Kitchen Blues

Okay, about a week ago I received my lovely new Stephanie Alexander cook book. It's big, it's inviting, it's a cooks Bible. So armed and ready when asked to cook tonight I gladly agreed, ready to wow the little sisters.

Albeit I hit a few slight problems -
1) I don't stock the pantry or fridge...which makes ingredients a little difficult to come by...but Dad helpfully headed up to IGA for carrots and celery.
2) I didn't quite have cast-iron enamel baking wear (which costs a small fortune) to cook my stew in as suggested by the book. Instead I used an enamel casserole dish.
3) The recipe said to cook the stew covered with the cast-iron lid, not having the dish obviously meant I didn't have the lid to match, so I ingeniously thought to cover it with foil and lay a flat enamel dish over the top. Really smart Laura! (sarcasm) I found out later that this would actually radiate heat away from the food.

Understand we eat very early at home (usually six). Tonight dinner began at 7:35pm, by which time I had almost been physically accosted by all three of my sisters claiming their bodies were going haywire with the delay. In the end it tasted well besides the crunchy potatoes.

As dinner progressed I got more than an earful of teasing (not of the nasty variety, just the annoying family sort) about making sure I was up to scratch before I got married. I'm failing to physically see a ring a the present moment but Bec, Em and Han seem quite sure one will come along soonish. I think their estimates are a little off for timing (Bec you better be reading this!)

And yes our kitchen is painted blue.