Yesterday I spent a good portion of the afternoon menu-planning for the week ahead. It feels as if I’ve been cooking on the fly for the majority of this year, which is fine, I suppose, if one is not looking to learn anything new. I am glad finally to have had enough dishes and skills under my belt to be able cook without much forethought.
But my work in the kitchen had grown a little too prosaic and humdrum, so I think it’s time to inject a bit of artistry again into the act of cooking and that, I find, does take inspired forethought. The weather is cooperating & there’s no reason to whine about humidity any longer.
So. . . on this week’s menu:
Monday: Savory pot roast (in the crockpot as I write). I needed something fairly mindless today as I concentrate on the rest of the week’s dishes. The guys are not big fans of pot roasts, but if I whip up a batch of Boardinghouse buttermilk biscuits right before supper, all will be forgiven. The pot roast leftovers can be recycled into vegetable beef soup for a few lunch meals.
Tuesday: I skip out of dinnertime on Tuesdays, so that I can go to an exercise class I like down at the Y. Tuesday mornings then, I assemble something that can be heated for supper, like Bolognese Sauce. Grate the parmesan, boil the water for the pasta, and I’m out the door. The guys can handle it from there. In fact, my ten-year-old stepson, who is with us on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, could easily handle the responsibility of grating the parmesan. Time to delegate the job to him.
Wednesday: There was a spice house in Stillwater and I nabbed a big jar of 3 Madagascar Vanilla Beans, so I finally have the missing ingredient for Vanilla-Scented Halibut with Asparagus. Problem is I no longer have the recipe. It’s been yanked from the New Scandinavian Cooking website and I returned the cookbook to the library. I’ll pop in today and hope that it is on the shelf or I’m going to have to come up with an alternate plan for Wednesday.
Wednesday evening I’ll cook up the custard for Thursday’s crème brulee.
Thursday: I’d better invite guests for the Polenta-stuffed Pork Loin with Cherry Sauce and the Crème Brulee. Also have to think of a good side dish and vegetable to go with the roast. My meal-planning falls short when I fail to think of all the details, doesn’t it? But once I have the main dish decided upon, the rest—salad, side, & vegetables—more or less fall into place after a little rummaging around in the mental pantry.
Friday: Since it’s been a rather ambitious week, I’ll take it easy on myself Friday and we’ll have Broiled Chicken with Garlic and Lemon. From Nigel Slater’s Real Fast Food.
And on the weekend? Leftovers!
9:31:14 AM 
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