Kitchen Adventures

So, dear blog readers, I have to say it's been a great morning so far. Why, you ask? What could possibly be great about waking up unintentionally at 5:30 in the morning after getting a meager amount of sleep? Well, when life hands you lemons, it's the kind of day to head for the kitchen and see what you can do with them.

For starters, I was feeling adventurous at the grocery store yesterday and picked up beef/lamb bones in order to try my hand at making basic brown stock. I didn't realize the process takes about eight hours, so needless to say: after hitting four grocery stores to get all the necessary ingredients for a couple of recipes, I didn't make brown stock. Not enough time in the day!

Thus, when I woke up dark and early this morning, into the kitchen I went to get started on my stock. It works out well since it's Mike's birthday today; this way I can have the afternoon and evening open without worrying about brown stock. I preheated the oven, opened the door, and voila! What's this? A few Trader Joe's egg rolls I made yesterday that I completely forgot to take out of the oven! They weren't a scheduled part of dinner last night, so I think when I got busy I just turned the oven off and forgot they were there.

So, this morning's dishes are done, the stock is on its way, and breakfast has been served. And it did not consist of slightly burned egg rolls and a glass of milk, and...well...some wine that was leftover in the bottle after deglazing the pan. (Ahem.) After all, it's just now 7:00 in the morning.

Also, a coworker helped me to overcome my fears about learning new blogging backgrounds! While I'm still trying to figure it all out, I'm stoked that I managed to do something new while I was waiting for my beef bones to brown! Hooray!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a great way to start the day.