Sundays, Always at Noon in the 1930's

Uncle PM Heyssel and Uncle Biscuit Heyssel - my great uncles and Granddad Jim's brothers - at their fish-frying 
"stove" that was in front of the family cabin, below.
The cabin was down by the Moniteau Creek in Sandy Hook, just outside of Jamestown, a very small town
(pop. 273 then and now) that's close to Jefferson City, the capitol of Missouri.
When the weather was nice and the fish were biting,
the family would gather there on a Sunday, always at noon for some good food and good times.

Not your modern-day cabin, not a lot of amenities, but it didn't stop the good times from happening!
That's mom's dad (my Granddad Jim Heyssel) standing at the window.
Mom wrote: "Dad in the picture window of the "lovely" cabin. 
A screened porch was the dining room and the hood ornament is on the Essex touring car."

Apparently fish fries have been a part of our family life for many generations. I never really bothered to think about how long it's been until mom and I started talking about her growing up and how any decent Sunday would find her and the family down by the creek for a fish fry - and always at noon. Some time ago, mom and I exchanged emails about the family fish fries, which I'll share now as it's a wonderful look into this tradition of ours. Though mom's email to me was written in response to what I'd written, it makes more sense to post hers first as it's a more accurate observation of what the fish fries were all about. 

Mom's sister, Helen, helping out in the outdoor kitchen. It's so well appointed!

On Monday, July 15, 2002, at 4:30 PM, Mary Bumgarner wrote:

Annie, 

Granddad Jim [my grandfather, my mom Mary's dad] never fried them in a batter, Grandma Mae [my grandmother, my mom Mary's mom] simply salted the fish and rolled them in corn meal. That was the way the uncles always did them at the cabin on the Moniteau Creek. After Sunday School and church, we would drive the 6 miles down the river hills from Jamestown to Sandy Hook and a little farther to the very basic cabin, getting there right around noon time. By the time we arrived the potatoes and been peeled and sliced into paper-thin slices and were hanging in a muslin bag in the tree. That was done to dry them - the chips were always very crisp and a lovely brown. Nothing like the Pringles of today. The "stove" was about waist high on the uncles, and about up to my neck. It was constructed of bricks and just large enough for two large metal pans, about 12 x 20 inches and about 4 inches deep. They sat on a metal wire rack and below was a shallow fire box. The fuel was wood gathered on sight and the frying medium was always lard. 

If the uncles had had luck that morning, we would have fish from the creek; bass, catfish, carp, buffalo and occasionally spoonbill. They would save the "air bladders" from the large fish so we could stomp on them - early day wrapping bubbles. No luck that day, the uncles would announce that they had "caught the fish with a silver hook" meaning they had bought them from Mr. Copher, a fisherman on the Missouri River. 

The menu never changed: fish, potato chips, sliced tomatoes when in season, sliced homemade white bread and canned peaches. There was home brew (it was very good) and orange, strawberry, grape and cream Nehi soda pop for the kids. The uncles also made boiled coffee in a black gallon coffee pot. For dessert, toasted marshmallows on the remains of the wood fire. 

Some days, we would get a ride in their small wooden motor boat, downstream and almost to the Big Muddy - that was always scary. The uncles would get out their hunting guns and let Uncle Bob do some target shooting. I think I got to do that once or twice, that really wasn't a girl thing.

My main thing was picking wild flowers, exploring the woods, swinging on a wild grape vine and the big challenge was trying to make a skirt out of paw paw tree leaves. They were large, long and oval shaped and I would pin them together in strips with sticks and then try to attach them to another strip. I can't remember ever being successful. Oh me!
We had a family car, that included the uncles as well. It was a '30's something wine colored Chevy sedan. That took us out of town, to church on rainy Sundays and was Uncle PM's courtin' car. Both the uncles did a lot of that. Uncle Biscuit couldn't drive, so was confined to walking to widow's homes or local ladies whose husbands happened to be busy elsewhere. The fishing and hunting vehicle was a black '20's something Essex. Uncle PM would "open her up" and let her "roll free" down the Fischer hill and on into Sandy Hook. The original "Dukes of Hazzard"!
We had a wonderful time.
Love, Mom


On Monday, July 15, 2002, at 02:34 PM, Ann Blystone wrote: 

Missouri Fish Fry

When Grandpa Jim and Grandma Mae were still living in California, MO, Granddady was always the fish fryer and he always either fried the fish on the screened-in porch or outside in the back yard. He had the neatest little grill - I remember it being about 2 feet tall and black. Now that my dad (and my brother Bill, and I) are the fish fryers, we use the gas burner on the side of our gas grill, and also always fry outside. I found a wonderful handled cast iron pot at a tag sale for 25¢ (!!) that works perfectly for the frying. Mom began the tradition of making a tempura-type batter to dip the fish in - and it's delicious!

For the fish batter: 
1 part flour (~1 C.) +more to thicken batter if needed
1 part corn meal (~1 C.)
3 - 4 T. corn starch
salt, BumHot (or cayenne) and fresh ground black pepper to taste
about 3/4 of a 1 liter (33.8 oz.) bottle of seltzer water

Mix all together until you have a batter that flows easily off a spoon - not too thick. If it's too thin, mix in a little more flour, if not thin enough, add a little seltzer.


For my seester Carrie's tartar sauce: 
~3/4 C. Hellman's mayonnaise
sweet pickles (bread & butter will do, or sweet gherkins), diced
onion, minced
celery (I think, says Care)
pickle juice
lime juice if you're going Caymanian
cider vinegar if you're going more American
sugar
salt
pepper
dill

(Apparently my seester is also a throw 'n go gal!) Mix all together and let stand until serving time. Just before serving, stir well and correct seasonings by adding vinegar, pickle juice, salt, pepper, whatever.


For the fish fry: 
fresh-caught fresh water fish fillets (use store-bought catfish and striped bass if you can't catch enough bass, crappy (Granddad's favorite), sunnies, bluegill or catfish)
1 - 2 large onions cut into 1/4" thick rings. Soak in water, then dry thoroughly before frying
oil for frying - any high-temp. neutral oil will do - so it's about 4" deep in a high-sided iron pot

Pour the oil into the pot and heat till a bit of batter dropped in it sizzles. Coat and fry fish - it's done when a fork stuck in it easily pulls back out. As it's done, place on a rack on top of a cookie sheet and put in a 250º oven. Fry the onion rings and as they're done, place on another rack on top of a cookie sheet.

Over the years, we've found that it's easiest to serve the fish and onion rings on the cookie sheets - not pretty, but practical.

I remember always having slaw with a mayo-based dressing with this, plus sliced tomatoes and cucumbers. It's one of my very favorite meals. WONDERFUL!!!

~~~

See you on Sunday!

~

Gathered 'round: various family members - and friends - from the 1930's to today, w/the roster ever-changing

Thursday, the 28th of July: COMO

our dinner along with 3 gorgeous dahlias from my parent's amazing garden (and a side of Cody-dog, too). 

Our dear parents have gathered many many people permanently into their lives over the years. I can't even imagine how many folks there are that call both mom and dad two of their dearest friends. Of course, considering they're both in their 90's, the number of friends in their age category has begun to shrink as a lot of those old souls have ~moved on~ from this earth. As you probably know, mom is on oxygen all the time now, and while that doesn't stop her from doing just about anything she wants to do, there are some things that limit her. Like any of their friends/family whose home involves unavoidable staircases - whether  getting up to the home, or having to climb a flight to use a bathroom. Their good friends, David & Diane O'Hagen have a home just like that, so when the time came that mom could no longer do stairs, thus couldn't go to their home any more for dinners, David & Diane suggested they start doing the next best thing: They would make and bring dinner to mom and dad  - and it's been a regular occurrence ever since. It's still their dinner, but just not eaten at their home, instead eaten 'round mom and dad's table! What a thoughtful and wonderful idea! 

Last night they were over, and being that it's hotter than Hades here in COMO, they brought a salad meal. Delicious! So, another SFD that wasn't on a Sunday!  David & Diane's menu (they asked mom to make dessert...ahem, Mom just told me she asked them if she could make dessert, and they said yes.) 

1 - chicken salad w/lots of fruit

2 - spinach salad w/Julie's citrus dressing

3 - Missouri River bottom cantaloupe

4 - Sister Schubert's dinner rolls

5 - MumBum's blackberry crisp

1 - When told how delicious the chicken salad was, Diane said she was embarrassed to take the compliment because it is so easy to make! She didn't give me amounts, as she doesn't measure any of this, just keeps adding until it ~looks right~. (She did say she used 2 chicken breasts. But...were they 2 chicken breast halves...or 2 whole chicken breasts....)

2 poached chicken breasts, cooled and torn/cut into bite-size chunks

small ruby red grapes, washed and stemmed (about 2 C.)

1 can (probably 20 oz.) pineapple tidbits (yep, that's what they're called - see here), drained

1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained and slice in half if you want (use 2 cans if you want more crunch) 

celery stalks cut in half length-wise and diced (probably 2 or 3 stalks)

Miracle Whip Original

salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

Combine everything except Miracle Whip in a bowl and gently mix well. Then begin adding Miracle Whip by the 1/4 cup or so, stirring gently (so you don't do in the pineapple tidbits) in between, until everything sort of binds together. Add as much or as little Miracle Whip as you want, but be sure it's Miracle Whip and not mayonnaise - it's a flavor thing (go here for an explanation about why it must be Miracle Whip). 

2 - This dressing recipe comes from an old friend of David & Diane and mom and dad - Julie Schewe. I grew up on this dressing - and that was in the '60's - and it's as good today as it was back then! (Mom told me that the original recipe didn't call for fresh sliced white mushrooms or orange slices, but they are now always included.)

orange peel zested from 1 medium orange (about 1/2 - 1 t.)
1/4 or so C. orange juice (from above orange)

1/2 C. grape seed or other mild oil (not olive oil)

2 T. sugar

2 T. red wine vinegar

1 T. lemon juice

salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
2 T. chopped scallions

1 C. sliced fresh white/button mushrooms

orange sections from 1 - 2 oranges,  (peel through pith; with knife cut out the sections - how-to is here)

fresh baby spinach leaves. 

(As you can see, the O'Hagens put everything in a glass jar. Makes sense.) Mix all ingredients (but the spinach) together. This is better if you make it at least an hour before eating so the mushrooms have some time to absorb the dressing's flavors. I think they made a double recipe of this last night. (Personally, I think adding bacon bits to the salad would put it over the top...just my humble opinion.)

When the time come to serve, Put your spinach in a big bowl, pour on the dressing and toss well. Wish this would keep until the next day whenever there are left-overs, but, alas, it won't.  

(How do you like my floating pitcher over there?)

3 - Cantaloupe that's been cut into bite-size pieces. Cantaloupe can be delicious, and then it can have little to no flavor, and it's a guessing game which one you're buying. The one type of cantaloupe that is guaranteed to always be delicious are the ones that are grown in the Missouri River bottoms/bottom lands. If you can get your hands on one, you will be supremely satisfied when you eat it. I'm sure you can find them here in COMO at the farmer's market - be sure to ask where they were grown, tho. 

4 - Sister Schubert's Yeast Dinner Rolls

For bought dinner rolls, they were good. And I love the name! I'd buy them just for that! You can find the rolls at Sam's Club.

5 - Mom made our dessert, a blackberry crisp. Of course I didn't think to take a photo until after we'd consumed it! I'm sure she'll be making one again before I go home, and then I'll take photos and write down the recipe for it. Her fruit desserts are wonderful!

~~~

See you on Sunday!

~

Gathered 'round: David & Diane O'Hagen, mom & dad, me!

Sunday, the 24th of July 2016: COMO

I arrived back to my beloved COMO (COlumbia, MO) this past Sunday afternoon. Timing was excellent as it was just a bit before mom and dad's weekly Sunday Family Dinner & Game Night. Nearly every Sunday my cousins Curt and Cathy and their spouses, Pat and Tom join mom and dad for food and game fun. Often there are others that join in (especially us, mom & dad's kids and grandkids - we can't wait to visit and play!), but the six mentioned above are the core group here in COMO. As you can see, this past Sunday, we had gourmet pizzas on flat bread - above are three of the ones mom and dad made. Thought I'd include the video, 'cause it just so darn cute of the two of them! Mom assembled the pizzas, with help from dad, on flat breads with sautéed veggies and baby eggplant, some tomato sauce and Collina brand Italian 4-Cheese Blend, mozzarella, feta and/or ricotta cheeses. There was a bowl of fresh basil leaves on the table as well as a bit on top of some of the pizzas. All were delicious, no matter what the combination, and there were even a few slices left over for lunch the next day! 

Part of my COMO families SND tradition is to play a game after dinner is done. Last Sunday, that game was Sequence, a game easily played with an odd number of people as it's always the gals vs. the guys. It's a fun game - even better because we gals won that night! (Mom and dad have a neat homemade board one of their friends made them, but you can buy a board as well.)

Two of our flat bread pizzas - stagger the start of the baking times so all of them aren't done at once!
(Of course! Trader Joe's has a great flat bread!)

flat bread/pitas - the thinner the better (click here (what we used) & here for examples)

assorted veggies of your choice, sautéed - this night we used: 

red pepper strips

onions, sliced

baby bok chop, chopped

mini/baby eggplant, sliced 

grape tomatoes, halved
chanterelle mushrooms, torn into bite-size pieces
yellow and green zucchini, sliced

basil leaves, chiffonaded (fancy word for cut in strips)

fresh roma or other tomatoes, sliced and set aside

olive or grape oil

pizza or marinara sauce of your choice (we used Newman's, 'cause we had it on hand)

pepperoni, salami, procuitto, other cured meats, optional - but good

Italian 4-cheese blend (We used Bella Collina brand from Sam's Club)

mozzarella, sliced or shredded

parmesan or romano, grated

feta, crumbled (try to find either Bulgarian feta or Greek feta - there is a HUGE difference in taste from US-made feta cheeses - click here for an article on the difference)

basil leaves, whole, for the table

Preheat oven to 425º F. Figuring on 1/2 a flatbread for a light eater and 1 flatbread for a more vigorous eater, line as many cookie sheets as you need with parchment paper and place the flatbreads on the cookie sheets, leaving room between them. 

In a large skillet, coated lightly with oil, sauté your veggies, in this case red pepper strips, onion, bok chop, and grape tomatoes until just al dente. Set aside.  

onions, peppers, tomatoes, bok chop just at al dente

In the same skillet (or a separate one), coated lightly with oil, sauté the eggplant rounds until just browning and softening. Set aside. Sauté the remaining veggies individually and set aside. 

baby eggplant just warmed through

Now for the fun part! Assembling your pizzas! You can do any combination of ingredients you want! If you watch the video, above, you'll get an idea of how mom assembled at least three of ours. 

Pizza 1: First marinara sauce, then ricotta cheese spread all over and then a healthy coating of the Italian 4-Cheese blend. On top of that, the sautéed mixed veggies. Finally, more Italian 4-Cheese blend and parmesan. 

Pizza 2: Marinara sauce, then Italian 4-Cheese blend to cover the flatbread. On top of that, place the sautéed eggplant all around the top in a single layer. Put some of the sautéed veggies on top of the eggplant. Sprinkle Italian 4-Cheese blend on top and some parmesan cheese. 

Pizza 3: Much like pizza 1, but without any grape tomatoes.

Pizza 4: Drizzle some olive oil on the flat bread, then a layer of Emmentaler cheese. On top of the cheese, put a single layer of whole basil leaves. On that place a single layer of fresh tomato slices. Scatter some sautéed sliced onion on the tomatoes slices and then with feta. Then put a layer of very thin slices of lightly sautéed zucchini. Over that scatter fresh, sautéed chanterelles and then parmesan cheese. 

Pizza 5: Drizzle the flat bread with olive the cover lightly with marinara sauce. Sprinkle with some fresh basil and then cover with baby eggplant slices. Sprinkle the eggplant with sautéed onion slices and then a generous amount of sautéed chanterelle mushrooms. Lightly sprinkle the entire pizza with Italian 4-Cheese blend

Pizza 6: Drizzle flatbread with some olive and then smear with marinara sauce and then smear ricotta on top of the marinara. Place slices of mozzarella all over that and then scatter chanterelles, eggplant, sautéed yellow & green zucchini over all. Place pepperoni rounds all around the outside of the flatbread and top with grated parmesan cheese.

The first three pizza all ready for the oven:

top to bottom: Pizza 1, Pizzas 2 & 3

Pizzas #4 & #5 ready for the oven - no photo of #6, unfortunately:

left to right: pizza #4 & pizza #5
this photo courtesy of MumBum

Season all the pizzas with BumHot, (or bought red pepper flakes or cayenne) and any other seasoning you'd like, to taste. Place two or three pizzas in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, or until done to your liking. Remove them to a serving board, slice and everyone can grab a slice or two. While you're enjoying those pizzas, bake the rest of them and serve when the first round is eaten up!

~~~

See you on Sunday!

~

Gathered 'round: Mom & Dad Bum, cousins Curt & Pat Vogel, cousins Cathy & Tom Shryock, me

Thursday, the 14th of July 2016

The Veggies & Pesto Bread

Last Thursday, cousin Julie's daughter, Lauren, came out to CT (from NYC where she lives) with a bunch of her buddies and so we gathered for dinner*. They were on their way to Nantucket for a little R&R and stopped for the night in CT, well until 4am on Friday morning when they left for said vacation stop. As always, with any of our kids, Lauren had requests for the din-din she would have before departure. On the menu were the grilled veggies and pesto bread you see above, along with grilled shrimp (which I totally didn't photograph, darn it!). The meal was excellent, and the shrimp, tho delicious, superfluous as far as I was concerned!

On the menu: 

1 - Grilled Shrimp

2 - Grilled Portobello Mushrooms

3 - Grilled Mixed Veggies

4 - Grilled Pesto Bread

5 - Fresh Heirloom Tomatoes w/Burrata Cheese

6 - No dessert

1 - Clean and shell the shrimp. Melt butter in a bowl and add Old Bay Seasoning. Toss with the shrimp. In a grill basket, grill the shrimp, tossing continually, over a hot fire. Remove and cover with foil until serving. 

2 & 3 - Toss the portobello's and veggies, in this case, carrots, zucchini, onions and those tiny ~mini-sweets~ peppers, with a good Italian vinaigrette - if you don't have a favorite recipe, use Good Seasons packets mixed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Grill over medium-high heat all until done. Place on a platter or platters and drizzle all with balsamic glaze. These are all delicious served at room temperature. 

4 - Cut in half a loaf of good quality Italian bread. Heavily smear the bread with a good, fresh pesto, either homemade, or in Julie's case (and mine if I were making it), Stew Leonard's fresh pesto. Grill over medium heat until the bread is browning and the pesto beginning to ~melt~. Slice and serve either warm or at room temperature. 

5 - Slice the tomatoes and arrange around a round of pulled apart burrata cheese. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar. Be sure tomatoes are at room temperature. 

6 - Dessert....again a no go (sigh)

~~~

See you on Sunday!!

~

*Gathered 'round: niece Lauren and four of her friends, nephew Connor, and cousins Julie, Andy and Mike & me!

Sunday, the 10th of July 2016

The beginnings of Broiled Tomatoes w/Feta Salad

Yesterday there were eight folks gathered 'round our dinner table*. And did we have a feast! Our menus generally are based on what any one of us in the family is hungry for (that usually means me, if I'm the one doing most of the cooking that night). Tonight son Bly, who lives in the city and was out for a visit, requested steak as he hasn't yet found a butcher shop close to him and his wife that has anything but meh-tasting beef. He also asked his sis to make pork belly - something Brynnly's becoming semi-famous for; it's that good. The rest that followed was, yup, what I was hungry for! 

 1 - char-grilled marinated London broil

2 - steak au poivre mushroom sauce

3 - caramelized skillet corn

4 - seared pork belly

 5 - tomatoes w/feta salad

6 - fresh ~pickled~ cucumbers

7 - no dessert - ran out of time

1 - Beef has gotten so expensive! This time, tho, I was in luck because Stew Leonard's had their London broil steaks on sale for only $2.99/lb.! London broil is a flavorful, but somewhat tough meat that just needs a tenderizing marinade and to be cut on an angle in thin slices. It's just as good as any sirloin when treated correctly. 

For the marinade: In a blender combine olive oil, worchestershire sauce, red wine vinegar, curry powder, Mister Mustard, well, mustard (Shop Rite carries it). Amounts are up to your tastes. We were grilling two 3 lb. steaks so used (but didn't measure anything) about 1/3 C. olive oil, 1/4 C. worchestershire and red wine vinegar, 4 T. curry, 1 T. mustard. Marinate for at least 1 hour before grilling. I put the steaks in an over-sized zip-lic, poured the marinade in and left the steaks on the counter so they would come to room temp.  

2 - I know, I know...steak au poivre doesn't have mushrooms in it and uses brandy and whole peppercorns. Ours didn't follow the rules! 

For our sauce: In at least 1/2+ stick of butter, we sautéed two 10 oz. packages of pre-sliced white mushrooms with half of a diced onion. As that began cooking down, 1/2 C. bourbon was added, along with 3 T. coarse-ground Tellicherry black pepper. Just before serving a 3/4 C. half & half was added and all was heated through. 

3 - Follow the link for the skillet corn recipe. This time we used frozen corn. In my humble opinion, the very best frozen corn I've ever eaten comes from The Fresh Market grocery store. It's their own store brand and comes in 2 lb. bags. We used a bag of the yellow corn and a bag of the white corn.

4 - Daughter Brynnly made the pork belly (when you purchase it, be sure to get a slab of pork belly (see photo here) and not thin cuts that won't stand on their fatty side. Our slab was about 8" x 4". Preheat the oven to 425º F. In a large iron skillet, sear the pork belly on both sides so it's nicely browned, turning frequently, about 5 minutes per side. While that's searing, make your marinade. There isn't any set marinade for pork belly, and the 3 times Brynnly has made it, she's used a different marinade each time. This time it was: soy sauce, fresh grated ginger, a touch of grapefruit zest, a dash of Mr. Mustard and grape seed oil - mix all together with a stick blender or stand blender. When the pork belly is well seared, remove it from the skillet and drain the fat from the skillet. Let the skillet cool down a bit (so the marinade won't burn), place the pork belly back in it, fat side up, and pour the marinade over it, being sure all sides get covered with it. Place in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes. When done, remove it from the skillet and cut it into bite or two bite-size pieces. Place in a bowl or small platter and serve. 

5 - This recipe came out of the cookbook ~Culinary Masterpieces~, a wonderful cookbook published  in 1993 by The Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City to celebrate the museum's 60th birthday. The whole darn book is good, but I think their tomatoes with feta recipe is my very favorite. 

Gather together fresh basil leaves that are washed and dried, fresh tomatoes, feta cheese and a balsamic dressing. Cover the bottom of your baking dish with basil leaves - be sure to cover the entire bottom. Place thickly sliced tomato slices on top of the leaves to entirely cover as well. Drizzle balsamic dressing over all, as you would a salad - not too much, not too little. Cover the tomatoes entirely with feta cheese: 

All covered with feta and ready for the broiler!

 Broil about 5" from the heat source until the feta is nicely browned, about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and let come to room temperature to serve. You can make your balsamic from scratch, but I usually just use the Good Seasons Zesty Italian packet and carafe. Use a spatula to serve this. 

6 - One of our very favorite salads! And there's just no way to mess up the recipe, because it really isn't a recipe! Follow the link here or above for the recipe. It's nothing more than slicing cucumbers, putting them in a bowl, covering them with vinegar and adding fresh-ground pepper and fresh dill (dry is fine too) - and it's just as good without dill. You add ice cubes to cover and then sprinkle salt on the ice cubes. Just make it about an hour before dinner and that way the ice has time to almost melt, making it easier to get to the cucumbers. Don't make this too far ahead as the cucumbers will be limp (not good) instead of crisp. Mikey Mig's girlfriend Christina adored these and at the end of our meal, pulled the bowl over and ate every last one left!

7 - No dessert this time. 

~~~

See you on Sunday!

~

*Gathered 'round: GB & I, daughter Brynnly, son Bly, Bly & Brynn's buddies Gilby & Mirabel, Bly's buddies Mikey Migs & his girlfriend, Christina

Our Sunday Family Dinners Explained

Rosemary blossoms, February 2009

I wrote the below post originally in February 2009. It pretty much perfectly explains what our
Sunday Family Dinners are all about and why they are so important to all of us.
For the original post, click here. For the re-posted post, click here.
For cousin Julie's wonderful take on SFD, click here.
(The oven fries recipe, below, is often a part of our SFD's.)

My World: 

There's one huge aspect of my world that I really don't write much about here, which is really quite odd, considering how important it is to me. It is something near and dear to my heart, whatever the aspect of it is. Matter of fact, it's quite near and dear to the hearts of my family and friends as well. We have shared many wonderful times over it, and, I suspect, will continue to do so ad infinitum. 

So what, you ask, does the above photo have to do with anything at all, let alone the mystery aspect of my world I'm blabbering on about? Nothing and absolutely everything, that's what! It's a pretty enough photo that I enjoy looking at, and hope you do to, but what it really stands for is...food. Food. It's such an important part of my world and I really don't talk or write about it as much as I should. How often have we gathered together, be it two, ten or many folks, to celebrate, commiserate, grieve, just be with each other, laugh, love, play, where food is the centerpiece of the gathering? How irritated do the children of this wonderful collective family of ours get when we miss Sunday Family Dinner two weeks in a row? (Right now they're really mad - we're going on our 3rd week of missed SFD with no end in sight. It's not a good thing.) How wonderful is it to gather together and share good times over good food? It is a pleasure to be forever treasured. And I know we're sending these children of ours forth into this world with the conviction that our Sunday Family Dinner gathering is a tradition whose celebration is sacred, should always be nurtured and never ever forgotten. Food is good. Life is good. For the most part. 

~

Those Oven Fries

potatoes, chunked, quartered, cut in wedges, whatever

extra virgin olive oil, enough to coat everything

garlic and/or onions, chopped

fresh rosemary leaves, stripped off tough stem

fresh ground pepper and salt

cayenne

(lemon juice is a most excellent addition)

oregano or other herbs if you think necessary - I don't

Now you know why I can't bake - I don't measure anything...ever. Preheat oven to 425º. Wash potatoes, cut into whatever shape you want. Using whatever amounts you want, place all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Pour on a cookie sheet in a single layer. Bake for about 10 - 15 minutes. Turn potatoes over and bake for another 10 - 15 minutes. Serve immediately. 

Delicious with just about everything, but especially good with roast chicken, lamb and salmon. It goes without saying (so why am I saying it?) they're delicious with hamburgers and steak. Heck, they'd be good with liver!

~~~

See you on Sunday!
~