persuing his Ph.D., no less), and available. That doesn't seem to happen that often in the world of this slut. Usually, if they are available, they are lame-ass leaches that I can't stand, or if they are smart and fun they are so damn busy I have to make time to savor every single second. Some of my closest and greatest friends from down south are coming over for dinner and sleepover, as is new boi :)

So what does one do when great friends and new fucktois (I use that term with the utmost affection) are coming for dinner? We were thinking steaks, but why not pull out all the stops and make an amazing cheddar bacon stuffed burger. That set my wheels in motion, and why not add an awesome potato salad (Dusti taught me how to make this one, its delicious!). Husbear was craving a green salad too.....so why not one of my favorites, the Mushroom Spinach Salad.

So where to start. The burgers are surprisingly easy. NPS had Everson Spice Bacon Cheddar Seasoning on clearance last year. I figured why not and bought some. Needless to say I was back the next day they were open buying up their stock. For batches smaller than 5 lbs. you can approximate 2Tblsp. per pound. So I rehydrate that in a bowl and then mix in the ground beef. Usually I go for something really lean....tonight I did 1lb. 98/2 and 1lb. 80/20. Then mix in plenty of good cheddar...I've done it with super sharp, tonight with Chive Shallot Cheddar. NPS is a godsend with this as they often get the "near outdates" from local retailers and sell it for a fraction of the price. The funny thing with cheese, tho, is that there really is no such thing as an outdate. The flavors are less predictable after the outdate, but sometimes you get amazing suprises. I recently had an "outdated" blue develop white mold and get brie flavors on top of the blue....I was in heaven. So anyway, turn those into patties and grill.....a couple strips of bacon on top and YUM!

Up next is the potato salad. So um, yeah, its potato salad is kinda hard to screw up. Boil the taters, I leave the skin on, in well salted water. This saves having to add salt later. And a new trick I learned today, don't want to dirty another pot for boiling the eggs, just put them on top the taters and take them out after boiling for 11min with a slotted spoon. CAKE! Now for the trick that Dusti taught me in Wyoming. Don't go full mayo, use half mayo and half sour cream....it adds a unique flavor that can't be beat. Tonights' includes celery, sweet relish, 4 eggs, about 3/4 of a normal sized onion, plenty of prepared mustard, and a tiche of distilled vinegar. I also decided to add some (ok, a lot of) mustard powder to kick it up a notch. Oh hells yeah, it knocked it up a notch and added a spice that is A-FREAKING-MAZING!

And finally the Warm Mushroom Salad. A couple of notes on this one, the recipe calls for a mixed green....I like straight up spinach. Don't over reduce the balsamic, or it doesn't coat the greens well. And finally, add those mushrooms while they are still steaming hot. I like a well wilted spinach, this is the only way I've found to get that effect, otherwise the spinach holds up and well, the salad just sucks. The day after, this is great with a splash of vinaigrette or good old Catalina.

I'm hoping to take some pictures tonight to share some of my awesome friends with ya'll. Of course, as any good Burner should, I'll ask first.

Keep on cooking! I'm sure missing all my Burning Man friends tonight....can't wait to see you all soon!

Under the weather, but still needed to get this one out

Hey All,

What a Sunday....and after 2 beautiful days in the 70sF its snowing again. I spent yesterday in bed, in and out of the fetal position. Initially I wasn't sure if it was a rotten hangover or a stomach bug. Chez 825 did go out and tie one on on Friday. However, today, I contend it is a stomach bug :( I'm still having the chills and hot flashes, and finally broke down and made some ginger-chili tea to calm my stomach. The tea is working its magic, and its really easy. Literally all one needs to do is place some dried ginger and half a dried chili in a tea pot.

Husbear, RN, has been taking excellent care of me. He's been keeping me hydrated with "The Judy Russel Special" (its half strength Gatorade) and picking up the slack with cooking and keeping the house in a semblance of order. He's got a pork bean thing going in the crock pot.....I'm really hoping he'll write me a guest piece on it. It smells great and the little bits I've nibbled on are amazing!

So I never got around to getting this one published. I was busy with the Science Fair, and the stress levels at work this week have been EPIC...and not like happy EPIC. But I did prepare this last Thursday on my way out the door to hopefully coach young scientists to awesomeness....there's a great baseline there. With a couple of easy tweaks a couple of these projects can go all the way.

So what was quick and easy? I opted for Pierogi. Its a favorite of mine, and pretty quick to turn around if you have the frozen ones handy. Thank you NPS for having these on my last shopping trip.

So here's the ingredients:

For the gravy, I decided to go with a modified cream gravy. It was one can of condensed cream of mushroom soup, a cup of prepared chicken and tomato bullion, and 1 1/2 Tblsp (thats 4.5 teaspoons), in the jar for the good ol' shaking technique.

I fried the pierogi much like one would gyoza (Japanese potstickers). A very hot pan, to get some color, but as soon as the dumplings went into the pan, the heat was turned back to medium.

After the pierogi were cooked through, onto the plate. The pan got turned up to high just to get those bits to turn dark brown, then in with the prepared gravy, and back to medium heat. This one required me to stir the whole time, as it kept trying to lump on me.

When I could spare a moment with the gravy, it was off to the freezer to get a dish of frozen veggies, in the microwave and a press of the "magic button" and dinner was ready.

Here's the finished product.

We had a bit of leftover gravy, which found itself a second life as breakfast. I sliced up and cooked some ritzy gourmet sausages I also scored at NPS. A couple of biscuits from the tube, the sausage, an egg over easy, and the gravy. It was just as good the 2nd time around. This picture just doesn't do it justice....it really was quite tasty.