Why I Didn't Cook Tonight...

i didn't cook tuesday evening. well, not for the family and not dinner. i'll get to that in a moment, but for now, let me tell you about what i DID cook monday night.

this was, once again, one of those fairly labor intensive endeavors that felt like a really good idea.
at the time.
but was it really?
we'll see.

brandon had his football party that morning and i was feeling the need to do something inventive, compact and not too much stress. i grabbed one of my SAVEUR COOKS cookbooks and just so happened to pull AUTHENTIC AMERICAN: Celebrating the Recipes and Diverse Traditions of Our Rich Heritage. mmm... sounded good. it is put together by the editors of Saveur Magazine, my FAVE cooking magazine -- like you care, i know, but there ya go -- and i looked through it. it's got everything from Poke (pronounced "poky") which is a marinated, raw tuna dish from Hawaii, to Shrimp and Crab Etouffe (i'm a big fan of both). what i settled on, knowing my kids and how really fun this looked to make, was BIEROCKS (pronounced BEER-ocks). it's a Mennonite dish they brought from Russia and, well, it takes a little time.

did i have the time, you ask. do i ever really? i mean, i've read back through this blog and wondered who the hell is writing this and how the hell did she find the time to do this shit. sometimes, i look at the dishes we've just made and have no concept of what made me do this, how i've been doing this and where my brain has disappeared to. cooking every single night takes a lot of preparation and patience. although i'd love to say i'm a really patient person, i don't know if that's true or not. i just know that if it's gotta be done, i'm gonna gotta be doin' it. but i'm also a procrastinator and a flibbertigibbet, so that i've come this far at all has amazed me more than anyone. oh, and i've got obsessive compulsive tendencies with a touch of mania and delusions of grandeur.

i'm a well-rounded individual.

where was i? oh, yes, Bierocks. let me explain why i shall not be laying down how to do all of this. it's rather long and laborious, but that's nothing, really. this is, again, one of those things i recommend you go out and grab off the shelf and cook from. williams-sonoma is a lovely place, truly, and i wish i had the dough to shop there often. but, alas, i do not. however, i can tell you this about the Bierocks -- they are these great slightly sweet buns full of seasoned meat, cabbage and a touch of cheese. they rise, rest, rise again with the beef inside then you bake them off and they puff, get fluffy like a good fun should and you open them up and there it is... mmm...

so yummy.

why didn't i cook that next night?
well, as i read this, i realize that might need to be something for another day.
another day.