EAT (43 foods)

I occasionally make this incredible spaghetti sauce….. it tastes like it was carefully made by hand over the course of a couple of days…. in reality, the composition is a combination of previously prepared items and a few “raw” embellishments….

I typically toss the sauce together in a crock pot and let the stuff cook all day long… which, inevitably, leads to a burst of cooking activity….

I recently had such a day…. making my sauce all during the day… making multiple trips to the grocery to pick up other things that I wanted to cook or prepare….

Ended up having a simple but incredible dinner…..

• Spaghetti, with the ultimate “gravy” (as Paulie Walnuts calls pasta sauce)... actually, it involves blending three different brands of store-bought spaghetti sauce with fresh garlic, onions, peppers, roma tomatos, and ground italian sausage and ground beef….
• breaded boneless chicken breast smothered in sauce and baked inside a coating of a medley of six italian cheeses
• French bread smothered in garlic butter spread before toasting under the broiler
• Fresh tossed salad of iceburg, bibb, romaine, carrots, radishes, celery, green peppers, red peppers, scallions, vidalia oninon, and red cabbage, tossed with homemade “cucumber balsamic vinegarette” dressing
• An incredible pinot grigio from America

A terrific meal.

Since the Simpsons movie has come out…. I find myself letting more “hang out”.....

If Homer is temporarily cool…. I must capitalize by letting a bit of my “inner Homer” shine through…..

Because of all this…. I find myself compelled to admit….

That I love bacon…..

I am a soup fan. This does NOT mean that I love all types of soups. I think, probably, that I enjoy about 85% or the soups I’ve sampled.

One of my favorites is, without question, Clam Chowder.

Doesn’t matter much which kind. I like New England Clam Chowder, Manhattan Clam Chowder. Well, I need to modify my claim that it doesn’t matter which Clam Chowder…. I am not really a fan of Rhode Island Clam Chowder (for those who don’t know, this is Clam Chowder with a clear broth).

I have consumed Clam Chowder in nearly every state in the USA. I’ve had it in a dozen countries. I think the very best Clam Chowder I have ever had was in a famous restaurant in Boston, called Legal Seafoods, on December 28, 1988.

People ask, for various reasons, if I have one favorite food….. truth is… I love many, many, many, many, many foods…..

But I think I have to admit that BBQ Ribs (baby back ribs) are my favoritest of all the favorites….

Nothing quite compares, really.

Of all the super-sugary corn starch cereals that are essentially identical in terms of ingredients…. (Capn’ Crunch, King Vitamin, etc), my favorite was always QUISP... which I have long thought was gone….

But apparently, it is back….

I must get some.

Last night, I was fortunate to be able to prepare and enjoy one of the most delictible meals I have savored in some time…. Rather ordinary, in many respects…. But so enjoyable that I can still taste it, nearly a day later….

It included:

35) A sirloin steak, tender enough to require no tenderizer or marination. I grilled it myself, (along with three counterparts) on my wonderful outdoor gas grill. It was an American steak, raised by people I know and love. They told me that they singled out this particular steer as being superb, and directed all its meet to special friends. I am grateful.

36) A tuna steak: Firm and flavorful. Tuna steak like this is often difficult to distinguish from beef – both in texture and taste. I marinated them for a bit in a citrus sauce with a bit of garlic and cilantro. The steaks cut like a pork chop, but were light and crisp on the tongue. Thank you to Sali and your crew!

37) Baked potato: Superb bakers grown in what used to be the New Mexico desert. Thank you to the many deeply tanned men who labored to bring these fine tubers to my table!

38) Corn on the cob: Sweetest of sweet corns. So damned yummy. Sometimes, like last night, when I was in the middle of devouring a cob, I think I could eat nothing but sweet corn for the rest of my life!

39) Veggie Medley ala Gump: Squash medallions, asparagus, scallions, four kinds of peppers, yellow onions, and water chestnuts….. yum!

40) Cuban Hardbread: Yami brought the dough, and baked it here at the house. I have always loved this particular ethnic speciality, but have never had it this fresh and this hot!

41) Salad (almost). The four of us are all big salad lovers. And there was a delicious one waiting in the fridge. We just got so swept up in the other dishes that we all forgot to fetch it. That almost never happens. I love salad very much.

That tells you how good the rest of it was. We served everything on these giant brigthly colored plates I bought in Mexico and had to leave at the airport, only to dispatch relatives to retrieve them a few weeks later! The journey of the plates is a fun story, which entertained our companions for the evening.

Don’t even ask me about the wine. It was so good I am sipping a glass right now.

Salut!

I love them…. vidalia onions… red onions…. white onions….. yellow onions…. green onions…..

They are healthy…. and tasty….. they have kick….. and so many foods taste better with onions in them….

Personally, I can’t get enough…. I’ve taken the pilgrimage to Vidalia, Georgia…. seen the water tower…. bought and consumed onions at the side of the road…. I have grown, purchased, packed and shipped onions to every continent on earth…. If there is a finer vegetable, I am not aware of it…

I’ve no idea when I discovered them…..

But I am quite sure that I have loved them ever since…..

For the uninitiated…. tis a light and crispy snack…. with the consistency of… well no other chip really compares, now does it…. they are shaped like onion rings…. comprised of some compacted or toasted bits that taste like a cross between a potato crisp and onions…..

They’re awesome, man….

In this case, I am referring to the snack crackers…. not the live pets…. (both have been known to disappear at my parties, don’t you know)

Whoever came up with the idea for the orginal Goldfish (fish-shaped soup crackers) was a GENIUS! The expansion of the brand has been, like the rare case of movie sequels that are better than the original, an excellent succession of yummy delights!

First, cheddar cheese…. then pizza…. then the healthier but still tasty varieties….. Ladies and Germs… in my house… a week without goldfish is not a good week….

I love the stuff…... I am not a huge fan of the artsy-fartsy psuedo-pizza…...

Personally, I love lots of meats…. I like zingy bits…. I love onions…. not a fan of the anchovies or bacon, so much…. but I think my faves have ground beef, pepperoni, sausange, mushroom, onions, green peppers and loads of cheese…..

But I once had a several month “flirting affair” with a gal who used to say, “Pizza is like sex, it ain’t always great, but it is always good.”