Imagine him seasoned with bits of parsley, sauteed to perfection and then liberally dipped in garlic butter.
Joy!
I'm off on a food trek.
I admit that for years all I truly did in the kitchen was make very large meals for a large family with a limited budget on a daily basis.
Not much fun, a chore for the most part.
It takes the thrill out of food when you come home from work tired and do not really feel like making a Thanksgiving sized meal, but someone has to feed the masses I call my family.
I fell into a pattern of making many of the same things over and over.
Blah.
Since my resurrection from the dedicated and somewhat depressed mom in charge into a single person with no more obligations to rear children and became a happy singleton, I have found renewed interest in the delights of food exploration.
Much of this is due to Randy, who is a great cook as well as back yard griller. I have always loved to eat food... which as you know can be a problem. The fact is that feeding children is not exactly a task that involves much praise from the eaters. You set something in front of them and they eat it.
Randy is generous with compliments and suggestions. We often cook together and for each other. Add into this our friends, T & K... who have a great recipe box as well and are generous with offerings... and we are all off and running. Especially with the new to me event of tailgating and game day BBQs.
Still, much of what is prepared involves store bought products that come out of a jar or bottle. For example, the guys like to make appetizers. We do muscles, clams or oysters on the grill and then dip them in a Thai Sweet Chili Sauce or like the smoked steelhead on crackers with cream cheese and the Red Pepper Jelly.
My new food trek is about making those jar items fresh myself.
So I've collected recipes for both, as well as Spring Rolls and I can hardly wait to try them out. I am sure that we will prepare them as directed the first time and then tweek them until they are to our liking.
For me, that's the fun part. But then, that is what is fun about cooking here... being able to present something that delivers satisfaction and pleasure to my eaters.
Its been a food sort of summer for me and I'm thinking that will continue for a long time. You know about the berries, the green beans and other various foods that I've been packing away in the freezer.
Yesterday I did up a bunch of corn for freezing... shucking, blanching and cutting nibblets off of fresh organic cob corn.
These were all grown at Mom and Ron's in their huge garden.
Next summer, armed with my compost efforts, I will have one of my own.
All I have to do is get through winter.
This year, Randy and T are not hunting.
Next year they will again.
I love the idea of giving my market less money.
By growing, hunting and fishing... well there will be much to play with in the kitchen. Plenty to share!
The Duck news is good. The Ducks, though behind at the end of the first half did what they do very well... that is to own the second half of any game. Final score, Ducks 52...Stanford 31. Both the Ducks and Stanford are ranked in the top ten nationally. This latest victory... and a heck of a game it was... pushed the Ducks up from their rank of 4th into the rank of 3rd. WOOT!
Unfortunately, next week our game will not be televised.
You can bet our ears will be glued to the radio.
On the issue of employment, I think I may have hit a bit of luck.
I am at this point willing to do just about any honest work to be able to contribute and then take my time finding a better job.
We happened to be in the liquor store yesterday and on impulse, I asked if they were doing any hiring.
She said that there was a part time job opening up, to drop by a resume.
Its only part time, but here... I can get part time employment benefits, which would resolve the issue of my qualifying for them.
The liquor store is quiet. Here, they are state controlled.
You don't go to the market for hard liquor, only beer and wine.
Hard liquor is all they sell.
Its small and as I said, quiet and calm.
I think that might be a good fit for me.
But then, maybe something better will show up too.
For now, that would do.
I hope you all had a fun weekend. Let us know what you were up to or what your hobby or passion is these days.
Joy!
I'm off on a food trek.
I admit that for years all I truly did in the kitchen was make very large meals for a large family with a limited budget on a daily basis.
Not much fun, a chore for the most part.
It takes the thrill out of food when you come home from work tired and do not really feel like making a Thanksgiving sized meal, but someone has to feed the masses I call my family.
I fell into a pattern of making many of the same things over and over.
Blah.
Since my resurrection from the dedicated and somewhat depressed mom in charge into a single person with no more obligations to rear children and became a happy singleton, I have found renewed interest in the delights of food exploration.
Much of this is due to Randy, who is a great cook as well as back yard griller. I have always loved to eat food... which as you know can be a problem. The fact is that feeding children is not exactly a task that involves much praise from the eaters. You set something in front of them and they eat it.
Randy is generous with compliments and suggestions. We often cook together and for each other. Add into this our friends, T & K... who have a great recipe box as well and are generous with offerings... and we are all off and running. Especially with the new to me event of tailgating and game day BBQs.
Still, much of what is prepared involves store bought products that come out of a jar or bottle. For example, the guys like to make appetizers. We do muscles, clams or oysters on the grill and then dip them in a Thai Sweet Chili Sauce or like the smoked steelhead on crackers with cream cheese and the Red Pepper Jelly.
My new food trek is about making those jar items fresh myself.
So I've collected recipes for both, as well as Spring Rolls and I can hardly wait to try them out. I am sure that we will prepare them as directed the first time and then tweek them until they are to our liking.
For me, that's the fun part. But then, that is what is fun about cooking here... being able to present something that delivers satisfaction and pleasure to my eaters.
Its been a food sort of summer for me and I'm thinking that will continue for a long time. You know about the berries, the green beans and other various foods that I've been packing away in the freezer.
Yesterday I did up a bunch of corn for freezing... shucking, blanching and cutting nibblets off of fresh organic cob corn.
These were all grown at Mom and Ron's in their huge garden.
Next summer, armed with my compost efforts, I will have one of my own.
All I have to do is get through winter.
This year, Randy and T are not hunting.
Next year they will again.
I love the idea of giving my market less money.
By growing, hunting and fishing... well there will be much to play with in the kitchen. Plenty to share!
The Duck news is good. The Ducks, though behind at the end of the first half did what they do very well... that is to own the second half of any game. Final score, Ducks 52...Stanford 31. Both the Ducks and Stanford are ranked in the top ten nationally. This latest victory... and a heck of a game it was... pushed the Ducks up from their rank of 4th into the rank of 3rd. WOOT!
Unfortunately, next week our game will not be televised.
You can bet our ears will be glued to the radio.
On the issue of employment, I think I may have hit a bit of luck.
I am at this point willing to do just about any honest work to be able to contribute and then take my time finding a better job.
We happened to be in the liquor store yesterday and on impulse, I asked if they were doing any hiring.
She said that there was a part time job opening up, to drop by a resume.
Its only part time, but here... I can get part time employment benefits, which would resolve the issue of my qualifying for them.
The liquor store is quiet. Here, they are state controlled.
You don't go to the market for hard liquor, only beer and wine.
Hard liquor is all they sell.
Its small and as I said, quiet and calm.
I think that might be a good fit for me.
But then, maybe something better will show up too.
For now, that would do.
I hope you all had a fun weekend. Let us know what you were up to or what your hobby or passion is these days.
