Call Me Crazy

 

Apparently I didn't get enough to eat over the Thanksgiving holidays because I had the urge to fire up the grill yesterday. It had been some time since I got to do some grilling and in some sense I guess the urge to have a campfire and I used the grilling as a way to supplant that jonze.

But it was a rainy, overcast day and really not conducive to either. It got dark quicker than I expected so I had some concerns about being able to tell when the food was done. The backporch light just didn't cut it - my wife said I needed a coal miner's hat.


So I hunkered down and made some grub anyway. Much like Thanksgiving, I usually try to grill enough food to make it through two meals if not three.

On the menu yesterday was a piece of salmon marinated in soy sauce and maple syrup and seared with a coat of crushed red pepper. I also made mini-burgers (because nothing is worse than your kid leaving a half-eaten burger on his plate), grilled some veggies (orange/red peppers, zucchini and red onion) as well as some bread.

I know I have gone on at length about the joys of grilled bread but that shit is awesome. This morning my wife made a sunny side up egg, took some leftover bread, topped it with the egg, salmon and hollandaise sauce. Fucking grilled bread cannot be denied!

I made jalapeno and cheddar mini-burgers for lunch (often called sliders on popular restaurant menus).

Tonight I'm thinking about making veggie/goat cheese quesadillas with the rest of the batch of food.

Can't you just smell it?

What I do smell is a hardy exercise regime in my future!

What We Eat

Here's a peek at this past week's dinner menu:

Tuesday - San Francisco pork chops (a soy sauce, garlic, brown sugar, dry sherry sauce) with Parmesan risotto and a pear, pine nuts, feta and mixed greens salad.

Wednesday - fish (cod deep fried in a ESB beer batter) & chips.

Thursday - bastardizing my mother-in-law's savory chili recipe which features red onion, garlic, celery and jalapeno (sauteed), ground beef and white corn, black and kidney beans. Topped with shredded sharp cheddar and sour cream and served with tortilla chips.

I try to cook from scratch as much as possible because a.) fresh seasonal products taste so much better b.) doing it yourself is cheaper.

Even something simple as lunch - where I usually buy cured meats like salami or Lebanon baloney as well as shaved ham or turkey and cheeses (Swiss, American and provolone) from the deli counter at my local grocery store - gets the do-it-yourself treatment. What's not to enjoy about buying some decent rolls from the bakery and then crafting your own hoagie? Just don't forget the pickle...

Sure there are times I fall back on chicken nuggets and sliced apple for the kids or maybe order out sushi for the wife and I. And there are times pizza becomes the quick & easy default meal (although I still buy the crust, sauce, cheese and fixings and then built it up myself) or a chicken mixed with pasta casserole but for the most part our dinners are made with tender loving care and because of this - because my sons see me making dinner and because sometimes they help make dinner - I think they are a little more open and aggressive with their eating habits than most of their peers.