Beef. It's What's For Dinner.

I used to love James Garner's voice. I would sit through the ads (this was before DVRs and TiVo) just to listen. He stopped doing voiceover work for the Beef Council or whoever it is who sponsors those ads when he had heart bypass surgery. Because of DVR I never hear ads, so I never hear him extolling the virtues - or rather, American value - of Chevy trucks.


I'm not opposed to prepared food from time to time. I'm not one of those people who builds my own barbecue sauces and avoids things that come in packages at all costs. I do cook, and do so often, but I build in a night a week when I don't have to come in and chop and all that stuff. That's why crockpot meals show up so often in my menu planning.


This evening however we had quinoa (of which I cooked much too much, as usual), a packaged salad that really needed to be eaten, and "Maui Beef" from Trader Joe's. It's rather teriyaki-ish, but this is the thing: We eat very little beef here, and you know, it just tastes good. I was brought up on hamburgers and steaks (hey, it was the '70's) and now I eat beef less than once a month. We're all about chicken, pork, fish, and ground turkey around here.


I managed to do something I knew I would do this evening. The pot of quinoa boiled over a little and when I moved the pot off the flame I saw that some quinoa grains and water had spilled under it. As I decided to wipe up the spill under the pot frame (the thing that you put the pot on, with the flame underneath), I thought, "It is likely that I will burn myself unless I am very careful."


I went ahead and wasn't careful, and I did burn myself - three times. My left thumb is definitely worse for it, but I don't think it will blister. I'm not sure why I went ahead and chose to clean it up the way I did. I tend to be rather cavalier with my fingers. I did use a fork for the hot food, though.