Day 2

So we had the soup last night. The Stoic One said it was good. Sometimes he reminds me of my dad.

The good news was it was cooked. I mean after 3 hours for a 30 minute dish! Basically, it was too sweet for me. I realized I don't really like the taste of cooked tomatoes.  I think things ended up to be more or less the same size...well not exactly.

So is it called diced because it is the size of a pair of dice? If so, these pieces would be about right!!!

I think we will freeze it for later.


So on to the beef broth making. Finally I am working from the cookbook. This is officially lesson one. I just did the instant soup because I thought it would be an easy thing to start with. Hurmmmph.

The good news is I got some cheap knives from the local "Chinese" store. You have to live here to understand what this is...think small cheap Kmart if you are from Michigan. Anyway, you probably understand. Here is my new knife.

The Stoic One has Global Knives at home so he looked at this and sniffed, but I must say it worked a lot better than the serrated steak knife!

My next problem in making the broth was I had to find a meat store. I think in the US we use bones for this purpose, don't we? I mean why waste good meat?  So, I go to the meat store and ask for bones for minestrone. She looks perplexed and so I do what every foreigner does and I act as if she is deaf and yell, bones, bones, broth, broth, as loudly as I can. She looks very alarmed, mutters to her cohort in Sicilian, and gives me 1.5 pounds of lean beef, exactly as the recipe calls for. Wow. That was a surprise. How did she know? What about bones? Questions for another time.

I get the meat home, look at it and think it is disgusting. Maybe this will turn me into a vegetarian. It looks like actual meat. Ewwww.  Now the recipes says "cubes". Okay what the heck does this mean? Is it about the circumference, the weight, I mean why do I care if it is a cube or a rectangle? OK I can't imagine a circle but what about a trapazoid. What expactly is a trapazoid. I should look this up, but realise I need to stay focused. Then I try to think about this on my own. Being an extrovert, this is a very difficult thing for me.  Is this cube-size thing important or is it something I can just say, let's call it a cube? and go on.  Sigh. The Stoic One is studying for his Italian driver's license test and is particularly crabby. I don't think he wants to engage in a conversation about geometrical shapes of beef.

Here is what the butcher lady gave me.

Well that kind of looks like a cube, but maybe it's more like a rectangle. I must find out how to say cube in Italian. Now I'm a bit paranoid from my dicing experience and decide maybe I should make these things smaller. Is cooking going to become a geometry class, if so I'm doomed.

I cut the meat in half, basically trying to keep a cube shape, and then I throw all of the other things into the pot.

I heave a sigh of relief. Now it says simmer for 3 and a half hours. What? You've got to be kidding me. 3 and a half hours? How am I going to know when that is over? Oh, a timer. No timer in the kitchen. Groan. Oh, my iPad..right...set the timer on the iPad, and go play with Lucan and his new toy.

I decide maybe I should read the recipe again. OMG I was supposed to skim off the scum BEFORE i put in the onion, carrots, celery and leek, which I didn't have. Yikes. Back to the kitchen.

Ewww. More disgusting things. Now I understand what an insult it is to call someone a scum. Is this going to be worth the effort? I am remembering the cubes the Stoic One has in the cabinet...oh well, let's see.