HungryChris

Where I grew up, in the small coastal towns of Stonington, Mystic and Groton, CT, that would be a "toasted Italian combo grinder". The one I made would be what you would get if you ordered a "regular salami grinder". HC

A light snack, but a good snack. HC Host's note: to see the next part of this topic, click here.

And you inspired me to make kimchi fried rice with leftover kielbasa. HC

Duck eggs, home fries and fresh salsa. It's going to be a good day, Tater! HC

Over 90 degrees yesterday. Anything that gets cooked happens outside on the grill. Kielbasa on the grill (wrapped in aluminum foil and bathed in Crystal hot sauce) and from the kitchen, cucumber and three bean salads. I also made a big pot of French Vanilla coffee and put it in the fridge. Iced tea and iced coffee season has arrived in earnest! HC

Here is how it all starts: I bought 3 pounds. This turned out to be 2 dozen clams of various sizes. I picked out 12 of the largest and opened them. The other dozen are small enough to have on the half shell (kind of a lunch bonus for me). The big ones, I stuffed with a combination of chopped chorizo, garlic, shallots, green onion all sautéed in a pan with a bit of olive oil, bread crumbs, butter, grated Parmesan cheese and deglazed with dry sherry. I baked these in a 350 F oven for 35 minutes while I put together a Caesar salad with homemade croutons. Here they are after cooking. And put it all together for dinner tonight. HC

The salami "Grinder", building a legend. HC

Biased sliced French bread that has been drizzled with good olive oil on both faces, provolone cheese and sliced tomatoes. Finely shaved cabbage that has been hit with salt and pepper and olive oil and allowed to wilt down for a few minutes and a few slices of cooked salami. HC

Cuban mojo rotisserie chicken. Because it contains a lot of citrus (orange, lemon and lime juice) you can’t marinate it too long or the skin will not hold up to the long cooking time and fall apart and the skin is why you do this in the first place. So it is a happy dance of compromise to get it right. This chicken was almost 6 pounds, so it cooked for 2 ¾ hours at 350 over indirect heat. The long cooking time offers the perfect opportunity to break out a growler of my favorite local brew and the regular ½ hour basting schedule affords me the perfect pace to ensure that the second pint (these are 32 oz growlers) is finished up when the chicken is done. As a side note, this little brewery is in an old mill that was once a working velvet mill where my father worked. As a child, I was in there quite a bit and knew many of the loom workers and dye house people by name. Now it is a collection of art studios and shops, but is quite nostalgic when I visit to have my growlers refilled. Getting more than 2 growlers filled gets to be an awkward situation and much as I hate to admit it, I broke a full one once. It still pains me to think about as breaking an empty one would have been bad enough. My solution was to build a carrier that I based on an antique milk bottle carrier. Getting back to the chicken: It was another fine Sunday chicken dinner with a baked potato and cucumber salad. HC

I agree with Anna. This post, as it stands, borders on criminal. HC

Steamed snow crab is becoming a favorite. The recent "buy 4 pounds and get a dollar a pound off" at Stop & Shop is a curse and a blessing, depending on how you look at it. I think it was the latter, last night. HC

Because I grow Indeterminate varieties of tomatoes, getting support stakes long enough has been an issue. Garden shops charge too much for ones that are simply inadequate A few years ago, while at Lowes or Home Depot, a solution occurred to me that I have been using ever since. Do it yourself tomato stakes. I buy 1" X 3" X 8 ' furring strips and rip them in half. They are actually 2 3/8" X 3/4" X 8', so I set the saw at 1 3/16" and rip them down the middle. Then take the guide off the saw and put points on them. These work out to about 75 cents each, around here and will last 3 or 4 seasons and probably much longer if painted.. HC

Based on what I saw, I would say about a cubic yard per bucket.

My garden used to be beside the house, but the neighbors trees got too tall and blocked out the sun there. I finally decided to try it out in the front and reluctantly tilled up a bit of the lawn several years ago. What I found was that because I see it, up close, as I come and go and from in the house, I spot and can correct any problems far sooner than when I would only notice them if I made a trip out to see how things were going. Because it is right there next to the driveway, I take more pride in keeping in neat and orderly and have made good friends with the UPS and FEDEX drivers who are both avid gardeners. I don't regret it at all, but thought I would. HC

Yesterday, I went to a local cattle farm that has been advertising cow manure compost and picked up 2 bobcat buckets full and spread them on the garden. Today, I will till it in and start putting in tomatoes. HC

Egg salad and chicken liver pate on crackers. HC

My last duck egg, toast and home fries with peppers and onions. Last evening, I took some photos of an indigo bunting at the bird feeder and decided to document the little chap's dinner along with my breakfast. HC

Maine steamers. Typically, these have a bit of sand if not purged in salt water for several hours, which I did. These were flawless! HC

Stuffed shells, three bean salad (I was both surprised and pleased by how much Deb liked this) and toasted homemade garlic bread. HC

Stuffed, boneless chicken legs and a salad. HC

Baked, stuffed shrimp, roasted asparagus and lemon, garlic and chopped caper aioli. The shrimp is one of Deb's favorites and the asparagus and aioli, one of mine. HC

Duck eggs, potato pancake and homemade toasted bread. HC

These were apparently wild harvested. Some still had roots and some did not. The ones that did have roots, I left the tops on and the ones that did not, I snipped the tops off. Those tops that I took off, I will cook. I think that they were harvested wild because the guy I got them from asked me what I was going to do with them and seemed amazed when I told him I intended to plant them. "And they actually come back?" was his response. HC

Made a day trip into NYC yesterday (local library bus trip) and had kind of a hat trick of a day: 1. Lunch at Becco (one of our favorites), 2. finally got to see the musical, the Jersey Boys (absolutely loved it) and 3. got a big bunch of ramps at the Union Square Green Market to plant. My little trial patch has done well but, simply put, I need more. As soon as I got home last night, I took them out of their sealed plastic bags to let them breath and put them out on the deck wrapped in wet newspaper. Here is how they look this morning. HC

Cucumber, avocado and chopped green onion salad (leftover from last night) with a few marinated bamboo shoots and hazelnut stuffed olives. HC