Clean out the refrigerator.

Today is a very piddly food day - I've been messing about with a sourdough sponge (now dough, in its second rise); defatting and straining chicken stick (DOUBLE chicken stock, mind you - TWO carcasses!); cooking navy beans with onion and lots of garlic in the stock I made from the home-smoked turkey we had at Christmas; marinating two HUGE top rounds in red wine and herbs and garlic, etc. (I'm trying to use up a lot of things in the fridge that were on the verge of undeliciousness, and also to make room for the shitload of stuff we hauled home from Costco and Whole Foods yesterday.)

I'm not sure about the giant hunks of beef - I've never messed much with top round - they look like caveman ribeyes, though, so I marinated them all day and then grilled them over a low fire (as low as our fire can get, which admittedly is not very low.) I figure if it's tough and yucky, well, it was about to get freezer burned anyway - this way we can slice it or chunk it and freeze it again and use it for stirfries etc over the long haul.

I'm also taking a page out of Stephen's book (again - the man is a genius!) and doing a very modified, lazy-man's version of his brussels sprouts with bacon, onion, apples, and balsamic glaze. (I shouldn't even compare the two dishes - I'm really just roasting brussels sprouts with slices of crisp tart raw apple and half-moons of white onion and a couple turnips that I happened to have in the fridge diced up - I tossed it all with olive oil and salt and peppered it, and tossed it in the oven at 350 for about 25 or 30 minutes. But it smells good!)

I'm also boiling some potatoes that were getting soft to make mashed potatoes with a little cream (also have a TON of heavy cream to use up for some reason) and trying to figure out how to make that super-yum spicy sesame kale they have at Whole Foods. My guess is steam and toss with sesame oil and rice vinegar and hot pepper flakes and maybe a teaspoon or two of (brown?) sugar?? Any ideas?

P.S., I've never had a comment that wasn't A) spam, or B) me pathetically leaving myself a comment to be sure the darn things worked. So leave me a comment, you know, if you feel like it.