Learning to braise

Yes, I know St. Pat's was Sunday. Since I wanted to try a new method besides the basic boiled dinner. So corned beef went onto my menu planner for today. I decided to try a braised recipe as I have never had the luxury of time to do a proper braise.

After the first turn

A braise involves taking a piece of meat that if you could it fast, it would become tough, and cooking it slowly in liquid at a lower temperature. My braise is currently working it's way along at 250 degrees F in my oven. I am hoping for a beautiful succulent piece of corned beef by about 6 p.m., just in time for dinner!

Yes, I've got turkey broth working in there, too.

While my oven is doing the work (insert awesome smell here), I am organizing my sewing area, including repairing the surface of my sewing table. I have a pair of science tables with the black tops I bought at an auction from a middle school. My tops bear the markings of countless bored science students that I've not had a chance to repair. I decided today, while making room to set up my new machine, that fixing the top of my table would be the thing to do.

I'm using a water mix filler that I added black acrylic paint to so the repairs will blend in with the black surface area of the top. Some of the holes are a pretty good size, so I have been putting in several layers of filler. Once I've got them fairly filled and looking reasonable, then I will spray on some sealer and, hopefully (!), start setting up my new machine. I almost can't wait.

You can see the larger holes still drying, so I will be working on this tomorrow and possibly finishing it up Friday. I cannot wait to see the way the table looks finished. Here's a picture of the table mid-process.

And where did the mess go?

Yeah, that's my dining table ... I've got a couple hours to use those plastic tubs to organize all of those things out, so I'll accomplish two things at the same time.

Laura