Well Tickle My Taste Buds!!

[gams]

Catfish? Red beans and Rice. Sweet Tea? Your Southern is showing. Makes me hungry for fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy. I haven't had good fried chicken in forever.

While I was roller-skiing Sunday morning, I spotted a huge blackberry patch with gobs of ripe berries basking in the sun, begging to be picked. Evening rolled around, and BP - always one for adventure, pretty much because she doesn't know better - and I went to pick. The other two - Hubs and LX - claimed it was too miserably hot and humid to tromp through the brush and thorns to pick berries.

BP picks blackberries the same way as the blueberries we picked last week. Lots come off the bush, but few make it into the pail. Fun to watch her face scrunch up when she gets those not-quite-ripe sour ones.

Blackberries over chocolate ice-cream is my latest beat-the-heat dessert.

[Quettalee]

Made our monthly forage to Whole Foods yesterday. $160 on all kinds of nummy, goodforyou stuff--and half a dozen bottles of supplements and vitamins of course. My little sweetie works so hard to keep us all healthy. So I stopped fighting it. I like the healthy eating part; I feel better and have actually lost a few pounds in the process. I'm still not the best at taking the vitamins, but here in the "sooner than later" I'll need to start taking some kind of hormone replacement therapy....*big eye roll*....Mary's been doing all the research, so I intend on going el-natural, I guess.

Anyway, I was getting to the "Michigan blueberries" that they still had on sale. Nice, big plump berries--and of course I had to get some more just because they were from Michigan! If I could just find a way that I couldn't resist eating them.

I think the blackberries over french vanilla ice cream still sounds nummier! (Not a big chocolate ice cream fan here).

[Quettalee]

"Sweet of the Week":

Angel food cake, very-special-Michigan's-own-sent-with-love Blueberries Foster, and a ton of Cool Whip!!

I have developed a new love for previously unappreciated blueberries!

Thanks sis.

[gams]

Glad you're enjoying! This weekend was "National Blueberry Festival" here; a real fun event. I've got to write about it when I have more time.

[quettalee]

can't wait to hear all about it!!

[Quettalee]

I'm still in tomato heaven!!

Breakfast this morning: Wheatberry bread, mayo (we are out of veganaise), imitation bacon bits on both pieces of bread, a fresh, juicy bright red tomato out of the window sill sliced nice and thick, swiss cheese, and baby spinach leaves!! I mean they are so plump, the juice just runs all down between your fingers getting you all messy and wet.... (whoops...got side-tracked there for a sec)....um....oh yeah, top it off with a few chips and two baby garlic dills from my Claussen jar and I am in total bliss.

My little gardener did such a fine job with her first endeavor; I am totally proud....and full. <smile>

[gams]

Mmmm...sounds so good. I love fresh from the garden tomatoes - you just can't buy anything comparable. And darn it - we just can't grow them at our house. We've tried just about everything - resorting to huge pots this year and last. Unfortunately, our back door neighbor's have a huge black walnut tree, and the roots extend into our yard close enough to the vegetable garden, making the soil toxic to the tomatoes. Even in pots, the tomato plant roots grow through the drainage holes and into the poisoned soil. We get gobs of cherry tomatoes; they ripen before the plants die. No big, juice ones though. Sigh.

Maybe a raised bed next year. Not ready to give up yet.

[Quettalee]

Perhaps you should try that gardening technique that Joxcee posted the links to; what was it, "lasagna gardening"?

[Quettalee]

No eye rolls, Gams.

It was chilly enough in here this morning with the windows open and the fans going that I had to have a little something to warm me from the inside. We were out of oatmeal, so I made myself a nice big bowl of cheese grits! I know you know what they are. If you don't, I bet Hubs can tell you all about grits.

Nummm-mmmie!

[Quettalee]

What? I just realized....no comment about the grits, Gams??

Anyway...


Because We Don't Have Enough Fried Foods

NEW YORK, Oct 26 (Reuters Life!) - A new fast food is making its debut at U.S. fairs this fall -- fried Coke.

Abel Gonzales, 36, a computer analyst from Dallas, tried about 15 different varieties before coming up with his perfect recipe -- a batter mix made with Coca-Cola syrup, a drizzle of strawberry syrup, and some strawberries.

Balls of the batter are then deep-fried, ending up like ping-pong ball sized doughnuts which are then served in a cup, topped with Coca-Cola syrup, whipped cream, cinnamon sugar and a cherry on the top.

"It tastes great," said Sue Gooding, a spokeswoman for the State Fair of Texas where Gonzales' fried Coke made its debut this fall. "It was a huge success."

Gonzales ran two stands at the State Fair of Texas and sold up to 35,000 fried Cokes over 24 days for $4.50 each -- and won a prize for coming up with "most creative" new fair food.

Now other fairs in North Carolina and Arizona are following the trend, and other people are trying to emulate Gonzales' recipe.

Gonzales gave no indication of the calories in his creation and said he would not patent it.

"The best I can hope for is that it's the original and hopefully the best fried Coke out there," he said.

But Gonzales said the success of his fried Coke had inspired him. Next year's fair-goers can look forward to fried Sprite or -- for those watching their weight -- fried diet Coke.

"We are trying to cut a lot of the sugar out of it. It has less calories but it's still very, very sweet," he said.

Ray Crockett, a spokesman for Coca-Cola Co., said: "We're constantly amazed at the creative ways folks find to enjoy their Coke and make it part of celebrations like fairs and festivals. This is one is definitely different!"

You know it's good.

[gams]

What? I just realized....no comment about the grits, Gams??

I've blocked it from my mind, Quetta. I had grits exactly one time in my life - the first time I went down to SC to visit Hubs' family. His Dad wanted me to taste all those typically Southern treats - fried okra, grits, buttermilk cornbread, etc....and grits. I politely did - until he noticed the grimace I was trying - unsuccessfully - to hide. He laughed. I've never tried them again.

I won't even get into my first experience with "sweet tea". <shudder>

And fried Coke? Just the thought....another shudder.

[Quettalee]

I don't like sweet tea, either. I prefer regular-blend tea with a lemon slice and lots of ice only--when I'm not drinking Mary's homemade green tea. It is the best. All natural, sweetened only with honey; we drink a gallon every other day. I swear she could market it.

I had to log back on just to tell this story. Remember before the first frost, I had #2 slave girl pull all the green tomatoes...well, we probably had around 100, so we are still enjoying the bounty of fresh, organically, first-ever-anything-grown-by-our-13-year-old-very-own-Martha Stewart-impersonating-daughter tomatoes! They are ripening so fast now, we are in lycopene overload! I have already sliced them a big bowl for dinner, cut up one in a pasta salad, laid mine aside for work tonight, and I can still count 12 from where I sit--in the windows, on the counter, on the microwave cart...lol.

Last night, the neighbor-lady came out while we were playing spooks with her arm behind her back...told me to come here, she had something special for me. What do you think it was? Her "last two" tomatoes! I about choked on the snicker caught in my throat. I accepted them graciously and turned to come bring them in the house--resisting to urge to digress to distant memories of past Halloweens standing on the other side of the fence holding tomatoes....

Anyhoo, I entered the house to all three of my girls rolling on the floor at what I was holding in my hand...#1 daughter had just spent minutes rearranging our own assortment so the blinds would go down all the way. It was a moment, trust me...really.

Ah, healthy hearts, but achy joints.

[gams]

Dang! Wish I had too many home-grown tomatoes. We're back to buying the styrofoam tasting ones from the store. Ick.

[maeve]

gams said:

I have had grits exactly one time in my life - the first time I went down to SC to visit Hubs' family. His Dad wanted me to taste all those typically Southern treats - fried okra, grits, buttermilk cornbread, etc....and grits. I politely did - until he noticed the grimace I was trying - unsuccessfully - to hide. He laughed. I've never tried them again.

Hey my gamboling Gams,

You can't eat grits. It is in the Fipper's "Guide to the South." I think it is chapter four, ah yes, here tis: GRITS may only be eaten by those Girls (or Guys) Raised In The South unless they meet at least 2 of the following requirements: 1. 10 years of residency, 2. consistently confusing Claritan for bad-tasting off-brand sweet-tarts, 3. understanding that Atlanta really isn't a part of the South, 4. understanding that Florida really, really isn't a part of the South, 5. knowing that 99.9% of all Churches with names like Church God With Signs Following are snake-handler churches 6. realizing that you do not own a coat, 7. come to think of it, you don't own a snow shovel either, 8. possums do not play dead -- they attack and they have more teeth than any other animal.

HTH,
your friend fipper

[Quettalee]

Finally had a wonderfully delightful "Thanksgiving" meal yesterday....

The Tofurkey was good--much better than I expected. It was just like eating the white meat off the breast. I never was a huge turkey fan, regardless; always preferred ham or bar-b-qued ribs for the holidays. One year when there was just two of us, I fixed prime rib; that was a good meal! They always serve enough turkey everywhere else--work, relatives, friends...you know me, always "outside the box"....I used to enjoy the challenge to come up with tasty alternatives to the usual holiday fare. Now my challenge is a little tuffer, but worth the effort.

Most everything else was the same--all from scratch this year; trying to combat the industry and all their added poisons....umm, preservatives....'suse me. Oh, except for the sweet potatoe cassarole that Kroeger carries--Mary loves that and we already had it in the freezer.

Besides that, there was mashed potatoes, dressing, stuffed mushrooms, peas with little pearly onions, sourdough rolls and real butter, pinto beans and rice....hmmm, that might be it. Oh, dessert was not all the way from scratch as I used a boxed cake mix for the pumpkin gooey thingys. Everyone was full and happy at the end of the day and I walked back into a clean kitchen when it was all said and done--the joy of having slave girls (aka teenage daughters).

[katmandu]

That sounds great, got my stomach rumbling just reading it; think I had Spaghetti last night, not bad but not in the same ball park as your feast.

[Quettalee]

S'ghetti is good eating, Katman! I get a hankering for it about once a month....and when I do eat it, I want lots of it! Just spaghetti and bread...and parmesan, of course. I have always been able to take or leave the meat in the sauce, as long as there are an overabundance of mushrooms and onions. Even now, I usually leave out the soy crumbles--although the sausage crumbles do give it a nice zip! I used to make the sauce totally from scratch; these days I have found that Ragu makes a perfectly scrumptious foundation upon which to build.

Hmmm....have I had any spaghetti in November? I better hurry if I intend to make it!




Food for thought:

(Don't ask; I just ran across it while I was looking for 'ghetti pics...lol)

[quettalee]

[Quettalee]

Stopped and got #1 daughter some ice cream on the way home yesterday; she was home with a bad sore throat. I actually got two pints--Ben and Jerry's, of course, because they use milk from nonhormone-treated cows. One was just "Cherry Garcia"; vanilla with whole cherries and chocolate chips. The other--btgs--was cinnamon ice cream with oatmeal cookie dough chunks! I thought I had died and gone to the happy place. Mary ate half of it when we were just tasting it and then finished it off last night while I was at work. LOL. She doesn't even eat that much ice cream and especially in the dead of winter.

It was good stuff.

[Quettalee]

Road-weary and all, I managed to cook what seemed to be a fairly decent Christmas dinner yesterday. Mary was at work and since I hadn't been home for a few days, and the only stores open were Thornton's and Walgreens, I cooked what I could find...

Green beans with potatoes, sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese--actually the absolute best mac & cheese I have ever made. We don't use cow's milk anymore and all I had was vanilla-flavored rice milk...and swiss slices, a half a bag of grated Parmesan, and a piece of a bag of different-flavored crumbles. I used all of it and I promise, it was the best I have ever tasted. I was afraid the rice milk wouldn't do right in the oven, but it was perfect! Anyway, I had three eggs in the 'fridge, so I deviled those three eggs, we had two kinds of non-chicken chicken; one was breaded and the other was grilled. Mary seasoned it up and it was delish'! What else....oh, English peas with tiny pearlie onions. I couldn't bake anything because I had no eggs left, but we had plenty of sweets and holiday candy that everyone was satisfied and miserable all at the same time.

We also watched Christmas With the Kranks while we ate, so it was a wonderful meal. I love that movie. It has earned a sacred spot right next to Natl. Lampoon's X-mas Vacation for required holiday viewing each year.