Anniversary Dinner - Out or At Home?

 Dinner (lasagna) at home won the toss -

So i had fun doing an Anniversary Tablescape

Fun and whimsical with Williams-Sonoma Heart Dishes, a hodge podge of silver, china, pottery, crystal, and candles.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US !

❤

Thirty-Eight Years

 

Life is Good

❤

What's Cooking in Meat Camp?

Today I have two crockpots hard at work.

I may be retired, but I still rely (heavily) on my slowcookers.

I've heard people say they don't use/don't like crockpots because everything tastes the same.

To that, I'd have to say, "you're doing it wrong."

Today's menu - - -

https://showmetheyummy.com/slow-cooker-flank-steak/

Slow Cooker Flank Steak

This Slow Cooker Flank Steak is ultra tender and coated in a flavorful brown sugar chili powder rub. This easy weeknight dinner requires less than 10 ingredients!

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time4 hrs

Total Time4 hrs 15 mins

Course: Dinner, Lunch

Cuisine: American

Keyword: 15 minute prep, easy, slow cooker

 

Servings: 4 people

 

Calories: 511kcal

 

Author: Jennifer Debth

Equipment

• Crockpot

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar packed
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 (1 oz) packet ranch seasoning mix
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt plus more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper omit if you don’t like spice
• 2 pounds flank steak
• Honey mustard for drizzling, if desired

Instructions

• Grease a 6 quart crockpot with cooking spray, then pour in olive oil. Set aside.
• In a medium sized bowl, whisk together brown sugar, chili powder, ranch mix, paprika, salt, and cayenne. This is our spice rub.
• Rub a few spoonfuls of the spice rub onto the steak to fully coat it.
• Place steak into the prepared crockpot, then sprinkle on remaining spice rub.
• Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 8 hours.
• Remove steak from the crockpot and use a sharp knife to slice it into strips against the grain (this will basically shred your steak, but will prevent it from creating long and stringy pieces).
• Serve as desired - on a bun, in a quesadilla, over mashed potatoes, on top of Mac and cheese, as nachos, etc. with a drizzle of homemade honey mustard sauce, if desired!
• Take 5 seconds to rate this recipe below. We greatly appreciate it!

Nutrition

Serving: 1person | Calories: 511kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 49g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 136mg | Sodium: 1307mg | Potassium: 913mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 1731IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 87mg | Iron: 5mg

 

https://www.simplyhappyfoodie.com/slow-cooker-green-beans-bacon-potatoes/

Slow Cooker Green Beans with Bacon and Potatoes

Slow Cooker Green Beans with Bacon and Potatoes is a delicious Southern style side dish. Tender green beans seasoned with bacon, garlic, and onion makes the best crock pot green beans recipe!

Course Dinner

Cuisine American

Keyword crock pot green beans bacon potatoes recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 4 hours

Total Time 4 hours 10 minutes

Servings 6

Calories 283 kcal

Author Sandy Clifton

Ingredients

• 2 lbs Green Beans (fresh or frozen, ends trimmed)
• 1 sm Sweet Onion, sliced
• ½ lb Thick Cut Bacon* (cut in 1.5" pieces)
• 1 lb Potatoes (new or baby potatoes, or larger ones cut)
• 2 cloves Garlic, minced
• 1 tsp Kosher Salt (or ¾ tsp table salt)
• ½ tsp Pepper
• 3 cups Chicken broth, low sodium

Instructions

1. Add all of the ingredients to the crock and stir gently.

2. Cook on High for 3-4 hours, or Low for 6-7 hours.

3. Serve with some buttered cornbread.

Recipe Notes

*You can use ham or smoked turkey wings or legs in place of the bacon.

And what will I be doing while dinner's cooking?

Reading  TABLE FOR TWO by Amor Towles.  Oh, how I love being retired.

Happy Reading

and

Bon Appétit!

Tell it. Tell it like it is.

 Joyce Vance tells it like it is in regard to the unending lies from that guy.  You know who I mean.

If you don't read Civil Discourse With Joyce Vance, i urge you to give it a look.

This particular column is about the lies.

How refreshing is it to finally have someone unafraid to call him (you know who I mean) out 

My hero - Judge Merchan.

"Judge Merchan got right to the point Friday morning in court, before the jury was brought in. He told Trump the gag order “does not prohibit you from taking the stand.” He continued, “As the name of the order indicates, it only applies to extrajudicial statements.” That means Trump is only limited in statements he makes outside of the courtroom. In other words, Trump is free to testify in court; the choice is his."

Read the entire story here.

Character Matters

Variation on a Theme by King David by L.B. Thompson

 Not everyone loves poetry.  And will say so.   To me, that seems a little unnecessarily dismissive.

I will say that I love some poetry.  Just as i love some books and some music.  Because there is music which is truly, to my ears, awful, it would never occur to me to tell anyone I don't like music, or that I don't listen to music.

That said, there are certain books, as well as certain songs, that are particular favorites.  As is this particular poem.

Variation on a Theme by King David

Praise to you!
Praise to you my snappy love!

Praise you in clean socks on a Queens-bound
train; praise you
for your famous avocado
sandwiches; Praise you from Brooklyn to blasphemy!

I've called the mayor to praise you; & a third-
base coach; even
that no-neck accountant
who doesn't have the decency to nod hello
has agreed to praise you!

Praise you with bongos and fine fancy
tea; praise you
with rhumba, tango & marmelade; praise
you with your knickers at your knees!

I praise you on Flag Day, & on whichever equinox
allows for the balancing of eggs;
I praise you with eggs!
Brown ones & jumbo & Faberge Tiffany blue!

On the white of your wrist I praise you;
on the vaccuumed throw rug; I praise you full-
page on Sunday! With faxes
& foxgloves & brushed cotton sheets;
with sky-write & timbrel &

wink! Let every soul
in the Battery Tunnel honk
her horn to praise you! Praise you
with ripe limes & wrestling mats;
praise you tax-free with agates and tin foil
& all sparkly things!

Praise you with foggy spectacles and Wisconsin green cheese!
Praise you to the afternoon of orthopedic sneakers;
praise you from poinsettia to piccolo!
Praise you & praise you & praise you!

My love,
from Brooklyn to blasphemy I praise you!

--L. B. Thompson

The People, Yes

Lincoln? He was a mystery in smoke and flags Saying yes to the smoke, yes to the flags, Yes to the paradoxes of democracy, Yes to the hopes of government Of the people by the people for the people, No to debauchery of the public mind, No to personal malice nursed and fed, Yes to the Constitution when a help, No to the Constitution when a hindrance Yes to man as a struggler amid illusions, Each man fated to answer for himself: Which of the faiths and illusions of mankind Must I choose for my own sustaining light To bring me beyond the present wilderness?        Lincoln? Was he a poet?        And did he write verses? “I have not willingly planted a thorn        in any man’s bosom.” I shall do nothing through malice: what        I deal with is too vast for malice.” Death was in the air. So was birth.   by Carl Sandburg

This Is How It Will Be by Barbara Quick

 

You'd already said goodbye,

but I wasn't sure you were already gone.

Emerging from the bathroom, I called your name,

wanting to know if you'd read the news item

about the two women who got lost in the woods,

then were rescued and driven to their car,

then drove their car down a boat ramp in the fog,

at the bottom of a dead-end road—

and drowned.

"Honey?" I called, realizing

I was alone in the house.

Realizing that this is how it'll be,

for one or the other of us, someday:

Something that wants to be shared

will be unheard.

The Visit by Jane Kenyon

 

The talkative guest has gone,

and we sit in the yard

saying nothing. The slender moon

comes over the peak of the barn.

The air is damp, and dense

with the scent of honeysuckle. . . .

The last clever story has been told

and answered with laughter.

With my sleeping self I met

my obligations, but now I am aware

of the silence, and your affection,

and the delicate sadness of dusk.

Jane Kenyon

One Summer by W.S. Merwin

 

It is hard now to believe that we really

went back that time years ago to the small town

a mile square along the beach and a little more

than a century old where I had been taken

when I was a child and nothing seemed to have changed

not the porches along the quiet streets

nor the faces on the rockers nor the sea smell

from the boardwalk at the end of the block

nor the smells from the cafeteria in a house

like the others along the same sidewalk

nor the hush of the pebbled streets without

cars nor the names of the same few hotels

nor the immense clapboard auditorium

to which my mother had taken me

to a performance of Aida

and you and I walked those streets in a late

youth of our own and along the boardwalk

toward music we heard from the old carousel

W.S. Merwin

Book Dreams Do Come True

 Twenty some years ago, I read THE LAKE OF DEAD LANGUAGES by Carol Goldman.

Hooked.  I was hooked.  

I had found an author who wrote words that I could feel, worlds that I could see.

Since then I have kept my eyes open and an impatient toe tapping while waiting for the next Carol Goodman book.

She has never disappointed

I have read, and loved, them all, including those written under the pseudonyms Lee Carroll and Juliet Dark.

Today NetGalley approved my request for RETURN TO WYLDCLIFFE HEIGHTS.  

"Jane Eyre meets The Thirteenth Tale in this new modern gothic mystery from two-time Mary Higgins Clark Award–winner Carol Goodman, about a reclusive writer who is desperate to rewrite the past."

Am I a happy girl?  Pffttt.  

Donald knows I'll be MIA today.  Me, a quiltie, many fluffy pillows, snackies from salty to sweet, and a cup of coffee which seems to magically refill itself.

Life is good.

Thank you NetGalley.

Thank you Carol Goodman for all the words.  ❤