Speaking Of A Slow Boat .....

Good morning Arizona she said with a grumpy look on her face.  I should live in Florida.  At least it would have been 4:00 when I got up.  Instead, it was 2:00 when Miss Jessie got sick for the second time.  It's looking like a trip to the Vet is in my very near future.

In other good news, I bet you thought I was carving and burning up a storm.  That would be a no.  I could possibly begin burning things, but everything I have seen on the web says I should carve the top off first and clean it out.  That way I won't burn the house down when the insides catch on fire.

Is there something slower than a slow boat from China?  Why yes there is.  It's an even slower donkey with a bad leg walking all the way from Los Angeles to Arizona.  If they had a Pony Express option, I would have chosen that.

Instead, I opted for another $12.00 charge for Priority Mail from the good old U. S. Post Office.  When it didn't arrive on the appointed day, I hit the tracking button.  It seems that after one week, it's STILL in L.A.  Delivery is scheduled for another LONG week away.

I'm pretty sure that is so I will read the 25 emails they have sent me since I ordered the thing, trying to glean more money from my pocket.

So if I can't start a fire from gourd carving and burning, I might as well do so while cooking.  Here's another Hello Fresh meal ready to turn into gourmet Swedish meatloaf.  This one was a tad bit on the wimpy side.  One of those carrots was so limp it took a long walk on a short pier into the trash can.  I reconstituted the others by soaking them in water.  Next time I'll cook based on how long the ingredients can stay fresh.

To make a long story short, here's THEIR finished product.  Looks pretty tasty with that raspberry jam on the side.

Just to be sure I'm covered in the gourd burning safety department, I tried out the fire alarms throughout the house.  Yeah, my meatloaf got a tad bit overdone.  It's funny how you can't smell smoke in the kitchen but the living room is engulfed.  

I turned the heat in the frying pan down and stuck them in the oven per the recipe.  With so little moisture in the carrots which were roasting in the oven (I'm really liking the roasted veggies), they got a tad bit overdone also.  Okay, they were mostly burned.

Surprisingly, the meatloaf had only that piece of bread soaked in milk, onions, a spice packet and some nutmeg (all included of course).  It tasted pretty darn good, in spite of the very dark brown on the bottom.  I refuse to call it black.  The gravy came out very nice, also with onions, nutmeg and a little parsley.  The jam was 90% seeds .... HUGE seeds .... so it said bye bye.

There were so many potatoes left over from this meal that I made eight potato pancakes for later.  The meatloaf was enough for four people.  They don't skimp on the servings.  Instead of two servings per bag, I can easily get FOUR, cutting the cost even more.

The only problem I see is the time to create these masterpieces.  I'm the Queen of Lean Cuisine and two minute cooking times.  This one took an hour to prepare.  No worries however, since I've decided to enjoy the process, no matter how long it takes.  

On the down side, I had the kitchen sink completely full of dishes that required washing.  I may just have to get that dishwasher sooner than I expected!!