Sunday after New Year’s

I woke up at 7:30 AM on January 2nd. With nowhere to go and nothing much to do, I luxuriated in lying in bed and reading my book. Finally, I got my butt out of bed and made French toast, using sourdough bread. I also brewed a pot of coffee and drank several cups of that (after finishing breakfast, which was excellent) on the couch, again with my book.

I noticed Sadie had called New Year’s morning, apparently when I was outside feeding birds. So, I returned her call and wished her a Happy New Year’s, too. While we talked it started to lightly snow.

Then I put my Sunday supper together. I got out my round slow cooker, sprayed it with canola oil (for easier cleanup) and then added two stalks of celery (cut into chunks – everything is chunky today), an onion, cut into quarters, two carrots (cut into big chunks) and three Yukon Gold potatoes (skin on and just quartered).

Then I topped them with a four pound chunk of corned beef. I scored the fat cap and, after rinsing, put that bad boy on top.

Sidebar: Did you know that corned beef shrinks by about 50% during cooking? So, for generous serving and leftovers, you want to use about one pound per person. And, I definitely want some Reuben sandwiches out of this!

I added one can of beer (it’s recommended to use a hearty stout beer but all I had was Labatt’s Blue), the spice packet that came in the corned beef and enough water to just cover the meat. I turned it on “low” and set the stove timer for eight hours.

Then I called Riese, whose birthday it was today. She said her birthday cake was going to be a globe, made out of cupcakes (her mother is an outstanding cake maker, BTW).

That done, I took down my inside and outside Christmas decorations. I stored them all safely in the attic and realized it was already 1:00 PM.

Then I used a pause in the furnace activity to change out the furnace filters. It’s time, but they still looked pretty clean to me.

I went out into the garage, opened the door and took down my outdoor Christmas wreath. Then I pumped up all the car tires (I couldn’t tell last night if it was the wind or a low tire that made the car try to swerve. It apparently was the wind.)

Then I pumped up the rear lawn tractor tire and rolled it (finally) into its winter spot. I turned off the air compressor and went into the house.

I called B___ to wish him a happy New Year.

I checked the DVD menu and found they must have had had a New Year’s Day marathon of the show “Two Fat Ladies” (one of my favorites) and I had 14 episodes taped. So, I started to watch them. I think I got two done before I fell asleep and had a nice nap. I woke up at 4:00 PM. I still had another hour or so until the next phase of the corned beef and cabbage, so I watched more taped TV.

At 5:30, the timer went off, so I went and checked the veggies. They were all fork tender, so I put the corned beef and everything else on a platter and then cut a head of cabbage in half (there’s only one of me, you see). I put the four wedges of half a cabbage into to the liquid in the slow cooker, turned it onto high and set the timer for another 30 minutes. I tented the platter with tin foil and stuck it in the microwave to keep warm. I wrapped the other half of cabbage in cling wrap and stuck it in the fridge.

Please note: No pictures of the cabbage were taken, in respect for some of my more sensitive cabbage-phobic viewers.

I gotta tell you, the food smells fantastic! I am starving!

When the buzzer went off, I took out the cabbage; cut the fat cap off the corned beef and then sliced the corned beef against the grain (Jake told me how to figure that one out). I plated a little of everything and topped the corned beef with a creamy horseradish sauce. It was all delicious!!!

I went in to watch my usual Sunday night shows. A while later, I put the cooled leftovers into the fridge. I watched my usual Sunday night shows and went to bed at 11:00 PM.