(no subject)

I learned an Ancient Ninja Secret today, namely how to actually brown diced meat. I could not figure out why I always seemed to end up with all this liquid in the pan, resulting in meat that was cooked, but more boiled than actually fried, unless you cook it until all the liquid boils off.

Turns out that the instruction they always give in cooking magazines to brown the meat "in batches" isn't just because they think you have a small skillet. If you actually do what they say, there isn't enough meat to release all the liquid into the pan, and it actually browns in the oil. Dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnn!

This post is mainly procrastination from the massive cleanup we are trying to mobilize prior to the cleaners coming tomorrow. Lately it feels like our household is flying by the seat of its pants and just barely managing not to come apart at the seams, and the cleaning actually brings a faint glimmer of credibility to this notion that we are remotely in control of our lives at the moment. Because I mean, srsly, how disorganized can I possibly be if the kitchen peninsula is uncluttered and the project room light bulb actually got changed? Huh? Huh??!?!