FIRE FIRE FIRE!!!

There's nothing like the smell of smoke and the sound of fire alarms to wake you up on an Easter Day.  I was up at 2:30, wandering around the house wishing I was asleep while trying to figure out what Cooper's problem was.  I had things to do, but couldn't get very motivated.  It was just too early.

The full moon was fabulous, followed by gorgeous sunshine and warm temperatures.  It doesn't get any better than this!

I sat outside in dead silence admiring my roses and sipping my cup-o-joe, contemplating how I was going to cook that prime rib. I've done this maybe three times in my life, all complete failures.

But first ... let's whip up some dessert, the most important part of dinner.  Be aware yet again that now even chocolate chips have shrinkage.  The once 12 ounce packages are now only 10 ounces and they cost more!!!  Everything sure is going to the dogs!!

Super easy recipe here ... place chips in a food processor and pour in (while it's running) one cup of hot cream.  It melts the chocolate perfectly.  Cool to room temperature.  Beat two cups of whipped cream with 1/4 cup of sugar to stiff peaks and fold in to the chocolate.  DONE!!  This makes the best mousse I've ever had.  You can dump it in a graham cracker crust to make pie, or as I do, put it in one serving containers.  

I know I used to use champagne flutes or wine glasses.  How I got this stuff in them without making a big mess, I've no idea.

It's okay though ... no company coming and I don't care if it's all down the side of the glasses.  YUM YUM!!  I could eat six of these at once!

At long last noon arrived ... time to mutilate ... I mean cook ... the prime rib.  Noon found me fast asleep on the couch, covered completely by a quilt to shut out the light and Cooper, who by then was feeling just fine.  YAY!  Now I'm behind because I know it will take at least 30 minutes to heat my oven to 500 degrees, if it will even go that high.  

By that time, the roast had been sitting on the counter for four hours to get to room temperature.  That's very important they said!  I calculated the cooking time Chef told me ... # of pounds times 5 for a perfect prime rib medium rare.

I plugged in my handy dandy temperature gauge ... one of the best kitchen tools I've ever purchased.  Oven on ... meat in oven ... temperature probe in place and timer set for 27 minutes.  The convection fan roared as smoke began to come off the meat.  I turned the fan off, which apparently turned the oven off too.

Instantly there were fire alarms going off everywhere in the house.  I think I have eight of them, all screaming at me, scaring poor Cooper to death!!  I frantically opened the back door and a couple of windows, turned on both house fans and the exhaust fan over the stove.  Oh my gosh ... at last they quit.  Only for a few seconds however before they began screaming again!!  FIRE FIRE FIRE!!!

Okay okay .... so it was a little smoky in the house.  I checked the oven, only to find that the temperature was now down to 425!  Yikes ... it's supposed to be 500!!!  I turned it back up, producing even more smoke which set the alarms off again.  I sat on the couch covering Cooper's ears.  Ever fan I own was turned on.  At long last, the smoke cleared and the oven got back up to temp.  

But now ... how long to cook it since the temperature dropped?  Total should have been 27 minutes, turn the oven off and leave it for two whole hours.  Don't peek.  Another ten minutes?  Maybe only five?  I really had no clue, so I just turned the oven off and prayed the temperature probe would rise to at least 125, the magic number.  

The beeper went off  (I still had one hour left on the timer)  and the temperature probe said it was done.  Okay then!  At 130 degrees, I took it out of the oven.  LOOKIE HERE!!!  It's beautiful!!!!!  Maybe a tad bit overdone. 

Time to see what the INSIDE looks like.  Nancy's a proud cook, even if I did set the fire alarms off!!!  It looks pretty darn good and tasted even better.  I'm really not a prime rib person ... too much fat for me, but this one was tender and SO tasty!  Maybe I won't have to make stroganoff out of it after all!!

This morning as I walked through the house, all I can smell is smoky beef.  That's okay, it's better than the closed-up-house stale smell previously prevalent!  

If prime rib ever goes on sale again, I may just have to cook another one since it was also Cooper approved!!

Lots of running round today ... in case you didn't know, your taxes are due TODAY!!!!