#2 Son's birthday dinner - finally!

The college kid finally had time to come home so we could celebrate his September birthday. 21 years old. Time sure does fly.

He requested Low Country Boil, one of my favorite dishes. It seems like a strange combination of ingredients, but they are just delicious together. In case you need a recipe, here is an easy one:

For 4 hungry eaters:
Scrub 8 medium white or red potatoes and put in a large saucepan with 1 package smoked sausage or kielbasa cut into one inch pieces. Add water just to cover, 1/2 a lemon, at least 1 Tablespoon of Old Bay seasoning and some cayenne pepper if you like things hot. Bring to a boil and cook 10 mins. Add 4 or more cleaned ears of corn and cook another 10 mins, or until the potatoes are soft. Add one pound of shrimp (I think they taste better if the skins are left on, but peeled is OK too) and cook a couple of minutes more.

Drain off the water, then pile everything onto a big platter, or onto some clean newsprint right on the table! Dig in and enjoy.

Corn bread, crusty bread and butter, salad or a green veg make it into a balanced meal.

Tomorrow I'm trying a cake from an old book I found in a friend's cupboard: Whole Wheat Spice Cake. Pictures to follow.

Birthday treats

This week was the Hubby's birthday, so a grand meal was in order. He requested lamb chops grilled over charcoal, a favorite thanks to the time spent in South AFrica. Well, in S.A. you can't have lamb chops without boerewors, usually just called wors, which means sausage. (Pronounce it "vorse") This is not just any sausage, but a local recipe made from beef, pork, pork fat, coriander and other spices. Simply delicious. There is nothing like it here in the States.

Never being afraid of spending a few hours in the kitchen, I decided wors was in order for the birthday boy. Usually the casings come from the local specialty food store, where for some unknown reason they charge a hefty chunk of change for them. What do you suppose the demand for sausage casings is? So this time, the sausage was made middle eastern style, wrapped around a skewer. Son #1 grilled them on the bbq. What a treat. They were mm, mm, good!

New Cat Toy

Bought some veggies today and left them lying on the counter for a while. Came back later to find the bag of green beans open. No one, repeat no one, in my family would choose to snack on a raw green bean. (Except me, of course), so I was wondering what happened. Guess who provided the answer? Angus!   So the next time you want to treat your kitty to a new toy, head to the green grocers!

Delicious Fish for dinner

Tilapia with Artihokes.
Serves 4

4 Tilapia fillets
2 cloves garlic
1 bag Kroger PS frozen artichoke hearts
(works better than canned)
2T olive oil

Press or chop garlic and saute in olive oil. When you can smell it, add artichokes, stirring to coat with oil.
Season fish with Lawry's seasoned salt (or whatever your fave is) and freshly ground black pepper.
Push veggies aside and lay fillets in pan. Cover with veggies then add a lid to the pan.
Steam for a few minutes on side one, then turn fish over and finish steaming side two. Total time about10 mins, depending how thick the fillets are.

Sad day in the household

Sad day in the household today. We had to say goodbye to sweet Chloe, our 20 yr old kittie. She was a rescue from a cat shelter near where we lived in Pittsford, N.Y. Youngest son Brian was just a toddler when we got her, so he can't remember life without her. Now we'll all have to get used to that idea.

Mystery Revealed

Here is the paper pieced top of Paper Panache's Nativity Advent Quilt.

25 blocks, at least 2.5 hrs each = 62.5+ hours invested to date. Call me crazy.  22" by 34"

In my opinion, there are two publisher errors in the pattern. With something this complicated, the only errors should be mine.

He's a superb cook!

I'm braggin' on #1 son and his girlfriend. We ate delicious gumbo (Paula Dean's Seafood Gumbo) and roasted broccoli, followed by koeksisters! Koeksisters are a South African confection, a kind of a braided doughnut steeped in syrup. Difficult to get just right and time consuming to make. They were delicious! I am thoroughly impressed.

When I was living in the dorm at my university in South Africa, we were instructed not to "koeksister", which meant we should not entwine ourselves with, but keep a respectful distance from any amorous young man! I wonder if they still instruct the young ladies about that.

Mystery update: 24 done, one to go. Picture to follow.