If I Was a Guy... I'd 'Like' the View out the Kitchen Window on Facebook from the Bed

Ernest Hemingway wrote to begin writing, start with one true sentence. I add that to start cooking, or eating, start with one true ingredient. And the truest ingredient on Barclay Farms?

Beef.

I woke early on Saturday and went to writing while the STC and Dairy Low-Tolerant Offspring still slept. I work Saturdays, but don’t go in until eight. It starts getting light out shortly after five, so when I came out of the Dungeon… err… sorry honey, the laundry room… err whoops, I mean, my office, the sky was just turning pink and the mist lay low across the field. The cattle are on our side of the road now, so we wake up to them in the side yard, or laying down by the pond.

It’s quite a horrible way to go.

So I look outside and there’s this impossibly beautiful, almost heartbreaking view of the sky, clouds, water, and cattle. I couldn’t convince the STC to stop cuddling the Offspring long enough to come look, but he did like the picture I posted to Facebook. From his phone. From the bed. Five seconds after I posted it.

Anyone else notice the irony here?

Oh well. It’s a good thing he’s cute. And makes a mean batch of smothered onions.

Speaking of which, my random creation of the week involved a 9x13 pan and a bunch of vegetables. Being too lazy to dirty another bowl in the five or ten minutes I had to prepare dinner after the Offspring cried himself into a temporary coma, I chopped a sweet potato, two smallish onions, one russet potato, and three enormous carrots into the pan, coated them with olive oil, and added eyeballed amounts of salt, pepper, fresh chopped cilantro, red pepper flakes, rosemary, and garlic powder. This bakes at 425-450 degrees, stir every fifteen minutes or so, more if it seems to be sticking. Oh, and I added the half can or so of home canned tomatoes we didn’t use from a recipe last week. That was a nice flavor as well. Anyway, that roasts at least an hour, if not an hour and a half. I eyeball it and go until the vegetables reduce and start to char a little around the edges. The last few minutes I like to stir it all around under the broiler, which is low broil on our stove, but might have to adjust for yours. It’s a super easy dish, all you do is chop, stir, roast, and it’s very healthy and great as leftovers. The only thing I miss about it is meat, but when the cows are so beautiful, it’s hard to want to eat them.

Until they run you up over a gate or slam your hand between the chute and their foot.

Then it’s open season.

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