** My Kroger store is discontinuing the sale of Celestial Seasonings Fast Lane Black Tea – a caffeinated black tea with added spices. This is what I normally drink to transition from coffee in the morning, to decaf green tea in the afternoon. Now what am I supposed to do? I’m sure I’ll figure something out, probably just good old- fashioned black tea. Don’t forget the soy milk.
** A bouquet of Easter flowers, from my sister Frances, have given it their all, but today it’s probably time for them to go. They’ve been a lovely addition to my kitchen chop and chat. Thanks Frances.
** I’m testing a recipe for slow-cooker pulled pork with 4 ingredients. It cooks for 8 hours, is pulled from the bone, shredded, and then slow-cooks another 2 hours with some barbecue sauce stirred in. Intrigued? So am I. I’ll report back on this one. It’s a good day to test this recipe. My oldest son has lacrosse practice this afternoon, during the time I would normally be cooking some dinner. Barbecue will be waiting for us when we get home. Tonight is also my movie night: on deck – Il Postino.
** Over the past few weeks I found myself resisting my Thursday morning grocery store run. In case you’re tuning in late, it’s part of my routine to go grocery shopping early on Thursday mornings. That’s one of the freedoms doing freelance work affords me and I love it. I’m not sure why, but for the last month or so I’ve put off the shopping trip on Thursday, on Friday, and have even waited until Saturday morning, which I don’t care for too much. My favorite thing to do on Saturday morning is some baking or drive my daughter to her horseback riding lesson. Well yesterday I pushed through the resistance and went to the grocery. Now, we’re all stocked up for the weekend and I remember why I like taking the time to go during the week.
** Last night I posted a recipe for Kentucky Burgoo. It’s delicious made ahead and reheated. Here are some tips for freezing the burgoo: Let the burgoo cool and ladle it into heavy-duty zip-top freezer bags. Remove all the air from the bags and zip them up. Lay the filled bags flat on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer. After they are frozen, remove the cookie sheet, and you can easily stack the flat bags of burgoo in the freezer. To reheat, thaw in the refrigerator, and reheat over low heat. Get the temperature of the burgoo up to 165 degrees F and serve piping hot. It’s best not to reheat the burgoo a second time, so if any is left in the pot, discard it, or better yet, eat it all up so there’s none to discard. Call in the neighbors – we’re having burgoo!