Friday, the 12th of August, 2016, COMO

Our third vegetarian meal since I've been home - whoda thunk??? (Delicious!!!)

It occurred to me that every day I've been here in COMO, it's been a SFD! I'm not in my CT home, I'm not around my normal people, but every night I get to gather with my parents, and, for a week, my sister, as well, in my mind, that makes every single night SFD special! Though I hadn't figured that out until tonight, a mere 4 days until I fly back east, I do believe I'll tell you about these last few meals. 

Last night we had mom's wonderful poached chicken (which I need to write about because 1: it is absolutely delicious, and 2: you all really need to know how to make it!).
And tonight we had another veggie feast! This isn't something I ever do at home, unless the menu includes some sort of starch - GB loves his starch and he'll do without meat or fish, but only if our meal includes some sort of starch. (I agree with him 4 or 5 days a week, but every now and again, veggie meals are a-ok!)

My folks are still avid gardeners, both of foods and flowers, so most of what is on our table in the spring, summer and autumn months comes directly from their efforts. The only thing, above, that didn't come from their spot of garden beauty is the corn. (It's Olathe, CO corn - if you can get your hands on some, SCOOP IT UP!! It's beyond wonderful!) Everything else was grown about 30 feet from their kitchen; (and though their garden veggies aren't as pretty as those you find in the grocery store, their flavors far outweigh them!). So, without further ado, our menu was:

1 - chili rellenos

2 - oven-baked eggplant, okra & onions

3 - cucumber, Greek yoghurt, mint & lemon juice salad

4 - corn on the cob

5 - tomato chunks with fresh basil leaves

1 - We're not sure what's going on with Dad's poblano peppers he's raised this summer (the peppers we use in chili rellenos), but they've been hotter than holy hell! They're supposed to be a warmly surprising pepper, but not in the least astoundingly HOT! However, the rellenos were, as always, delicious. Our family is convinced that's because we BAKE them instead of frying them. Makes a world of delicious difference! For the recipe, go here.

2 - I really should include this step with the above because, outside of flaming their skins, the steps are really the same. Eggplant and onions are sliced into rounds, okra is left whole. They're all rolled in flour, then rolled in an egg/oil mixture and then rolled in panko breadcrumbs. All of the above are baked on a lightly oiled baking sheet at 425º for around 30 minutes. Major deliciousness! Here's a pic of both 1 & 2, ready for the oven:

3 - Mom made up our cucumber salad tonight - she had a little guidance from our friend Google, but it was basically her own creation. She peeled and chuncked three (they're quite small) Persian cucumbers (our home-grown skins were blemished, so off they went; store-bought ones don't need peeling), and then diced and added a small red onion. In the bowl, she then squeezed half a lemon on top, splashed on a bit of olive oil and threw on a handful of fresh chopped mint leaves, ground on fresh ground pepper and sprinkled on some salt. The last step was adding a good dollop of plain Greek yoghurt. All was mixed together and then put in the fridge to chill before being served. Here's a pic of it in the making: 

4 & 5 - Both of these are just common sense, and I know everyone is up on how to make them happen. Boil the corn and serve with butter. Slice or chunk the tomatoes, put a few fresh basil leaves on them and serve with cottage cheese or not. 

No dessert tonight, but dad got his dollop of sweets with a bowl of gelato. Nice! Another SFD meal that make all three of us feel, well, just good! Together!

~~~

See you on Sunday!

Gathered 'round: mom, dad and I

Sunday, the 7th of August 2016, COMO

gathered 'round the table with the cousins for spatchcocked chicken w/sauce, cole slaw, buttered corn, home-grown tomatoes w/cottage cheese and fresh watermelon slices. YUM!
left to right: Tom, Cathy, my dad

Sunday Family Dinner once again at my parents home. The cousins came over and we were eight around the table. This night, Dad was behind schedule feeding the fish, so cousin Tom started the honors, then dad came in to add his thoughts to the process. It's always a fun night with lots of back and forth pokes and jabs and a lot of family lovin'.

Our menu was:

1 - spatchcocked chicken w/sauce

2 - cole slaw w/additions

3 - buttered corn

4 - tomatoes w/basil and cottage cheese

5 - watermelon slices

6 - BEST peach pie ever

~

1 - Spatchcocked chicken, how I love thee! It's become all the fad of late, but when I look back in my mother's 50 year recipe history, she's been doing just that for years, only she didn't have a fancy word for it and simply called it ~flattened chicken~. Go here for the recipe. You can use any fresh herbs you want. It is just so good because the breast doesn't dry out as the entire chicken is flat, so it all cooks evenly.

Here's how to carve it :-):

dad giving pointers to Tom

2 - Seester Care is family famous for her tartar sauce and her cole slaw dressing, so, of course mom and I insisted that she dress the cabbage last night. As she said, she really doesn't have any exact amounts, but the ingredients stay pretty much the same. I chopped up a bowl of cabbage (I chopped 3/4 of a medium head, enough for 8 folks), and to that added a chopped orange-green farmer's market pepper, a cucumber that was sliced length-wise, the seeds scooped out with a spoon, then halved again length-wise and sliced and a small purple onion that had been diced. That was all stirred together and the Carrie mixed in the following dressing: 

In a bowl, whisk together:

Hellman's mayonnaise, about 1/3 C. or so

cider vinegar, about 2 T.

a handful fresh parsley (didn't have any fresh dill), chopped

sugar, about 1 - 2 T. 

milk to thin if necessary

salt & fresh ground black pepper to taste

Whisk all together. Pour over slaw and mix well. Taste and correct seasonings.

3 - Cut corn off the cob and put all in a pot. Add a half stick of butter and some water. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer until done, about 15 minutes.

4 - Slice tomatoes and put on a platter along with some basil leaves; serve with cottage cheese.

5 - Cut up watermelon and serve in a bowl. 

6 - Mom made a delicious peach pie - no photos of her making it, or the finished product. Rats! :(

~

On to game-night!

and now for a rousing game of Sequence...of course the gals won!
left to right: Tom, Cathy, Carrie, Curt

~~~

See you on Sunday! 

~

Gathered 'round: mom & dad, Curt & Pat, Tom & Cathy, seester Carrie & me

Wednesday, the 3rd of August, 2016: COMO

SFD as a brunch-type meal on a Wednesday

My dearest seester flew home today because, well, I'm here and we don't see each other as often as we'd like, and because our very favorite place to be is here in Missourahhh with our parents. Mom wisely decided that it would be a grand idea to have our main meal in the middle of the day, as Care would probably be hungry after a morning traveling and it also would leave more time for game night as the evening meal would be more of a snack. Sister Care is a BIG fan of salmon salad, and considering it's about 100º outside, that sounded more than reasonable to make. That night we all just ate whatever left-over we could find and then played Rummikub. We laughed and had the best time! This family meal consisted of:

1 - salmon salad MumBum

2 - sliced tomatoes w/basil leaves & cottage cheese

3 - sliced Missouri River bottom cantaloupe

4 - toast made out of home-made bread

5 - hard-boiled eggs (that no one bothered to eat)

1 - While mom used a can of alaskan wild salmon, fresh left-over salmon can be used just as well. If you've never had canned salmon before, don't be put off by the bones you might see. When you gently stir the salmon, the bones just dissolve and go away. Canned wild salmon is incredibly healthy - loaded with all kinds of nutritious goodness. And it tastes divine! Mom used red sockeye salmon, but you can use whatever brand you want - there's more than one kind out there - just be sure it's wild-caught. This salad is so easy to make!

salmon salad in the making

1 14 3/4 oz. can wild-caught Alaskan red sockeye salmon, most of the liquid drained

1/3 C. or so Hellman's mayonnaise

1 t. or so Dijon mustard

juice and pulp of 1/2 a lemon

1/2 C. or so minced celery (see above photo)

salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Put salmon in a bowl and stir it gently to separate. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir gently to combine - be careful with the stirring; too vigorous and the salmon will get mushy. Serve on toast, with tomatoes in a pita, however you like it. 

2 - The tomatoes and basil were from my parent's garden. Nothing better than home-grown tomatoes in the summertime! Here in COMO everyone has the good fortune of being able to buy Central Dairy 2% Cottage Cheese. It is far and away the very best cottage cheese made. I've tried just about every brand back in CT and haven't yet found one I really like. 

3 - Got our melon at the COMO Farmer's Market. It was and is delicious!

4 - Mom and I made the bread together. No, she doesn't measure any of the ingredients for bread-making....ever. She did have me measure most of the ingredients so I'd get a ~feel~ for the right amounts, but, of course, I didn't write anything down, so will have to make more with her! Such a hardship! :)

5 - Mom hard-boiled 5 eggs (fresh from a friend that has chickens - the yolks are bright bright yellow-orange, and the whites never run when you crack one and drop it in a skillet) to put in the salmon salad. I looked at her in horror because that just didn't sound good to me at all. We ended up eating two of the eggs for our breakfast. Carrie said she always puts eggs in her salmon salad as well. 

~~~

See you on Sunday!

~

Gathered 'round: mom & dad, Care & me!

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

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. 

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See you on Sunday!

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