French Dip Sandwiches

The last 8 or 9 days turned out to be quite an adventure. In short: Near refrigerator electrical fire. Lucky we unplugged in time. Eating all food. Storing condiments in friend's fridge. Anger at landlord. Pricing new HALF-SIZED fridges in case he keeps blowing me off. Discovering door too narrow to remove fridge. Ripping out door frame. Removing old fridge. Tearing up damaged linoleum tiles. Landlord arriving at midnight with ENORMOUS used fridge. Sigh. Plans to build counter top and hang shelves and pegboard begin to balloon out of control. Go to lumber store. Go to paint store. Borrow power tools. Put down new flooring. Cover all walls with pegboard. Paint. Get annoyed with rechargeable circular saw's ever-dying battery. Cut. Build. Paint. New counter top and shelves. New barn-style sliding door. Mini-spat with Jessi ends with us cleaning up a thousand crumbs from a kicked package of tea biscuits. Stop working for the day. Sleep like the dead. Take day off of work. Back to lumber store to buy edging to cover up the many, many flaws. Install. Improvise. Paint. Feel satisfied. Tonight: clean everything before roomie throws a hissy fit. Add peg hooks and put all dishes back into kitchen. Take a picture to post on blog (no before picture, unfortunately).

French Dip Sandwiches (from The Food Network 's Rachael Ray):

--2 tbsp Butter
--1 Shallot, chopped
--1 tbsp Flour
--1 jigger Dry Sherry (optional)
--2 cans Beef Consomme or Beef Broth
--1 1/2 pounds deli-sliced Roast Beef
--Grill Seasoning Blend for steak (such as Montreal Steak Seasoning Blend) OR Coarse Salt and Pepper
--4 Torpedo Sandwich Rolls, split

Melt butter in a skillet over moderate heat. Add shallots to butter and saute 2 minutes. Add flour and cook a minute longer. Whisk in sherry and cook alcohol out. Whisk in consomme in a slow stream. Bring sauce to a bubble and allow to simmer over low heat until ready to serve sandwiches. Season roast beef with grill seasoning or salt and black pepper. Pile it into the rolls and serve each sandwich with an individual bowl of broth to dip into.