Monday, March 19, 2007

Happy (Belated) St. Patrick's Day

Last time, when I was having fun in the kitchen, I had started cooking corned beef for the first time. I didn't eat it on Saturday, though, because I had to work that night. This is what I woke up to on Saturday morning; another 14 inches or so of snow. The good thing was, it had stopped snowing, at least. It took me almost 2 hours to move enough snow so that I could rev my car away from the sidewalk. Then, even though it was only around noon and didn't have to be at work until 4 p.m., I decided to leave before the well-meaning snow ploughs and homeowners with their indiscriminate snow blowing could rebury my car. I spent the afternoon at Barnes and Noble.
While I was away, my roommate tells me, the Watervliet Police drove around the neighbourhood, blasting with their megaphones, to get people to move their cars so that the ploughs could remove the snow next to the curb. Thankfully, that meant that, by the time I came home around midnight, I didn't have to dig a parking spot for myself, unlike the last time. If you're a snow bunny, and your heart thumps at the thought/sight of more fluffy white stuff, here's an extra, gratuitous shot of mounds of snow.
I had finished cooking the corned beef and cabbage on Friday night. It was really easy, since I didn't corn the beef myself (I bought it corned from the supermarket). I just simmered the corned beef for 2 1/2 hours with some herbs and spices, and then added cabbage, carrots, boiling onions and potatoes. Next year, though, I may start a week beforehand and try corning my own beef.
This is the corned beef and cabbage, all finished. Ahhh, the kitchen smelt heavenly!
So, last night Andrea and I sat down to succulent slices of corned beef, vegetables......
....and Irish Soda Bread. I'm not sure what to make of it. I've never had Irish Soda Bread before (and certainly never made it) but the recipe was simple. However, I was supposed to have let it cool for half an hour before eating it, but we were hungry and therefore in a hurry. It looks all right, though, doesn't it? It didn't taste too bad, either, but the inside seemed a little damp and doughy. That may be because we didn't wait, so I'm going to try another piece later today. And, to top it off, Andrea had a bottle out Guinness Stout. Why do I have stout in my house? Because I make chocolate stout cake with it, of course. Although I did try a sip of a leftover bottle once, and thought it tasted better than lighter beers. I wonder what that means about my taste in alcohol....
And, to sweeten the reading that I had to do for class, something that I've been craving for a couple of weeks. Key lime pie! I'd never made that before, either, but Moocow was right; it's really, really simple. I'd been craving key lime pie since I learned that Andrea's favourite Vietnamese restaurant in the area (that served killer key lime pie) had closed down.
And, last but not least, my progress on the sock I'm knitting on two circular needles. Another advantage of knitting with two circulars is that you can try the sock on as you go, since the plastic cable between the needle ends is flexible.

4 comments:

MooCow said...

But how did the corned beef taste?

MooCow said...

but how did the corned beef taste? dad was salivating over the pictures, btw.

Lana said...

It was good! The leftovers have become a little salty, but there wasn't much I could do about the amount of salt, since the beef was already corned when I bought it. That's why I think I might want to try corning it myself next year. It wasn't strongly spiced or anything, but deeply flavourful all the same. I got some creamy horseradish, which went really well with the beef.

greeeenwithenv said...

Mmm, snow. Mmm, beef. Mmm, colorful sock. Mmms all around! Except for the soda bread. There was some of that at the birthday/St. Patty's Day gathering I went to and I could barely finish the little slice I got. Bleh.