Original Steer Meat Market (a return by GingerNinjer)

Dinner tonight is brought to you by slacker-dom yesterday. Crockpot roast chicken, seasoned with garlic and onion, cavity stuffed with sliced bacon ends. Served with rice and a little garlic Maggi seasoning, steamed broccoli on the side. Tasty. Hint of bacon reminds me of Mama. She loves bacon.

Rest of the meat is deboned and cooling. Carcass and guts are back in Crockpot... Stocking it up.

From one chicken (3.5 pounds for the curious) I am getting dinner tonight, a small casserole which will be at least 3 meals, AND two small pots of soup (one with tomato, one without) that will likely be another 6 meals. Stretching the chicken is key.(Does it sound like I'm bragging? That's not the intention... I'm just over sharing to make up for the lack of photos.)

I've been really quiet for a very long time and I have to apologize for that. But I'm facing a giant upswing in free time and will be using blogging, cooking, and crafting to keep the depression at bay during the job-hunt. Must have hobbies right?

But what does all of this have to do with the Original Steer Meat Market? I can explain. The Original Steer Meat Market is a block and a half from my front door. And I love it. I love to walk in and talk to the butchers behind the counter, some more knowledgeable than others. One younger man and I got into a debate about whether lamb and pork come from the same animal. Lamb. And pork. Yeah.

But I like the selection, I like the quality and I like that they don't give me a hard time about my wrapping requests. I'm a single female cooking for myself. In the fight against overfilling my refrigerator with leftovers I ask for the meat to be packed in half pound packages. And they don't even blink. In fact one girl (who's name I can't remember) and I chatted for a while about cooking for one and the wonder that is a Crockpot. Such a savior for the working stiff.

Also the place smells incredible (the do their own in house smoked meats), all of their pork products come from Carlton Family Farms a local homegrown source. Gotta feel good about that.

So, other than the lack of photos... Not bad for a return right?

What's on your menus?

~Ginger Ninjer

Christmas and the Holidays!

While running various errands and shopping it is inevitable that I am out of the house at meal time. Yet, with the holiday shopping I try to go cheap and fast... (no comments from the peanut gallery please). So there has been a lot of fast food lately. Which results in midnight drive through runs to all night fast food joints.... which leads to ridiculous questions... But that is another post.

So, we went adventuring and Apocalypse.Mom and I stopped at Pizza Baron. It is a cute little Pizza shop at 122nd and Division, in what is left of a dying strip mall. I had been there years ago with Painter Lady, and years before that with my parents. But memory often tricks me into thinking things are way better than they are. Unfortunately, that is how it went with Pizza Baron.

The service was accommodating to a fault, almost creepily so. They literally wanted to fix any problem we had just so we would order. And it didn't take long to figure out why. We were there for lunch, which consisted of pizza and salad bar. Pretty typical fare for a pizza joint now-a-days. We saw three other people come in, one was a regular. The place is decorated with team trophies and banners for all the youth sports in the area, and  they obviously back all of them. There is a big screen TV in the back room, an arcade on one side of the restaurant and a large fireplace in the middle.

It is a cute, quaint little place that looks to have been great at one time, but now is mediocre at best. Which is sad, it has so much potential. The food was ok... not bad, but not great either. It was an ok price for what we got, the salad bar needed a lot of help. But the service was good and quick and it was a quiet lunchtime retreat.

It is something I would like to see make a come back. I remember them being really terrific when I was a kid, and I would like it to be that great when I take my kids or grand kids (Someday, don't get any ideas boys) there. However, right now it is a place I would go if I didn't have anywhere else to try at the moment. And as it is surrounded by a Papa Murphy's, Burger King, Taco Time, and there is a Chinese place pretty close. I have a lot of other options.

But that is how my lunch at Pizza Baron went. What did you think Apocalypse.Mom?