Visiting The State Farmer’s Market
Even though there was an authentic German baker at the State Farmer’s Market yesterday, I was there for grown close to home tomatoes, corn and watermelon.
Trying Some Homemade Hummus
Hummus seems to have become pretty popular over the last several years. I understand it is from the Middle East, but when I got to eat some on the beach, I knew it has become mainstream American.
I have sampled hummus in restaurants and at parties before and thought that it was alright. Maybe it was the sand and surf; but the hummus I had on vacation last week was very tasty; as a friend from Charlotte brought some homemade hummus out to the beach, it was great. I haven’t made it yet, but I did get his recipe and went to the store to buy the essential ingredients.
How interesting, that this Middle Eastern food will be front and center as our appetizer for our 4th of July celebration.
Into a food processor put: 2 cans of garbanzo beans(chick peas),
1 jar of roasted red peppers,
1 can of pitted black olives 
3 cloves of garlic, 4 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice and a dash of Worcestershire sauce. My beach friends served the hummus with Doritos Nacho Cheese chips, I will use those and some pita chips.
Understanding Charcoal
As we get ready for the big holiday cookout this weekend, I am debating if I should buy some “lump” charcoal or use my usual charcoal “briquettes”. Until a few years ago, I never realized that charcoal is just cooked wood. I never really thought about it, but it makes sense that wood is involved in cooking over an open fire.
The way I understand it is….wood is burned in a state with very little oxygen and burns for a while. This allows all the harmful vapors to burn off and the remaining charred wood is charcoal. After it is cooled of course, this “lump” charcoal is ready to light and burn hotter and longer than regular plain wood and even briquettes.
I have always used briquettes; which are made with wood scraps or sawdust and held together with binders into that familiar cube shape. I have read that some folks say the binders that are added detract from the perfect fire. I have no idea, but as I get ready to prepare the pork butt for the 4th, I am sure the meat or my family won’t care what kind of charcoal is doing the grilling!
Smoky Joe, The Second
I have always liked to grill food outside. When I was a young bachelor, I bought a grill, perfect for a single guy, Weber’s Smoky Joe. I remember cooking on it and even taking it with me on picnics. I continued to occasionally use ole Smoky even when I had a bigger grill for my family. Eventually though old Smoky wore out.
So when we were away last week and needed a grill, I volunteered to buy another Smoky Joe grill. This way we could grill out our Flank steak while on vacation. It can’t hold a ton of food at once, but since it is small, it heats up quickly and the fire lasts. Even at home this past Sunday, I used Smoky Joe to cook chicken and some corn on the cob.
Sunday’s fire lasted well after dark, and I found myself watching it burn; like when you watch a fire around a campfire. It even inspired me to get some marshmallows out. However it’s not quite authentic enough as a campfire is to sing around or what I remember as a child, to tell ghost-stories around. 
Snaky Visitor
As I finished up cutting the grass yesterday, I opened the door under my house to put away the mower and jumped when a little head popped up as the door opened. It was a snake that quickly slithered back into a corner under the house. What to do?
Personally I don’t like snakes and am afraid to touch them. I put the mower away and got a flashlight and stick to see if I could entice the bugger out from underneath the house. My first instinct was to pretend like I didn’t see him, but I knew better. I thought of the movie Snakes On The Plane, and I wanted that snake out of my house! I poked at him or her and he moved into a balled up black net. Well, I stuck the stick into the mesh net and tossed it out from under my house. I now had a snake in mesh netting. Using the stick, I stuck it into the mesh and started walking. I was going to go down the street and toss the net and snake into the wilderness.
Mr. Snake had other ideas. His head started coming out of the net as I walked down my driveway. He was hissing and none too happy, I guess. By the time I almost got to the end of my driveway he was out and looked like he was 5 or 6 feet long. I pushed him with my stick toward the street and he was off. I was surprised by his speed as he slithered across the street and disappeared into a natural area between two houses.
I always heard that black snakes are good for your garden as they eat rodents and other pests. If that is the case, I am happy for my neighbors, who shouldn’t have any problems now that Mr. Snake is somewhere over there. I hope, however, he has no sense of direction back to his old home.
Cookie Dough Recall
I take pride in baking my own homemade cookies, but you can’t beat the convenience of ready to scoop and bake cookie dough. So about a month ago we bought some Nestle Cookie Dough to take to the beach this summer. This way we could have fresh cookies without losing much beach time. Well that tub of dough proved to be too irresistible and we have already eaten about half the tub, and the beach trip hasn’t even started!
The phone call came today from Costco, they must keep a record of everything that someone buys; because they told us to return our cookie dough. Nestle has a recall on their dough because of a potential salmonella contamination.
I assume our dough is ok, since half of it is eaten; but we won’t be taking the other half to the beach this summer.
Mayo Or Miracle Whip?
What do you like on your sandwich? I grew up with Miracle Whip in our house. My wife grew up with mayonnaise in her house. Consequently when you open our refrigerator we have 2 jars, one of each.
I have never been a huge mayonnaise fan, but I do use it in recipes for cole slaw and potato salad; also for deviled eggs. But when it comes to a sandwich, I like the tang of Miracle Whip. Speaking of which, a fresh tomato with a little Miracle Whip is awesome.
Lately, I haven’t used as much Miracle Whip, because I have discovered honey mustard on my sandwiches. It’s sweet and has a nice tang too. Nothing like a well built sandwich on a hot summer day. Tonight, I am living it up, I am having ham and cheese with a little Miracle Whip and honey mustard. Mmm good.
Saving On Prescriptions
Had to get some allergy medicine filled for my daughter, and even though I have insurance, sometimes I can find medicine cheaper at Costco. I love shopping at Costco and I have discovered their pharmacy has very good prices.
Now I know what you are thinking, what if you are not a member of the wholesale club? Well guess what? No problem, no I won’t let you use my membership card! I don’t have to because there is some kind of law in North Carolina that you do not have to pay a fee to be able to buy medicine. So Costco has to let you in the store to use their pharmacy, just don’t go and start trying all those delicious food samples, those have my name on them.
Dancing Disco In The Father/Daughter Dance
Last year it was salsa, if you can call what we did salsa. This year at my daughter’s dance studio, we flashed back to the 1970s and disco. Now I remember the rage the was Saturday Night Fever, but I know as a teenager I never danced disco. I guess I kept that record in tact until this year.
Here is the dance, I am in the second row, shaking it.
Digital Transition, Finally
Friday came and went at our house without a glitch when broadcasters all switched to digital transmission only, after shutting done their analog signal. I heard about how millions of people were still not ready or how many millions who had a box would still have issues. I thought, that’s hard to believe after all the time we have had to prepare and those constant commercial updates reminding us how many days are left.
Well I learned first hand yesterday that there are many frustrated viewers who thought they were ready. I base that on the 45 minute conversation I had with my mother. You see I got her a digital television earlier this year for her kitchen. I got her two converter boxes for her other televisions. I thought she was ready.
Come to find out that she couldn’t get her local ABC and CBS stations since Friday, her local NBC station was all digitized with no sound. Right away, I knew what she needed to do….she needed to rescan all her boxes. I spent literally 40 minutes leading her via phone from set to set to tell her how to scan for the stations. Let’s just say it was a frustrating experience, when you can’t see what your describing to someone to do.
I assume if my mom had these issues there are still lots of people having problems across the country.
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