HungryChris

Deb had surgery on her foot on Tuesday. She now hobbles around the house with her cane, but spends most of the time with her foot elevated. I have abandoned the camera for now, changed how I address her to "Peg", and she now calls me her "Handler". I made a grilled ham and cheese sandwich for "Peg" and her "Handler" had one with pickled turnips shortly thereafter. HC

After what seemed an insufferable period without pork scrapple, things are finally back on track, with pork scrapple returning to the freezer bin where I have been seeing only beef scrapple for a while. This morning, I celebrated its return. HC

We have rezzies to go back to the champagne brunch at Tuscany today, so last night we kept it pretty simple. Another shrimp cocktail and shredded beef burritos that I steamed in the IP and served with pico de gallo, fresh salsa and sour cream. HC

This year, we got each other a cruise in a foreword looking penthouse suite, out of New Orleans (during crawfish season, of course) with meals and beverages included and used our miles for round trip airfare and included a few days in the Big Easy after the cruise, to boot. HC

Mortadella, Fontina cheese and pickled turnip, grilled on seeded rye. HC

Shrimp cocktail and spaghetti with sausage and peppers. HC

Already Taken DIPA, my most recent favorite. HC

Keeping the kimchi ball rolling, a corned beef, Swiss and kimchi Reuben on seeded rye. HC

A bit of reheated corned beef, poached eggs on toast, cottage fries and a copious amount of fresh salsa. HC

Why, look, it's St. Winter's Day! HC

Was out early with the intent to get a few dozen oysters. I have some nice hot cocktail sauce (in squeeze bottles) left over from the Christmas luncheon that needs a purpose, but no luck. The oysters were too tiny to bother with. It was my second day without breakfast and I put this lunch together in my mind as I drove home empty handed. Toasted rye with cream cheese and olive spread, smoked salmon, pickled onions and capers along with the fried zucchini I would have had at breakfast. It's too cold to do anything outside so I decided to do something cold inside, and finished off the growler of Frank & Berry DIPA I opened last night. HC

Our fridge is too full and in an effort to resolve the issue, dinner was a mixture of leftovers and the like. Smoked salmon, smoked salmon spread with crackers, sausage and red pepper quiche, egg salad and leftover ham. I had the last of the Already Taken DIPA with lunch, so I opened a fresh growler of Frank & Berry, yet another DIPA, which I think goes well with the combination. HC

In recent weeks, I have cooked 3 Appleton Farms hams from Aldi. One just to try it out, one for the Deb's truck shop Christmas luncheon, and one for Christmas brunch at Deb's daughter's. I have been quite pleased with them. The butt portion hams have recently been on sale for 89 cents a pound and today I noticed $3 additional off so I bought 2 for a total of about $5 each. HC

I spent the greater part of the morning replacing my 10 YO garbage disposal. I spent more time sitting on the kitchen floor and reaching under the sink than I like to think about. I finally resorted to using a car jack to hold the new one in place and compress the seals while I secured the clamps. I decided, since I had skipped breakfast to go get the new one, to reward myself with some smoked salmon and a beer when the job was done. If you look closely at some of these pictures, you can see some of the parts the old machine has offered up as evidence of it's demise. You can just imagine the sounds it made! HC

Found a portion of beef tenderloin on sale from which I cut 4 filet mignons. Two went into the freezer and 2 went onto the table with a bit of garlic and rosemary butter. HC

Salami, provolone, sliced tomatoes, shredded lettuce with olive oil and S & P on Italian bread. HC

I spent the entire day getting ready for Deb's truck shop luncheon today. I made the biggest batch of cocktail sauce I have ever made, peeled, cooked and chilled 8 pounds of U-16 -20 gulf shrimp, made a big roll of smoked salmon spread from the salmon I smoked yesterday, put all the ingredients together for a large Greek salad, Cole slaw, a big batch of potato salad and boiled 2 dozen eggs for deviled eggs. Tomorrow, I'll hit the ground running, cooking a ham, kielbasa, baked ziti, sausage and peppers and packing it all up to travel for arrival at 11 AM. While I was in the freezer today, I found some chili for dinner tonight, which I chose to serve with Cheddar Bay Biscuits. I expect to sleep soundly tonight, but will be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow and begin again. It's a PITA, but when I see the guys digging in, I'll probably agree to do it again next year. HC

Odd combination, but it hit the spot this morning. Mortadella, cucumber and pickled turnip sandwich. HC

In spite of all that aggravation, things are looking good. It looks like a well crafted and well thought out space. HC

A few chicken wings (snuck from the ones for the Christmas luncheon, Friday) and a Greek salad. HC

Merry Christmas!!!! HC

This is a quick refrigerator marinade that will last for months in the fridge. They are great as a snack or a side or on a tray with similar items. 2 pounds will make roughly a quart. Start by brushing off or rinsing off any dirt and trim longer stems so the mushroom is pleasing to the eye. Keep in mind that they will shrink, so only cut up the ones larger than a golf ball (unless you want them sliced). Put 1 TBS kosher salt and 1/2 cup white vinegar in a sauce pan, add the mushrooms and enough water to float them. Put on high heat to boil. In a clean quart jar, add 3 or 4 cloves of peeled garlic that have been slightly crushed (I use the flat side of a knife under the heel of my hand to do this), 1 TBS kosher salt, 1 TBS dried dill weed and a few shakes of crushed red pepper flakes to taste. Once the mushrooms have come to a boil, give the pot a stir and examine the surface of the boiling liquid for any dirt that may have escaped your attention and skim the foam it is floating on if you see any. Boil for about 5 minutes until you notice the color change from white to beige then pour the contents of the pot into a colander to drain. Allow them to cool until they can be handled and add them to the jar you have prepared along with a few bay leaves. I like to add a few layers of thinly sliced onions, but that is optional. When the mushrooms are all in the jar, pour in enough white vinegar to fill the jar half way to the top, then add tap water to 3/4 from the top and top off with a well shaken Italian dressing ( I use Ken's Italian Dressing and Marinade). Secure the lid and shake until you see that all the salt has dissolved. Refrigerate and give the jar a shake every day or so. The mushrooms will be ready in about 3 days. HC

Pork piccata. This pork tenderloin from the freezer made a great meal. It cost a whopping $2.06. Deb was late from her day at work, followed up by babysitting duties, but I had already pounded out the pork medallions and committed things to the process, so we had a pretty late dinner, but a good one, put on stand-bye when her text let me know she was leaving late, and fired up again, when her headlights turned down the drive. These scalloped potatoes are pretty much bullet proof. They were intended for 7 PM, but tasty when pulled from the still warm oven at 9 PM . They must be cooked in a low, 350 F oven for 2 hours and turned off without opening, when news comes that the night will be a late one. It helps if you soak the potatoes in water before assembly, If you think things might be delayed, which I did. Frozen peas are your friend! Ready in minutes. HC

I picked up a little over 6 lbs. of salmon that I will smoke for Deb's truck shop Christmas luncheon Friday. The sushi place is next door..... HC

The usual suspects (at least for me). The last 3 times I have gone to purchase scrapple, there was no pork, only beef, which I dislike. HC