Well, this is the vacation edition of this blog. Enjoy.
I needed a little R&R from the day to day Eat Sleep Save Lives (suck up to family members of drug addicts), and so hubby and I took a vacation. Friday night was a bust---the state park we were to camp at was full, so on to the first rv park we could find and that's exactly what we got.
However, no to be deterred, we headed up to Mountain View AR the next day and were not terribly disappointed. Except when we stopped on the side of the road and I had to pee, and was assured by hubby that nobody could see me with all the van doors open. then, he shut the back door, and to my chagrin, there was a pickup truck parked behid us with a man in the passenger seat looking straight at me and my lily white you know what. what fun what fun.
on to mountain view where we met my sister, cosmomartini@blogspot.com and her hubby. Had a good time on the mountain top at the folk festival center, seeing all the old-time craft demonstrations. cosmo and i especially enjoyed the hoe cakes, cooked on a wood burning stove, with peach chunky. the fried peach pie was heavenly. Supper that night was less than heavenly.
At the Angler's Inn, hubby naturally had to have the fried catfish. I opted for the special of the night, which was prime rib. My first clue should have been when the waiter asked how I wanted it cooked. I replied "um, rare" with inflection tantamount to "you idiot". The slab of meat I received was well done. And gray. I quickly sent it back, telling Bill that the cook was probably in the kitchen right now saying "what do I do, it's all overcooked, and you can't uncook it". Sure enough, I was told that a mistake was made and all the prime rib was overcooked. I chose to cancel the order and partake of the "salad boat". I think this boat had a leak, because the salad was floating in water. The baked potato I ordered had been cooked probably the day before, and barely reheated. I'll let my sister post her experiences in this restaurant on her blog http://www.cosmomartini.blogspot.com/. But at least hubby's meal was satisfactory. On to Eureka Springs the next day. The mountains were beautiful. Our campsite breakfast consisted of sausage and eggs, with toast, cooked on the trusty electric skillet. Lunch was at a wonderful place in town called Local Flavor. I had the turkey, avocado and pepper jack cheese on sourdough, with cole slaw on the side. Hubby had the Eyetalian beef (his pronunciation). I have already written an online review. Absolutely delicious. We enjoyed the sites of this excellent tourist destination, and back at the campsite, I fashioned a smoker from a disposable grill and aluminum foil and water-soaked hickory twigs (I am quite proud of myself on this). The smoked pork chops were excellent. Now to the beans and cornbread. This is the only town I have ever been to where many restaurants advertise beans and cornbread. What a great idea! We stopped at Grandma's Beans and Cornbread and picked up both pinto and great northern beans and slabs of cornbread to go with our smoked porkchops. Again, heavenly. If only I had the funds, I would open a Beans and Cornbread restaurant. Cause my beans kick butt!
In case you are wondering where the music is in all this, go back to the label for this post. If you remember on Tv some years back, there was a series on TNT (I think) called Dinner and a movie. Beans and Cornbread was the theme song. I thank my sister's attention to detail on this, because I honestly never noticed.
Stay tuned to this blog, because sis and I are whisking Mom away to a surprise destination for Mother's Day. I'll tell ya all about it. Different Bat Time, Same Bat Channel.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Real Men DO Eat Quiche
I stayed at the house in Minden yesterday. Had some shopping to do, now that all the fruits of my kitchen labor have taken up residence around my middle. Back to low carb for awhile to get back into my britches.
Back at the house, with no one but me to enjoy the music, I decided to cook the meals I would need for my long weekend at work, because when I get home at 8pm, I'll eat anything I can get my hands on if what I really need to be eating is not readily available. Again, I was in a motown mood, listening to WayBack Wednesday on the Grambling station on the way home, so I turned on Sirius Soultown and got busy.
First, I prepared two quiches, crustless, of course, so I wouldn't be tempted by biscuits and gravy at work. While the 4 Tops sang Sugar Pie Honey Bunch, I mixed up the first one, which consisted of 1/2 a dozen eggs, 1/2 cup of heavy cream, grated cheddar cheese, a dash of ground chipotle pepper, chopped ham and chopped green chiles. Poured that into a deep dish pie pan, and on to the next, while "Superfly" played. The second quiche was made with the same number of eggs and cream, but to this one I added fresh mozzarella, a little basil and oregano, a little chopped ham, shitake mushrooms, grated parmesan cheese, and topped it with thin slices of proscuitto rolled around mozzarella. It was so cute! Into the oven at 350 for a hour and on to the taco meat for taco salads (sans chips, sadly). Listening to the Djay Jeff Fox (the fox that rocks the box!!!) crank out 60's and 70's music from motown and stax records got that job done, with a break when I just had to dance to the Contours "Do ya love me". (remember from Dirty Dancing?) Good thing there was no one there to see that spectacle. Grey's Anatomy has it right--'dancing it out' is a really good stress reliever. But what a downer for this song to be followed by Kool and the Gang's shameful and disappointing effort at a sequel to Jungle Boogie called Spirit of the Boogie. This one should have been pronounced and left on the table.
I threw together a little tuna salad with curry powder for good measure (and low carb snacking), and when the mess was cleaned up, I had two beautiful quiches. This morning, packing up to spend the day in Village, I almost didn't bring quiche for hubby, because I am selfish about my diet food, but then guilt hit me (plus the realization that I had way more than I needed), and put several slices of each in tupperware for him. He loves my quiche. And he's a real man. So there.
On the way to Village, I stopped at Maria's and gave her a piece of the italian quiche, and would have given her more, but she's not supposed to have dairy, and I don't want to add to her problems in that department. Maria is such a fun tester of my culinary endeavors, it was really hard to stop at that little sliver. My sister commented that i made a blog faux pas (sp?), so allow me to remedy that right now. www.cosmomartini.blogspot.com. there. and sorry about that.
Oops. Gotta run---time for my massage. We'll be having pork chops tonight. They are thawing on the roof as I type. Love to all.
LeAnn
Back at the house, with no one but me to enjoy the music, I decided to cook the meals I would need for my long weekend at work, because when I get home at 8pm, I'll eat anything I can get my hands on if what I really need to be eating is not readily available. Again, I was in a motown mood, listening to WayBack Wednesday on the Grambling station on the way home, so I turned on Sirius Soultown and got busy.
First, I prepared two quiches, crustless, of course, so I wouldn't be tempted by biscuits and gravy at work. While the 4 Tops sang Sugar Pie Honey Bunch, I mixed up the first one, which consisted of 1/2 a dozen eggs, 1/2 cup of heavy cream, grated cheddar cheese, a dash of ground chipotle pepper, chopped ham and chopped green chiles. Poured that into a deep dish pie pan, and on to the next, while "Superfly" played. The second quiche was made with the same number of eggs and cream, but to this one I added fresh mozzarella, a little basil and oregano, a little chopped ham, shitake mushrooms, grated parmesan cheese, and topped it with thin slices of proscuitto rolled around mozzarella. It was so cute! Into the oven at 350 for a hour and on to the taco meat for taco salads (sans chips, sadly). Listening to the Djay Jeff Fox (the fox that rocks the box!!!) crank out 60's and 70's music from motown and stax records got that job done, with a break when I just had to dance to the Contours "Do ya love me". (remember from Dirty Dancing?) Good thing there was no one there to see that spectacle. Grey's Anatomy has it right--'dancing it out' is a really good stress reliever. But what a downer for this song to be followed by Kool and the Gang's shameful and disappointing effort at a sequel to Jungle Boogie called Spirit of the Boogie. This one should have been pronounced and left on the table.
I threw together a little tuna salad with curry powder for good measure (and low carb snacking), and when the mess was cleaned up, I had two beautiful quiches. This morning, packing up to spend the day in Village, I almost didn't bring quiche for hubby, because I am selfish about my diet food, but then guilt hit me (plus the realization that I had way more than I needed), and put several slices of each in tupperware for him. He loves my quiche. And he's a real man. So there.
On the way to Village, I stopped at Maria's and gave her a piece of the italian quiche, and would have given her more, but she's not supposed to have dairy, and I don't want to add to her problems in that department. Maria is such a fun tester of my culinary endeavors, it was really hard to stop at that little sliver. My sister commented that i made a blog faux pas (sp?), so allow me to remedy that right now. www.cosmomartini.blogspot.com. there. and sorry about that.
Oops. Gotta run---time for my massage. We'll be having pork chops tonight. They are thawing on the roof as I type. Love to all.
LeAnn
Saturday, April 11, 2009
turnips and chicken and biscuits, oh my!
The turnip greens were a success, thanks in part to the musical strains of Rev Al Green, the Isley Brothers and Gladys Knight and the Pips. The meal was complimented with pork chops rolled in bread crumbs and baked in the oven, and buttermilk cornbread.
Yesterday, (Good Friday), hubby was off work and was busy attaching metal skirting to the bottom of the house to keep dogs and other critters from taking up residence. My poor Batman and his buddy Tiger (aka Hansel) don't know what to do with themselves. For those of you who don't already know, Batman is our dog, and Tiger is my erstwhile stepdog, owned by my brother in law across the street. Anyhoo, my youngest son, Hunter, came over to make a little money to support his texting habit, and moved lumber from what was supposed to be my patio, but now will become my Florida room (!), and I of course was busy overseeing all of this. After I removed the package of chicken breasts from the roof (put there to thaw out more quickly, and keep away from wet noses in the process), I deboned them, and flattened them with a cast iron skillet. This is best done to the opening beat of Jimi Hendrix's Foxy Lady. I then seasoned them with salt and pepper, placed thin slices of hickory smoked ham (we did that ourselves, yay us), and topped them with thin slices of Gruyere cheese. I then rolled them, dipped them in egg and rolled them in a mixture of seasoned breadcrumbs and panko. Then into the oven for my version of Chicken Cordon Bleu. Add garlic mashed potatoes and a green salad, and you have my hubby Bill saying HONEY! with a full mouth.
Today we have to drive to Texarkana to pick up the motorcycle now that the recall item has been repaired, so last night I got out the crock of sourdough starter and commenced the biscuit making process. Being hormonal, there is no warm place for dough to rise in my house, so I put the bowl on a heating pad on the lowest setting, covered it and this morning Voila! I had a beautiful dough for making sourdough biscuits. Add Bill's homemade pork sausage and some milk gravy and you have two people stuffed like dog ticks. No music accompanied breakfast, just the constant chatter from Fox News, compliments of Bill. If Directv would let him, he would subscribe only to this channel.
Well, on to Texarkana (or as hubby says: Texakaner).
Footnote to my sister cosmomartini, and my friend maria: thanks for following!
LeAnn
Yesterday, (Good Friday), hubby was off work and was busy attaching metal skirting to the bottom of the house to keep dogs and other critters from taking up residence. My poor Batman and his buddy Tiger (aka Hansel) don't know what to do with themselves. For those of you who don't already know, Batman is our dog, and Tiger is my erstwhile stepdog, owned by my brother in law across the street. Anyhoo, my youngest son, Hunter, came over to make a little money to support his texting habit, and moved lumber from what was supposed to be my patio, but now will become my Florida room (!), and I of course was busy overseeing all of this. After I removed the package of chicken breasts from the roof (put there to thaw out more quickly, and keep away from wet noses in the process), I deboned them, and flattened them with a cast iron skillet. This is best done to the opening beat of Jimi Hendrix's Foxy Lady. I then seasoned them with salt and pepper, placed thin slices of hickory smoked ham (we did that ourselves, yay us), and topped them with thin slices of Gruyere cheese. I then rolled them, dipped them in egg and rolled them in a mixture of seasoned breadcrumbs and panko. Then into the oven for my version of Chicken Cordon Bleu. Add garlic mashed potatoes and a green salad, and you have my hubby Bill saying HONEY! with a full mouth.
Today we have to drive to Texarkana to pick up the motorcycle now that the recall item has been repaired, so last night I got out the crock of sourdough starter and commenced the biscuit making process. Being hormonal, there is no warm place for dough to rise in my house, so I put the bowl on a heating pad on the lowest setting, covered it and this morning Voila! I had a beautiful dough for making sourdough biscuits. Add Bill's homemade pork sausage and some milk gravy and you have two people stuffed like dog ticks. No music accompanied breakfast, just the constant chatter from Fox News, compliments of Bill. If Directv would let him, he would subscribe only to this channel.
Well, on to Texarkana (or as hubby says: Texakaner).
Footnote to my sister cosmomartini, and my friend maria: thanks for following!
LeAnn
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
my first time!
This is my first installment on this or any blog, and I'm a little scared! Hope it turns out well. Just messing around, trying to set up this site.
I love to cook, and nothing inspires me more than a rainy day. I love to turn on the stereo, usually jazz music, and go to the kitchen and create. I'm always collecting recipes and trying them out, but most of the time, I come up with dishes from my imagination. I'll be sharing my culinary forays (successful or not!) and the music that accompanies each session in this blog. If anyone out there is interested, please feel free to comment. My husband, Bill, has set the theme for tonight's meal, as he went to the store while I was working and bought turnip greens, with the ambitious intentions of cleaning and cooking them for us, but alas, guess who the job has fallen to? This won't be the most adventurous meal, but I plan to make the most of it, with some pork chops and cornbread.
I'll keep ya posted. I may just have to put on some motown music to get in the mood for this one.
I love to cook, and nothing inspires me more than a rainy day. I love to turn on the stereo, usually jazz music, and go to the kitchen and create. I'm always collecting recipes and trying them out, but most of the time, I come up with dishes from my imagination. I'll be sharing my culinary forays (successful or not!) and the music that accompanies each session in this blog. If anyone out there is interested, please feel free to comment. My husband, Bill, has set the theme for tonight's meal, as he went to the store while I was working and bought turnip greens, with the ambitious intentions of cleaning and cooking them for us, but alas, guess who the job has fallen to? This won't be the most adventurous meal, but I plan to make the most of it, with some pork chops and cornbread.
I'll keep ya posted. I may just have to put on some motown music to get in the mood for this one.
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