12: Beef Stew
This is not a cooking tutorial.
I had people over at my place yesterday and was bothered about it not going particularly well. But it turned out to be fun and with that excitement, I was happy to give a brief summary of how everything went down with my friend. His reply was funny, and it sort of had an inside joke too.
DATE: 13/05/2023.
10:32 am.
I just go back in from a short walk to a store to get breakfast stuff and also onions. I don’t have enough onions to season the meat. I am now in front of my computer writing the intro to this essay. Before now, I brought out the beef and Pomo I got yesterday from Shoprite and rinsed it.
I had to add salt to the water I used to rinse the pomo because it was slimy when I brought it out of the fridge, I am not sure why.
11:28 am.
Breakfast: Bread and eggs Meshai style, with a cup of tea (sugar, no milk)
I seasoned the pomo and meat in different pots. I committed to using fresh garlic and ginger and did my best to mince it.
For my bread, toast the inside first before frying the eggs and then toasting the bread and eggs. Did it once to try it out and have refused to make Meshai any other way.
I am trying out a new tea brand and decided to have it without milk. This particular tea has lemongrass in it and you can smell it. My grandma would be laughing at me because here I am willfully drinking something with lemongrass after years of avoiding her Agbo Iba that had Lemongrass in it.
11:33 am.
My mum called and after exchanging pleasantries, she asked if I had eaten, as usual. I love her to pieces.
I played Love & Pies, a merge game with a lot of side quests about a little cafe and the people in it, to pass the time. I have an order on this game that is taking forever to complete.
The tea is great, I loved the taste and the aroma, not completely overtaken by the taste of lemongrass, so that’s a win, I guess.
11:55 am.
Naza stops by to greet me and have a chat about compound issues (mainly electricity problems) before heading out to buy Pringles for a single Pringle. That’s what she said.
She isn’t getting for me because, while I am single, I am equally looking for a man.
She sends me a message on Whatsapp at 11:58 am to confirm she indeed saw EEDC officials in the neighbourhood. Overall best in beauty and observation.
Made my bed because why not.
Showered and ready to continue my day.
12:45 pm.
I finished the order from hell on Love & Pies and decided I have spent enough time doing something other than making the stew I was supposed to. So I resumed cooking. The first thing I did was remove my mum’s pepper mix from the fridge and leave it on the sink to defrost. Then I boiled the pomo.
As I waited for the pomo to boil, I washed the plates from breakfast.
When I was done with the pomo, I let the beef steam for a few minutes to release its juice before adding the Pomo and water and allowing it to cook. I threw away the Pomo stock sha, I wasn’t feeling confident with the slimy nature this morning.
1:05 pm.
Naza came around because she needed cash. I was able to give it to her and she transferred it to my account. She also wants to braid her hair and I told her I would come around later to do that. We also decided frying the beef was the best way to go about it, especially when it is entering stew.
I tried a hack I saw on Twitter that said adding the salt as the last ingredient while boiling your meat helps it remain tender. And as someone that hates struggling with meat, I decided to test it.
1:29 pm
I tasted a piece of the beef and did a little happy dance. It turned out great and soft too, I guess that hack worked.
1:53 pm
They restored the power around the same time I decided straining the beef stock was the best way to go about incorporating it in my stew, I guess the cooking videos on YouTube have gotten to me.
Naza called to let me know she was ready to braid her hair, so I took another break from my cooking.
3:28 pm
I Left Naza's place and decided it was time to tackle the stew once and for all.
I started with frying the meat, frying pomo is an extreme sport sha.
I did the other necessary things involved in making stew and cleaned my fridge to maximize the time.
I remember a tweet that said rice and beans with beef stew would slap. So I brought out the leftover rice and bean in the fridge and threw it into the microwave. I had a glass of Ice Tea, just to relax. If there is no bottle of wine, I guess I have to make do with what I have.
4:19 pm
I know, it’s giving fraud.
The beef stew was done and ready to be transferred into storage containers.
I swept the kitchen and wiped down the surfaces that had splatters on them.
I had a late lunch.
I was able to get enough stew to last me, with emphasis on me, for approximately 3 weeks from this. The stew came out well, the girl is good.
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I finished cleaning my apartment and took out the trash.
8:20 pm
Aunty Blessing sent me a message about Hilda Baci’s cookathon and I spent decide to check the Youtube live stream for a while berfore returning to Twitter to follow the story.
I watched Alex Meyers’ reacting to Beautiful Disaster, and I considered going out to get a snack.
I ended up settling for cheeseballs and watched Kennie JD react to Beautiful Disaster. I also read an article on Queen Charlotte: A brigerton’s story and it was lovely.
Remember the ice tea I had earlier today, I finished the pack at about the same time I finished the cheeseballs. What can I say.
9:42 pm
I started prepping for bed.
I am still following the cookathon.
In all, today was a pretty normal day and the only thing that made it different and out of the ordinary was the Cookathon. I had two full meal today, cheeseballs and biscuit as snacks and I finished a pack of Ice Tea which isn’t a norm. I didn’t take a nap today which was unusual, I love taking naps and I am yet to pick out a outfit for church tomorrow. Guess who has to wake up early tomorrow morning.
I believe I am going to edit this tomorrow morning.
So there you have it, a day in my life.
Another reason I did this is because I don’t want to write a blog post about my time at Obukpa, and it was going to follow something similar to this, at least the initial draft was. But a win is a win, and the Obukpa posting versions wasn’t as uplifting as this was, so you didn’t miss much.
P.S
I ended up editing this by 5:17 pm on sunday. And I was late to church because I couldn’t decide on which shirt looks better with the skirt I was wearing. I ended up with the initial shirt.
Until next time,
The Estherian💛💛
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