Posts by Liz

From the south shore

I live near the north shore of Flathead Lake. Polson, Montana sits on the south shore of Flathead Lake. I had an appointment in Polson today. After, Bear and I went to a park by the lake. Despite the snow, the sun was shining and it felt warm – warm unlike Winter.

I love Winter, but the warm sun felt so good. It felt like a mini-vacation and I did not want to leave. I let Bear sniff and explore while I enjoyed the warm sun.

From the south shore.

Mid-Winter Light

We are just about half way through Winter … by the Calendar, i.e. 6 1/2 weeks from Winter Solstice and about 7 1/2 weeks until the Vernal Equinox.

There is noticeably more daylight here at 48 North Latitude: the sun’s arc a bit more northerly. This is the sweet spot of light for me with the morning and afternoon-evening light at such an angle as to be most pleasing and peaceful.

Bear and I took a before supper walk in the woods at 5:00 p.m. last evening. Just weeks ago, it would have been full dark at this time.

In addition to the beautiful light, we had four inches of fresh, powdery snow – mostly from the wee hours of Monday morning. We had freshened up our walking/snowshoe trails at lunchtime so had an easy time on this late-in-the-day walk.

Peek-a-boo snow covered mountains!

And ditto to some peachy alpenglow.

Mid-Winter Light.

Not my Grandma’s pressure cooker

I’m not sure how accurate my memory is regarding my Grandmother Ruthie’s pressure cooker, but I do think I remember correctly the Swiss Steak she made with it. I’ve been thinking about that Swiss Steak … and I have no idea why it’s called Swiss Steak – it is an inexpensive cut of “steak” that is cooked low and slow with a tomato-mushroom-beef broth. The result is a fork tender dish of meat and sauce typically served over mashed potatoes or egg noodles. Mashers is my preference!

I bought a pressure cooker cookbook some time ago on a hunt for a recipe. I have gone back and forth about getting a pressure cooker as they were somewhat out of favor for a time due do their tendency to explode if not operated correctly.

Recently, more attention has been given pressure cooking with newer and safer stovetop cookers as well as electric pressure cookers. Enter the InstantPot with the current model being a 7 in 1 multi-cooker. It pressure cooks, slow cooks, sautes, steams and makes yogurt. It has automatic buttons for rice, beans and porridge. Is that 7? Anyway, it does a lot and after my food blogging hero, Mel of Mel’s Kitchen Cafe, wrote an extensive post on pressure cooking stovetop vs electric…I succumbed.

And then I made Swiss Steak.

I started with a quick saute of onions and mushrooms and browning of the beef. My first go so I went with a small test amount.

Next I dumped in some tomatoes, water and then set the cooker to pressure for 18 minutes.

Set the Vent to Pressure vs Steam.

The InstantPot takes about 8 minutes to come up to pressure and then starts counting down…

13 minutes to go.

After the 13 minutes (18 minutes total), it automatically changes to “keep warm” mode and starts counting up so you know how long it has been in “keep warm”.

Fork tender meat – yea!

Swiss steak that fit my memory, a rough mash of red potatoes and kale with a side of local made sauerkraut.

I call that a good supper! It might not be my grandmother’s pressure cooker, but I think I came pretty close with the Swiss Steak. From the first chop on an onion until I sat down to eat was 40 minutes and 30 of that was hands off, sitting in my chair and relaxing with Auggie.

I’ve used the Instant Pot for beans, rice, yogurt, hard boiled eggs, soft boiled eggs and now the Swiss Steak. I’m still learning, but have no regrets about this addition to my kitchen tools.

Meanwhile… Cat on a cold front porch.

Tranquility

The weather has been gray and dreary and a very un-January-like above freezing kind of mish-mash. Because of the snow depth, there is still snow-slush to snowshoe on. Auggie is able to walk on top of the mess. Bear is dealing with a mix of breaking through slush and the firmness of my snowshoe paths.

Blech.

It is what it is and the forecast is for 20’s overnight and upper 30’s-40’s F daytime, i.e. continued slushiness.

The good news … actually, the GREAT news!! is that the only thing we have to complain about is the weather – small potatoes!!!

And today, mid-afternoon…Bear and I made a quick run to Bigfork for a few items that the House Summers required. And we were rewarded with clear roads as well as some unexpectedly beautiful vistas, particularly across Flathead Lake.

The best views were in spots of travel with no safe place to stop and take a photo. We ended up in the parking lot of the Flathead Lake Brewery, formerly a bowling alley. The brewery-pub is very nice and has a primo spot overlooking the lake. I’ve enjoyed a glass with a friend on the deck … last summer. Today, it was a park and shoot affair.

It was beautiful.

And in the midst of gray and dreary, there was stunning light.