Beef Bourguignon

We happened to watch Julie/Julia on Starz last weekend.....and since Sunday dinner is all about trying new things, and since tomorrow is my husband's 61st birthday (YIKES!), I am making Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon for dinner. On paper, it appears very complicated....many steps. But I plan to just 'make a day of it' - once it's simmering in the oven, it shouldn't be too bad. My souz chef will be playing golf for his birthday so I'll be 'on my own', pretty much. That's ok. As long as I keep the mind set of 'this is the kind of dish you work on as a 'project' not as a 'time to cook dinner' meal, I'll be ok. Thankfully, he wants chocolate cream pie for dessert - and the Claim Jumper frozen pie is delicious - so that will be easy.

We enjoyed a dinner out last night...we have not been out in close to a month, attempting to reel in our expenses. [We were very successful - shaved over $1,000 off our monthly outgo - thus proving we can spend less when we put our minds to it]. It was just three of us - me, J. and B. H. went to the high school football game with friends. We went to a little local restaurant called Four Corners. We've been before - and some nights, it's stellar and others it's just so-so. Last night was stellar. Everything there is home made - and I mean everything. The croutons, the bread, the butter pickles at the salad bar. It's all fresh and home made and last night, it was FANTASTIC. B. raved about the onion rings (nothing frozen here - freshly sliced onions dipped in a delicious batter and fried golden crisp - the were amazing!) and the bread. Even the hamburger buns are home made - so they don't look perfect, but they taste divine. I had prime rib - 'cuz I was in the mood for a 'home cooked meal I didn't have to cook'. It was delicious! It was a really nice dinner - good conversation. Good fun. Nice splurge. And it was $20 each including tax and tip - not too bad. Not inexpensive, but OK. Would have been a lot less if I'd had burgers like the two men did....my meal was really the biggest 'splurge'. Theirs were very reasonable. Delicious salad bar, too! OH - and my dinner had soup and salad and the soup was homemade clam chowder and it was DELICIOUS also! Nice evening.....

I will be heading out soon to shop for Sunday dinner and run some other errands. Lazy Saturday. B. left to visit a friend in Roseville and then he's camping tonight - some camp ground in Ripon (about 30 miles from here). H. spent the night with a friend and isn't home yet - but should be soon.

Happy Saturday!