So to make a really really long story short, which I almost never do, I’ve been worried recently about the distance thing between J and I. I know that I’ll be fine, and I’ll handle it as long as I need to. J’s confident about himself as well, but he’s not making any guarantees… which I understand, but when you give that information to a pure pessimist, that makes for a bundle of nerves and insecurities. There are those damned insecurities again! Eff! Anyway, I’ve been keeping an eye on job postings within my GreatBigCorporation in Michigan. Unfortunately, the closest headquarters location for my GBC employer is in Livonia, which is about 2 1/2 hours from J. Okay, 2 1/2 hours is way better than 12-14 hours. It’s not GREAT, but it guarantees weekends at the very least, and that’s way better than what we’re dealing with now. Plus, I know people in Livonia. So I’ve been keeping an eye on job postings. It occurred to me today though, that lots of positions get hired internally in my GBC, and never get posted on the website. Duh! So I actually called the manager of my department in Livonia and spoke to him personally. He said they JUST filled their last position… grr… but he said that “things happen literally every day” so he took my name and number… he’s super nice… and I took his info, and I asked if I could check in with him periodically. I told him I was rather anxious to transfer, and I am.
Enter J’s concerns. First and foremost, he doesn’t think I should uproot my entire life just for him. I told him that’s crap, he is my life… next. He said he could understand if moved closer to Holland where my friends are. I told him that I actually have friends in Livonia too, so that’s also crap… NEXT. Also, I could move a reasonable distance from Livonia closer to Holland. I don’t remember any more reasons, and I’m not sure he had any. But unless he were to tell me he’s not in love with me anymore, none of them would change my decision to pursue a transfer. Financially it’s probably a good move, because Michigan is a rather depressed economy, and it’s likely that I would get a lateral pay transfer, which would be really good money for Michigan standards. Rent is hundreds cheaper than it is out here… so if I can transfer within my GBC, I’m good to go. Most importantly, J and I don’t have to be so far apart. I’m thinking of calling a few different departments too, customer service maybe. I could do that. Cross your fingers for me, say a prayer… whatever.
So anyway, on another front, I made a super tasty dish between Monday and Tuesday that I’d like to share with you. Shit, I feel like Mr. Rogers all of a sudden. Basically, I’ve had a lot of meat in the freezer getting freezer burned. Who among us doesn’t just throw meat from the store in the freezer, in that styrofoam tray and the shitty plastic wrap? Really? Of course that’s the worst packaging for the freezer and it always gets freezer burn. To make matters worse, burned meat in the freezer consisted of 5 swiss steaks. I wasn’t aware that swiss steaks were the shoe leather part of the cow, and the only thing tougher than a poorly cooked swiss steak would be the cow’s hoof. Great. GRAND, even. I got a bee in my bonnet on Monday to clean out the freezer… close my eyes, throw out the burned meat, and pretend I didn’t just throw out a good chunk of cash. I started cleaning out the freezer, and as I ruefully pulled out the stupid burned stupid swiss stupid steaks, I remembered my favorite kitchen gadget sitting in the cabinet… the Crock Pot… the MAGIC pot. Well DUH. Why hadn’t I considered it before? The magic pot that cures both freezer burn AND tough meat. There is no cut of meat anywhere that can stay tough after 10 hours in the magic pot. So I dumped the five swiss steaks in the pot, threw in two envelopes of Lipton onion soup mix for good measure, about two coffee mugs of water, and turned it on for the longest cook time. By the 5-6 hour mark, I could smell the wonderful, oniony beef from the third floor. I went to check on it, and sure enough, the pieces on the bottom that were completely in liquid were already shredding. Perfect! I fiddled the two steaks on top so they were submersed and left it until it was about 9 hours. When I could cut it all with a spoon, I decided it was done. I’d figured by now I was going to make stroganoff out of it, so I just threw it into a container and stuck it in the fridge overnight. I had no inclination to mess with a roux, so I went the ghetto, lazy route and decided to just let it all congeal overnight. Last night I came home, dumped the solid, terribly disgusting looking mess into a big frying pan, and began warming it through. When it was semi-liquidy again, I stirred in almost a whole container of sour cream, salt and pepper, and let it simmer for a while. I didn’t think it would need any salt, since the onion soup mix is basically salt and dehydrated onion, but you would be shocked how much you need to season meat in the magic pot for it to taste seasoned when it’s done. So then I just boiled some noodles and threw the meat glop on top. It was yummy! It tasted just as good as the other times I’d made stroganoff, where I bought a pricer cut of meat, spent time cooking onions and mushrooms and adding ketchup and spices and who-knows-what-else, spent an hour trying to get it thick with a roux, etc. etc. Bah! Cheap ass meat + onion soup mix + 10 hours in the magic pot + 8 hours congealing in the fridge + sour cream = super yum. I am a culinary genius. Not really. But I’m adding this to my arsenal of stuff-I-make-that’s-so-good-it-hurts.
Oh, and my stupid ass forgot that yesterday was Tuesday and I completely missed the scheduled raid. Eff! I’ll be there tonight, but when I checked this morning, we only had 14 people signed up, which means no raid, or a 10 man. J said he would try to raid tonight, but since he’s diagnosed his crappy internet issue and it’s something that can’t be fixed, I don’t see that working so well, even if there is a raid. Ugh. Oh well…
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