Camera Day

I am waiting, waiting, waiting.

I am waiting for my new camera to arrive. I have to sign for it so I am not going anywhere until it comes. I am so nervous, I am actually going to the bathroom with the door open just in case the UPS delivery guy comes while I am indisposed.

(I don't mean right at this minute. I mean, when I have to go.)

(Whew, scary to think of all the unintended visuals I just created.)

Because, Dude.

I got a confirmation call and it said that the delivery would happen some time between 8:00 AM and 7:00 PM, which I know means it will be 6:59 PM but nevertheless, I can't seem to stop myself from running to the door every time I hear anything drive down my street. Or a dog bark, even though my dogs will bark at OTHER DOGS walking down the street.

And I know this and I also know that there is no frenzy like the frenzy the dogs burst into when an actual UPS delivery is being made at my house. It's a totally different level of barking than the barking we get when there is a dog being walked down the street. The UPS bark would wake the dead. I am serious. After all, the dogs can point to their absolutely perfect record of driving the UPS delivery person away EVERY SINGLE TIME. We have never had a UPS person come over and stay and the dogs would like you to know that they are taking all of the credit for that.

And after the dogs have scared the delivery truck off, there will be some celebratory barking and then everyone will need a nap. Especially me, since I will have burst a blood vessel yelling at them to stop barking because I like getting deliveries from the UPS person! I mean, I could do without the onslaught of bills and credit card offers from the postal service guy, but the UPS person almost always brings something I WANT.

Especially today.

I don't think I've ever been this excited over any one thing in my life.

For one thing, I had this urge to try making bagels. I really wanted to do it last night because Jane requested a peanut butter bagel for breakfast and I was fresh out. But this is how far down the blog path to hell I've gone--I didn't want to make them without having a camera to document the process for y'all. So, she had Cheerios.

I'm still going to try them after the camera comes, though.

In anticipation, I've cleaned my kitchen.(I just checked and sure enough, I left the bottle of Soft Scrub with Bleach out on the counter. Dang it. Well, I will write myself a note to put it up before I start taking pictures of the bagel-making process.)

I am finally feeling better and actually had some energy to use for cleaning and for making dinner for tonight. I didn't get to document the making of THIS recipe through pictures but I am passing it along because it is so good and so EASY. I'll copy the recipe in here and then I'll tell you how I don't follow it, okay?

Grilled Tri-tip Roast with Tequila Marinade and Cherry Tomato Relish
Bon Appétit June 2000

1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup tequila
7 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 teaspoons grated lime peel
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 2-pound beef loin tri-tip roasts, trimmed

Whisk first 10 ingredients in medium bowl. Using small sharp knife, pierce meat all over. Place meat in large resealable plastic bag; add marinade. Seal bag. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight, turning plastic bag occasionally. Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Remove meat from marinade. Discard marinade. Grill meat to desired doneness, about 10 minutes per side for medium-rare. Transfer to cutting board. Tent with foil; let stand 10 minutes. Cut diagonally across grain. Serve meat with Cherry Tomato Relish.


Makes 8 servings.

I don't do any of that, and I don't even use the Tri-Tip roast, nor do I make the Cherry Tomato Relish. What *I* do, is put the first ten ingredients into a crock pot (today I didn't even have the lime to use for the lime peel so I used lemon peel) and then add a center cut boneless pork loin roast. Sometimes I don't even thaw the roast first. (Today, it was semi-thawed.)

And here's what happens: at about 4:00, my house will smell so good that I will start sneaking bites from the pot. The roast will be so tender that it will simply be falling apart in the crock pot and you can just reach a fork inside and come away with a bite so luscious, it will make juice run down your chin. My husband gets home today from his business trip and my guess is that by the time we should really sit down to dinner, there won't be anything left.

If, by chance, there IS some left, you can serve it inside of tortillas with black beans and salsa and a side salad and have a great meal.

I have even made this for company. It's not the most elegant thing but if you put it in a chafing dish (let's face it, everything looks great in a chafing dish. You could put canned cat food in one and people would think it was pâté.) and serve it with minced onions and some pineapple and let people do a buffet thing where they fill their own tortillas. (I use whole wheat flour ones for the family but for a company dinner, I would be more authentic and use tiny corn ones.) They will bless you with their mouths full. Trust me on this. It doesn't sound like it would be great but it is.

I wish I could show you a picture...