catfish pieces

* Maytag blue cheese for dressing

* raspberry vinegar for dressing

* Valencia orange sectioned and de-seeded

* salad ingredients assembled ready for tossing

* dry ingredients, flour, rice flour, paprika 

* catfish pieces and el fake-0 crab meat pieces, which I dearly lurb, dusted with dry ingredients

* cold milk added to dry ingredients to make thin batter, trace of baking powder added

* plated catfish and el fake-o crab with barge-load of finished salad. 

chuck with miso and tomato

Ya know, the next time I grind meat I think I'll mix it -- beef with chicken, beef with pork and veal for meatloaf or meatballs, or like this, for patties. This worked out great. I'm 100% for mixing in oats and vegetables. I think chick peas would be excellent. The thing is, you must consume it quickly or else freeze it again, so next time I'll make less of it. That way I can get on with other things. Here, I added oats, an egg, olive oil, water, and strong flavored brown rice miso. The miso tended to burn in the pan and then lifted off when water was added to finish with steam which then formed a flavorful and healthful miso flavored sauce that, since it had not been thickened, sank through the meat and into the chopped tomato .

mixed fruit salad

Fruit salad. I made a boat-load of this. The quantity was determined by the cantaloupe and the tiny round watermelon. Plus:

* mango
* Delicious red apple
* Granny Smith apple
* pineapple (previously frozen)
* 5 Valencia oranges
* purple grapes

late night snack, Stilton with Delicious red apple

Stilton, the best-known of England's blue-veined cheeses was entirely farm-made until the second half of the nineteenth century when the success of the first factory led the way for dozens of other factories and co-ops which eventually came together in consensus on a precise description of the cheese they made.  These guidelines were eventually given formal legal definition and protection. Now Stilton is all made commercially and there is no such thing as farmhouse Stilton.   Today only six or so large dairies remain.

Not all Stiltons are created equally. 

The veining of the best Stiltons is softer than the striking deep blue veining of industrial Stiltons, caused by intense use of penicillium.  Bold veining is usually inverse to flavor and to creaminess.  The best Stiltons have multi-colored veins and look more like marble, often with streaks of green and blotches of yellow.  

It's quite strong. 

This Stilton below was rescued from suffocating plastic wrap maliciously thrown on and tightened by some heartless grocery worker, then daubed dry and re-wrapped in paper and presently resuscitating and slowly returning back to life -- the portion that I didn't eat, that is. 

purple cabbage with chuck patty

The idea for this cabbage dish came from Karen, and I must say, it's delicious.

* portion of a head of purple cabbage
* onion
* couple of small apples
* grated carrot
* 1/4 LB bacon
* brown sugar
* rice vinegar
* salt / pepper
* fennel seed

What? You don't like fennel seed? OK Fine! Forget the whole thing then.

Maybe I shouldn't have ground so much chuck roast. There's still a little bit left. The thing is, it's soooo good. I could eat it every day with different things mixed into it. This time I used Lea & Perrins and rolled oats.

100% within The Zone™.

chuck burger with broccoli sauce

Ground chuck again. Help! I've fallen into a hamburger phase and I can't get up. This time loaded with rolled oats, drizzled with olive oil and water before forming into a patty. A broccoli/cheese sauce is a great way to sneak in healthy vegetables. This is indescribably delicious. If I was I served this at a restaurant, I'd cheer the cook.

100% within The Zone™.









Happy Inauguration Day and
Good luck to our new president, Barak H. Obama and his family.

bananas

Bananas always make me feel a little silly. I peel one, and I'm instantly transported to childhood, making little monkey noises. I can't help it.

The same thing happens when I go into an authentic Japanese restaurant. I automatically become stereotypically comically Japanese, then punctuate my cartoonish nonsense with a protracted exaggerated gong. It's obnoxious. I've told myself to stop these two things, but that hardly helps.

Happy Presidential Inauguration Day, and
Good luck to our new president, Barak H. Obama.