Day 208: Cooking With Beer & Love

So today it's Sunday? Where did Saturday go? Well, actually it went well. I spent a couple of hours at my friend Tom Bintz's home on Pillar Point. He has a guest with him for a few day. He was a film and photography major back in hid college days. So, over a few beers we had some good conversation about life, art, promoting your work, inspiration, and other good things. Most enjoyable.
The beer was Thousand Islands Pale Ale from the Sackets Harbor Brewing Co., Sacket Harbor, NY. A fine beer indeed. My first time drinking it.


So that brings me to Sunday. Well today I finally got down into the basement to take apart the pipe that runs from my furnace to the chimney. I needed to clean it out. You see, it tends to get rusty inside and then the rust flakes off and gathers on the bottom of the pipe. If ignored the debris will build up to where it affects the draft and cause the furnace to short cycle. Never mind why this happens, that's too much to get into right now. But anyhow, one of the elbows rusted apart at the joint & I had to replace it. Lucky for me the local;l hardware store is open on Sunday's until 3:00. So off I go. Then it occurred to me, I may as well stop at the local grocer and get a beef roast to slow cook in the crock pot. That can take place while I'm doing other chores. By the way, the Better Half is off for the day visiting one of her daughters so this will be a nice surprise for her to come home to. So here is the deal: I had so9me fresh produce from a local farm market and the crockpot idea seemed a good way to use the stuff. I placed small red potatoes on the bottom, added the beef roast, then sliced up fresh carrots, onions, garlic, and tomatoes tossed them in. Added spices, some water and there it was. In a few hours, great eats!.

Now here are a coup-le of my secrets about cooking. I cook with Love & with Beer. What I mean is I do not cook unless I want to. Not because I have to. There in lies the problem with many women in relationships. It seems the are REQUIRED to cook. That is terrible. I do not want my better half to cook ever, unless she is truly into it and wants to do it. Now of course things are different if you have kids. They must be fed, and fed on a schedule. It's also important for the family to eat as a group. But we are at a point in life where we are not obligated to eat at any set time. I would NEVER demand that she prepare my meals. And vice verso. The idea is to enjoy cooking. Most of the time I cook for me and the bonus is that I am also cooking for her. In other owrds, I simply cook with Love in my heart. It is what I want to do and it is what I want to share. I don't ever want to eat a meal if somebody felt coerced into preparing it. Do you get it? I am cooking with Love, and as best as I can tell thye Better half does the same.
Now, about the beer. When I cook, I like to drink beer. There's nothing better when it comes to peeling onions, washing potatoes, chopping carrots, and the like, than to do so while slugging a couple of beers. Suddenly it becomes festive. I think the problem many women have is that they do not drink while cooking. Break out the wine or the beer and dive in to the work. Enjoy it. If your better half walks in pour them a glass. Cheers! While you are at it you can always throw a splash of wine or beer into your recipe. It will never screw it up. You see that photo of the beef roast in the crock pot? I just put that together an hour or so ago with the great company of two of those Thousand Island beers. I loved it. Now, after posting this I am going back down to the basement and finish my furnace pipe cleaning job. Life is good. Thank you Lord.