What's cooking?

An afternoon with steamed Maryland crabs, corn and ice cold beer.

Robin, from the looks of the beans I am guessing that they are standard Blue Lake pole (as opposed to bush) beans. The Blue Lake pole is a stringless bean while the bush bean may not be stringless. I wonder if Asian green beans refers to the style in which the dish is done. But, what do I know? Click the link to see pictures,
http://homegrown-harvest.com/vegetables.html

[Robin Garr]

Here you go Robin, Linda just put the photos and recipeI sent on her site.

http://whatscookingamerica.net/KarenCal ... -Asian.htm

Nice! Thanks, Karen. I like your mise en place shot, too.

Perfect, Karen. Thanks for asking Robin. I'll be making this with my first batch of green beans from the garden.

Cheddar Chive Pillows (aka Cheez-Its). I added dried chives to half the batter. So simple. So good!

Cheddar and Chive Pillows.jpg

Looks yummy Jo Ann. Are they creamy or crispy in the center?

It was pizza for us last night. I used fresh garden tomatoes, pulled an onion out of the garden, garlic, my home made tomato sauce, purple and green basils, goat cheese, jack cheese, banana peppers,and salami. I pickled the peppers the day before, using the liquid from some pickled jalapeños I had used up. They had a nice tang to them.

Here is the raw version

[Robin Garr]

It was pizza for us last night.

Pizza! One of nature's basic food groups!

Looks yummy Jo Ann. Are they creamy or crispy in the center?

Crispy and crunchy -- through and through!

[Jenise]

An afternoon with steamed Maryland crabs, corn and ice cold beer.

Drew, I wish I'd been at your house!

As it is, not cooking tonight. I'm looking forward to my first dinner with a new dinner group!

[Jenise]

Looks yummy Jo Ann. Are they creamy or crispy in the center?

Crispy and crunchy -- through and through!

Recipe, please! Looks like to-die-for party food.

[Jenise]

I'm getting ready to represent my country at Bill Spohn's rib-off this weekend. Today's testing day: I've got six dry rubs ready to go!

An afternoon with steamed Maryland crabs, corn and ice cold beer.

Drew, I wish I'd been at your house!

As it is, not cooking tonight. I'm looking forward to my first dinner with a new dinner group!

How did it go Jenise...tell us all!

There used to be a local hole in the wall place out in the country that the locals loved Great food, not gourmet, just abundant cowboy food, huge steaks with sautéed mushrooms or deep fried onion rings, deep -fried prawns, great fresh cold salads, baked potatoes with the works! Lots of families, 30 plus crowd, seniors, and mountain folks all were local customers. Great for people watching. Well, it mysteriously burned down. It is open again, with a clean, slick, modern look to it, but with the same cook, owner and wait staff. I hear the food is the same. So for the sake of saying we have been there, and seen the new digs, we are eating there tonight.

We had to go to a funeral in Manchester, so on the way home we stopped at La Carrata's, the best Mexican restaurant in New Hampshire, and perhaps Northern New England. Burp!

[Robin Garr]

Italian eggplant and mushrooms with onions, green peppers, tomato and a few chopped Sicilian olives over brown rice. It was so good that we ate it up before I thought about taking a picture. Oops!

[Jenise]

How did it go Jenise...tell us all!

We had a great time. They tested a new format wherein the host prepares ALL the food, and though it worked out very well it was decided that what everyone would most prefer to do is have themes in the future where everyone brings a dish and accompanying wines. Host's choice, and it can be based on anything at all: an ethnicity, a color, a shape--literally just anything that inspires creativity.

So what do you think of this? We went to the newly rebuilt local steak house last night as I mentioned in the above post. I could not locate the restroom, so asked and was directed down a hall past the kitchen, and a prep bar where the wait staff puts salads on the plates, and places au jus, sour cream, etc. As I walked past them, I noticed some of the ladies did not have on gloves. On my way back past the area, I stood back and watched. One of the ladies was laughing so hard, she threw her head down and her hair went forward over the top of the dinner dish she was going to deliver. OMG, what a terrible design for a restaurant, IMHO. Why would they direct bathroom traffic past the kitchen and prep bar? There is only one way there and one way back, so each person is going past twice. The eating utensils were another story. Cheap forks, actually looked used and may have been saved from the fire. My fork actually bent each time as I tried to use the cheap steak knife which had little pointed individual teeth rather than the serrated blade. Food was standard, cowboy meat and potatoes. Iceberg lettuce with blue cheese dressing was cold and fresh, until the butter from the potato melted all over it, and the steak juices ran into it. Yuck! The place was packed, on a Thursday evening, it is several miles out into the country towards the foothills. It seems the locals are very loyal.

[Robin Garr]

"Seitanic ritual": Taking inspiration from a LouisvilleHotBytes.com post by Chef David Clancy, pulled seitan barbecue on farmers' market potato rolls. 

We have more basil and oregano than we know what to do with so...



Tonight's dinner. Basil pizza.

[Robin Garr]

Tonight's dinner. Basil pizza.

Looks great, Ron! My pizzas always come out "free form" like that, and I don't mind at all. Yours looks awesome.

"Seitanic ritual": Taking inspiration from a LouisvilleHotBytes.com post by Chef David Clancy, pulled seitan barbecue on farmers' market potato rolls. 

I never heard of Seitan until your post. I read that it looks like meat and has texture like meat if made properly...but what does it taste like?

[Robin Garr]

Spaghetti with butter and fresh sage, a simple, delicious dish that has become part of the rotation since Mary and I discovered it at lunch with Roberto (remember him?) in Alba during a trip to Piemonte years ago. 

Spaghetti with butter and fresh sage, a simple, delicious dish that has become part of the rotation since Mary and I discovered it at lunch with Roberto (remember him?) in Alba during a trip to Piemonte years ago.

Robin, like you, I would be making this dish for two. How many sage leaves would be required? I am thinking 1/2 lb of spaghetti.