There is a reason I don't like to be in the kitchen with my wife. It is
more than just getting in each other's way. When I got back from the
gym today she was preparing veggies and stuff for the lamb shanks. She
had tied up the herbs in cheese cloth to do the bouquet garnis.

I took over, browned the shanks, sauteed the veggies, added the broth
and the appropriate amount of Guiness and then stuck it in the oven.
She was going to do the rest but had trouble. She wanted to strain the
braising liquid before reducing it and hoped to pour off the fat, so she
needed help. Nuts to that. I got out the hand blender and whizzed it. I
got it to a nice consistency in a few seconds. Then she asked if I had
taken out the bouquet garnis. Oh crap. I figured it would be pretty
well chewed up and running it through a sieve would take care of bigger
bits of the gauze.

I poured it into a sieve and drained it back into the pot. I looked and
I looked and could not see a trace of the gauze. Turns out.... the
little gauze bag was sitting in a bowl with the shanks.

So... I am back out here enjoying a cocktail and will stay out of the
kitchen.