Best Damn Food I Ever Ate

This past weekend I attended my Grandfather's funeral. My Grandfather was a wonderful man and I will miss him greatly. While he didn't do it much in his later years, and he was definitely more know for his photography, but he was an amazing cook. He used to sit in a chair just off the kitchen and talk about anything and everything. I especially enjoyed the stories where he made himself laugh so hard that his eyes watered. Both he and my Grandmother (who I never saw cook, but you really couldn't with the fake eyelashes and the jewels) always described good food as "The best damn food I ever ate." I never got to cook for them, but I always wanted them to describe something I made that way. Goodbye Grandfather. I love you very much.

And I promise never to splash the window.

San Diego

My helpful hint of the day is if you ever need a caterer in San Diego, El Indio does awesome Mexican food and French Gourmet does good finger food.

I didn't think it was possible to get sick of Mexican food, but I had it for dinner three nights in a row and I think I'm done for a little while.

While I haven't been cooking, I did manage to teach my 13 year old sister to make margaritas (2 parts mix, 1 part tequila, ice, splash of lime juice, and blend. Lime wedge run around the edge before dipping in salt if desired.) I have a feeling this will become useful to her in the next few years. She also knew that they sell hard liquor in the grocery store.

While in San Diego it rained. It might only be the third time I remember that ever happening. It really poured and no one knew how to handle it. There also was a grocery store that was split in two sections by an open air patio. While a cool idea, I don't want to run back and forth across the patio when I forget something in the other store.

2 posts in one day!!

More random snippets from the little bit of cooking and a whole lot of eating I've been doing the past month.

-A little bit of lime juice in my teriyaki-ish sauce is fantastic.
-I seriously considered bringing back a loaf of sourdough shaped liked a teddy bear. Then I realized that I would have probably have to carry it on my lap like a small child. That would look weird, especially when I started nibbling on the ears somewhere over Nebraska.
-Multiple restaurants in San Francisco had containers in the bathrooms for used needles. When I pointed it out to my mom her response was she didn't realize there were that many diabetics. Funny, my thought was I didn't realize there were that many heroin addicts.
-My all time favorite sandwich has to be turkey, romaine, tomato, avocado, provolone, and honey mustard on sourdough. It even keeps for a few hours so you can have a plane picnic. Not nearly as fun as a train picnic.
-I still don't know if the chocolate malt is as good as I remember. But the food at The Oasis is exactly the same. I did have the disturbing realization that The Oasis is to my Dad what Nanny's or The Malt Shop was to me. Except I wouldn't take 4 year olds to either, but that's how old I was the first time I went to The Oasis.
-I did some incredibly incorrect math while halving a recipe, but I still think the whole wheat pizza dough needs more honey.
-Cranberry vinaigrette is so much better than it sounds, but the salad should have pecans instead of walnuts.

End of CSA

Since I'm still eating more than 70% of my meals somewhere other than my house, the cooking has slowed way down. We've also finished the CSA for this season. While I enjoyed the experience, I don't think I would do it again. Here are the pluses and minuses I found.

+The vegetables are wonderfully fresh and last much longer than anything I get at the grocery store.
-I don't care how long that kale sits in my fridge I'm still not going to eat it.
+Pretty, pretty eggs.
-Why are there 8 dozen eggs in my fridge? We didn't take them some weeks and we still didn't even make a dent in them. Matt didn't like the taste of them in scrambled eggs, so that cut way down on our egg consumption. Thanks to the people you took some off my hands so I could fit Diet Coke in my fridge.
+Garlic chives are awesome.
-I really didn't like the basil they grew. And it went bad much faster than anything else.
+The squash from them was great. Not nearly as bitter as other squash I've had.
-Their cucumbers were bitter, but that wasn't too big a problem because my plant is still giving us cucumbers. It even appeared in my dreams the other night. Creepy.
+Mini eggplants are the cutest things ever.
-Seriously, enough with the kale/chard/mustard greens. They're nasty.
+Lots of garlic and onions. The small onions were perfect when cooking for two.
+Unexpected melons and apples.
+Lots of peppers, some hot and some not too hot. I took the hot ones to work.
+Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes.
-We both grew really tired of tomatoes, which I didn't think was possible.

In the end, we're definitely not going to do this CSA next year. If we could find one that didn't have greens it would be a better fit for us. We ended up tossing or giving away so much that I felt bad. The other issue was remembering to go pick it up. I think we got all of them, except the very last one, but there were definitely times we almost forgot. I also think I would be able to find everything I needed at the farmer's market, which I can skip if I'm going to be out of town.

Tastebuds are back!!

So the mucus fairy who has been trying to kill me for the last few months might finally be beaten. However, now I'm in a position where I won't be cooking much the next few weeks because I won't be home. In light of this here are a few things I've learned over the past month.

-Train picnics are fun and champagne out of a can is very fun. I don't recommend using the straw that comes with the can on the train unless you want to put your eye out.
-My friend makes great guacamole.
-Electrolyte enhanced water might be the greatest thing since coffee.
-Dark pubs that serve chicken sandwiches that taste like fish are a little suspect. Also, I have now seen the world's largest order of nachos.
-It is possible to go to RI and not have clam chowder. It is also possible to go to Philly and not have a cheese steak.
-Vegan pizza with whole wheat crust and veggie burger crumbles is much better than it sounds, but I'm still never going to get Matt to try it.
-I would not eat a mooseburger.
-While I don't generally like yellow squash or zucchini, if the squash has both green and yellow on it I like it.
-Cucumber plants grow into Godzilla. Also, squirrels like tomatoes but not cucumbers.
-Teddy likes all kind of cheese, pasta, and risotto, but not carrots. However she will still beg for carrots.

Questions I have for the next few weeks.
-Will the chocolate ice cream at Stanford football games be as good as I remember it being? How much better will the football game be now that I can drink?
-Is it possible to be in San Francisco and not have sourdough? Is it possible to be in San Diego and not have guacamole?
-How long will a watermelon, a cantaloupe, or a butternut squash last in the fridge?
-Why have I never put caramelized onions in mashed potatoes before?

Taste Buds Temporarily Disabled

I have been fighting a sinus infection for over three months now, and it's finally taken a toll on my taste buds. Everything I've eaten in the past few days has tasted funky to me. I'll be putting on hold all recipes until I can figure out what is going on.

I'll refrain from explaining exactly what I've been doing to try and get rid of this, but I do want to share one thing. The sign of a good marriage is when you can watch the other person use a neti pot and still find them attractive.

Why you should clean out your frdige on a regular basis

As much as I love my father and step-mother, they have one really disturbing habit. They are unwilling to throw away anything in the fridge, ever. We have found ranch dressing two years past it's expiration date, four year old mustard, ten year old hot sauce, and the most disturbing find of all, a sixteen year old spice blend. Yes, the spice blend was old enough to drive. I also think they have dried herbs from the Johnson administration, but they aren't dated so it's harder to prove.

After growing up with this, I've tried very hard to make sure that there's nothing too far past it's time left in my fridge. Last night was my tossing binge. Most expired items were only two to three months old, but I did find two year old mustard. The rest of the tossed items prove that I'm a giant yuppie, in case I needed more proof. Included were a merlot-herb marinade, sun dried tomato tapenade, applewood smoked bacon, and homemade basil butter. I still have 6 dozen straight from the farm eggs if anyone needs some.