Moar Food.

Made two new recipes since I last wrote. Tuesday I totally wimped out on the grocery shopping front and Nate picked up a delicious frozen pizza for dinner, which I enjoyed immensely. But yesterday I managed to drag my ass out there and so for dinner we had-

Pork Chops with Garlicky Broccoli

I've never made pork chops with the bone in them before, it was a new experience. This is also the first time I've made pork chops that they weren't totally dried out. Plus, the broccoli (made with garlic and soy sauce) was totally delish.

Today was absolutely miserable. Rainy and cold and just blech. Fiona and I did manage to make it out to playgroup, which was fanTAStic, just to be out of the house for awhile, and to be someplace warm. You see, our landlady has this contract with this company, and they come out every fall to check the furnace and every spring to check the A/C. Great, right? That she's so on top of things? She gave me the number of the company to call and set up the appointment for them to come out, and she very specifically said to make sure they check the furnace before we use it. "Oh, of course!" says I. "No problem!"

And then we went on vacation and I kind of forgot all about calling to make that appointment. When we got home from vacation and settled, I realized that oh yeah, it is October and we'll probably be needing to turn the heat on soon, so the other day I called to set up the appointment, thinking they would come out sometime next week. Wellllllll... the first available appointment slot they have is November 4th. Which um.. yeah. It was cold today. It's gonna keep on getting colder. Not particularly thrilled about the situation. The temp in here dropped as low as 64 degrees today, which sounds like a decent temp, but its actually quite chilly. If it gets much colder than that, I might call the company and just be like "uh, is it okay if we turn the heat on before you come inspect the furnace? Or will that totally screw things up?" Cause damn.

In any case, this evening I set Fiona in the living room, turned on the Sesame Street, and went into the kitchen to start some meal prep. She was happy as can be in there, but as it turned out, she wasn't so much watching the show as pulling out a half a box of tissues and strewing them about the room. And playing with my phone.

Trouble.

So the whole idea of making dinner was put on hold until Nate got home, so he could play with her and I could get dinner made. Tonight was yet another first for me. I made steak. Which I've never done.

Steak with Potato-Parsnip Mash

Another new thing? Parsnips. When I came to parsnips on my grocery list, I had no stinkin' clue where to look. I didn't know what color they were, what they were shaped like, or where in the produce department even to look. Turns out they kind of look like whitish yellow carrots, and are extremely tasty mashed up with potatoes and scallions. Another resoundingly successful dinner.

And my friends, that's not all. I also made a yummy smelling marinade from some of that leftover rosemary and some garlic- and tomorrow evening's chicken is already in the fridge soaking it in.

But wait, there's more! The bananas I bought yesterday turned brown SUPER fast, so tonight after the little chickadee was in bed, I decided to make banana bread. Which I have never made before in my life but is starting to fill the house with a delicious smell.

I'm almost starting to get nervous. What happened to myself and who is this little Suzy Homemaker?