Trina Machacek: It’s all gravy and other philosophies

Have you heard that saying about not sweating the small stuff, and it is all small stuff? Well, this is kind of along those lines, but more Trina-ish. Life’s all about gravy. Gravy making. Gravy eating. Gravy cleanup. And it really is — “All Gravy.”

I learned at my mother’s stove all about gravy. How to make the roux and not burn it. I have a slight tendency to cook on high as to not waste time. More than once in my life, in my house, the dinner bell was the smoke detector. Ha, ha. How to season gravy without a ton of salt. I like salt, but it doesn’t like everyone back. How to add the liquid. All at once will stop the lumps. So true, so true. So, just what does all that knowledge have to do with the following smooth and creamy story? Well, you’ll see. It will be as clear as — gravy.

It all started with a pork chop sale. I don’t remember when the last time was that I have eaten a pork chop. I like them. It’s just that I have trouble passing up baby back ribs to get to the pork chops. It seems silly to have both, so I have opted for ribs, not chops. Until I saw a big package of chops and I fell off the rib cage into the sale flyer and now some really nice chops are in the freezer. No, I have not made them yet. I seem to have it in my head I should save them for some special occasion. But! Yes, a pork, “but.” Ha, ha. But why do we do that? Wait for some occasion to have, make and enjoy something we don’t think we are good enough for without some celebration? Women will not wear the nice jewelry or perfume every day because it is the good jewelry and perfume is kind of expensive. Guys will not use the new drill because the old one is just fine even though it smokes and throws sparks — don’t want to get the new one all dirty, you know. Drilling deeper…

So, I am going to make a statement this week and make those pork chops. The whole package of six. I will fry two, bake two and grill two. I will force myself to eat them for three or four days — this could also be done with a whole family in one sitting, you know. I will not let guilt seep into my meals. Like guilt does when I want to light and enjoy a sniffy candle just because I like the sniffy, not because I am trying to cover up some unusual odor that has suddenly attacked my nose from an unknown source.

It’s silly, I know, but I’m certainly not the only one who “keeps” things back we think are too special for every day. Unfortunately, more and more often I find when I “save” that roast or steak or fish, it gets lost in the muck and mire of the freezer and when I come across it — well, let’s just say it will have had seen better days. But not these pork chops. I am making a stand, on pork chops… Will that turn them into pork sausage?

So, the saying, “It’s all gravy?” It means that life is the meat and potatoes and the special or extravagant part is the gravy. I say the chops are the gravy and it’s OK to have gravy any time you want it! I say the good jewelry and perfume is gravy — smooth, creamy, dreamy, OK-to-enjoy-all-the-time messy gravy, but gravy all the same. Wear your gravy proudly and often. I say the new drill and some new bits are gravy. Use the gravy and enjoy a gravy boat full of new tools, old, precious jewelry, that knife you covet, the good china... Well, you get the idea — right?

OK. I’m hungry now. I am going in and having — ribs. Yes, it’s going to be a process for each of us.

Trina lives in Eureka, Nev. Find her on Facebook, Instagram or at itybytrina@yahoo.com. Really!