Lazy Sunday

A horribly unoriginal title already. Apt, but unoriginal.

Today was not a sleep in til noon day, no sirree. I was up by 8:30 enjoying coffee with whole milk goodness. Stephanie Insley Hershinow, one of my favorite people in the whole world, and her husband David came over for brunch. We had talked about going to the Blue Talon for their excellent Sunday brunch, but decided that with the 45 degree weather and the sleet and all it would be too much of a hassle.

After some strong coffee and good conversation, I had a pancake disaster (Steph, I promise you pancakes to go with your lime curd next time) so switched to simple scrambled eggs and fried ham. In the process we discovered some additional moldy food in the refrigerator, so I guess it wasn't entirely a bad thing.

This is the rare case where the company is the important thing, anyway.

Just before Steph and David got here I threw a brisket in the oven. This gem of a recipe from the NYTimes gives the biggest bang for the smallest effort I know. I think it was originally called Friday Night Brisket, and it involves putting a brisket fat side up in a dutch oven-like pot (I use my beloved blue Staub Cocotte), dumping onion soup mix then bottled chili sauce on it, crushing a couple of garlic cloves and scattering them around, adding just enough water to almost cover the meat, and letting it sit at 350 for 4 1/2 hours. (I recommend doing this on a gray day when you're stuck inside, or when you're just doing some crap job around the house. Trust me, the smell of this brisket cooking will make everything better.)

At that point you take it out and let it cool - it's okay to refrigerate overnight, for instance - skim the fat, pull the meat apart a bit with a fork, add a bag of baby carrots, and pop it back in the over at 350 for another hour. That's it. Except for the part where you eat it and think you've died and gone to heaven.