Valentine’s Day I did not run, because I had it in mind to cook my hubby an excellent dinner.
We had some pork chops and some cream of mushroom soup we wanted to use up (for some reason we had gotten a big can; we used half when I got a yen for tuna noodle casserole). A lady at work told me how her mom used to cook pork chops with cream of mushroom soup. She’d brown the chops, add the soup, then lower the heat, cover and cook for an hour and a half. I had two hours between when I get home and when Steven was expected. I was gold, as long as I didn’t go running.
I did, however, take my dog, Tabby, for a walk. Well, one must walk one’s dog, after all. And if I was not going to run, my legs at least needed a walk. Sometimes Tabby only wants to go for a short walk. Lately she’s been into medium walks, about 20 to 25 minutes. Tuesday we went for a 35 minute walk. What can I say, the pooch was into it. No matter, dinner would just still be cooking when Steven got home.
I started by sauteing yellow onion in olive oil. I thought caramelized onions would taste yummy in the recipe (plus, caramelized is a fun word to say, although a little difficult to spell). Naturally I crushed some garlic to add as well, carefully letting it breathe for 15 minutes to reach its full level of health benefits (I tend to use garlic on all possible occasions). This took a while. I kept a nervous eye on the clock, wondering how long Steven would mind waiting for his dinner when he finally got home.
At last the onions were soft and some of them were brown. I put in the pork chops. Those took longer to brown than I had expected, but I suppose I had an exaggerated notion. At the last minute I remembered some fresh mushrooms we had and tossed those in. Finally I added the soup, stirred well, covered the pan and lowered the heat. Nothing to do now but wait!
Since the heat was lowered I felt safe in going upstairs to the computer room to make my blog post for the day. I still had not showered. Luckily my vision of the evening did not include greeting my husband at the door clean, nice smelling and in satin pajamas. My vision did include gracious table settings on the dining room table, which we hardly ever use. I was too tired.
In fact, I was too tired to do much else at all. By the time Steven got home I had put water on the stove to boil for the smashed potatoes. I asked him to cook the potatoes while I showered. He nicely did.
Dinner actually turned out pretty yummy. We consumed it, as usual, in the living room in front of the television (COPS followed by World’s Dumbest, if you wanted to know). So you might say I owe Steven a real romantic dinner, in which I cook all the courses and for which I set the dining room table. Don’t worry, though, I’ll be sure to blog about it when I do. A belated Happy Valentine’s Day, all.
Mohawk Valley Girl 