Saturday I spent a good portion of the day cleaning and organizing our pantry, kitchen cabinets, two refrigerators, two freezers and our deep freeze. And yes, I realize there are only two people living here!
It felt good to get rid of stuff I know I’ll never use and to use up what I actually have. I even found canned crab and crab seasoning from Williams-Sonoma, so I made my SIL some killer crab cakes for her lunch this week. 
Guess where I went Saturday afternoon? The gym!
Hannah and I joined Charter Fitness last February. There was one in our town, its only $10 a month, and its convenient. Well, the one in our town closed, so the closest one to me is in the next town over. It’s right by the grocery store where I normally shop, so its not that far out of the way. It’s about 4 times the size of our old one though!
I did 1.5 miles on 15% incline at 3.5 mph, then did 4 miles on the bike.
After a productive day like that, comfort food was what was on the menu. One of Tony’s favorite meals – boxed Zatarain’s red beans and rice with kielbasa. We just throw everything into our rice cooker and it cooks up in about a half hour. I kicked it up by putting 3/4 a cup of sauerkraut on the bottom of mine – so good! Tony wanted to throw up in his mouth a little at the smell of the sauerkraut. Me? I can eat it cold out of the can!
My Mom’s been looking for a replacement desk for her office for her new house for a while. A long while. So when she found one that she loved on craigslist, immediately rented a van and picked it up. Um, only one little bitty problem – both my sister and Hannah had other plans and couldn’t get to her house to help her move it in.
That’s where Biz, #1 child of our Momma (suck it Charlie and Jennifer!) came to the rescue. I got to my Mom’s about 10:15 yesterday morning. We had to first get out her old desk, which was a corner unit. Much as we tried, the damn thing wasn’t going to fit – yet somehow we know the movers got it in without taking it apart.
My mom realized that the movers had to remove the door to get it in! Luckily, we unscrewed enough of the pieces and it was able to be removed in several pieces. This is where it got interesting. The desk that we were bringing in was all one piece – hutch and all! It was laying flat on its back, and I watched my 72 year old mom climbed over the wheel wells to get to the top of the desk.
Somehow the two of us managed to get it in the house, only a tiny scratch on her office floor – not too bad!
Then after returning the van, she wanted to take me to a Thai restaurant for lunch that she’s wanted to try out. Sadly, they were closed on Sunday. So we went to a Mexican restaurant that was next door. My Mom asked a customer if the food was good and he said he ate there a lot – thumbs up! Three steak tacos, rice and beans for only $6.75? Yes please!
We quickly realized we could have gotten one meal and split it. The taco meat was a bit tough and didn’t have a whole lot of flavor either – my favorite part was the refried beans! Well, at least now we know.
After my big clean up of our deep freeze, I found a bag labeled “pork ragu.” I actually fucking labeled something in my deep freeze! I thought it would make a great lasagna. I used whole ricotta cheese, real shredded mozzarella – no healthy short cuts in this recipe! It baked for an hour and the whole house smelled wonderful. I let it sit about 10 minutes before cutting it.
The verdict? It tasted like ass. It was dry, the pork in the ragu was super tough and overall a huge disappointment. Tony gently suggested that I get his Mom’s recipe for her lasagna – so Bonnie – please send me your recipe when you get a chance!
So after my Saturday workout, I have 131.35 miles left in my 170 mile challenge – I see a 10 mile bike ride at lunch in my future!
What’s your worst dinner flop? Make it a great day!
When I lived in Mozambique I had to learn to make rice that didn’t come from a box with Uncle Ben on the front. I sucked at it for a long time. Mozambicans are not subtle and my husband (then boyfriend) once dumped the entire pot of rice that I had made in the trash. I cried and then I got over it and learned how to make rice for real. Now my husband says I make the best rice though I think that’s just his way of getting out of making it himself.
At least Tony was gentle with his suggestion!
I’m her favorite child when I go feed her cats while she’s gone!
Bummer that Thai restaurant wasn’t open. The Mexican food looks good though.
I have quite a few dinner flops…hmm…
I would have to say I have burnt a few things. But some of the time food is edible. That’s all that matters, right? 😉
Pork Chops. I just can’t seem to get the hang of them. I can do shake and bake chops if that counts. If something I cook doesn’t turn out just right we say well at least it wasn’t pork chops 🙂 My hubby is a good sport… he eats anything I cook and smiles…
I’ve had plenty of flops. Usually involves burning, leaving out an important ingredient. But LOL that your flop smelled like ass 🙂
Your mom’s desk is lovely!
I think my biggest flop was trying to make a german potato salad once and it just turned out disgusting. As for the sauerkraut, I am with you that I can eat that stuff anytime on so many different things. Plus fermented food is all the rage right now 🙂
Could you come up here and clean our my fridge and freezer too??? 🙂
It’s not often that you have a fail in the kitchen! I tried making a cookie recipe last week that was total fail. I was going to toss everything but hubby liked the hocky pucks and he wanted to keep them! I hate wasting food but also hate wasting calories on anything that is less than tasty.
Is your killer crab cake recipe coming or posted somewhere? I usually use real crab but have some cans too. I’d love to know one that comes out good with canned!
I love Zatarans!!! Your story about the lasagna crax me up…..
I can’t believe there was no one to help you guys move that desk! But it was a great find.
My lasagne recipe is fairly standard but I do think it’s my sauce that makes it special. Like yours, mine is a special dish – lots of cheese. I’ll send it to you when I have a minute to type it out
I’ve had many disasters over the years but the one that sticks with me is back in the early 90’s when I made pizza with fat free cheese. Mr. Helen took a bite of it and the cheese pinged back and slapped him on his chin. He looked at me and said, “Don’t you ever do that to me again!”
😀 😀 😀
$10 / month is a great deal!
Sorry to hear about the lasagna. It’s such a bummer to put lots of work into something. I don’t know what pork ragu is, but maybe it can be picked out and the lasagna could be eaten without it?
Wow, you guys are serious huh? I was at my mom’s last night and her fridge went out and we had to transfer everything from the garage fridge (hers) to the kitchen fridge (my sister’s who lives with them). Oh it wasn’t pretty. Can you say consolidation?
Awesome find on the desk! That is sweet! I like Craig’s list a lot. We have sold a lot of stuff on there (and given it away) and bought some stuff. Good all around.
And you walked at a 15% incline?? Holy moley!
I wouldn’t be able to pay my electric bill if I had that many refrigerators/freezers plugged in! They are an energy suck – when our old one, which wasn’t that old (stupid LG) broke for the third time and we replaced it with a new, smaller fridge, I was shocked that I could see the difference in the bill the next month…and that was just one appliance!
Don’t you just hate it when you put together a great meal and it doesn’t work out? My worst failure was a crockpot chicken dish. It was gray. Congealed. Beyond disgusting. So disappointed!
Big props and mad girl power to you and your mom for moving that furniture! Pretty sweet desk, too.
Tasted like ass? LOL
Oh man, I do loves me some tacos.
I have a couple of meal flops. One was when I just got married and was a stir fry that called for 2 tablespoons of cayenne powder. I didn’t know better. It was a misprint, obviously. We were too poor to toss it so we had to eat it. Poor Chuck. We were dying.
The other flop was some crab cakes that called for a lot of sesame oil and it was terrible!
I know there have been meals that I’ve put directly down the garbage disposal, but I can’t think of them right now. I did try to make Ratatouille last week. (It’s been on my food bucket list since watching the movie.) It wasn’t a giant flop, but was really bland and disappointing. I fixed it by adding ground beef, tomato sauce, and a lot of other ingredients. It ended up more like a ragu and it was finally enjoyable.
My biggest dinner flop was the first time I tried making eggplant parmesean. I left the skin on, didn’t cook it enough….and yeah….it was nasty!
You can’t beat $10 a month! We have a gym like that where I live called Planet Fitness. I was a member for a little while and it was pretty sweet!
$10 a month? What a deal! Sounds like a productive day! I’m always a fan of spice and rice. And that Mexican? Delicious!
Your Mom’s new desk looks great! I love the white/wood tone contrast.
My worst kitchen flop in recent memory was country style ribs. Just. Don’t. Ask. :-///
We grilled chicken on Saturday for “grill night”. It caught on fire. It was black on the outside and raw on the inside. My mashed potatoes were the bomb though.
And I tried to make carrot souffle one year before I knew how to cook. I didn’t see the point of separating the eggs and mixing them back in. So I skipped that step. Uh, worse than baby food.
I’ve never had luck with Craigslist, but that is great your mom found something!
There’s only been one time that I’ve literally had to throw a meal down the sink. I tried making Tom Yum Soup. It was a disaster. It tasted so terrible, I couldn’t even fathom serving it. I’ve never tried it again–it’s one item that I’ve decided is better to just order from the local Thai restaurant.