one track minded

Just a wee bit of domestication tonight. Still can't get the laundry done and don't feel like cleaning, but the oven/stove has been busy. (WARNING: this is a pretty boring post. A non-post, really.)

I had some organic stewing beef from Windsor that I had to use up quick and a soup recipe that required said beef. (For some reason I've stopped writing the name of the blogs I get recipes from. It would make it easier to send links to stuff when people ask about recipes. Note to self: start doing that again.) The beef barley soup turned out quite nice, though I almost wish I had cut down the beef even smaller. There's enough for an army. Is it possible to freeze beef barley soup with chunks of beef? I put extra vegetables in and added 5 bay leaves instead of 2. I realise that tomato paste in soups is really, really good. It takes soup to a whole new level.

Soup. I'm excited about soup.

I also decided to bake brownies, largely because they're easy, but also because I desperately wanted something chocolatey. Rachel was supposed to come over, but felt a sore throat coming on and I'm such a baby about my health until I leave for Chicago that we decided to cancel. I wanted to drown my sorrows at missing a meeting with my friend with a pan of brownies. It's a new recipe, but how different can any brownie recipe really be?

Sometime in the coming days I wanted to make a creamy tomato Italian sausage sauce for pasta that I've been looking at for a few weeks. Thursday night I met up with friends at the Old Admiral and had the 1/2 price pasta; my friend highly endorsed the Meat Lover's that had a creamy tomato sauce. I want to see if this recipe comes close to that one because it was really tasty. I've copped out and have one kind of sausage instead of two, but it's an Italian sausage with fennel and basil. I'm intrigued by it.

I also have a tuna casserole recipe I want to make. I have a different, awesome tuna casserole recipe from my friend Alana that is chocked full of garlic, but this one is a southwestern casserole and I thought it sounded interesting to try. Can never have too many tuna casserole recipes. Sometimes casseroles are a necessity for mental health.

Wow, this is really dull. Well, whatever.

OK, I'm going to let you in on a little idea I've been working through in my head. I've been thinking about starting an adult version of Girl Guides/Boy Scouts. When I was in Girl Guides I learnt how to darn a sock, did the cooking badge, went to a church of another denomination, weeded flower beds, made crafts... I think it's time to revisit some of these skills as an adult. I wanted to make badges for the different tasks (time consuming!), but also thought it would just be fun to get together with friends to relearn how to darn socks or teach sewing or do something useful with hands. If I get it together I'll let you know.