Tag Archives: postaday2011

Potluck Gold

Posted on by

Food For My Family is a blog full of recipes, clear step by step instructions and the kind of photography that makes you think you could be a much better cook if you just got in there and rustled around a bit more.

Here is something to take to your next family barbecue. It’s Watermelon Lime Sorbet actually frozen in a scooped out melon rind (chocolate chip seeds) and sliced into wedges.

“Oh, this?” You say modestly to Aunt Phyllis who never fails to snark about the plastic domed food trays from Costco that you usually tote in.

“It’s just sooo hot, I thought we needed to have something sweet ‘n cool.” Truth be known, you’re thinking. Shut the front door! Winner, winner – chicken dinner!

“Oh, no, Phyllis. Actually, it’s easy.  I make a  simple syrup, chop up some watermelon and add lime. The recipe is from a great online food blog.”

“No, Phyllis, not a bog, a blog. It’s B.L.O.G. I’ll show it to you later. Here, have a slice.”

Bit O’ News

Posted on by

I read a snippet in the paper under Weird News that 6 strippers were awarded $195,000 in a lawsuit in Florida after claiming 4 of them were unlawfully strip-searched by police at a raid at the Biggins Gentlemen’s Club where they worked — as strippers.

I snickered at the irony, finished reading the rest of the paper and threw the whole thing in recycling.

Much later, I fished out the paper to check out the “Thirty Minute Recipes” for dinner inspiration and ran across the stripper story. Hmm, I thought — Why can’t strippers object to an unlawful strip search? And what is so G.D. funny about that? And another thing, Biggins Gentleman’s Club? Pul–leeze. 

So, what’s my take-away? Pay attention, it’s the price of admission to the human race.

Friar Pea body

Posted on by

Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics, liked to play the lottery. I imagine him lining up with everyone else at some rickety stall in the market place to take his chances at winning the big one  — $25,000 guilders. (A little over 14,000 dollars at today’s exchange rates.)

He evidently gave up playing and got about the business of  life, going to college and deciding at 21 to become a monk. Always a smart guy, between monk duties and teaching he got interested in how physical characteristics passed from one generation to another.

By growing peas for 8 years he discovered that both parents equally contribute to their kids’ gene pools; it’s the mix of dominant and recessive traits that decides Junior will have red hair like crazy Grandpa Jake.

Too bad Mendel died (1822 – 1884) before the rest of the world caught up with his ideas. It would have dampened the sting of losing the lottery. Oh, and I wonder what he would say about today’s supermarket tomatoes — firm, red, round and tasteless. Hmm, guess taste is recessive, Gregor?

Re-entry

Posted on by

Long Lake in Park Rapids, Minnesota

Hey, whasup? You’ve been gone forever!  Can’t wait to hear all ’bout it. Didja have a wonderful time? 

… Glad to be home? 

Hellllo. Yeah, right. It’s been forever.  It was Graaate, realllly great. 

Weather was good most of the time, everyone got along and we did lots. Plenty of food, drink and late hours. (Ha. Ha.) Yeah, am glad to be home to my own bed. Got lots of pics. 

 …Wow, sure is hot.

Can’t wait to see ’em all.  Saw your facebook updates.  Yeah, it’s been really hot ever since you left. And it’s suppose’ to stay like this until next week sometime.

Really? Glad the A.C. is working, though the ice maker isn’t. Think I’ll pick up a bag of ice at Costco.

… Wanna go?

Sure. What are you doin’ for dinner?

I dunno, you?

No clue, let’s check out the samples.

Deja View

Posted on by

Today I went to a new Trader Joe’s store in town. I expected the Big Dealness had died down since the store already had a big week-end launch. It made the paper and everything. But I am wrong.

The scene looks like a colorized film version of a Russian grocery store in the 1950’s. (Although the Costume Department somehow didn’t catch the eastern european vibe.)

There are long lines of shoppers brushing by each other as they trudge past rows of partially stocked shelves. They wince, murmur and with a huge air of resignation, reach for a jar of this or a package of that. They toss things into their carts, grip their handlebars and push off with a lack of expression.

Two buck chuck at Trader Joe’s, image by Wikipedia

At the back of the store there is a huge wall of wine with a jaunty sign that announces, $2 Buck Chuck! Inflation has raised the price; Charles Shaw’s famously cheap, not-bad wine is selling for $2.99 a bottle.

There is plenty of it.

Customers who have reached this special place happily hoist mixed cases on their shoulders or fill all the empty space in their carts. People laugh, share stories and exchange all kinds of personal information the way you do with someone you will likely never see again.

A tall, muscular clerk lifts cases from the top of the pile and sets them on the floor.  He looks an awful lot like Ronald Reagan. ( Nice job, Casting.)

Souvenir

Posted on by
A vacation photo from a trip out west.

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful,  we must carry it with us or we find it not.  — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Party Food

Posted on by

Let's all eat cake.

Cooks all over the U.S. are dusting off their recipes and making long grocery lists for fourth of July celebrations. Plain Chicken , a food blog by a Southern cook, featured this cake.

Even though I am really not a fan of blue and red tinted food, I kinda love the sense of Americana kitsch; it’s a flag-waver just sitting on the table.

Eat Like a Roman

Posted on by

There’s nothing like eating local food, particularly when that food comes from the sea. So far, steamed crab legs, u-peel-it shrimp, sautéed crab cakes and crab bisque. Oh, and don’t forget the tuna melt for lunch.

Image from yelp.com

If you are in the vicinity of Brigantine, New Jersey, try Hoopers.

Sit down and dine on one side of the building or visit the fish market on the other side. They will cook it for you or send you on your way with detailed instructions.

And as far as the vacationing couple who slammed the place, why in the world did you order Manhattan style chowder and fish and chips? Between us, your future as a foodie power couple may be out of reach.