Dinning Alone

selfactivated

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Apr 11, 2006
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Your so cute. You take such good care of yourself and I truely admire that. My very best friend in this entire universe just had a stroke 6 weeks ago, he's 46 with 5 kids and a scottish wife! I thank Goddess everyday for my Blessings. I recently lost my 22 year old son. But even in the loss of his physical body I feel him so very near.

You seem like a very strong man, high charecter and extreamly intellegent. If my "other" senses are at all any good (and they are ;) ) You'll be fine :) and very content. You KNOW the earth and you realy on its streanth. :) You'll be perfect :)
 

RomSpaceKnight

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Oct 30, 2006
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Taking care of myself is just a recent thing. Before the HA the four foods groups I ate from was chocolate, sugar, caffiene and fat. Plus a pack a day of coffin nails. Oh yeah, I also get acid reflux and docs took me off caffiene too.
 

RomSpaceKnight

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Oct 30, 2006
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Since HA and radical change of diet I haven't had to take a xantac since. No more chocolate and on decaf coffee. Nice unlooked for side effect of HA.

Shad roe (1 pair), seperate and gentle dry with paper towel, sauteed with 3 tbsp of marg, brown both sides 2-5 minutes, DO NOT OVERCOOK, leave slightly undercooked will continue to cook after removal from pan, s&P to taste, serve with lemon wedges and cooking marg.

Shad run seasonal in coastal rivers during spring. From what I have read. Joy of Cooking says a "pair" is enough for two. Must be bigger fish than I thought.
 

RomSpaceKnight

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Oct 30, 2006
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I eat fish 4 times a week. Either fin fish or shell fish. Beef once a week same with chicken and pork. Steamed shrimp are awesome. I cheat by wrapping scallops in bacon. I use a Golden Dipt Lemon Dill sauce on sauteed fish fillets. S&P to taste, sautee for 2 minutes per side and pour sauce on and simmer for 5 minutes. ummmm good. Think I will have lobster claws tonight. They came on sale and I went nuts and filled up every spare nook and cranny of my freezer with lobster claws. Relatively costly but yummy. Will steam them, I think. My barbie is small and does not heat up well in this weather. But in summer grilled rock lobster tails and collossal shrimp heavily S&Ped are great. Just bought a toaster oven to get away from sauteeing every thing and firing up oven for 1 person. I bought salmon pinwheels the other day. A strip of salmon fillet spiral wrapped around a lobster/ritz cracker stuffing. They were awesome. 5.99 a piece and almost enough for 2. I got a whole bunch of farmed salmon fillets that are cheap as heck. Not as tasty as wild but then I think wild salmon is a bit too fishy. Just ran out of trout. Need to go back to club and catch more. During spring rehabbing from HA caught 30 trout and froze em. Lasted me till 2 weeks ago. Need to cut them in half as portion size is too much for one and will last me longer. Club charges 100$ a year. Is worth it as I catch well over 100$ worth of trout. Thinking of taking a weeks vacation in spring and catch my limit every day. That's why i bought a freezer because one in fridge filled up fast. I can't pass up sales. Will take me a year to eat all food in my freezer but I continue to buy more.

Maybe they (shad) bloat up when spawning?
 

selfactivated

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Maybe, I just remember them being very little and boney. Mom deep fried them like grunyion (sp I cant spell worth a lick).

I LOVE lobster but WAY out of my budget. I had a gentleman friend that took me to maryland at the end of blue crab season.OMG YUM . We sat on the patomic river and just cracked crabs all day and sipped margaritas AMAZING then the following spring we went to OBX FABULOUS seafood. I went to a Pow Wow there and was introduced to a fried dough taco LOL not to healthy but yummy ;) I could go on for days. When I lived in Texas (12 years) it was all bbq and beans! I HATED it and I LOOKED like I hated it. Here? I Love everything!
 

RomSpaceKnight

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Oct 30, 2006
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Rock lobster tails are on the cheap if small. Whole lobster are for new years eve only. The claws I got are not large by any means but still not overly cheap. I got some frozen mussels in half shell I am trying to figure out what to do with. If they were alive I got lotsa recipes but can't find one for frozen dead ones. Probably make a stew or steam and toss in food processor and make a half shell stuffing of some sort maybe. My food processor is a cheap small unit from Zellers for 15$. Has a hard time getting through strawberries to add to no fat yogurt. Still come out chunky not pureed. Still 1/2 cup of strawberries (fresh or frozen) with 1/2 cup of no fat yougurt is yummy. No fat yogurt is my latest discovery. Most recipes are new to me. Beyond fish sticks, meat loaf, roast beef, S&B chicken and canned stews all recipes are pretty much new to me. The Joy of Cooking says all veggies contain all needed nutrients so am not stressing over lack of variation in veggies. It just gets a little boring. I like to barbie as it is healthiest way to get rid of unwanted fat. Veggies in foil packets with a favourite liquid inside to steam/braise are good. Carrots and VH honey garlic sauce was my first creation of my own on barbie. The game hens on my barrel smoker/barbie and my grilled collosal shrimp are my biggest success when cooking for others. A buddy's wife hates fish and seafood so he gets meat and potatoes all the time. He is really liking my new cooking skills as he gets fish and rice only at my place.

I don't obsess but I do throw myself into my latest hobby at time. Did this for golf, fishing, bicycling, motorcycling, photography, skiing, welding and now cooking. I go out a buy all the toys and accessories. Not top of the line just good quality stuff. Read up on and even take lessons. This is how my dad did it and my younger bro. There are worst things than being a cooking geek, I guess. Better to be a geek of some sort than just a plain geek.
 

selfactivated

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Apr 11, 2006
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LOL I love cooking, always have. I only have a toaster oven, a hot plate and a crock pot. I do have a micro but I onl heat left overs in it. Im thinking of having a Yule party but I dont know many people. Ive never thrown a party here........I need to think on it a bit more.
 

RomSpaceKnight

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Oct 30, 2006
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A party is 3 people or more. Good things about parties is that guest can bring things, either as a potluck dinner or just wine or dessert.

How about:

Appetizer

Spicy or Savoury Nuts
Assorted shelled nuts (almonds, cashews, peanuts, etc.)
For sweet and spicy nuts:
Peanut oil, for drizzling
Sugar, to taste
Kosher salt, to taste
Chinese five-spice powder, to taste
For savory nuts:
Peanut oil, for drizzling
Kosher salt, to taste
Chili powder, to taste
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
For a sweet and spicy nut, toss your choice of nuts with oil, sugar, salt and a few dashes of Chinese five-spice powder.
For a savory and spicy nut, toss your choice of nuts with oil, salt and a few dashes of chili powder.
Lay out the nuts in an even layer on a baking dish. Bake, redistributing the nuts every 7 minutes or so to make sure they cook evenly, until the nuts are lightly browned, about 15 to 20 minutes.

First course

Gazpacho
2 cucumbers, diced
3 large tomatoes, diced
1 red pepper, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 1/2 cups tomato juice
Salt
Pepper
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
Juice of 1 lime
Tabasco
In large glass bowl combine vegetables. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Add half the mixture to a food processor and blend until smooth. Combine puree with original mixture. Chill for 4 hours and serve.

Second Course

A canned ham (warmed or cold)with pineapple slices
Scalloped potatoes (Shirrifs or other brand box mix)
Steamed cauliflower in nuker:
As much cauliflower as needed in microwave safe container and a 1/4" of water in bottom
Nuke on high for 3-4 minutes (maybe more, experiment first)
Serve with melted marg

Dessert Course

Baked Apples
Baked apples are so very good and can be served along with baked ham or roasted turkey as part of the meal. They may also be served as a dessert with caramel sauce.
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup sugar
3 or more same-size Granny Smith apples
3 dollops of marg or more
1 cup apple juice
3 or more sprigs fresh mint
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Combine cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar in a small bowl. Set aside.
Core apples, making sure not to puncture the bottom of the apples so that the juices will remain. Remove skin from 1/2-inch around top of apples at the opening. Fill each cavity with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Top each apple with a teaspoon of butter. Place apples in casserole dish and pour apple juice around them. Cover pan with aluminum foil and bake for approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove from heat, garnish with fresh mint, and serve.

Have guest bring wine?

All could be done in nuker, toaster oven and on hotplate.
 

selfactivated

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Apr 11, 2006
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Yanno I was having one of those "poor me" days. You know the type........cry in your coffee, let me off this ride type of days.

You just made me smile :) I talked to Kim today (the girl next door) and I think its doable. Yule is the 22nd and a friday. My sis gave me a firepit for an early yule present. How great would that be?
 

Daz_Hockey

Council Member
Nov 21, 2005
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This one will shock you, I cooked it in Malawi, near Lake Malawi.... (hold on to your hats....and you sick buckets!!!)

Fly Burgers

Chaoborus edulis Malawian Lake Flies
Banana Leaves
Chopped Tomato and Onions

oh and some salt to add bit of flavour.

Method

Mix the flies, tomato, onion and salt together. Pat the mixture into a burger shaped patty between your hands. Wrap each burger in a banana leaf and cook in a smokey fire.

OR

Baba Ghannouche

I cooked this in Saudi with my friend Malik, it's quite nice actually.

Ingredients

4 Large aubergines
3 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons tahini
4 tablespoons lemon juice
salt and pepper
olive oil
chopped parsley

Method

Bake the aubergine until it's well cooked and the skin is blackened. Douse with cold water, peel and chop into small pieces. Mash garlic and salt to paste. Add aubergine and mush into a smooth consistency with the tahini and lemon juice. Serve in a bowl with olive oil and pasley.

there you go Tam, I think those are probably some of my most exotic recipies.....actually, maybe not, but I dont wish you all to lose your appitite lol.

Daz
 

RomSpaceKnight

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Oct 30, 2006
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History channel is going over all the Sharpe episodes again. They had a new 2006 one the other week. I got all the Sharpe books and have read Wellington's biography. Fascinating fellow. I never realized he was PM.
 

Daz_Hockey

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Nov 21, 2005
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History channel is going over all the Sharpe episodes again. They had a new 2006 one the other week. I got all the Sharpe books and have read Wellington's biography. Fascinating fellow. I never realized he was PM.

Such a great series, it's at it's best when he's fighting the French......well, anywhere, India, the Iberian coast...shame he was too young to fight in the Americas, I'd like to have seen him gallantly defending British citizens against those rotten turncoats!!! lol.

I ate cow dung once Tam, so those recipies are quite nice actually.
 

RomSpaceKnight

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Oct 30, 2006
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London, Ont. Canada
Such a great series, it's at it's best when he's fighting the French......well, anywhere, India, the Iberian coast...shame he was too young to fight in the Americas, I'd like to have seen him gallantly defending British citizens against those rotten turncoats!!! lol.

I ate cow dung once Tam, so those recipies are quite nice actually.

Wasn't he offered a battalion in Upper Canada. His buddy "Smiling William"(?) went to the colonies after losing the french lass to Sharpe. He could have fought in the War of 1812. He's a Yorkshireman like me. I got a cap badge of the East Yorkshire Regiment which I think was the original unit he enlisted with.