braised lamb shoulder blade chops + parsnip potato mash

I supposed I could blame my lack of gusto for producing this post in a timely fashion for St. Patrick’s Day on the glorious bout of 70+ degree weather we’ve been having. Burgers and guacamole and grilled veggies have been more on my mind than root vegetables and braises more suitable for brisk 40s-50s spring-ish weather. So maybe just bookmark this for next year’s celebration. Oh wait, and the corned beef recipe I have coming up too. Dammit. Maybe you’ll just have to pretend you’re Irish just a little bit longer. Keep that Erin Go Braughless shirt out for another go around.
I took care of a dog. I have a nascent interest in possibly wanting to want a dog. I thought maybe babysitting one for a day would help me want to want one more. I think I really just want a dog to be a cat that I can take with me on a run and go backpacking with. Or, what I want is a mountain lion that wants to bite me less. Even though I’m pretty convinced all dogs want to bite me just as much as a mountain lion. I think my muscles didn’t relax all day of dogbabysitting. Gotta prepare yourself for that inevitable chomp. Why hasn’t anyone worked on breeding a cat that loves you like a dog, is as big as a dog, and that likes to obey you like a dog? But that still looks like a cat (because duh, they’re way cuter), purrs like a cat, doesn’t wag its tail like an idiot, and does all those cut little rubby things that cats do? Bleh. Maybe it’s just like babies – like they’re alright and pretty cute and stuff, but you don’t ever like someone else’s baby like you’d like your own. So what I need to do is get a little puppy and then next thing I’ll know is that I have a big dog and that I love it because I’ve hardly noticed it transitioning from a lovable cat-sized creature to a big horrible, slobbery, biting, terrifying monster.