I survived an overnight shift at work last night, while they worked on renovating the cafe and the bathrooms. Ugh. It was rough though. I almost fell asleep three times.

Want to laugh at something? Go to How It Should Have Ended and watch how Superman should have ended. It's a riot.

I made some Sauce Espagnole tonight. Well, kind of. My version. It's kind of a mother sauce for other sauces that I might make. Say for instance, I might sear some pork medallions and then deglaze with some red wine, and then add some of the sauce espagnole and some cream. Voila. Instant sauce with rich rich flavor. Kind of a culinary secret weapon.

The process? I had quite a few veggies left over from dinner. Grilled zuchini and squash, and some eggplant. So, I threw those in a pot, with some grilled onion, and some red onion, some carrots and celery. Then I added some garlic, some bay leaf, a bouquet garni, a little leftover chicken and some leftover steak from dinner. A few peppercorns. A tomato. A dried mushroom or two. (I didn't have any roasted bones, but I think I did ok without them.) Then I boiled the crap out of it, and kept adding more water and reducing. Eventually, I had a very very rich broth. I filtered the result into a measuring cup, made a very dark roux in the same pot, and then added in the broth. I reduced the resulting mixture and let it cool. It has a rich umami taste, and a velvety texture.