Do you ever do something and then just have to laugh because it seems so stupid? Of course you do, we all do. Well, here's my stupid thing for the week. And yes, I do only allow myself one stupid thing a week. Because it's all about portion control.........
Anyway, a few months ago I had a garage sale. My mother-in-law brought over a few items and after it was over said to send it to the GoodWill store. She had this thing, she called it a grilling stone, I didn't think much about it but when I was packing stuff to take it away, I thought maybe one of the boys might like that at college. Anyway, I packed it away and shortly thereafter was discussing it with a friend who mentioned it was called a raclette. I came home, pulled out the instructions and sure enough, it was called a raclette. Other than most of the instructions and paperwork were written in German and some other language, I didn't think much about it. Well, being the geeky person I am, I eventually looked it up on the computer, and read about how in other countries, this is very popular. You grill stuff like meat and vegetables on the top and it has these little paddle things that you melt cheese on while they heat underneath. I liken it to fondue of sorts. A whole lot of work, that's probably why it isn't popular here in the US. we are lazy and want things easy.
Well, my sister was here this weekend and we were discussing HGTV and cooking and the raclette came up in conversation. So we pulled it out and made plans, we were going to this, we were going to have a raclette party for two! So after a very busy day of going to the fair, going to Wichita shopping and general running around, we went to the store and purchased what we wanted for our raclette party. We got 2 filets, an onion, some mushrooms, asiago bread and cheese. The cheese ending up being the most confusing because neither of us had any idea of what kind to get. We opted for a melting cheese like you would find in a mexican restaurant. At least that sounded good to us. There was a lady standing and staring at the cheeses just like us and we decided to ask her opinion. After she moved closer and started talking it was readily apparent she was in no condition to help us. Let's just say that if we had administered the field sobriety test right there in aisle 4, she would have flunked. So we thanked her for her slurred advice and moved on.
We took all our goods and came home, ready to get going. First we made Caramel Rice Krispie Treats for dessert - I know - very weird choice. We got all of our supplies out and chopped and cleaned, I had some polish sausage and potatoes we had cooked on the outside grill left over from the other night thought that sounded good to add also.
After all the prep, I went to plug in the raclette grill to start heating and much to my surprise
there is a problem, a MAJOR problem. Now it is very obvious that when one has an appliance made for another country, one should check the plug in. They are not universal, no ma'm they are not. Well after rolling on the floor laughing hysterically at the whole situation - it was very reminiscent of Ethel and Lucy if you can picture that- we put all the supplies in ziploc bags and went out for chinese food.
Tonight I wanted to make bierocks. It is said to be a german food, however the origin is somewhat sketchy. I am not going to tell you specific amounts because I didn't measure anything. For me, cooking is creating, not science so if you are a recipe kinda person, sorry.
Hamburger, Cabbage, garlic seasoning, course ground black pepper, cumin and a little cheese. Most bierocks do not have cheese, but I am a firm believer that just about everything is better with cheese. : )
