huzzah! Clue 8 finished!

I really manage to impress myself sometimes - even by my own exalted standards. Really, I do.


Have finished Clue 8 of my SOTSii! (I LOVE lime green!!!) Only 50 more rows to go!!!!

Almost at the end of my measuring tape...

I now officially lurve this pattern.

Check out my bead highway!!!
(Must consider bribing Clarabelle to come to Canada and take some photos of it when it's finished, though. I love her lace photos!)

Now, the only reason I was able to finish yesterday (given all my skiving earlier in the day - two blog posts! Over the top!) was that I decided to fix one of my favourite quick dishes for dinner: perogies.

Bacon, onions and dumplings - what's not to like, anyway? And all in less than half an hour (twenty-five minutes if you're not doing the madwoman with the camera bit.

The Brouhaha Tutorial on the Art of Perogies

(Action photos and all). Serves two (or one and a half if you're me - JJ gets less as a couple get popped into my mouth from his plate. Chef's prerogative.)

First, fill a pasta pot or large saucepan with water and put on to boil.

Next, take one-half pound of strip (streaky) bacon, cut into 1 inch wide pieces and fry on medium heat 10 minutes or so until it looks like this. It's better to use a regular (rather than non-stick pan) and is worth the clean-up effort. Trust me.

There needs to be lots of fat. Don't pour any of it off (well, of course you can, but why?!).

Next, cut down an onion - I like those Vidalia or other sweet onions.

This is how I slice it for these...

Brouhaha Tip for Gourmetdom on the Cheap: always save your scrap stuff and skins from onions in a ziploc bag in the freezer. They're great for throwing into stockpots for the best lovely golden chicken or veg stock you've ever had. (Or, they can be used for dyeing yarn, or so I'm told.)

Then add your onions to the bacon in the frying pan.

Reduce heat to low and let sit - the onions should get nice and soft and juicy and caramelly.

Now, get your perogies from the freezer:

I used the potato and cheddar ones tonight. Perogies are the best. These bags cost $4.00 each and have 50 pieces each. And - these are the expensive ones!

Plus, check out the cute Mr. Perogie:

Right on, man!

Hey, why is this guy blushing more than the other one? Is it because he's on the blue label. (blue... get it? heh heh).

(Now, this will not be a big selling point for my mother. She hates ads in which they make the food into little cute cartoons, like the M&M guys:

Her theory - how is it good advertising for food to make it too cute and loveable to eat, anyway? She has a point, actually...but I like Mr. Perogie. So there, Mom!!)

Take 14-16 perogies and plop them into the now-boiling water (and yes, I assure you, "plop" is a chef's term of art. A little known fact. You'll never see it in cookbooks - it's a trade secret). Oh, put some salt in the boiling water, too.

Boil them for about 5 minutes. They will start rising to the top when done.

Drain and add to your frying pan.

Raise the temperature to high. Make sure the perogies are mostly near the bottom of the pan (I spoon the bacon/onion mixture onto the top) and fry for a couple of minutes on each side or until they turn a lovely gold colour).

Add some parsley, and eat! Mmm. You can put sour cream on the side - I think that's traditional - but I don't like sour cream. I use extra bacon instead to ensure the appropriate fat content.

And what will I be doing today?

Three guesses and the first two don't count.


Happy Sunday!