YUMMY!!!!

I remember making pies with Grandma and Mom when I was little.

It was an art to my grandmother. They were her masterpieces.

And she ALWAYS said she was sure it probably tasted like awful… but it never did (and she knew that…)

From scratch crust … any flavor on the inside.

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Grandma was famous for all her desserts…especially her pies.

And my mom learned from her…

And I learned from my mom…

And my brothers learned from my mom.

And tonight…. I taught Jake.

I’m proud of him. I bet it tastes awesome. Probably the tastiest apple pie he’s ever made

I suppose he’ll find out tomorrow. He’s taking them to his work for their Thanksgiving party.

I wonder if he’ll tell them I made it if it isn’t good.

“So, Bell, give me a topic, my beautiful muse.  I haven’t written a post in like 20 years.”

“Um, you could write about the flammable pots?’

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Yeah.

It was pretty cool.

Last night, we had Bell’s brother from Italy over, along with her youngest brother, his ladyfriend, and their baby girl.  Good times were had, and Bell whipped out the best damn steaks I’d ever had.

We all spent quite a bit of time on the back porch, hanging out with our beers and catching up.  It was awesome.

After we were finished eating, I was putting some dishes up, and Bell and Italian bro were still at the table while the other bro was outside, and we heard

“Um.  Hey!”

And then Bell hollers in to tell me that theres a fire on the porch, and I need to hustle some water out…

Freeze.  Brain stop.  Shit. Water.  Need water.  Um. Need water container.  Shit. Container… glass.  Yes. Run.

So I got two glasses, filled em up with tap water, and ran outside.

I managed to get the small fire burning in our flowerpots a little wet, but not put it out.  Bell whips out out a “what the hell is wrong with you, dude” look, and casually suggests that perhaps more water is necessary.  I started to run back in to get more water, but then I was reminded by my lovely wife that we have a nice hose about 4 feet to the left, and that perhaps that would be a more efficient water delivery means.

Check.

So I put the hose to the fire and got it out in a sec.

Now, by fire, I’m meaning something about the same size as you’d see in a small charcoal grill.  Still, it was enough to turn our former flowerpots into, well, art.

Cat not included

See?

Its reasonably priced too.

Sometime after I started dating Jake…and I’d already “met” the boys a couple of times.. I came over to his house one night … he was cooking me dinner. Wow… a man who cooks. I likey.

Anyway, as he was cooking dinner…and trying to time everything right…and multi-task the skillet, oven, veggies…. I walked over to help. He told me he needed his space in the kitchen and he’d rather I not try and help. Hmmph.

Alrighty then.

To be fair– his kitchen was half the size of mine… and mine’s not that big. And Jake’s twice as big as me. And I stopped cooking years ago. Cooking for one person is hard. Cooking for two people, with one being VERY picky is even harder. It was easier and more cost effective to just not cook.

I let it slide. I liked him too much to argue. And HE was COOKING… helllo?

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It is now one of our favorite things to do together.

We get excited when we’re planning meals. Sometimes we don’t plan them and just work in the kitchen and throw together some awesomeness.

He knows what I do, I know what he does. We come up with ideas- together, bounce off each other- working seperate, but together…  moving and grooving around  the kitchen.

Like it’s choreographed.

Like dancing.

I love to dance.

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Tonight- we’re having our Fettucine Alfredo with grilled chicken….salad and garlic bread.

Might even get into the Chianti…

Here’s what we use:

Each week we try to plan out our meals. Some weeks we go with all the ol’ stand-bys. They are favorites around here. But sometimes we feel the itch to try new things… they are fun for us to make together (and cooking is something we LOVE to do together) and it’s always interesting to eat the final product.

My mom grew up in Rock Island, Illinois. Everytime we go up to visit family, we eat at Maid-Rite. It’s awesome, yummy steamed, seasoned ground beef served on a bun with mustard, onions and pickles. Kind of like a sloppy joe without the sauce.

So, tonight we decided to try to make some . Since we don’t have Maid-Rite’s down here, it doesn’t really matter if they are taste exactly like them. We really wouldn’t know the difference. BUT- the idea of it was intriguing to our tummies.

I googled and came up with some different approaches to these lil sammiches. And we just kinda did what sounded yummy to us.

2 lbs. ground beef
3/4 cp. of chopped onion
1 can chicken broth
4 T Worcestershire sauce
2 T A-1 steak sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Brown the ground beef. Add onions and cook until they are clear. Drain.
Add Worcestershire, steak sauce and chicken broth. Simmer covered for 30-45 min. Remove cover and reduce juices.
Serve onto hamburger buns with spoon and add mustard, onions, ketchup, dill pickles….or whatever floats your boat.

We ate them with homemade onion rings and french fries. Sweet tea topped it off.

It was yummy, yummy. And the boys loved it (which is awesome). Dragon couldn’t contain himself. Each bite made him wiggle around in his seat and go “Mmmmmmmmmm”

Score.