Roger's View of the World, Love and Seafood Gumbo!
Seize the Day! Put no trust in the morrow! — Horace
Happy Birthday, Karen. Yesterday was Kristin’s Birthday and today is Karen’s. Along with our wedding anniversary and Laura’s birthday last month makes for a busy 31 days!
Karen has been a great partner on Jenny Craig with Mom and me, and inspired us to join her on Facebook with Kristin. Being of an older generation, we have had to ‘invite’ folks to join us. Karen is at the University of Tennessee working on her Ph.D.
The devilish horns of hair seem somewhat appropriate. 🙂
Dad
Laura, Karen and I entered the ‘Ideal Size Challenge’ at Jenny Craig and it was a lot of fun. It was especially fun to see the submissions. the idea was to come up with what ‘size’ you wished to become or you fancied. “Size Sexy (this or that” was well worn… and I would say that improving one’s ‘envelope’ is on everyone’s mind.
The real contest prize was what Jenny Craig does every day… helping you to lose weight.
Roger Freberg
Kristin is coming to visit and we plan to put together a ‘historically’ accurate version of a berry wine. In areas of northern Europe and in the early American Colonies, berry wines were made where either grape wine making was impractical or grapes were unavailable.
In talking to a home brewer named “David” ( the husband of Laura’s cousin Pam), I thought… ‘hey, I could do this and it might be fun.’ Kristin though it would be nice to make up a batch and open it up next year to celebrate.
Thanks to some entrepreneurial folks at Mountain Home brew in Kirkland , Washington I picked up ingredients and all the basics to make my own wine.
Now, I have some friends who started out this way and ended up with a vineyard! I don’t think so, that is far too much work for me. However, I do feel it would be fun to dabble a bit and maybe get to the point where I have an old oak cask hidden away somewhere.
So, in following my own advice: ” to understand something fully, one must see it through from start to finish” … I am taking my first step into fermenting something wonderful.
cheers!
Roger
oh yes, I plan to produce an estimated ‘nutritional label’ and balance it’s ‘medicinal use’ with my Jenny Craig life.
There’s a local restaurant supply company called ‘Smart & Final’ in our area that I frequent for a few items. This isn’t unusual, many people who cook go to a lot of sources for what they need. However, I ran into a couple of Cal Poly students obviously lost in a sea of questions and doubts. They were sent to find some ‘seasonings’ for a barbecue and had no idea where to start. Oh, where to begin. After asking a few questions, it was apparent that they had been asked to get more than seasonings… but after a few suggestions on my part they were off and running.
However, it made me wonder: does anyone know how to cook anymore? And no Melissa, you don’t put beef through a shredder to ‘shred it’… was she kidding?
Actually shredding beef is rather simple and it is necessary to make my Grandmother Mimi’s ‘Barbecued beef sandwiches’ which are legendary in our family… as is her sauce which I will never put on line. To shred beef, it must first be cooked very slowly. A crock pot serves this purpose. Some folks like to emerse the meat in stock and seasonings, others like to cook the meat slowly in it’s own juices. I prefer the former as the latter tends to overly toughen the exterior of the meat. The cooking has a remarkable side benefit, it leans out the meat by reducing ( cooking) out the fat.
The seasonings one can use in the slow cooking process are many: onions, garlic, cumin, coriander, cayenne pepper, tarragon, lemon peel, cilantro, thyme, oregano, ginger. I have even seen recipes that call for allspice ( called Paprika in Jamaica – confusingly enough – I am told) , lime juice, various fruits, cinnamon, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and dill. Of course, everyone says “salt and black pepper to taste.”
So what will I be making with five pounds of shredded beef? Quite a lot actually, I’ll whip up some Chimichangas and Philly Cheese steak Pirogies for starters. This can be made Jenny Craig compliant and portion controlled … or be that once a week extravagance.
Learn to cook, it will open a new world to you. Besides, you’ll save money and have fun too.
Roger Freberg
What did the father Tennessee State Representative from Memphis and Democrat Michael Kernell say of his son David Kernell ‘hacking’ Vice Presidential running mate and Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin’s email account?
“I had nothing to do with it, I had no knowledge or anything,” Mike Kernell told the AP last week.
Although I personally think the ‘lady doth protest too much’, I think this quote really reads: “Save me… SAVE ME!!!!” Well, hopefully Representative Kernell this isn’t ‘all about you.’ However, I do wonder why you voted against that ‘ethics bill’ that passed in your state of Tennessee? And why is it we can’t find any pictures of Representative Mike Kernell on the net?
As an aside, I have been impressed with the excellent technological foundation given students at the University of Tennessee. My daughter Karen , a Ph.D. Student there finds something to impress me every day. However, it seems as this minor league hacker should have taken another class or two and the father should be ‘inspecting what he expects’ in his son’s behavior.
Maybe a little time in the military or public service would do him some good.
Roger Freberg