suzilightning

i know where i want to go for my birthday this year

today oscar meyer hot dogs on lightly toasted cheap white bread. one with blue cheese, relish and ketchup one with cheddar and spicy brown mustard slices of cucumber and cantaloupe with rice wine vinegar 4 munchkins

[Okay, on the meatloaf front, here's the big debate... red sauce or brown? ←

john is on his way home... a glass of hennepin bottle conditioned belgin style ale to begin with some roasted almonds, some danish organic blue cheese, and triscuits dinner is lemon rice, poached asparagus( yeah - found nice, thin stalks) with a tarragon shallot vinaigrette and chicken saltimbocca. scored some nice kiwis so peeled and chopped them, mixed them with some blueberries, added some raw sugar and will top with some vanilla soy yoghurt. simple and cool............

add Zoe's by the Lake in Sparta which is now by a lake again i don't think it's ready yet but Warehouse Grill in Jefferson is making a patio dining space. course right now it is pouring like crazy and thundering and lightning so you may want to rethink that

yesterday i tried to drink a dogfish head imperial ipa - two sips and i capped it. it tastes too much like a stout and leaves a heavy, yucky taste in my mouth. a guy who works out in the same gym i do has been suggesting i try buckler(non-alcoholic - made by heineken). ok - bought some and after mowing the lawn tried one. nice, light head. smooth taste. skunk after taste like heinekn or grolsh for me. told him that today in the gym and he seemed unhappy. "but it tasted like real beer, right?" yeah - including the bad aftertaste for my system.... today was a tsingtao while cooking(and sweating), a middlebury ale while reading the paper then a peroni that i added limeade to. that actually was quite refreshing

waiting for johnnybird to get back from a camping trip... since i get really cranky if i eat later than 630 had a dinner of a small bowl of chili i made with ground beef, roasted poblano peppers, the ususal spices, oven roasted tomatoes, red and green peppers and onions. spices included garlic powder, oregano, whizzed chilies and cumin. took some wraps(sun dried tomato and spinach) cut them into eighths and baked them. some crumbly cheese and chopped iceberg lettuce. john wil have a choice of this or smooch - ziti, cooked ground meat, onions, red and green peppers,chopped tomatoes and just a smidgen of ketchup - the cheap tomato kind. baked.

have fun guys. went the first year they moved it to state fair grounds in augusta from waterloo... bring plenty of money because they raised the prices for the food and (if you can call it) beer a lot. the music is good though.... hpefully it will stop raining up here in the nw corner

can you share? ← since the recipe isn't modified enough to post here or in recipegullet have pm'd you

went out checking on some bluebird boxes for a friend. came back and it was yucky, drizzly, cool. i had 3 red peppers leftover from another project so split them in half, cored and seeded them. roasted them in the oven(just the way russ and susan in fl do - thank you ) and used them to create a roasted red pepper soup - details can be found on the soup thread. while i was cooking johnnybird was STARVING so had some triscuits with new york state champagne cheddar cheese and some organic blue cheese from denmark. also a glass of 2002 Nieder-Florsheimer Frauenberg Rheinhessen Riesling Kabinett. dinner was the roasted red pepper soup, chicken and apple sausages served with sauteed white beans, spinach and garlic. more glasses of the Nieder-Florsheimer with dinner. enough leftover for a sausage and some beans and spinach for lunches next week. the last of the spinach/bean mix went into the leftover soup and was frozen for future yucky days....

started dinner with roasted red pepper soup. damp and drizzly here today so when we got back home from checking on some bluebird boxes roasted 3 red peppers. sauteed 1/2 and onion chopped fine, 2 carrots chopped fine and 3 shallots in some olive oil. added 1 baking potato peeled and chopped. about 5 cups of stock, 1 bay leaf and 1 tsp hot hungarian paprika. simmered 20 minutes. threw in 2/3 of the peeled peppers and about 1 tbsp sugar. simmered 5 minutes, added about 1/4 cup of balsamic and tarragon vinegar, white pepper and a pinch of salt and whizzed up all the peppers and half of the other veg and stock. returned the mix to the pot and added the remaining roasted peppers coarsely chopped. when we finished dinner and i portioned out the leftovers, i added the remaining sauteed spinach, white beans and roasted garlic to the leftover soup, poured into two containers and froze it.

i use much, much less ketchup now than i did as a child. to me it tastes too salty. muir glen is very good but i found a recipe for sundried tomato ketchup and that is pretty much the standard in the eagle's nest nowadays. course i tweak it up a bit with more vinegar than called for

i vote for vegetarian. padd thai anyone? so no ice wine - how about a bottle of champagne?

ok- i took a deep breath and asked john if i made fried chicken - would he eat it? (john HATES chicken skin and prefers only chicken breasts). he said yes so... picked up a chicken at shoprite and dissected it. popped it into a brine overnight. took the pieces out, dried them then sprinkled with salt, pepper and onion powder. into flour seasoned with salt, pepper, onion powder and some chili powder. let rest for half an hour or so. canola oil and some leftover bacon fat in a wide heavy skillet for a shallow fry. the oil was about 370 when i put the legs and thighs (4 pieces without crowding) in and the heat held at about 360. 12 minutes on each side then out. brought the oil back to temperature and the 2 breasts split in - this only took 10 minutes per side. this is the first time i have ever fried chicken. growing up my family never fried chicken - flounder, yes - chicken, no. john doesn't like to eat "fatty" foods - course this is the same guy who wouldn't eat eggs because of the cholesterol until he found out his was 106. i explained to john that if my oil is hot enough there will be a sealed crust and the meat should stay moist while not being greasy. it worked!! really good and john actually ate it. while this won't be once a week this will definitely make it into the rotation. and my lovely coworker, deanna, who hails from morristown, tn will be getting a leg to try and critique me on.

last night john was home from his mom's so we had: mixed green salad german potato salad stuffed eggs fried chicken from the cookoff mango and blueberries topped with a sauce of vanilla soy yoghurt mixed with some brown sugar and greek yoghurt this is the first time i have ever fried chicken(and i picked a lovely lady i work with who is from morristown, tn for her method). it came out quite juicy and crunchy so i may do this again.

a ripe blue that makes me salivate for 15 minutes after eating it... fresh apricots stuffed with marscapone that has honey and freshly ground nutmeg added to it - with a glass of prosecco ... crispy salted duck and/or chicken skin that seems almost brittle ... a glass of 1988 pol roger cuvee sir winston churchill... served to me by my husband

mobyp - that lamb looks amazing!!!! tonight carmelized some onions in butter and brown sugar with some garlic. sauteed some sundried tomato and chicken sausages. added some beer to it all and served with leftover garlic mash and ginger snow peas. drank the leftover dogfish head chickory stout to go with it. edited to change garlic to ginger. no i did not have that much garlic

just finished off the last of a bottle of dogfish head chickory stout that i used to cook some onions. garlic and sundried tomato sausages in .

cool idea... this is my favorite blog so far... mystery ingredient basket suggestion Inniskillin Ice Wine and celeriac

another good essay on this is in Queen of the Tyurtle Derby and Other Southern Phenomena by Julia Reed. It's called "Tender Mercies" and examines funeral food - her mama's favorite to take to the families of the sick or dead were whole tenderloins that would cook quickly and cook be served hot, cold or warm. she also laments the sad lack of community now a days when her aunt in Nashville died and they got only one layered salad and two platters of fried chicken - and those came from the store

[heard there's a new place on 9g in germantown that has an interesting menu(sorry can't remember the name at this time) ←

cool.... another place to try. guess you guys are up there to stay now. check out mexican radio and the organic farmers up in the valley. ant and daniel - warren street is CONSIDERABLY cleaned up from 25 years ago when the only things on the street even in the middle of the day were hookers and i don't mean bad bowlers(i worked at columbia-greene community college near the correctional facility). heard there's a new place on 9g in germantown that has an interesting menu(sorry can't remember the name at this time)

i cook because i love to. but if you are into it for the cudos DO NOT MARRY AN ENGINEER. the potluck requests are: sweet and sour meatballs, mini franks in chili sauce and grape jelly, potato salad. at least he doesn't bring the loaf of soft white bread one of his former bosses thought was apprpriate. when johnnybird got his new position he was told that it was tradition to bring in donuts and bagels. ok- bought 1 dozen bagels, butter, cream cheese, 1 dozen donuts. also baked fudgy bourbon brownies, nut brownies and cranberry tea bread. talked to john around the end of the day and everything was gone but the bagels and donuts.

genny, too bad you are so far south it will never be cool enough for the ultimate SUC Fred treat - white cheddar popcorn with hot cocoa hmmmmm....aged cheddar on ginger biscuits(instead of arrowroot) sound really, really good

and you are in this month's New Jersey Monthly (the shore issue) as well