Dealing with all kinds of guilt here at Hot Water Bath. Last night's dinner was underwhelming, so say the least, and the Boy Wonder didn't get nearly enough mommy time. Plus, I didn't get all the work done that I need to and the house is a wreck. In short, nothing is being accomplished to the degree that I need/want it to be accomplished. Today I'm going to have to be a much better multi-tasker to keep everything from tipping even further over the edge. So far this morning I've unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher and finished taking the lights off the Christmas tree - all while on hold with a client's help desk! I was never so glad to be on hold.


Keeping in the spirit of taking control of my existance, I've placed a container of hash mix in the fridge to thaw. That, with the addition of some diced spuds, will be dinner along with steamed broccoli and maybe some fried okra if I'm feeling ambitious. The hash mix came about after a failed experiment in making salisbury steaks - a disaster is many ways - but I didn't want to waste the meat. I discovered that, while the recipe didn't actually result in anything resembling salisbury steak, it did make a mighty tasty hash. I'm glad I froze the remainder since I really, really need to do some shopping but finding it in the freezer will buy me another day.


This weekend is Bigos weekend. I'm making a huge batch, some of which will be eaten and some of which will be frozen for baby time. Bigos is most often translated as "hunter's stew" and it is truly a wonderful thing, keeping generations of people warm and full through long Polish winters. My half-Polish husband came from a non-cooking family, so he had never heard of it before a friend of ours, a cold-war era emigre, made it for us. He wouldn't share the recipe (grrr) so I had to suss out my own. Because I do share my recipes, I'll be posting it here for your enjoyment.