Finally, Relief From The Heat

Me eating lentil soup at the Veggie Grill in West Hollywood, California 2014

The past few weeks I've been a prisoner in my home not only because my driving privileges have been temporarily suspended, but because of the oppressive heat and humidity here on the Delmarva peninsula.

I cannot stay outside more than a few minutes in this oppressive humidity. If I do, my clothes are soaked in sweat. Some days I take three showers. I cannot stand to walk around in a sweat soaked T-shirt, even worse one that has dried out. 

Today was a normal summer day. I accompanied my neighbor Shannon to Weiss Market to resupply my groceries. Shannon is delightful company. Still, I'm depending on someone to transport my sorry ass to the store for my routine errands. I hate it. Hate it. Monday I have a followup appointment with my cardiologist's office. I hope I get the okay to resume my driving again. I miss the freedom of driving whenever I want to. I'm glad this didn't happen when I was taking care of Bill. He so depended on his daily ride. Me too.

President Biden is ensconced at his summer home here in Rehoboth Beach, about four miles from where I am typing this blog. He still hasn't made his decision to drop out of the presidential race. I'm getting where I don't even like him now. Just how stubborn and selfish is he going to be? I heard on MSNBC where one of the talking heads likened Biden to a formerly successful baseball pitcher who is past his prime. A good pitcher in his time but he is out of his prime now. The fact remains, Biden has to be a vigorous campaigner to defeat Trump in the presidential election. Biden cannot communicate. For an effective campaign we need someone who came communicate his message to the American voter and also counter Trump's lies. Biden no longer has his fastball if he ever did. Hopefully as I type this blog entry, someone is finally getting through to Biden that he is not the best candidate to defeat Trump. Kamala Harris is quite capable of running and being president. 

Oh, and what does the photo of me eating soup pictured at the beginning of this blog have to do with anything? Nothing really except I was finally able to make a decent lentil soup this week. This photo was taken in January 2015 when Pat and I visited West Hollywood California. I'm eating a lentil at the Veggie Grill at 8000 Sunset Boulevard. Ever since I ate that lentil soup I've been attempting to replicate that recipe and I'm proud to say, I have! I make more tomorrow.

Have a great weekend!

 

Broken Dish

My favorite dish, gone

A sad day here at Casa Tipton-Kelly.  I broke my favorite dish.

It was an accident.  I was reaching for a dish behind my favorite dish and damn, that dish fell on my favorite dish that I had taken out of the cabinet for my evening meal.  

I had my favorite dish, a one of a kind, can't replace, clear blue small dish, on my granite counter top, soon to hold three scoops of my favorite homemade potato salad.  I reach in my kitchen cabinet, which is FULL OF TOO MANY DISHES, and pull out another small clear glass dish to place a hamburger bun.  CRASH!  Right on my favorite dish.

Now folks, you know me.  I do have a tendency to hoard.  I prefer to think of myself as not throwing anything out.  I have dishes up the ring yang.  I look for more dishes when I make my thrift shop forays, not like I need more dishes.  

The irony here folks, is that this blue dish was my FAVORITE DISH.  It is the dish I use twice a day.  You know how  you have a favorite tie even though you have hundreds to choose from (or bow ties, whatever your persuasion)?  This blue dish was my favorite.  

Bill and I don't have sit down meals.  He eats at different times than I do.  He has his favorite bowl (with several seismic cracks in it by the way) and I have my favorite dish.  

A scene you'll never see at Casa Tipton-Kelly

Yes folks, it's a sad day in Mudville today.  Casey struck out.  That potato salad just didn't taste the same with that flowery Mexican plate I put it on.  

I'll look for another blue dish but I've been looking for years for a backup blue dish.  I'm like that cake in MacArthur Park, it "got rained on and I'll never have that recipe again". 

Tell me about it.

Best Potato Salad Ever!

This yummy will please your tummy

Just finished making another batch of my famous Warm Red Potato salad.  Not to brag folks (actually I am), I have to admit I make the BEST potato salad.  I make several different versions of potato salad but this is my absolute FAV.

Ironically, growing up I hated potato salad.  Why? Seems I didn't like the versions that were available to me whilst I was in my knee high to a whipper snapper stage.  My Mom's potato salad, perhaps the worst (for me anyway) was full of onions, green peppers and way too much celery.  The few other potato salads I sampled were at family reunions and they were just about as bad.  God awful, to me anyway.

So here is my recipe.  If you try it, keep in mind that this is a very personal recipe, developed over years of experimentation, misfires, and disasters.

Red Potato Salad

Three large red potatoes 
One diced celery stalk
1/4 cup freshly minced flat leaf parsley
salt to taste
1 cup mayonaisse
2 hardboiled eggs, diced and minced
1 tablespoon French's yellow mustard 
1 tablespoon celery seed
1/3 cup cider vinegar

Cook the potatoes (leaving the skin on) until tender (about 15 minutes)

Drain

On a wood cutting board, halve, quarter and eighths the still hot potatoes

Place in aluminum bowl.  

Splash the cider vinegar over all and mix with metal spoon

Mixed in the chopped celery

Sprinkle the salt, celery seed over "vinegared" potatoes

Put a whole gob of mayo over all with about three "squirts" of French's yellow mustard and mix all

Mix in minced parsley and chopped eggs. 

Note:  measurements are estimates.  I usually go overboard with the measurements except for the salt and celery.  Too much celery and you have a "celery salad."  And definitely use French's yellow mustard but be care not to put too much or else you'll have a "Mustard Potato Salad."  You want just a hint of mustard that brings back memories of your childhood family picnic's potato salad.  You can put onions in but I prefer not to, although I like onions.  And definitely DO NOT PUT GREEN PEPPERS IN POTATO SALAD.  That's about as bad as putting shrimp in it.  Gawd awful.  

Enjoy!

Buttermilk Biscuits

Ron's Buttermilk Biscuits

My Mother married a hillbilly.  Yep, dad was a hillbilly.  Straight from the mountains or western North Carolina.  His parents moved him and his eight brothers to Pennsylvania when Pop (that's we always called him) was ten years old.  That was in 1930.  Two more brothers were born in Pennsylvania bringing the total Tipton Boys to eleven.  

My Mom (pregnant with me), my grandmother Mrs. Tipton (sitting) and my Uncle Dude at the family mansion (not the washing machine on the porch - a hillbilly home decorating requirement) - 1941

My father met my Mother in 1940 on a double date (he was the other date, not hers) when she was 16 years old.  Several months later they eloped to Elkton Maryland on a Saturday, November 2nd.  That Monday my Mom went back to school. It didn't take too long before my granddad found out my Mom got married over the weekend.  He beat her and threw her out of the house.  Mom was the "Cinderella" of her home.  Her mother had died from complications of childbirth before my Mom was two years old.  Mom was the youngest of her two brothers and sisters. They had all left home and only Mom was left with her (wicked) step-mother and her two children.  Mom did all the cooking, cleaning and what not.  Pop told her "I'm going to get you out of this mess."  And he did.  

My grandfather with his third wife Margaret (oh, I remember her well, Gravel Gertie, she always scared me to death) and his stepson Bobby - 1934

My Mom with her two older brothers - she told me they tore the head off of her doll - an appropriate metaphor for her childhood -1928

So what does all this have to do with biscuits you ask?  Well, when Mom and Pop rented a house in a small house out in the country without running water or indoor plumbing, one of the first things her widowed mother-in-law told her was she was going to have to learn how to make biscuits.  My grandmother said all "her boys need their biscuits" and if she wanted to have a successful marriage she would have to learn how to make authentic southern biscuits.  

Mrs. Tipton with ten of her eleven boys after the burial of Mr. Tipton, my grandfather - 1939

My Mom would watch Mrs. Tipton (my grandmother) make biscuits and wonder "How would I ever make those crusty and cloud filled biscuits as effortlessly as Mrs. Tipton?"  My Mom said Mrs. Tipton would fill a bowl with self rising flour, make a well in the center or the flour, then cup her hand and get a scoop of shortening (lard is the best) and drop it in that well.  Then she would pour some buttermilk in the well and start to swirl the mixture around all the while squeezing the flour and shortening (lard) until a ball formed, all the while being careful to maintain a flour well.  

My grandmother - Hester Lewis Tipton - 1943 - she died in 1944 - I don't remember her

My Mother told me it wasn't easy to "get the feel" of the flour and shortening mixture at first.  There were many times when the dough mixture was too sticky or too dry.  And when she baked the biscuits they came out as hardtacks.  Good perhaps for a trans-Atlantic voyage on the Mayflower but not for Pop.  

Finally, after months of trying my Mother "got it."  She made perfect biscuits with effortlessly ease.  For the next sixty years of her marriage, almost every day she made biscuits for Pop (and her boys) for breakfast and dinner.  

Of course, being the proper Mama's Boy

Me, "Mama's Boy" - gay from birth - 1942

that I was, I wanted to learn how to make biscuits too!  Well folks, let me tell you it wasn't easy.  I have to be truthful and tell you I've never quite made them exactly the same quality as Mom's but I've come pretty close.  

Here's my recipe for buttermilk biscuits:

2 cups sifted enriched self-rising flour
4 tablespoons shortening (lard the best but use Crisco - don't go there)
1/2 to 2/3 cup sweet milk or buttermilk

Unbaked buttermilk biscuits

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (very hot)
Cut shortening into flour until consistency of coarse meal.  Add milk to make a soft dough, stirring with a fork until dough draws away from the sides of the bowl. Turn dough onto a lightly floured board or on wax paper and knead gently 8 to 10 strokes (don't go there). Flatten until desired thickness.  Pull off dough into size of biscuits you desire and shape by hand into a ball.  Place on non-stick cookie baking sheet.  Bake 10 to 12 minutes at 450 degrees F until brown.  Serve hot with butter.  Enjoy!

Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms and Cream

Chicken Breasts With Cream

Time for a "recipe" posts folks!  This is one of my all-time favorite recipes.

I'm not a "fish" guy.  I don't like lobster.  I don't eat steak.  And I definitely don't eat baby animals like veal and lamb.  In fact I've never tasted lamb in my life.  After I grew up and left home, and tasted veal for the first time (which I didn't care for by the way), I asked my Mother why we never at lamb or veal.  She said that my father worked in a slaughter house when he was a teenager and, after he saw baby animals slaughtered, he lost his taste forever to "baby animals.  That's just a little tidbit of unsolicited information for you folks to demonstrate why some people (me) have out of the mainstream tastes in eating animals who have eyes.

Why don't I like seafood?  I don't like the "fishy" taste.  When I see seafood I think of what is left on the beach after the tide goes out.  Ugh.  

Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms and Cream

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
2 whole chicken breasts (about 2 pounds)
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 small garlic clove, finely minced
3 cups thinly sliced mushrooms
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
White pepper to taste
3/4 cup dry white wine
3/4 cup chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream

1. In a electric frying pan, melt 4 tablespoons of the butter.  Add the chicken breasts, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and sauté for 3 to 5 minutes on each side, or until lightly browned.  Remove to a dish and set aside.

2. Reduce the heat to medium and melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in the same pan.  Add the shallots and garlic; cook until tender but not browned. Add the mushrooms, lemon juice, and white pepper. Continue cooking until the mushroom liquid has almost completely evaporated.

3. Ad the wine and chicken stock and continue cooking until the liquid has almost evaporated. Reduce the heat to medium0low, stir in the cream, and ooh, uncovered, for about 5 minutes, or until the sauce begins to thicken.

4. Return the chicken breasts to the sauce to heat through, Place on a serving platter and spoon on the mushroom cream sauce. 

Ron's Spicy Hot Broccoli Cauliflower Chipotle Casserole

Broccoli Cauliflower Spicy Hot Chipotle Casserole

Hey folks, time for a change of subject (and just about time too huh?)  

It's been a long time since I posted a recipe but I just have to post this one.  It's one I put together last night to take care of the cauliflower and broccoli I had in the vegetable bin in my refrigerator.  I got the broccoli from a local market stand so I knew it was fresh.  The cauliflower I had leftover from a cream of cauliflower soup I made.  I love cauliflower and broccoli and.....STUFFING so I knew there had to be a recipe that combined all three ingredients.  I could find one.  So what's to do?  Make up my own!

I also like spice food and a touch of Mexican cheeses.  I LOVE casseroles and I have several boxes of Stove Top Stuffing that I got at BJ's.  The big boxes of stuffing, I don't waste my time with those little boxes of stuffing that you get at the local supermarket.  I say if you're going to make stuffing, MAKE STUFFING.

So here is my recipe which I have to say turned out fabulously!  Not all of my recipes turn out so well, but this one was PERFECTO!

Ron's 

Spicy Hot Broccoli Cauliflower Chipotle Casserole

Ingredients: 

1 8 oz. Stove Top Stuffing Mix For Chicken
2 cups water
5 tbsp butter
2 cups broccoli steamed
2 cups cauliflower steamed
1 cup Panko Spicy Hot Chipotle Bread Crumbs (4C brand)
1 26 oz (Family Size) Cream of Chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded Mexican Cheese mixture (Krafts)

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Prepare stuffing mix according to directions on box
3. Steam broccoli and cauliflower until just "al dente" (you want it crunchy)
4. Mix soup with sour cream
5. Spread stuffing mix evenly on bottom of heavy glass casserole dish
6. Layer steamed broccoli and cauliflower on top of stuffing
7. Spoon soup mix evenly over vegetables
8. Sprinkle cheeses over top of soup mix
9. Sprinkle those hot and spice Chipotle bread crumbs over cheeses
10. Place casserole dish in oven and bake 20 minutes or until top browned
11. Remove from oven and cool 5 to 10 minutes

Enjoy!

YUM!

Warning, this is one of those casseroles that you'll keep digging into.  It's dangerous!

"After Ron" 

"I Don't Cook Anymore"

My typical lunch - alone

Actually, a more accurate statement is "I don't cook sit down dinners anymore."  


I have always liked to cook.  While never a gourmet cook (one has to like fish, veal and lamb to qualify for that vaulted title), I consider myself a pretty good cook.  In fact I am an excellent cook.

When I moved in with Bill once of the first things I bought was the New York Times cookbook.  I prepared and cooked many a meal from that cookbook.

Over the years that Bill and I have been together I have cooked many meals for company.  The gay gene really came out in me.  I may have missed the "Broadway Showtune" gay gene but I definitely had the "Let's have company over for dinner" gay gene.

Early on in our domesticity I used to cook a full breakfast and a full dinner EVERY day for Bill and myself.  Almost every weekend I would have friends over for dinner.  I so enjoyed trying out new recipes (a "no-no" actually) on my company.  Oh how I loved the wave of accolades when I hit a home run with a meal.

Me at our dining room table at our house in Philadelphia, PA - 1969

That formula worked out well when we lived in center city Philadelphia when I was able to walk to work.  We lived in center city Philadelphia for eleven years.

In 1980 we moved out of the city to Downingtown, Pennsylvania.  I was now a commuter.  No more the big breakfasts and certainly no more sit down dinners during the week, I got home just too late.

Bill and I began eating our meals on different schedules.  During the weekends I still had friends over for dinner, usually Saturday night.  The list of friends dwindled but I still enjoyed cooking my favorite recipes and serving them to Bill and our friends.  We lived in "the country" outside Downingtown for twenty-five years.

Then 2006 happened.  I sold our house in Pennsylvania and moved to Casa Tipton-Kelly here on the beautiful coastal shores of southern Delaware.  I no longer commute.  I work part-time, usually 3 pm to 11 pm two days a week.  I'm on call.  I often work during the days and weekends.

Once in a great while Bill and I would go out for breakfast but I never cook breakfast at home for the both of us.  Bill doesn't eat lunch.  I do.

One of my favorite lunches - grilled chicken and soup - Rehoboth Beach, DE - 2012

Bill has his "dinner" around 4 in the afternoon.  I have my dinner, when I'm not working at the hotel, anywhere from 6 pm to 11 pm.  Yes, sometimes I have dinner right before I go to bed and don't tell me it's bad for my weight.  I still weigh the same as I did the day I graduated from high school in 1959 (160 lbs.)

Me - dinner at Cracker Barrel somewhere in Virginia - 2012

The first couple of years at Casa Tipton-Kelly we invited friends over for dinner.  I still liked putting on a big dinner but maybe not so much now.  I think some of the fun went out of it was when I was told what my guests liked and didn't like.  One guest I couldn't cook any chicken dishes because she had visited a chicken processing factor and couldn't bear the thought of ingesting one of those feathered fowl, even though there were plucked by the time they reached my dinner table.  She likes fish and steak.  I don't cook fish and steak.  We haven't had steak in over forty years.  We also don't eat veal (another fav of hers) or lamb.  A habit I got from my father, who once worked in a slaughter house, I don't eat baby animals.

Me - dinner at Panera Bread Johnson City, Tennessee - 2012

Shortly after we moved in I met another long term gay couple who I invited over for dinner.  I had them over a few times but ended that relationship when I discovered that just because two couples are gay doesn't mean they are compatible.  We weren't compatible at all.  They were like Martha and George in "Whose Afraid of Virginia Wolff!"  Plus, "Martha" complained about everything I put before him from the size of the fork to my choice of beverages to be served with the meal.  I soon ended that friendship without regrets.

For a while we had another "friend" over occasionally for a Saturday night get together.  That worked well for a while because I could again put on a nice dinner without fear of not serving the right food or having utensils large enough to shovel the food down one's gullet.  Occasionally our "friend" would invited us over to his house for dinner.  While I never particularly cared for what he served (unlike my former guests I was never rude and complained), both Bill and I did enjoy the camaraderie of a gathering of friends.

But alas, all good things must end.  This former friend took offense to something I wrote about in my blog (actually several things) in which he thought I was referring to him.  He sent me a terse e-mail saying "Sorry I wasted your time. Bye!"  Just like that, an end of what I thought was a solid friendship.

Me - breakfast at Hampton Inn Virginia - 2012

These days I cook for myself.  I eat by myself.  Bill cooks for himself and also eats by himself.  At this time of our life this works fine for us.  And to be quite frank, I have no desire to do the formal company sit down dinners.  The magic has gone folks.

Me cooking breakfast in our Philadelphia kitchen 1969

Yesterday I met a friend for lunch.  We met at Panera Bread. The food was good (I had creamy tomato soup and half Cuban panini sandwich.  Excellent lunch, good company and I didn't have the stress of cooking on a hot day.  And you know what folks?  I like it.

Tonight I'll have a grilled hamburger (on my George Foreman grill), a big tablespoon of my homemade potato salad (I make the BEST potato salad) and maybe some homemade salsa and a fresh corn on the cob ear of corn.  That's all I need for dinner these days.

For breakfast I have a bowl of cereal (usually Corn Chex) and a banana or strawberries.  Lunch is a bowl of soup from Panera (I buy a quart at a time), a hummus wrap sprinkled with Feta cheese and Doritos chips on the side.  Don't tell me about the calories.  As I said before, I still weigh the same (160 lbs) that I did when I graduated from high school fifty-three years ago (1959).

Will I ever cook a sit down dinner again?  Maybe but I don't plan on setting a spread out anytime in the near future and that is just fine with me.

Me - lunch in Toccoa Georgia - 2012

Healthy Chicken Breasts

Trim fat from chicken breasts

Hi folks!  Something light this morning.  It's been awhile since I posted one of my tried and true recipes.  Here is one that I make all the time.  It is a very simple healthy recipe for cooking chicken but very tasty and elegant.

Melt 1/4 cup butter in shiny aluminum pan

This isn't my original recipe.  I discovered it many years ago (late Fifties) when my father was given a special diet by his doctor to help with his heart problems.  My father loved anything cooked in LOTS of grease, especially fried chicken.  This is a recipe for chicken (I use boneless chicken breasts) that isn't friend and doesn't use any grease.  However, it does use butter but only a minimal amount.

Place breasts in pan to cook slowly in melted butter

Here are the ingredients you need:

3 (or 4) boneless chicken breasts (or any other parts of the chicken you desire)
1/4 cup butter
1 sliced onion
salt and pepper to taste

Place one sliced onion on top of breasts

I told you it would be easy!

• Here's what you do now.  Take a stainless steel aluminum pot (a shiny stainless steel pot seems to work best, don't ask me why it just does) and melt the 1/4 cup butter.  Be careful not to brown or burn the butter.

• Next, place the chicken breasts in the pan.  

• Salt and pepper the chicken breasts to your taste.

• Place the sliced onions over top of the seasoned chicken breasts.

• Cover the pan and cook on Low for approximately 30 to 45 minutes until the chicken begins to brown.  

• When the bottom of the chicken has browned, turn over.  You may need to add a small amount of water to the pan to prevent burning.

• Continue cooking until the chicken is a golden brown on both sides.

Cook breasts in butter with lid on until browned

Turn the fire off.

Turn breasts over to brown on both sides, adding water if necessary to prevent burning

Now you have a tender, tasty chicken that can be eaten as is or added to any other recipe. 

I usually eat one chicken breast with fresh al dente string beans and French Fries (yes Virginia, I eat French Fries - oven baked without the salt).  

I cool the rest of the chicken and make chicken salad with it to take to work at my nighttime hotel job.

This is ONE EASY TASTY RECIPE.  You can't miss!

Enjoy!

Gary Papp, The Essential Chef

Today I begin a new feature in my blog, highlighting local folks and events that are unique to this area where I live...southern Delaware.

Today my feature is Gary Papp, The Essential Chef.   I met Gary at the hotel where I work in Lewes.  He and his wife Lorraine frequently cater events that we have at the hotel.  I especially remember Gary because he is one of those rare breed of folk who is friendly to everybody.  The first time I saw him he greeted me by name ("Hi Ron, how are you?")  I didn't know who he was.  He answered my quizzical look by saying to me "I'm Garry Papp and I am providing the food for tonight's event."  Of course I was immediately impressed not only because he addressed me by name (he must have seen my name tag) but also that he took time to even acknowledge me, a lowly front desk clerk.  I don't know how many of you have worked hotel front desks but for those of you who have, will understand me when I say this is very unusual.  We're not usually treated with such kindness and respect by caterers.

Gary and his wife Lorraine have catered many subsequent events at the hotel and they always treat me with this kindness.  In fact, one time Lorraine even made me a dish of the sampling of some of the food they had made for one event because she noticed that I didn't have anything to eat.  She was right, when there is an event at the hotel, I cannot eat in the kitchen.  That was so thoughtful of her and her kindness did not go unappreciated.

Sam Calagione and Gov. Markel - Nick Roth photo from Cape Gazette

Yesterday in the Cape Gazette I saw their picture in the paper along with Sam Calagione, the founder of Dogfish Brewery.  Sam is another kind person who frequents the hotel where I work.  He has visitors to his plant from around the world who stay at the hotel where I work.  When Sam comes into visit them he always greets me with a warm and genuine smile.  He is another one of these "important" people who is kind to this lowly front desk clerk.  In fact the last time he was there he gave me a Dogfish hat.  He must have known I LOVE hats.

Well, I have to get ready to attend our homeowner's meeting.

Italian Dressing Garden Pasta Salad

Italian Dressing Garden Pasta Salad

During these hot and humid days of summer my appetite is for salads.  The past month or so I've made several batches of potato salad.  I'm all potato salad out now so it is time for pasta salad.  I just made this recipe this afternoon (with my own variations of course) and I'm telling you...THIS IS GOOD!

I'm sharing.  Here is the recipe (with my changes):

ITALIAN DRESSING GARDEN PASTA SALAD

3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
3 large cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tsp. sea salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 tsp. fresh basil, finely minced (right out of my garden!)
1/2 tsp. fresh oregano,finely minced (again, right out of my garden)
2 tsp. shredded Parmesan cheese
pinch of red pepper flakes (optional - I optioned because I like a "bite")

FOR THE SALAD

8 oz (1/2 lb), pasta, cooked (I used the spiral garden vegetable tricolor rotini)
3 cups assorted vegetables (I used a minced red and green pepper and black olives and cherry tomatoes)
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1 peeled and chopped cucumber

Using a food processor or blender mix the salad dressing (there is no need to mince the garlic and herbs)

Cook the pasta according to package directions  Using colorful pasta and vegetables makes for an especially attractive salad.  Thats why I use multicolored rotini pasta.

Cook the pasta 9 to 11 minutes in boiling water.  Remove and drain and cool.

Add the vegetables to the pasta salad and mix well. Taste and adjust the seasonings.  More salt, pepper, herbs and cheese may be added or a little lemon zest of juice, or even a pinch of granulated garlic.

Refrigerate pasta at last two hours before serving.  Enjoy!

Garden salad ready for the refrigerator to be enjoyed at a later date

Strawberry Pie

A couple of weeks ago, I discovered a nearby farm that grew fresh strawberries for the picking.  I love fresh strawberries.  They have such a delicate, sweet flavor that those "Frankenstein" store strawberries don't have.  Alas, I had become so used to those cardboard, store bought strawberries that I had almost forgotten what real strawberries tasted like.

Well, I got myself down to the farm very early in the morning, before the oppressive heat and humidity of the day descended upon the land like a big, fat, warm sweaty,  hand.  I picked a total of 64 quarts of strawberries.  Most of the strawberries I froze.  I will enjoy those strawberries in the depth of winter when even the faux strawberries aren't even available in the local supermarket.

Strawberry Pie

I had picked so many strawberries that I decided that I could part with a few and make a fresh strawberry pie.  This recipe is from the wife of my former boss and good friend Bill P.  Her name is Marie P.  I'm embarrassed to say that even though Bill gave me this recipe lo these thirty of so years ago (where does the time fly?) I'm just now trying it.

The wait was worth it!  The verdict is in....delicious!  The only caveat, eat the pie within a day.  If you leave the pie longer than that the water starts to separate from the strawberries and you have a soggy mess on your hands.  The crispness of the pre-baked pie shell is but a memory.  The taste is the same, sweet and spring-timey but the presentation has deteriorated.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Pie                    

1 cup sugar
1 cup cold water
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 quart fresh strawberries (and I mean FRESH - none of that store bought fake strawberries)

• Mix sugar and corn starch then cold water, butter and vanilla.  Boil until thick.
• COOL.  Have baked pie shell ready.  
• Fold 1 quart fresh strawberries into sauce.
• Pour into baked pie shell.
• Top with whipped cream if desired.
• Feed your face and delight in one of the purest pleasure in life - a good, fresh dessert.

Strawberries ready for freezing

More strawberries for freezing

Strawberry shortcake (I couldn't resist)

Eggplant Parmesan

Oven Baked Eggplant Parmesan

Perhaps my favorite dish of all time is Eggplant Parmesan.  Whenever I'm out at a restaurant the first thing is check on the menu is to see if they have Eggplant Parmesan.  Most restaurants do not offer this delicious and healthy entree.  Those that do, the variations range from the proper way it is baked (crusty breaded outer layer with a soft, slightly 'eggplant' bitter inner layer covered with fresh tomato sauce and layers of Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses) to what I call 'eggplant soup.'  Yes, I've had chunks of eggplant in a soupy tomato sauce passed off as "Eggplant Parmesan" (I sent it back).  

Since the restaurants down here in LSD (Lower Slower Delaware) are so focused on seafood  and those that do prepare Eggplant Parmesan are found so wanting, I make my own Eggplant Parmesan.  Again, as usual, my version if far superior to anything I can find in a restaurant down here in East Coast Tourist Trap Land with their Sysco Driven Food supply.  Mine is made with fresh ingredients, not grease soaked, and a LOT cheaper (no tip required).  And when you make it at home like I do you will get it hot out of the oven, not lukewarm which is the way I usually have it served to me at a restaurant.  I'm going to beat up on the restaurants down here in LaLa Land again but they have so much to learn about the proper way to serve GOOD FOOD.  I guess I was spoiled by all the really good restaurants that I enjoyed all those summers in the 70's and 80's when I vacationed in Provincetown, Massachusetts.  I don't know what it is with the folks who run restaurants in Gayberry, DE (aka Rehoboth Beach), but they just 'don't get it.'  When I eat out now I do it for the social aspect, I've given up on getting good and interestingly prepared food.  Never once in Provincetown did I have a dish served to me that was 'painted' on the dish.  That's what they do down here and call it 'presentation.'  Hey, I don't need 'presentation', I only need good tasting food at a reasonable price.  Alas, I fear those days of dining on good and fresh food at reasonable prices is long gone.  It is a reality that I have reluctantly accepted as my lot since I have made my home in coastal southern Delaware.  


So here without further ado is my recipe (gleaned from the Internet with a few tweaks) for Oven Baked Eggplant Parmesan.  Just a note, I don't fry my breaded eggplant slices because I don't want to smell up my kitchen and great room with grease plus I don't want all that grease splattering all over my flat top range.  And another 'plus' is that oven baked is healthier.  Just another reason I am healthy and kept my weight at 160 lbs. is the same as it was  when I graduated from high school 52 years ago- Yes, I'm bragging (it's my blog and I can brag)

Oven Baked Eggplant Parmesan

Click to make recipe bigger if you can't read it

Eggplant Parmesan before I put it in the oven

A Guaranteed Pickup

Hey guys, if you ever want a guaranteed pickup here it is: 

 Chocolate Chip Cookies!

I just made a batch a few minutes ago.  Just out of the oven, they're still warm.  Is there anything better than almost melted chocolate meeting your tongue taste buds  like a lava flow down the side of a Hawaiian mountain?  Hmmmm good!


It's been at least two years since I made chocolate chip cookies.  The only problem when I make them (with black English walnuts by the way for that special 'smokey' nut flavor), is that I EAT THEM.  


Those cookies that you see in the picture on this blog?  They will be 'down the hatch' by Tuesday. 

 Gone baby gone!

Cooking Meme

Quiche Lorraine by Ron

Another meme folks!  This one is a food meme. I stole borrowed this from Cubby of Patently Queer.

1. Can you cook? If yes, do you like to cook?

Damn right I can cook!  From my earliest memory I wanted to cook.  When I was in high school during the Fifties I wanted to be in the Home Economics class ('Home Ec') but this was back in the Bad Old Repressive Uptight Eisenhower Years where the boys' place was Shop and the gals place was Home Ec. I used to help my Mom cook (who had a very limited repertoire) and then when I got married to Bill I taught myself from cookbooks.  I am the best cook I know, par none and I make no excuses for bragging about it.  I cook better than any restaurant I've ever eaten at.  I am my best cook which is one of the joys of my life.  By the way, my first cookbook was "The Joy of Cooking."  Appropriate.

Ron's signature apple pie

2. When do you eat with your whole family?

I eat alone.  My husband Bill prefers to eat at a different time than I do.  Once in a great while I will invite our friend Bob C. over for dinner and I will whip up one of my specialities and we will all sit down at the table together for a kumbuya meal.  I normally eat at 7 to 8 pm at night at the kitchen counter  while watching TV.  We have never used our dining room since we moved into our new home in 2006. When we have company (Bob C.), I set the dishes out and we eat at the table in the kitchen, which has the best view of our backyard.

I eat at the counter in the corner of the kitchen 

3. What do you eat for breakfast?

Corn Chex with 2% milk and bananas or strawberries when they are in season.

Ron's breakfast - everyday

4. What do you eat on weekdays?

Lunch is Doritas Buffalo chips and a hummus wrap of either spinach and artichoke or red pepper sprinkled with feta cheese.  'Dessert' is a handful of Diamond glazed walnuts (which I am trying to wean myself off of to drop five pounds.)

My guilty pleasure (and the reason I have a 'tube' around my waist)

5. How often do you eat out (in a restaurant)?

About once a week.  I like to eat out but I am no fan of restaurant food. Most of it is overpriced hog swill (my term).  I eat out for the camaraderie of my friends.  Once in a great while I will find a restaurant that serves good, fresh food but it is always obscenely overpriced ($60 inluding tip last time for a medallion of pork which really was 'fork tender' - but I could have done the same thing at home.)  Where I live now I am at a disadvantage because it is a beach resort and the restaurants can get away with the Sysco pre-cooked, tasteless packages of overpriced food due to the heavy tourist traffic.  Off season most of the restaurants are closed and the ones who are open serve the same bland concoctions.  

Cracker Barrel - it's the friends not the food

6. How often do you order delivery/take-out?

Never.  Ever since I heard that my co-worker's boyfriend who worked in a pizza shop (a national chain) performed a sexual act on a take-out pizza with his bored co-workers for laughs, I have no appetite for the Russian Roulette of take-out meals.  Ever take a look at what who works at take-outs?  I rest my case.

Beware of what's in the bag

7. Regarding no. 5 and 6: Say there weren’t financial reasons, would you do this more often?

It is expensive to eat out but I can afford it (as long as I have my present part-time job) and it is worth it to me to spend time with my friends.

Well off retirees dining at MIXX in Rehoboth - expensive but good

8. Are there any “standard dishes” you serve regularly?

I serve myself a 'standard dish' of Caesar Salad with either a chicken an vegetable casserole or eggplant casserole.  Once in a great while I make a slow cooker, fork tender,  beef stew with white wine.  I have either French Fries or oven baked potatoes every night.  I also have ONE dessert a day, taken before I go to bed.  Usually this is a cake which I vary between lemon pound cake, apple cake or pineapple cake. 

Hawaiien Wedding Cake - Ron Style

9. Have you ever cooked for more than 6 persons?

Very, very rare.  Last time I did it was thirty-five years ago for my brother, his wife and two daughters, my Mother and my husband Bill.  It is doubtful that I will ever cook for more than three people again in my lifetime. 

1969 - Philadelphia, PA home - Coq au Vin served

10. Do you cook every day?

Every day, without fail.  I cannot stand prepacked, frozen food.  It is poison.  It makes me sick and I cannot digest it.  I appreciate the convenience but if the food makes me sick (no matter how often they put "No Perservatives" and "All Natural" on the package), that cardboard food still makes me sick.  I would rather have a bowl of cereal with fresh fruit than ingest those chemicals.

Dinner is serve at our home - very rare

11. Have you ever tried recipes from blogs?

Yes, I always try new recipes.  Sometimes I find some great ones.  

Lemon Pound Cake from a blog - scrumptious!

12. Who cooks more frequently at your home?

I do ALL THE COOKING in this family.  Only one time in our forty-seven years of domesticity has my husband Bill cooked.  It was a DISASTER.  Bill usually eats peas right out of a can with a large dollop of  mayonnaise, which is what he prefers.  He eats 'lunch' at 10 am in the morning.  'Dinner' for Bill is 4 pm in the afternoon.  I eat breakfast at 7 am in the morning.  Lunch at 1 pm in the afternoon and dinner at 7 or 8 pm at night.  We're on different eating schedules.  When I bake a large casserole, Bill will take a couple of large serving spoons in his Eating Bowl with TWO dollops of mayonnaise.  That is his special treat.  He likes my cooking but has asked me not to cook too much because he wants to lose weight and he can't if I'm cooking all this good food.  

Christmas dinner at Mom and Pop's 1969

13. And who cooks better?

No contest, me.  Yes, I'm bragging.  No false modesty here when it comes to who is the best cook in this household.  It is me.  I cook the best casseroles, stews, soups, desserts, et al.  The only thing I don't cook is fish or any type of seafood because I hate seafood and the way it stinks up the house.  Bill loves seafood.  Our neighbor is a fisherman and he frequently brings Bill fish that he has already cooked. I also don't cook fried foods anymore because since we have an open area (Great Room) house, I don't want all that grease in our curtains and upholstery.  Plus, eating non fried foods is much healthier.  I even bake my French Fries. 

My signature oven baked potatoes in olive oil with skins - delicious!

14. Do you cook totally different compared to your mother/parents?

Yes, my mother had a very limited cooking repertoire.  She made what my father liked with was basically meat and potatoes.  She did make very good biscuits though which I have never been able to duplicate.  I never had spaghetti or any food with garlic until I left home and was in the Army.  I never ate at a restaurant until I was in the Army.  After I taught myself to cook, my Mother tried and loved many of my recipes, except the ones with garlic in them which I occasionally would sneak in to play a prank on her.  My Mother did make good salmon patties which I haven't done...yet.  It's seafood and I'm afraid I'll stink up my hands when I make it.  I can't stand a fishy smell, it gags me.  

My Mom making her salmon patties - she could do it with her eyes closed - this was the last time she did made them, she died shortly thereafter - I'm glad I have this picture of her smiling making her 'patties'

15. If yes, do you nevertheless eat at your parents?

My father used to make a good vegetable soup. And as I said before, Mom's biscuits were the best plus she made a good stuffing for turkey and gravy.  Both my parents are gone now.

My father making his signature fresh garden veggie soup

16. Are you a vegetarian or could you imagine being one?

Absolutely!  I love vegetables.  Eggplant casserole is my favorite.  I've had it the last three nights in a row.  The meat I eat is boneless chicken but I can't eat a whole half breast anymore.  I cut it into one inch chunks and mix  it with fresh vegetables (not the frozen bags of tasteless veggies).  I haven't eaten a steak in over fifty years.  Prime rib? Once at a Christmas Party dinner I was sitting next to my co-worker Christine and she ordered a prime rib, rare.  I took one look at that big slab of pink pulsating meat and asked her "Are you going to eat that?"  She flashed a big smile on her cherubic face and said "Every last bite!"  I almost fainted.  

What I feel like doing when I see a 'prime' rib 

17. What would you like to cook which you haven’t dared to make yet?

The same answer as Cubby, a souffle.

18. Do you prefer cooking or baking?
I like both but I do more cooking than baking except for cakes.  I don't eat bread anymore. I did make wonderfully tasty yeast rolls but I have weaned myself totally from bread.  I don't need it. 

19. What is your greatest misery in the kitchen?
Years ago when I used to have company over for dinner to try and impress them I was making a Beef Stroganoff.  While my company of three was sitting at the table waiting me to put the finishing touches (stirring in the sour cream) I opened the door to the cabinet above the stove to reach for a serving plate for the beef stroganoff and a glass pie dish fell out right into the pan of beef stroganoff!  I couldn't believe it!  Here I had rubbed each piece of thinly sliced, expensive, tender beef individually with garlic and had everything JUST RIGHT and this pie dish crashes into the frying pan where my beef stroganoff was residing.  I tried to pick out the shards of glass from the pie pan all the while assuring my company 'all was well'.  My hubby Bill saw what I was doing and how upset I was (I was very young at the time and felt the need to impress my company unlike now...whatever, whatever) and he wisely came out into the kitchen and, which he was patting me on the back to calm me down, said "Ron, you can't serve this. It has glass in it."  I tried to convince him that I got out all the pieces of glass but was unsuccessful.  The only other food I had in the house was some of those awful frozen veal patties that tasted like the tongues of shoes.  THAT meal was my BIGGEST DISASTER every.  I remember it as clearly today as I did that day about 45 years ago.  Lesson learned, if you break a pie dish in the meal you're serving, don't serve it to your guests because you might injure or kill them.




 20. What do you dislike?

SEAFOOD!  Anything cooked with seafood reminds me of the flotsam that is left behind on the beach after the tide goes out.  Sorry folks, but there it is.  No offense to my female friends but as a gay guy, anything that smells fishy gags me.  This gay guy anyway.  I know there are gay guys who LOVE seafood.  I ain't one of them.  The irony is that I now live at a seaside beach resort and other than chicken, that's all the restaurants have to offer down here...SEAFOOD.  No thank you.  Eggplant Parmesan, now you're talking.

I found this baby shark on the beach during my walk last summer, probably ended up in a local restaurant bouillabaisse soup which they charged an arm and a leg