Poached Salmon with Pinot Noir

This photo was taken with the (horrible) camera on my cell phone (I really need an iPhone or Smart Phone .) from a distant installment of Wine Spectator.

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I began this post back in January after I had visited a friend at the local hospital and was left with only Wine Spectator to read.  Shortly after I typed the first sentence my computer made a large popping noise and died.  About a week later it was fixed, but within days I noted there seemed to be a cognitive processing disorder with my computer.  It was the video card.  Suffice it to say, my computer was out of commission for a while.  I have since forgotten the the recipe I committed to memory and text to my brother and have upgraded to an Android.  While I am still not thrilled with the camera of my phone (or my ability to use the camera well), I love having access to Pinterest whenever I want!  It's about the important things, really! 

Since you were expecting a recipe for Poached Salmon you might wish to take a look at the one available at What's Cooking America or Food.com.

Pad Thai

I just made the best Pad Thai. I first had Thai Kitchen Pad Thai (the bottled seasoning sauce) when I visited my sister and brother-in-law in Toronto. PD made a heap of tasty Pad Thai. Over the past few years I have purchased the Box-O-Pad-Thai and cooked up a make shift Pad Thai in my kitchen. It's been edible; sometimes better than others; but never great. Until tonight!

Tonight the stars aligned and I had lots of goodies in my fridge and freezer to toss in to the pan. Tonight dinner was great.

What you need:
Box of Thai Kitchen Original Pad Thai
4-5 Shrimp
1 Large Chicken Breast
2 Eggs
4 Green Onions
Cilantro
Red Pepper (or fresh chili peppers)
Chinese Five Spice
Lime Wedges
Salt & Pepper

What you do:

1. Begin by following the instructions on the box. While you're boiling water to soak the noodles in, chop up the chicken, shell the shrimp, rinse the sprouts, chop the onion, and so on. Once the water boils, turn the heat off and dump in the noodles. Let them soak for about 8 to 10 minutes.

2. Spray a large skillet or wok with some Pam or use a bit of oil! Scramble the two eggs (yes two!)... but don't over cook. Set them aside. Toss in the chicken and sprinkle with a bit of salt, pepper, Chinese Five Spice, and saute. When the chicken is nearly done, add the shrimp.

3. Rinse the noodles in cool water and drain. Toss the noodles into the pan and add the Thai spice sauce packet, the bean sprouts, and a handful of the green onion. Stir and heat through till all liquid is absorbed. Sprinkle with a lil' red pepper to taste...

4. This augmented recipe will make enough for 3 to 4 hungry folks. Dish up the goods, sprinkle a few more fresh bean sprouts to the mound of noodly goodness, add a healthy dose of Cilantro and a wedge or two of lime.

Finally, Pad Thai that tastes like Pad Thai! Yum!

Stash Lemon Ginger Tea

I came across this awesome tea last winter one day when I had that telltale scratch at the back of my throat. The lemon and ginger lend themselves to being sweetened honey rather than sugar or an alternative. The combination is soothing, yet the ginger gives it a lovely little kick. Looking for a tasty and affordable tea? Trying to get over the crud? Give Stash's Lemon Ginger a try. YUM!

Coffee Press

My brother makes a mean cuppa via a French Press... He rather got me hooked last summer when I stayed with him and Robin whilest finishing up the dissertation... I was tickled when he gave me his lil' Lexan French Press (You can buy your own for about $20 at Safety Central.) The Lexan coffee press is virtually indestructable and great for making a cup o' joe whilest traveling or camping. Yum! My lil' pot is 10 oz. But they come in 33 oz and 50 oz (50 oz of coffee?! I could do it! But my heart would stop!) for the serious drinker... coffee drinker that is!



Well, I was shopping the other day at the local Salvation Army Thrift Store (my favorite retail venue in the 'Burg... okay, second favorite... Highway 13 Antiques being my first!) when I found a Pyrex (!) French Press for TWO DOLLARS! Yes, $2.00. Woot! A little coffee pot cleaner and a lot of water and the press cleaned up and shined up nicely! I cannot wait for company! I am ready to press up a nifty lil' pot o' coffee!



Well now, you can go and buy your own used Pyrex Coffe Press at Ebay for about $15.00 plus shipping... Making my $2.00 pot that much more of a SCORE! And with a nod to my lil' sis... Press pots are great for loose tea! Much better than tea balls as they allow the tea to fully expand... Love it; love it; love it!

Rotkohl mit Apfeln

Red Cabbage with Apples

Sounds nasty, doesn't it? I think it can be. It has always been one of those things I can take or leave and usually end up leaving. Last night my friend Mittelhauser requested rotkohl with schnitzel. I try to please. After reading a handful of recipes (some without apples, some with bacon!) I decided to marry the best a two recipes and came up with the following. It was tasty and I even I enjoyed it. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

What you need:

1 medium head of red cabbage

2 tart apples

1 medium onion (I used Vidalia as they were abundant at the grocery store yesterday!)

3 tablespoons of butter

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup of red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons of sugar

Salt and Pepper to taste

What you do:

1. Sharpen your favorite knife. Get to slicing and dicing. Peel and slice apples. I chose thin strips that I then cut in half. Not quite diced, not quite sliced. Chop the onion. Slice the cabbage (think coleslaw).

2. In a dutch oven or heavy stock pot (about six quarts in volume) melt the butter and saute the apples for five minutes. Add onion and saute for another five minutes. Add the cabbage, water, vinegar, and sugar. Stir. Cover.

3. Cook on medium low, stirring occasionally, for about 45 minutes or until cabbage is tender, but not mushy. Alternately you can toss it in a hot oven and cook it that way.

Click here for my schnitzel recipe. It is guaranteed to please! That is... I've had no complaints yet. Grandpa Doug, if you're reading this, I promise to come to Arkansas and make Schnitzel and Rotkohl for you. I'll even serve your peas in a separate dish!

Biscuits and Gravy

For about a week I have had a hankerin' for biscuits and gravy. I broke down this morning and made some. Today's efforts just might have been my best ever. Yum.

Biscuits

What you need:

1 Tube of Pilsbury's Buttermilk Grands

or

8 Pilsbury's Frozen Buttermilk Biscuits

(I really need to learn to make acceptable home-made biscuits!)

What you do:

Bake according to package instructions. Yum!

Gravy

What you need:

1/2 pound breakfast sausage

3 tablespoons flour

1 quart of milk

salt and pepper to taste

What you do:

1. Brown sausage in skillet. Depending on fat content of sausage, you may need to add a few tablespoons of butter or bacon grease before adding the flour. Sprinkle flour over sausage stirring constantly until flour and fat are smooth.

2. Slowly begin adding milk and whisking till smooth, thick, and bubbly. Continue adding milk and stirring. I find the more patient I am with gravy, the better it comes out. Letting the gravy cook for a bit also reduces the chances of getting that "uncooked" floury taste.

3. Once you have the constency you desire, salt and pepper to taste. Serve up hot, over biscuits and whatever else your heart desires (hashbrowns, yum!).

A Recipe for Tree

Tasty raviolis times fresh spinach and bacon-y goodness equals a very happy tummy. This is a quick and easy recipe and takes just about twenty minutes to make. While I would love to say that I used homemade raviolis, alas, I relied on the Kirkland (a Costco brand) cheese raviolis available in the freezer section. Give it a try! You can't go wrong with bacon!

Kat's Spinach and Ravioli

What you need:

Raviolis
8 - 16 ounces of Fresh Spinach
8 - 16 ounces of bacon (yum)
4 cloves of Garlic, chopped (or more if you prefer!)
1/2 of a Purple Onion, sliced in rings
Parmesan Cheese
Black & Red Pepper

What you do:

Slice the bacon and begin frying in a large skillet. Place a pot of water with salt and a dash of olive oil on the burner to boil.

When the bacon is nearly cooked, pour off the fat, and add the garlic and onion. Add the raviolis to the water.

Just before the ravis are ready to come out of the water add the spinach and stir until just heated through and wilted.

Toss spinach and bacon mixture with the raviolis. Add some Parmesan cheese and pepper to taste.

What's For Dinner?

Just about two years ago I blogged about a potato surplus. Well, this month I have found myself in a similar situation; but instead of twenty pounds, I had roughly thirty five pounds to deal with. Orion and bought a giant bag of russet potatoes when we went shopping about ten days ago. A few days later John picked up a giant bag of tiny, red, new potatoes. And when my friend Jen came to spend the weekend and brought another bag of medium sized red potatoes. That's a lot of potatoes.

Well, so far we've had boiled new potatoes, potato pancakes (one of my favorites), and mashed potatoes. Well this morning, I noticed that the russet potatoes were looking as if they were considering a one way trip to the compost pile. But I knew they'd make a good soup. One of my favorite food blogs, A Year of Slow Cooking, shared a nifty baked tater soup recipe back in June.

I started with Stephanie's Baked Potato Soup Recipe and then shortly before dinner, just after stirring in the cream cheese, John and I decided it needed a bit more of something. So we altered the Stephanie's recipe by adding the following:
*more salt and pepper
*celery salt
*a drizzle of whole milk

As pictured above, I garnished with green onion and lots of bacon (Yum!).

The recipe makes a boat load (about five quarts)! I hope it freezes nicely. Cut it in half and use a 3.5 quart crock if you don't plan to have left overs!

Yum, yum, yum!

Friday and Sunday

Sunday, Orion and I woke up early and headed out to help our friends Manisha and Towino move to Mt. Vernon, Missouri. We headed over to their apartments and loaded the truck up with their goodies. We left the 'Burg at 10:15 and after a swing by the McD's in Clinton and a potty break in Boliver we made it to Mt. V just after 1:00. We checked in, unpacked, and hit the grocery store before leaving at 4:00. Orion and I made great time on the way home and we returned around 6:20.
But before Sunday's adventures, we celebrated Friday!


Friday was fabulous!


Friday was awesome!

Friday was fun!

John made homemade lasagne and gnocchi. We also made the Fried Eggs that Manisha taught me to make earlier the same week. Stacy brought cucumber sandwiches. Orion made a huge chocolate cake. Allie brought a tasty cabbage and seafood stew. We ate (a lot), we chatted, we celebrated Manisha's belated birthday, we ate some more, and we danced.

And danced.

And danced.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Goodness

In an attempt to stay awake till 10:00 p.m. I decided to experiment in the kitchen. My students and several work-study students in the library reaped the benefits of my tasty labor.

I found them to be quite tasty and without the chocolate topping, they were just barely sweet. Give them a try and tell me what you think!

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Crispy Treats
What you need:
Cooking Spray
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 peanut butter
1/2 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon of vanilla
3 cups miniature marshmallows
1 cup peanuts
3 cups Rice Krispie cereal
1 and 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

What you do:
Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray and set it aside. Spray a large pot with cooking spray. Combine the first five ingredients in the pot. Heat over medium high heat until smooth and bubbly. Add marshmallows and vanilla and continue stirring.

Once the marshmallows have melted and the mixture is smooth you may turn the stove to low. Keeping a little heat under the pot gives you time before the stuff starts to set up! Add peanuts and cereal and stir until everything is well mixed and well coated.

Press into a greased (or buttered, if you prefer) baking dish. Cover with a single layer of chocolate chips and heat in a moderate oven for three to five minutes- just until the chips are melty. Remove from oven and use a butter knife to smooth out the chocolate chips.

Let cool and cut into squares. Enjoy.

Brother-in-Law Stew

Bean Curd Stew, affectionately known as Brother-in-Law Stew.

Last Saturday I had a culinary wild hair and started with Vietnamese Beef Pho for lunch and moved to a Korean comfort food, Bean Curd Stew, for dinner. This recipe is inspired by a tasty soup my brother-in-law made for me several years ago and again when I visited them last and is based on recipes from two books (*see below). It was so good that we ate two huge bowls each and there were no left-overs. My recipe follows.

Brother-in-Law Stew

What you need:

1 quart soup stock

3 to 4 Tablespoons of soybean paste

1 pack bean curd (tofu) diced

6 oz of thinly sliced beef1 small onion, sliced

3 green onions, sliced diagonally

2-3 garlic cloves, chopped (more if you like)

1 Tablespoon of vegetable oil

And an assortment of the vegetables of your choice, sliced, e.g. zucchini, potato. I used carrot (for color), sugar snap peas (because I had them), left-over bean sprouts, cabbage, and enoki mushrooms (canned ~sob~), one rib of celery (for crunch) and napa cabbage.

What to do:

Cut up all vegetables including the onions. Slice the beef if it isn’t already sliced. Cut the tofu to match the size of the cut veggies.

Heat pan, add oil, stir fry meat and garlic. When the meat is nearly done, add the soybean paste and fry some more. Add onions and soup stock and bring to a boil. Skim off the foam. Add remaining vegetables – adding fragile ones, like mushrooms, at the very last. Simmer over a low flame for a few hours. Dish up and enjoy!

Recipe inspired by:

Chang, S. (1997). A Korean mother’s cooking notes. Seoul, Korea: Ewha University Womens [sic] Press.

Marks, C. (1993). The Korean kitchen: Classic recipes from the land of the morning calm. San Francisco. Chronicle Books.

Vietnamese Beef Pho

Saturday I decided I would experiment with one of my favorite dishes to order when I visit a Vietnamese restaurant, Beef Pho. This recipe is a combination of a couple of recipes from cookbooks* as well as my experiences dining out. I was so pleased with the turn out that I snapped a picture before I chowed down. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Vietnamese Beef Pho

What you need:

3 quarts beef soup stock

3 inch piece of ginger1 large onion, unpeeled and halved

3 whole star anise

2 inch cinnamon stick

¼ to ½ cup fish sauce (or to taste)

1/8 to ¼ cup Chinese black vinegar or Balsamic (or to taste)

1 tablespoon chili sauce

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

1 pound rib eye steak, cut super thin. I used the steak cut for bulgogi available at the Korean market

10 ounces rice noodles, soaked in a bowl of water for 30 minutes

2 cups mixed cilantro, mint, and Thai basil leaves

1 cup bean sprouts

1 carrot, shredded

½ cucumber, thinly sliced

1 lime, cut into wedges

What to do:

Toss homemade or store bought beef stock into a soup pot. Toss in the halved onion, skin on, the anise, ginger, and cinnamon. Simmer for 30 minutes to an hour. Skim off foam. Cool and strain. Return to pot and reheat.

Shortly before you’re ready to serve, soak the noodles in luke warm water for 15 to 30 minutes. Chop the herbs, slice the lime, and clean the bean sprouts. Set them aside.

Crank up the heat under the strained stock to high. Add the fish sauce and the balsamic vinegar to your taste.

Take four large bowls. Clear bowls allow for a lovely presentation of the different colors and textures. Divide the noodles, beef from stock (if using homemade), and raw steak (sliced thinly) among the four bowls. Pour the boiling stock into each bowl and top with the herbs, sprouts, carrots, and lime wedges. Serve at once.

* Henricksson, M. (2003). Everyday Asian. N.Y.: William Morrow.

Last Friday

Last Friday I had the pleasure of visiting with several of our Indian friends (and our our one Vietnamese friend) for dinner. On Memorial Day the Indian Embassy visited the house and cooked up a storm. A mighty tasty storm! I knew I had to invite them back, but this time I would make sure that we cooked for them! I considered a huge, mostly vegetarian, Italian meal, but my friend Manisha, requested to learn how to make fried chicken, mashed taters, and particularly- gravy.

Much of the work (tater peeling, corn husking, cake makin', and roll risin') was done before the Embassy arrived. But while Manisha and John slaved over a hot stove, the rest of us participated in a highly competitive game of Pictionary! Boys against girls. Yes, the boys won!

Dinner was topped off with a great Indian movie and chocolate mayonnaise cake. I had a marvelous time. I can't wait to have the 'kids' over again.

Bulgogi on Monday; Dak Bulgogi on Tuesday

I am discovering just how much I love Korean food. I love how simple, yet elaborate Korean dishes are. Simple in that may of the seasonings are similar from one dish to the next and the most delicious recipes consist of only a handful of ingredients. However, Korean food is complex in its presentation- there are many colorful side dishes to be created and a great deal of thought and energy is given to placing various ingredients in the most aesthetically pleasing of manners. Note: The picture above is only an attempt at creating a Korean meal for my friend Shannon. You may notice the Japanese sushi dishes as 'plates' and the accompanying bowls filled with various 'relishes' (a set of 22 pieces for $7.00 at the Salvation Army!), Meme's old Chinese soup bowls (free!) are ready by the pot of wonton soup, and bowls that John and I made nearly two decades ago hold the rice, bulgogi, and cucumbers. The only Korean items in this photo are the food and the chopsticks Tree and PD brought me from Korea years and years ago.

I was first exposed to Korean food when my sister married PD. Tree met PD in South Korea over a decade ago when she set out looking for adventure- teaching English in Korea. I believe my first Korean 'food' was kimbap, what most Midwesterners refer to as sushi. I was impressed by how quickly PD was able to make these seaweed and rice rolls. I believe I foundered on them that evening. Since then I have enjoyed bulgogi, kalbi, a tubu (tofu) stew of sorts, and a few noodle dishes at the hands of my sister and PD. And now that I live only 60 miles from Overland Park, KS I find that I shop at the Korean market whenever I visit and Choga whenever I can afford it!

Monday is not the first time we have made bulgogi. John has carefully sliced the beef super thin for our feasts on several occasions. The Oriental Supermarket in Overland Park provides packages of rib-eye sliced super thin, and we always make sure there's some in the freezer! We had a feast of bulgogi for the Lunar New Year this year, but the pictures were lost. But Monday was the first time that Shannon had bulgogi. Shannon hadn't been to visit in over six months (~sob~) and I hadn't seen her since Spring Break. One of my favorite things to do with Shan, other than antique-ing, is to cook. Shan's always up for a culinary adventure and Monday was no different.

After cleaning up the breakfast dishes Shannon and I got started in the kitchen. She chopped two bunches of green onions while I scalded spinach, bean sprouts, and zucchini. Within an hour we had the assorted side salads ready and waiting for dinner. Later that night John pan seared the bulgogi while we set the table. Orion loves bulgogi and can eat his weight in rice and steak. We had only a bit of beef left over, and as soon as the kitchen was clean, Orion was back in the kitchen consuming the left overs.

I was very pleased with my most recent attempt at the side dishes. They were delicious and slightly spicy. (Not spicy enough for a Korean or my friend Sally, but just enough to make my mouth feel pleasantly warm.) Since there was plenty of lettuce and sides left, John and I had a meal of dak bulgogi (chicken) on Tuesday night.

I only wish that my brother-in-law was here to share dinner! I know he would be tickled. This summer I plan to practice making bibimbap (but I will need to find clay pots that can be heated for that) and p'a chon, a tasty pancake with green onions (and squid if I have it!).

The Indian Embassy in the 'Burg

What did you do on Memorial Day? Did you have a picnic or a barbeque? Did you go out to dinner with family or friends? Did you have a good time? We did!

While the 'Burg is a tiny town of about 14,000 folks, and the University of Central Missouri is considered a small university, we do have a handful of international students. UCM international students have to be some of the nicest folks on the planet. Every fall they cook (yes, cook!) for anyone at the university that wants to come and enjoy a global meal! Every spring they host a multi-cultural talent show.

These international students have to be some of the hardest working and generous students I've had the pleasure of knowing. Several of them volunteer to cook for the Newman Center (Catholic Student Center) on a regular basis.

Manisha, pictured below is a graduate student in Speech and Language Pathology and works as a graduate assistant in our department. From time to time Manisha has brought me samples of her marvelous cooking. And during the past year, she and Orion became good buddies as she helped him on several occasions with his (cursed) cursive, reading, and writing.

Manisha and I are always talking about cooking together, and getting together to have dinner, and yet this past semester was so busy, I had absolutely no time. Finally, we picked a date! I made it a holiday in hopes that I would be home!

(Manisha cookin' up Chicken Curry)

I picked up Manisha and three of her friends at about 1:30, just as it started to rain! Thank goodness we weren't having a picnic! We got to the house and I showed them around and they went to work in the kitchen.

(Manisha, Sadiq, Tanvi (in the back), and Towino smile as they work in the kitchen)

(Sadiq and Tanvi peel potatoes for samosas. Sadiq later made six quarts of lhassi: strawberry, blueberry, and plain)

I was so impressed with how hard they worked and how much fun they were all having. Manisha showed off her "management skills" by organizing everyone and creating chicken tandoori, curry chicken, samosas, pakoras, vegetable Basmati rice, and she applied henna to my hair!

My friends Sally and John arrived at about 3:30. There was nothing for us to do but sit back and watch these students cook up a storm.


Around 5:30 John left to retrieve four more students from campus: Mona, Ankita, and Poorvi (Tanvi's identical twin), all Indian students, and Phat (a young man from Vietnam). Now there were six to eight 20-somethings cooking in my kitchen at any give time!

(No room for me in the kitchen!)

(Towino was only invited for his onion chopping skills! Or so we were told!)

After roughly five hours of cooking we were ready to eat! I couldn't wait! My house smelled great! There were 13 of us eager to eat, eat, eat!

(Manisha stands ready to start the meal!)


(Clockwise from top: curry chicken [short pot], Indian soup made by Sally [tall, shiny pot], 10 pounds of tandoori chicken, samosas, pakoras, and vegetable rice in the center)


(Ankita samples the pakoras)

(Orion and Poorvi fill their plates)

(Sally contemplates all the tasty choices)

I had such an amazing time. Of course, I haven't posted any pictures of myself as my hair was covered in mud and I looked rather scary. We all laugh, visited, ate, and had a marvelous time. I ate too many samosas to count and ate two more before bed! Oh my!

I was impressed by many things yesterday. The first being the amazing taste of everything that was prepared. John and I agreed that this was THE best Indian food we had ever eaten. Yum. The second being that my kitchen was clean before we even sat down to dinner! All we had to do after dinner was put away left-overs and toss the dinner dishes into the dishwasher! Thirdly, I was so tickled by the friendships that these students had forged- their cheerful banter, singing, and joking filled the house. It was a great feeling!

Thank you Manisha for bringing your friends to my house and for cooking for my family and our friends. Thank you Sadiq, Towino, Tanvi, Ankita, Poorvi, Mona, and Phat for your culinary talents, your hard work, the great fun, and a taste of India.

Have You Been Touched?

... By His noodly appendage, that is!

I would like to take a moment to do something I've never done before... That is to witness. Forgive me, but when you feel as strongly about something as I do, it becomes a moral duty to share.

Pastafarianism is a growing religious movement with thousands of members. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) offers something for everyone- including Heaven. For those of us devout enough to hope to gain entrance to FSM Heaven have many glorious things to look forward to- beer volcanoes and stripper factories are only a few of the amazing rewards awaiting us in the afterlife.

Pastafarians in the Midwest walk a fine line and while many of our brothers and sisters around the world worship openly, we remain hidden- worshiping our Maker in secret.

But alas, I feel compelled by His presence and I must share His good news. In that light and in the spirit of spreading His goodwill. I share these photos from a recent FSM meeting (at an undisclosed location). Please note that names have been changed to protect the innocent as we still fear persecution. Until then we continue to pray that one day we can all live in harmony and acceptance- praising His noodly visage. In the name of Semolina, we pray... Ramen!

(We honor our Heavenly Beer Volcanoes and break bread together! Beer Volcano Communion was created by Reverend Brother Pocket Gopher and his spiritual sister and legal wife, Sister Doctor Ocelots.)

(Here we have a most creative expression of one of our most Holy joys awaiting us in the afterlife- the Stripper Factory. Complete with Strippers!)

(Sister Euphemia laughs, embarrassed by the great praise she earned honoring His Noodly Appendages with her art. Well done Euphemia, you made us all proud!)

(The culminating event of the evening was to create FSM shirts for each of our members in hopes that one day we will be free of persecution and may share or love of Pasta and all things Noodly with our heathen neighbors.)

Sauced!

Six quarts of spaghetti sauce, thirty giant meatballs, savory simmered ribs, and two lasagnas later the kitchen has been laid to waste. Now I must return order where there is none.

Next week: Chicken soup with matzo balls.

Lettuce Pray

I recently found a recipe in my old Betty Crocker cookbook for Crab Louis. An average salad (greens, hard boiled eggs, olives, and tomatoes) made special by adding crab and Crab Louis Dressing. The recipe also had a very 70s ring so I had to try it.

I went to Wal*Mart to pick up the necessary items: fresh salad, tomatoes, and chili sauce for the dressing recipe.

I found everything but lettuce. Well, interesting lettuce that is. I found one head of hydroponically grown Boston lettuce. I had since wilted and turned brown. I found bags and bags of mixed salad greens that were quickly turning to wine (yuck!). And I found rows and rows and rows of Iceberg. I wanted something interesting!

So I picked out the best bag of mixed greens and threw in a bag of spinach. I made it work.

The Crab Louis was quite tasty, however I must add that the dressing tasted remarkably like 1,000 Island. Interesting...

Crab Louis

What you need:

For the Salad:
4 cups lettuce (your choice)
4-5 hard boiled eggs
4 medium tomatoes
black or green olives
14 oz of crab (2 7 oz cans, fresh, or surimi)

For the Dressing:
3/4 cup Chili Sauce
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon instant minced onion
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire

What you do:
1. Mix up the dressing and place in the fridge.
2. Toss up the salad. Add whatever else is in your fridge and wants to come out! Use eggs and tomatoes to decorate the top of the salad.
3. Chill for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Adapted from Betty Crocker's Cookbook: New and Revised Edition, Golden Press, New York, (c) 1979, 8th Printing 1983, p. 79

Jewish Communion

Today has been another marvelous Saturday… day to rival Saturday from The Best Weekend Ever back in April. My friend Shannon has come up for a visit and after a good night’s rest and a marvelous breakfast (biscuits and gravy!) we headed off to flea markets, antique malls, and a quilt shop on the way. While out an about Shannon I and dug through china, linens, books, and more! I got very excited at the quilt shop. We snacked at Baskin-Robbins (Yum!).

When we returned the bagel fairy (my friend Sal) had visited and left me a couple of bagels and some smoked salmon. In minutes I had a sesame bagel stacked with cream cheese, slices of purple onion, and delicious lox. I savored every bite: a Jewish Communion. I’d have taken a picture, but I gobbled it up too quickly! Thank you Shannon and thank you Sal! I had a great day!

Drive-Thru

Wednesday morning I left the house early in search of medicine for my eyeballs. I didn't bother to take time for breakfast. I ended up at Wal-Greens where I found the meds I needed. The smell of McDonald's tempted me across the street where I found myself in line behind a beat up Monte Carlo. Both the driver and the car were belching smoke (ugh!). What was I thinking?

Well, that's when I heard the best drive-thru order in my life. The folks ahead of me leaned out of the car and ordered the following: "I'd like a steak and egg bagel. No egg. No onions. On an English muffin!"

Did I hear them right? The order actually went down hill from there and it took them roughly seven minutes to place a $10.98 order. Not to mention they were quite ugly to the attendant who took their order. I sat in the fumes while I watched three other cars zip through the other drive-thru lane.

It was the first time, I confess, that I actually hoped a food service employee would spit in a customer's order (theirs not mine!). Am I going to hell now?