Double-Crockin' Again! and Somethin's Fishy in the Living Room

You know how they'll say that a person's eyes are too big for their stomach? Well, I'm coming to the conclusion that my eyes are too big for our crockpots! Once again, I have grossly over-estimated the capacity of our 6-quart crockpot, and had to split the recipe between that and our smaller crockpot .


The Super Crock Team is at it again

The recipe this time is a variant of one I saw ages ago on a television show. It was a sort of New Age lifestyle show that didn't last very long. One day, they suggested a simple recipe of one pound each of carrot and potato, cut up and covered with water, with 10 bulbs (yes, bulbs) of garlic, separated into cloves. Boil this on the stove until the potato and carrot are tender, then use a blender, stick blender, or food processor to create a smooth, creamy soup out of it.

Gryphon and I tried it and liked it, though the garlic flavor was a bit too much for him. But we haven't gotten around to making it since that time, oh, about 3 or 4 years ago now. Until today.

I looked at a 3-lb. bag of carrots and said to myself, yeah, that's the right amount for the big crock. Then we picked up 3 pounds of potatos. What I failed to do was look at the combined size of the carrot/potato pile and say Whoa! That's too much! We could probably have done with about 2 lbs. of each instead.

Unfortunately, I still didn't consider this issue until I had already cut up all 3 pounds of potatos. So here we go - I took about 1/3 of the potatos, and transferred them to the small crock. Then I cut up the carrots and made my best try at getting about the same split. We decided to reduce the garlic amount to one bulb only, so I broke up and peeled that, and divided it between the crocks accordingly.

I started the crocks at around 6 o'clock. Or so I thought. Turns out that the small one wasn't plugged in. So the big crock got an hour headstart on high. I turned the big one to low for the next hour, and put the small one on high - and plugged it in! An hour later, I carefully considered how slowly the carrots would become tender, and how late this was going to be ready, and decided the better part of valor in this case meant putting both on low all night.

For seasoning, I'm planning to use dill. Pretty standard with carrots and potatos, so that's a no-brainer. I may add a bit of hot sauce for a little kick, too. Obviously, this recipe saga isn't over yet, so stay tuned for the results in a day or two.

In other news, it's been a while since my betta fish, Burgundy, went on to that great fish pond in the sky. We'd been considering moving Gryphon's betta from his bedroom (which can be pretty lonely with all the time Gryphon's at work) to the living room, where I can wiggle my fingers at him now and then and he can keep me company. We finally did that yesterday.

It's awfully hard to get a picture of a fish that comes out clear without using special equipment. Here's the best one I got. Officially, this little guy's got no name, but I am calling the folder for him in Adobe Photoshop Album "Betta Blue".


Betta Blue looks fierce for the camera