Stuffed Peppers, Stuffed Post

I never really like stuffed peppers. I'm not talking about any stuffed peppers, as in peppers with some sort of a substance in them. No. I am talking about this kind of traditional Croatian (or just regional?) dish that consists of bell peppers filled with ground beef and a little bit of rice. So, yeah, I never liked it. But I am somewhat a masochist and sometimes I cook things I don't care for.

I cooked them peppers the other day, I so did.

I had four bell peppers, dark green in color, bought at the Farmer's Market here in Mankato. They smelled decent. They looked decent. They tasted... err, let's talk about that later. They were not the right peppers, that's for sure. It seems America has not heard of those, the real bell peppers not made of wax or plastic. The skin needs to be thin, yet still crispy. They can be yellow, red, green, orange, or whichever combination of these colors. The meat of these peppers is not half an inch thick. And their smell fills the room. 

These are the right guys:

So, yeah, I did not have those. I worked with what I had. Then, the meat. Ground beef just needs some fat. Without it, it might as well be charcoal, or cardboard, or whatever. There is no difference, really. I don't think I've ever found anything with more than 20% of fat. It looks like Americans are obsessed with fats. They just ban them, for whatever reason. No fat this, no fat that, no fat everything (mind you, I have found one (1) kind of yogurt here in Mankato that consists of, believe it or not, milk with some milk fat and nothing else)... but then, at the same time, everything is loaded with sugars. Whee. Anyway, yeah, meats. I worked, again, with what I had.

The end product was disgusting. Well, okay, we did eat some. The sauce (thick tomato-soup-like broth) was pretty good. The meat was boring, dry and kind of hard as a rock. And the peppers? Those weren't even food. Chewy, bitter piece of rubber describes them better. And I cooked them for about three (3!) hours. Ick. The raccoons had a feast that day, that's for sure.

No more stuffed peppers, Croatian-style for this family here. At least not before I manage to grow my own (yes, I'm looking for some seeds, thank you for asking).

I did better today. I made some French potato (I'll never understand what's so French about it, to be honest) and there are leftovers for tomorrow, too. Perfect. With the nasty online class that's been devouring my Monday evenings, a leftover meal is a great way to go. I remembered to take a picture once we were done eating. Yay me.

The weather has (finally?) turned into something that resembles autumn. Autumn? Fall? I guess I prefer autumn, or at least that's the word I used all of my childhood (all of my 15+ years of English school were filled with British English speakers and professors), but everyone here around me uses the word fall. So I guess I do, too. (Which one belongs where, anyway? I'm still in love with neighbours, favours and licences that my American computer programs keep trying to turn into neighbors, favors and licences. The one I never learned to live with, though, were colours. My life has only been colored, for some reason.)

Oh. So what am I talking about here? Who knows. I, for sure, do not. I turned the heat on this evening. It got a bit stupidly chilly in here. We tried it out yesterday, for literally a few minutes, just to burn down all the old dust in the vents. Now it's nice and warm. Neat. The cat loves it, that's for sure. She was sunbathing this afternoon in the middle of our bed:

I also did some raking today and then, finally, I got all of our Halloween decorations out. I didn't even know we had that much stuff. I suppose I sometimes sleepwalk to sales, huh? 

A whole bunch of Halloween pictures are here, along with a few dozen (or more?) albums from my US life.

Boo.