All Pot Roast All The time

I had some time to kill before an appointment on Tuesday afternoon, so I took some peanuts (salt washed off) and walnuts to the Allan Gardens. My intention was to lure and photograph some squirrels.

The day was lovely; the park was full of people and dogs. In a quieter spot east of the greenhouse, I saw a couple of squirrels foraging on the grass.

I made that noise that everyone uses (because it always works) to attract a squirrel's attention - tch-tch-tch. As one of them approached, I spilled the peanuts and walnuts on the ground in front of me. The idea was to back away from the pile and snap photos as the squirrels enjoyed their feast.

Instead, there was the sound of wings. The pigeons arrived at speed and in vast numbers from out of nowhere. The pile of nuts was lost from view under their seething mass. In about the time it takes to record four photos on a digital camera, every scrap was gone. The squirrels never even got close.

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As for pot roast. 

I prepare food for the week on the weekend. It's one of the ways I manage the unpredictable nature of my work and find a balance between it and the life I have. 

For most of the winter, on Saturdays, I would roast a chicken in a braising pan, strip the meat off the bones and set that aside for sandwiches and one supper. I would boil the bones and use the stock and pan juices to make soup. One three-to-four pound chicken costing between twelve and fifteen dollars would give us lunch and supper for a week.

After a long, cold winter of this, we were a bit tired of chicken. 

On the way to the butcher's last weekend, Bruce and I discussed the option of pot roast. We don't eat a lot of beef. I find it heavy and I worry about the greenhouse gas footprint. But, once in a while, why not.

When we got to the butcher's, there was no chuck roast in the display case, so I asked if they had any in the back. The young man serving us emerged with a length of chuck roast that weighed in about five pounds - and about fifty bucks. 

The roast - once cut into three pieces, browned on all sides and softly simmered for three hours -- provided sandwiches for the week for both of us and ten servings of beef barley soup. There's also a sizeable slab in the freezer that I'll take out, thaw, and turn into a meal when I no longer feel like I couldn't eat another mouthful of pot roast.

Thanks for reading!

Have a great week!

Karen