Tag: Food

Tequila is My Friend

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By Dahni
© 2016, all rights reserved

Tequila as a friend? Yes! A friend not only will say what you want to hear, but they will tell you what you NEED to hear.

Margaritas
Ahh Tequila, You are a Friend of Mine 🙂

Nothing quite says summer like margaritas, freestyle, flavored, frozen or on the rocks! Tequila is my friend because, a regular margarita requires it and is part of its unique taste.

You live your life with the love of your life and you find out things about her after many years that you never knew. Tequila is my friend because, I just found out that it is my wife’s favorite drink. She had been asking me to make these for a while and the other night I made us a couple and posted on my Facebook page that it was, “Margarita 30.”

“Margarita:30,” like “Beer:30, is just a hypothetical time of day uttered in response to the question of “what time is it.” when consumption of said beverage becomes an event that is either inevitable or required to proceed with life as we know it in modern society. 🙂

Well, anyway, as I was saying, it was indeed, “Margarita:30” the other night at, The Gathering Place. I made my wife and I a couple, just as usual. A regular Margarita is pretty simple to make. It has just three ingredients: Tequila (of course), some type of orange liquor as Triple Sec, Cointreau or Grand Marnier. I have used all three and Triple Sec is the least expensive followed by Cointreau and then Grand Marnier. The last two are French in origin and I do personally, prefer Grand Marnier. The kind of Tequila is a personal choice and range in complexity and cost. Whatever works for you, works. I started making these with the once most popular and nearly the only tequila (good tequila) that was available around 40 years ago, Jose Cuervo. Although not the oldest or the best by many standards, it remains the best-selling tequila in the world.

Now the purists, the old-time tequila drinkers licked some salt, bit into a lime and swallowed the tequila. A version of this was the “body shot” and required preferably three attractive women and one male. One female placed the salt at her cleavage. Another lady would have the lime in her mouth. And the last woman had the tequila in hers. If you were the guy that was the recipient of this libation, well?  🙂

Some had tequila drinking parties and contests, most likely inspired by the male-manly-silly-ego of, ‘who can drink the most?’ I was a bouncer or a stabilizer-stand-em-up guy of such a contest where the floors were completely lined with thick painter’s drop cloths. Hmmmmm? The contest had obvious ‘ringers’ of Mexican descent. No, that is not a slur, just a probability that if you were born and raised in Mexico, you just might be able to drink more tequila, than someone that is not. But, ‘The Flying Burritos Brothers Tequila Drinking Team,’ each consumed, a fifth and a half of tequila and were still on their feet. 🙂

Many were intrigued by and dared to get to and swallow the preserved worm, at the bottom of the bottle of some tequila? It was and may well still be, as if there is something magical, spiritual or that the supposed pure tequila in that worm’s guts, would make you special or something. 🙂

Too much tequila has been known to cause temporary (hopefully) nut-ness’ and there was even a song written that was quite popular. Many may still hear it played today or recall it, all too realistically. 🙂

Jose Cuervo, Shelly West, 1983, Vinyl 45 RPM

But getting back to ‘Margaritaville,’ after the proper mixing of the 3 required ingredients, for ‘The Regular,’ usually the rim of the glass is rubbed with lime and the glass is then turned upside down and pressed into a bed of coarse salt. The lime oil holds the salt onto the glass, for the ‘salted rim,’ which many find to be absolutely, a requirement for a real, true, authentic margarita. Prior to serving, the beverage is mixed with ice and pulverized in a blender or ice crusher, to make frozen margaritas. Otherwise, you would place ice cubes (as much as you like) or crushed ice in the glass, then pour the fresh margarita over the ice and Walla — instant summertime (beach not included). 🙂

I had not been able to drink even a 1/3 of my drink, when I suddenly had a horrible headache. I thought maybe it was that the Triple Sec was old so, I left my happy wife to drink hers and the rest of mine, while I tried to make another with Grand Marnier. Ooops, ran out of lime so, I had to use Rose’s lime juice and some of that lime juice concentrate from you know, that lime-looking, plastic squeeze bottle. It did not taste the same as a regular margarita without the fresh lime juice and after a swallow, my headache continued to get worse. Pffft. It is one of my favorite drinks too. But my poor happy honey was soon wasted away, in Margaritaville. 🙂

Margaritaville

Just so it is perfectly clear, we only drink moderately and modestly. We don’t NOT wear clothes, don’t shoot out lights, dance on bar tops, start fights or wake up with partners we have no idea who they are and we’re NOT wearing their shirts. To be clear, clear, we just wake up with each other, NO other bodies next to us, known or unknown! 🙂

Back to tequila.

I remembered that this tequila was newly tried last year and last year, it did the same thing to me. Last year it gave me a horrible headache too. Hmmm, I wondered, perhaps I can just no longer tolerate tequila? OH HOW SAD THAT WOULD BE! 😦

But then again, maybe it’s this PARTICULAR brand of tequila? HOPING SO!

The next day, I went to the liquor store to buy another bottle of tequila, the same brand we had used, for several years previously. But before I made my purchase, I just happened to ask the owner if he had ever heard of anyone else having a reaction to tequila or from the brand I had last purchased from him a year ago that he had personally recommended? “No,” was his quick answer, but it was followed with a “But.” But before I get to that, let’s go back in time.

My first introduction to wine was red wine and it was from France, a Beaujolais. I am told, this is still an excellent ‘first wine’ to introduce people to red wine, due to it’s low tannins and its light body. I loved it and went on to drink many different red wines, which I prefer over white. But something happened to me years ago. Red wines I loved, did not seem to like me anymore. I never even spent much time on WHY, I just tried to find some white wines that we would each other get along with.  🙂

Oh, I could still drink my red, but only a glass if with food for dinner, just NOT sadly, for ‘Happy Hour.’ When I moved to NY, where we live now, near the Finger Lakes Region of Western NY, yes, there is much more to NY than just New York City, NY, I started to wonder again. I decided my lack of tolerating red wine was due to the added sulfites to the wines, for commercial sale. All wines have some sulfites by nature and reds have more, but there seems even more are added, when mass distribution exists? I was excited to test this out, on one of our wine tour trips to a winery in particular that was, small-batch and organic. To my chagrin, the wine was horrible, so I was not able to see if my theory could “hold water” or wine. 🙂

Around three years ago, we moved to the country. We can now almost roll down the hill to a winery, owned by folks that have become dear friends. They have a wine produced and bottled by them, which is not only wonderful and red, but the first red wine, I have been able to drink just for Happy Hour, in over 30 years I’m guessing! WOW, was I happy to be able to drink a red wine again! My only problem is, if they ever run out, which is the situation currently. I could be in trouble. They probably will not have this ready for several more months. I do still have a few left in our basement, so I am not concerned, at least not yet. But, for the most part, I have, for three years, just thought that their red does not have as many sulfites, so I am able to drink it. I think now, I may be wrong about this.

I have consumed scotch in some form for over 40 years. It is not an alcoholic beverage that seems to have a middle ground. People either like it or they don’t, both with perhaps equal passion for or against. I personally had to learn to like it. It started with a beverage that someone I greatly admired enjoyed, called, Drambuie. It is Scottish in its origin and is a sweet liquor with a Scotch base. The name means, “the drink that satisfies.” I liked it. From there, I started drinking, ‘Rusty Nails’ which was, Drambuie with some scotch added. Then I moved to Chivas Regal which is, a blended scotch and this was a particular drink of choice of mine, for many years. I wrote “particular” because, for me, I discovered that if I was going to be out all night drinking (in my youth), I could drink just scotch all night long and never get drunk/inebriated/intoxicated and NEVER have a hangover. My only side-effect if you will, seemed like my skin smelled like an oak barrel, for quite some time until, all the remnants were no longing coming out my pores. 🙂

It was only when I met my wife that she introduced me to single malt scotch. Yes, my wife is a scotch drinker and I have never met another woman in my life that likes scotch. So, this is pretty cool to me! My first single malt is, still her favorite, Glenlivet. Mine later became, Macallan. We keep both as well as, a pretty good assortment of scotches, at The Gathering Place. I used to drink scotch on the rocks. It was my wife’s brother Kevin that taught me the ways of drinking scotch more perfectly.  🙂

Most scotch is bottled and sold at around the four-year old mark. The longer the aging, the higher the demand and price, but less water is left. 8-year-old and older scotch is like drinking finely aged wine with its complex nose, bouquet, start, finish and its subtle tastes. Adding a drop or a few drops ONLY of water, completely transforms the experience and ice just totally waters this down and robs me of the experience. So, for several years now, this is the only way I would drink scotch.

Now if you think I’m a long way away from what the liquor store owner said to me about tequila, and even further from Margaritaville (margaritas) and tequila being my friend, hold on, I’m getting there, it’s all important!

For years, my wife and I would occasionally share a scotch together and the same scotch, her Glenlivet, UNTIL I discovered Macallan. We would still have our scotches together (she her’s and I mine), once in a while. After her bother Kevin, showed me how to properly drink it, I have learned to love drinking it this way. My wife still prefers hers on the rocks and I, with just a drop or a few drops of water. And this does NOT matter what time of the year it is either. Perhaps by this time, you may have discovered what I discovered is, a taste for more expensive single malt scotches. I have had 18-year-old which were from drinks purchased for me by a friend. But my cut-off is, 12-year-old. It’s expensive enough and I really don’t want to get use to anything that might be better and even more expensive. But I also discovered something else. Since I do not drink scotch, I SIP IT and slowly, to maximize the experience and to make it take as long as is possible, we could actually afford more expensive scotch, since we do not drink it like water or need to buy it as often.

Something else happened to me years ago. I learned to enjoy fine cigars. But something was missing— other people. Yes, I was a conversation only, social cigar smoker. I would really never smoke alone. In my mind, a good quality cigar was a social thing, for conversation. I even started having what I called, Cigar-tys. I would have people over and most of the time, I provided the cigars and the beverages. I loved these! And since they were not frequent, I could afford better cigars. It was a win-win for me. Then, I started associating sipping 12-year-old single malt scotch, with fine cigars and conversation. Then, religion interfered. It wasn’t disagreeable politics, but religion. Rather than just agree to disagree, one stormed off and did not speak with me again for a long time. Thankfully, it was not permanent, but this ended my beloved cigar-tys! I would still have a scotch now and then with my wife, but rarely smoked another cigar, for some time.

I knew my brother smoked cigars, but found out he too, not only liked scotch, but my favorite as well. Then he and I got together with our wives, for a week at a cabin in the Ozarks. As far as he and I were concerned, we could have just stayed on the screened-in porch, had conversation, listened to the creek that ran just underneath, watched nature, smoked cigars and drank scotch all week-long! But our ladies had other things in mind so, we did do other things.  🙂

But ever since that time, just a few years ago, I can no longer drink scotch without a cigar and someone to share good conversation with.

Thankfully, I made a new friend a few years ago, that stops by every-now-and-again and we share a scotch and a cigar and good conversation. But last year I noticed, I was not tolerating scotch too well when he was here. I didn’t think too much of it until a few weeks ago, when he was last here. I poured him a scotch, but not one for myself. I just did not want to take a chance. We shared a cigar and great conversation, but I noticed, I wasn’t handling the cigar too well. Then, I got a little angry about that and after he left and to soothe myself somewhat, I poured myself a scotch. Same as last year, I just didn’t feel right. What was going on was soon forgotten. I would not have to think about it again until my friend or someone came by that liked conversation, a good cigar and some great scotch.

So, now finally, we get back to the liquor store owner. This just happened yesterday or one day before I wrote this post. Remember, I went to buy some tequila, like we used to have on hand, before last year.

Tequila
Two different Tequila brands— amber and clear

The amber-colored tequila on the left in the picture above is the one I have reacted to, twice now. The silver or clear one on the right is the one we used to use, for several years previously and the one I purchased yesterday. Remember, before I made my purchase, I asked the owner if he ever heard of anyone reacting to one or both types of tequila? After he said, “No,” he went on to say, “…but what you are describing to me sounds like you might have celiac disease.” He informed me that the only reason he knew anything about this was because his wife was having some issues with cancer and was referred to a gastrointestinal specialist. After proper testing, his diagnosis was that she did indeed, have celiac disease.

I have never heard of this disease before. Now, before you or I freak out with that dreaded word “cancer,” let’s not jump to conclusions. Celiac disease can happen at a young age or at any age and can vary with symptoms per individual and/or be gradual over the years. There is a test, for this and rest assured, I will be bringing this up with my doctor at a regular scheduled visit, in the next couple of weeks. But most often the disease is usually associated with the body developing antigens, for things it believes do not belong in the body of the individual as, me perhaps? It is usually associated with not tolerating gluten from wheat, rye and barley.

To my knowledge, I don’t seem to have any issue with rye or barley. I often feel uncomfortable after eating granola and sandwiches etc from whole wheat or gluten rich foods. There is a nine grain bread we have been buying for some time, which I love and gives me no problems. Pizza does not. But too much of anything would bother anyone eventually, but I try not to do that. Ice cream does not (especially Ben & Jerry’s). Yes, some ice cream contains gluten.Pie crust does not bother me. So, over the years, I have become aware of these things and have limited or weaned myself from those things which do bother me.

OK, so what has this to do with wine, scotch, cigars and at least one brand of tequila? In a word, wood. To be more specific, oak. All of these things can be aged, cured or stored in oak and as cigars, in a humidor made with oak. So yes, celiac disease can be triggered by oak and even some plastics (not that I eat plastic). The skin can absorb plastic and it can be inhaled in sufficient amounts to irritate those with celiac disease. OK, do I have this? I don’t know and won’t, before I am tested and properly diagnosed by my physician, within the next couple of weeks. But do I have any possible proof?

The liquor store owner told me that both tequilas are fermented in stainless steel tanks. But the amber-colored one is then aged to produce what some believe is a smoother tequila with the characteristic amber color. Would you like to know how it gets that color and whatever else becomes a part of the finished product? Well, it’s OAK! OK, now what?

I bought the new silver tequila untouched by OAK. I made us another pitcher of margaritas with it and slowly tasted and waited. Nothing happened. I had no reaction at all. I drank two and still, nothing. Nothing but pure delight that I could drink one of my favorite drinks again! So, tequila is my friend!

A friend tells you what you want to hear. Yay, I can still drink tequila (un-oaked) and continue to enjoy margaritas.

A friend tells you what you may not like, but need to know. I may or may not have Celiac disease. But now, I know it’s a possibility and what to do about it – check with my Doctor and take the test for this and just avoid things that may cause me discomfort.

And you Dear reader, tequila may be your friend too? If you have similar experiences as I have, check with your doctor. But rest assured, if you’ve no issue with any of these things, we will keep the stuff you like, for whenever you stop by, The Gathering Place! 🙂

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How Was Your December

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How was your December? We just got home yesterday on December 30th. After unloading the car, and putting most everything away, some laundry, checking in with family that we safely made it home, catching up on the mail and news and some dinner and a great amount of joyful reflection, we realized that there are many whose lives living or lost, have not had the same joyful December as we have been blessed with. And I feel their woes and pains, truly I do. But isn’t this an apropos time to share some good news? I believe so!

This true life story began with just a bunch of notes.

Just a bunch of notes in a jar presented to the new Mommy 12/25/15
Just a bunch of notes in a jar presented to the new Mommy 12/25/15
Just a jar of nine months of notes in Joshua's room
Just a jar of nine months of notes in Joshua’s room

For us, December has been fraught with birthdays, announcements of coming births, a new born little bundle of miracles from eight years of trying, meeting new family, making new friends, celebrating Christmas with family with before mentioned new baby boy, enjoying culinary delights made possible by many participates, enjoyable and safe travel with conditions made perfect by the unusual warm December and even passing by the World Headquarters of Duct Tape! 🙂

Duct Tape World Headquarters, near Cleveland, OH
Duct Tape World Headquarters, near Cleveland, OH
Scatter2
What is more cooler and useful than duct tape except, for one this large? LOL 🙂

For 40+ years, I have been cooking and particularly, holidays meals such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. For the very first time (this past Thanksgiving) was I able to not only enjoy the cooking, but to actually enjoy the service that I always seek to serve others. For years, I have forewarned and warned others, NOT to come into the kitchen or even speak to me while I am cooking, less I bite your freaking head off! At a meal prior to Thanksgiving, I tried something new. I played some low volume classical music in the background while I cooked, hoping it might take off the edge. It worked, but I didn’t know why at the time.

Having some success, I hoped this was no fluke and I wanted to repeat the classical music thing at Thanksgiving. By then I understood why. When we were growing up, us, three chil-ren, listened to what our parents liked, Big Band, Swing, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Andy Williams, Bing Crosby, Johnny Mathis and so, but certainly NOT classical music. However, coming home from school and after homework and chores of course, we were allowed to watch cartoons in the afternoon and on Saturday mornings. From Walt Disney, Hana Barbera, Walter Lantz (Woody Woodpecker), Warner Brothers and everything else, they all used classical music.

When I grew up, I knew nothing about this music or who wrote it, but when the music played, I sure recognized the tunes from the cartoons. So, in my adult mind, I equated happy times as a child and when the music played, my little old heart just thumped and fluttered happily while cooking! 🙂
Besides the music, there were two more things never done before, I started the actual cooking. I cooked the dressings or stuffing the day before and my wife had beautifully set the table, the night before, Thanksgiving. I was organized; everything was set. The results? Not only did everyone enjoy the food and the fellowship, so did I! I was determined that this would be my new normal and it would be repeated at Christmas! It was, but with another first.

Our Christmas dinner was actually on the 26th. I started out a little tense because, we had to open stockings and presents before the table could be set. The table would be in the living room. The dining room was used for delicious breakfast cinnamon rolls and scones and mimosas, all lovingly prepared by others. I had the low classical music playing in the kitchen as I prepared the turkey and got it in the oven, set and ready to check again in ninety minutes. I made coffee and eggnog lattes, before my cappuccino/espresso machine literally blew up. No one was hurt and no damage was done and no one other than myself and my wife knew. We heated the eggnog in the microwave and I made espresso in the brew coffeepot. No one knew and they still loved the results.

So, after breakfast, stockings and presents, the kitchen and dining room were mine. Our host and hostess reminded everyone that there was “a force field” around the kitchen and to not go in. The word was out, don’t come into the kitchen and talk to me. The first person I allowed in was my bother-in-law Lenny, the husband of my sister. I wrote “allowed,” but better words would be, ‘OK with,’ as I don’t think he would have accepted NO as a response from me. 🙂

But Lenny became the de facto kitchen manager, keeping everything clean and organized, even though I told him I clean as I go. He just smiled and kept doing his thing. I had only two choices, to freak out or just accept his help graciously. He later carved not the one turkey, but both, yes, two turkeys. I wanted everyone to have leftovers. The next day there were leftovers. Then our sister made incredible soup. Yesterday, she made Shepherds pie with all that was left. This all as she wrote was, the turkeys’, “delicious history.”

The first of 2 turkeys, the beginning of its "delicious history"
The first of 2 turkeys, the beginning of its “delicious history”

A couple of people came around the corner and asked if they could help me do anything. I kept my peace and politely said no. Then they proceeded to just have a conversation in the kitchen while I was cooking. I had to laugh because, I was totally OK with this. Then I discovered, I was not playing the music in the background. Still, I was OK. Later, I found out that one of the ladies that had asked me if she could help, has great difficulty in staying out of the kitchen because, she loves to cook too.

Say what? Tree people in my kitchen away from kitchen? :)
Say what? Three people in my kitchen away from kitchen? 🙂

I gathered everyone in the living room and made an announcement. It was something new to me and I was going to give it a try. I asked anyone that wanted to help, to help me!!! OMG was this a big deal to me, huge! It’s not so much that I was a control freak, but I suppose I was. Everything has to look good, be hot and served at the same time. It has to smell good, taste good, rekindle fond memories and promote good conversation before during and after. There is a reason for everything I try to do. It’s a lot of work and I take it seriously. So, instead of doing everything myself as I’ve done for years, now I was going to allows others in. How was I going to pull this off?

I have everything any chef in the world has, except for the paper, the certificate from a culinary institute. I am confident in my ability. I have cooked and prepared this menu countless times for countless people and have perfected my own recipes as much as a perfectly imperfect being can perfect anything. Still, I brought my own notebook of my recipes. I had previewed this not-my-kitchen and knew where everything was. I was set and nothing was left to chance. I was prepared, for any unforeseen thing.

I am not about praise! I am results oriented and happy to be in the background, to work behind the scenes and to SERVE and spatter joy! But others wanted to do the same thing. I just wasn’t until this moment sure, who would be found in the kitchen, Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde? Well, I opened the front door and kicked Mr. Hyde in the rear and out, never to return again! No matter how great the conductor, it’s all about the music. One can conduct all day long, but people want to see the musicians play and hear the music swell. Other people wanted to spatter joy too!

Our Table
Our Table – Japanese theme plates, Christmas Tree folded napkins, Chrisitmas Tree butter pats and even a nice warm crackling fire on TV in the background 🙂

Christmas tree napkin folding was done by my wife Susan and Quin, the mother of the husband of my niece. My sister peeled and mashed and made the potatoes. Others set out the pre-made Christmas Tree pats of butter I made and brought and they set and decorated the table.
Everything was being taken care of, lovingly, graciously and happily! As I watched, there was no classical music playing. I was watching a beautiful symphony played out on their faces and by their hands of service and all before my ears. And the finale?

Comments from those that did not like turkey was, “I loved it” and “it was good.” A comment from one that did not like dressing or stuffing was, “I loved it.” Other comments were, “the Best Christmas Ever!” For myself personally, this was the best meal I have ever HELPED to prepare and have so thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish! This is HOW to cook! Spatter Joy!

Though I have tried to source the following quote and I believe its origin was Ralph Waldo Emerson, I have not been able to corroborate it. But it fits here.

“A true man (or woman) is absolutely confident in their own inspiration (or ability).”

unknown

Now, I have not only permanently kicked out Mr. Hyde from my kitchen, and now understand, not only the science and art of cooking, but the heart. Now, I can honestly teach others not only how to cook 5 star culinary delights— anyplace and at anytime, but NOW, I can show HOW it can all be enjoyed from start to finish! I highly recommend a movie we watched in Ohio, ‘The 100 Foot Journey’

How was your December? Mine was just getting started! The draw of the figurative centerpiece of all the festivities was a brand new baby boy, born on December 19th, 2015. He could have been born on the 18th, but that date remains the birthday of one of our sons. And he could have been born on his due date of the 29th, but that date remains our brother’s birthday. So each have their day and were born precisely, right on time. But this brand new little baby boy, named Joshua, is the first and only Great Nephew to my brother and I. He is our sister’s first and only grandson and grandchild. Babies draw people together.

Proud papa and baby Joshua in his camo outfit
Proud papa and baby Joshua in his camo outfit

My sister and her husband came from Raleigh, NC. My wife and I came from NY. My brother and his wife came from IL. We three all, came to Ohio and at different times of arrival. That’s a big deal. There were long drive times, costs and other matters involved for all of us to get there and I for one, am deeply appreciative and will forever appreciate their efforts! For myself, I only could get in three hours of sleep before we made the (2nd) 7 hour trip to Ohio. One has to stay awake somehow! Well, I am a mischief magnet, TRE (a Target Rich Environment), a silly man, an Unky (uncle), a Gunky (great uncle) and probably only about, fo-yeer-ohd (four years old). 🙂

Chef Dah-nay from Paris/Macedon, NY in his Red silicone spill-stopper beret :)
Chef Donnie-nay from Paris 🙂 OK, Macedon, NY, in his Red silicone spill-stopper beret 🙂
Me and My Minion
Me and My Minion
My Minion from Joshua
My Minion from Joshua

My parking ticket in this life has been validated and acknowledged, revealing in a comment, “the secret to my success.” A single image and a quote confirms this—

Silliness

And just so you do not misunderstand, it is confirmed again by a single video—

Dancing with Dahni

If it’s still not clear, try this—

“Be silly. Be honest. Be kind.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Oh, but there’s more, much more. And if you think this is about me, or my family or December or the holidays, keep reading my friend, KEEP READING!

On December 29th, 2015, we took my brother and his wife out to dinner and our family treated them, to celebrate his birthday.

From left to right Baby Joshua, Daddy Larry, Mommy Sierra Lee, Nanny Grandmother Carol Lee, Popi Grandfather Lenny, Susan Great Aunt, Donnie Great Uncle, Susan Great Aunt and sitting on the floor, brother Richard Great Uncle and birthday boy
From left to right:
Baby Joshua, Daddy Larry, Mommy Sierra Lee, Nanny Grandmother Carol Lee, Popi Grandfather Lenny, Susan Great Aunt, Donnie Great Uncle, Susan Great Aunt and sitting on the floor, brother Richard, Great Uncle and birthday boy. 🙂

All these many events culminated with something that has not occurred in some thirty+ years around the holidays. Our brother, and sister and I were all together, TOGETHER!

Richard, Carol Lee and Donnie
Richard, Carol Lee and Donnie

The craziness, silliness and love and heart remains after all these years and though the time was short, it was FULL and it was as if, we never missed a single beat.

So, as this month and this year comes to a close, I will raise a glass to our grandparents, Lilian & Stanley, Papa & Nanny, all our ancestors before them and to our parents Calvin and Jean, from which all those we have been touched by and whose lives we touch, has been made possible!

And this is the purpose of the Gathering Place. Though it is our home, we were not here, we were in Ohio. The Gathering place is not just a place, it is a heartbeat, where ever and with whomever it may beat. Though many could not be there with us and many had not the same kind of December or year as we have and many suffer, this is how life is supposed to be, should be and for us, it was, it really, really was this way! So, much has spilled over, into so many, many lives.

So, to you for the new year and forever, SPATTER JOY!

Scatter12

 

Dahni

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Turkey

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Turkey_title4WP

by Dahni

© 2015, all rights reserved

Turkey_pic4WP

For me, turkey at both Thanksgiving and Christmas is just something that I do. It was our family tradition. Then, after I was grown and on my own, I realized one day, it was not about the turkey, it was everything else that went with it that made it special. Besides smoked turkey or fine deli sliced turkey like you get from the store or that is pre-packaged in the meat section, I cannot say that I was ever particularly fond of turkey! It is doubtful that I would ever roast a turkey at any other times than for these two holidays – until NOW!

I once wrapped a turkey with pastry dough and it was pretty good. I have stuffed one once and will not do that again. For one thing, I like dressing or stuffing and I have never seen a turkey cavity big enough, to make enough for my liking. For another, once you stuff a turkey, it is likely to spoil much more quickly than if not stuffed. So, after the meal, you really need to cut and remove all the meat from the bones as is possible and/or boil the carcass for soup stock etc. Leftovers are good too!

I have tried all manner of turkey – fresh, adult, wild turkey, smoked, deep fried and frozen. For consistency, I have mostly, always relied on frozen ‘young’ turkey from the Butterball® brand.

If you try the recipe to follow, I will venture to say that there will be those that do not usually like roast turkey that will like this!!! For me, it is mouth watering and flavorful throughout, even the dark meat and I generally do not eat dark meat. It is juicy and tender and so tender in fact, the meat nearly fell off the bone. Pulling the remaining meat from the bone after dinner was the easiest I have ever experienced. The secrets are the salt (which tenderizes the meat), lemon (adds moisture and flavor), rosemary (adds flavor) and the last secret to tender turkey is, slow-cooking.

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Dahni’s Roasted Turkey Dinner (cont.)

Rosemary Citrus Salt:

• 1 tablespoon of fresh rosemary leaves chopped (fresh is more expensive, but worth the extra expense)
• 2 tablespoons of lemon zest (remove zest from 1 lemon see: lemon under Turkey below)
• ½ cup of coarse salt (use coarse salt substitute if desired and if you can find it)
• ¼ cup of extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Combine rosemary, lemon zest and salt in small bowl
2. pour olive oil into separate small bowl

Turkey
• 13-18 lb. whole young turkey (mine was around 13 pounds)
• 2 large carrots cut lengthwise
• 2 celery stalks cut lengthwise
• 1-4 springs of fresh rosemary (I used 1 sprig about 6” long)
• 1 lemon (zest has been removed = about 2 tablespoons for your salt rub above) cut lemon in half

Note: So your guests don’t have to fight over the drumsticks, you could vary this recipe with (2) smaller turkeys or even (2) 8-10 pound chickens, but add another ¼ cup of olive oil and more springs of Rosemary and another lemon cut in half (one for each turkey/chicken).

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 325° F.
2. Remove giblets and neck from both sides of turkey cavities and set aside in a large size pan on the stove
3. Thoroughly rinse and pat dry turkey inside and out.
4. Coat outside of turkey and inside with the olive oil (there will be some left in the bowl when you are done) Look for and use culinary disposable gloves to keep your hands from getting oily and prevent any transfer of plastic taste which can happen with ordinary disposable gloves.
5. Place the 2 halves of one lemon into the breast cavity of the turkey.
6. Place fresh rosemary sprigs into the breast cavity of the turkey
7. Season the outside of your turkey with the rosemary citrus salt, pressing it in to adhere.
8. Lightly spray cooking spray on the bottom of your roasting pan (I used Pam® brand olive oil spray
9. Arrange halved carrots and celery on the bottom of your roasting pan to set the turkey so that the bottom of the turkey does not touch the bottom of your pan.
10. Drizzle the remaining olive oil over the outside of your turkey.
11. Lightly spray cooking spray (Pam® brand olive oil spray) on the interior side of enough foil to completely cover the turkey.
12. Completely cover turkey with foil and wrap the edges. Note this is not a ‘tent’ it is a cover.

Note: If using a foil roasting pan, you might want to place a pan underneath just in case it leaks to catch the drippings. Or, just put one disposable aluminum pan into another. Why? Because 9 out of 10 times, one of the pans will have a small hole in it. Use one pan and the juice could leak out into your oven and cause smoke. Use two pans and this won’t generally happen. I suppose both pans could have holes, but it’s not likely. It like the adage, if you don’t use two, you’ll need them. If you use two, you probably won’t!  🙂

13. Place covered turkey into pre-heated oven.
14. Set timer for 90 minutes. When timer goes off, uncover and remove as much of the drippings as possible and place in a bowl to add to dressing and/or gravy. (this is very salty so use sparingly)
15. Re-cover turkey and set timer for another 90 minutes.
16. Re-check turkey and remove as much of the juice as possible for your dressing/gravy. Test interior temperature of turkey with a meat thermometer. When it reads 165° F. it is done. Mine needed another ½ hour.
17. The last 15 minutes of your cooking time, raise your oven temperature to 425° F. and remove the foil covering so the top browns.
18. After 15 minutes, re-check the interior temp. with a meat thermometer. When it reads 165° F. it is done.
19. Remove turkey from oven and allow to ‘rest’ for about 15 minutes before carving. While turkey is resting you can finish making your gravy.
Cooking time is 3 – 3 ½ hours at 325° F. I used 3 ½ hours for a 13 pound turkey. (For the correct amount of cooking time based on the pounds of turkey, just follow the instructions included with every Butterball® brand turkey.) The last 15 minutes uncover the turkey and raise the temp. to 425° F. to brown top. Remove from oven and allow to ‘rest’ about 15 minutes before carving. You can vary this recipe by doubling the ingredients for say a 20-30 lb. turkey and so on. After you first place the oven into the oven to cook, you can work on the first part of your gravy and on the dressing or stuffing.

Gravy

• 2 small onions peeled and quartered
• 2 carrots cut in half
• 2 celery stalks cut in half (use the leaves as this makes the broth more flavorful)
• 2 quarts of chicken stock, broth or even bullion cubes/granules with a quart of water is fine (non salted stock is preferred)
• ¾ cup of unsalted butter
• ¾ cut of all purpose flour

Directions:

1. Into a large size pan on the stove, place turkey giblets and neck.
2. Add carrots, celery and onion.
3. Pour 1 quart of chicken stock or broth over this.
4. Bring to a boil over high heat.
5. Once it boils, reduce temp. and simmer until it cooks down to about 2 cups.
6. Turn off heat, strain and set aside. You will use this liquid later when your turkey has finished cooking and is ‘resting.’
7. While turkey is resting, place a small skillet on the stove.
8. Melt ¾ cup of unsalted butter (1 stick), in a pan on medium heat.
9. Slowly add ¾ cup of all-purpose flour.
10. Whisk over medium heat for 3-4 minutes or until a smooth blond colored mixture (rue) is formed.
11. Add mixture to your reserved strained turkey mixture that you set aside on stove.
12. Add 1 quart of chicken stock or broth and pan juices.
13. Bring to a boil over high heat and let simmer until thickened and ready to serve. Season to taste. ENJOY NO LUMP DELICIOUS GRAVY!

Dressing or Stuffing:

• Chicken stock or broth as needed to moisten bread
• Turkey pan drippings as desired and needed for flavor and moisture
• ½ to 1 stick of unsalted butter melted.
• 1 large white onion diced.
• 3-4 celery stalks diced (use celery leaves if you like, but I prefer not to)
• 2 loaves of white bread – open the bag and leave the bread in the bag stacked over so that air can pass over the tops – 1-2 days before, to dry the bread.
• 1 loaf of wheat bread – open the bag and leave the bread in the bag stacked over so that air can pass over the tops – 1-2 days before to dry the bread.
• 1 box of Jiffy® brand corn bread mix.
• Seasonings to taste – I just remember the line from the Simon & Garfunkel song and use: “Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.”  🙂
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Note: Remember, your turkey pan drippings will have salt from the Citrus Rosemary Salt mixture so take care when adding more salt. Some people add dried cranberries and/or chopped walnuts to their dressing and I have heard it is really good. Adding apple and mild sausage to your dressing is also, excellent. Some people like oyster dressing, but I do not. I have tried adding roasted chestnuts once, but did not like the texture of the chestnuts, so I do not recommend this. To each their own, but the mix of white bread, wheat and cornbread really makes this special!

Directions:

1. Prepare and cook corn bread as directed on the Jiffy® brand corn bread mix. Prepare this the day before you need it and leave it out to dry.
2. Gently tear bread into pieces. I remove most, but not all the crusts as I believe too much crust makes the dressing or stuffing too tough.
3. Crumble corn bread and add to bread crumbs
4. Mix bread crumbs and corn bread together in large bowl.
5. Sauté diced onions and celery with butter on stove, on medium heat until the most of the water cooks down from the vegetables.
6. Pour sautéed vegetables over your bread crumbs and cornbread.
7. Add some chicken broth and pan juices as needed.
8. Add your dry seasonings (“Parsley – Sage – Rosemary and Thyme”) and salt and pepper to taste.

Note: Remember, your turkey pan drippings will have salt from the Citrus Rosemary Salt mixture so take care when adding more salt.

9. Mix dressing/stuffing until well combined and taste. To your liking, add whatever you think it needs.
10. Transfer stuffing to a lightly pre-sprayed (cooking spray), long rectangular shaped Pyrex, glass or metal deep pan.
11. Cover with foil.
12. Place the dressing into a pre-heated oven.

Note cooking time will vary depending on how and when you cook your dressing. If space and ovens are minimal, you can always make this ahead of time without pan drippings and then just heat it up later to be served when everything else is ready. If you are fortunate to have two ovens or a double oven, cook at 350° F. for around 45 minutes to one hour. The last 15 minutes of your cooking time, raise the oven temp to 425° F. to just lightly brown the top. For mine, I placed the covered dressing/stuffing into the same oven next to the turkey in the oven at 325° F., 1 hour before the turkey was uncovered and the temp was raised to 425° F. for the last 15 minutes. It was perfect!

End Notes:

The recipes used have been tested with many people and even those that do NOT like turkey. All have wholeheartedly agreed that this is the best turkey they have ever eaten! This is not to be braggadocious, but so you may be confident, your guests will say the same thing about your turkey dinner!

These recipes have often been requested, for me to make them and for others to make them, themselves. It will warm your heart when people ask you, “Would you please make your turkey,” or “Could I PLEASE have your turkey dinner recipes!”

I do not mind sharing them with those that ask, but please remember, these are just some of the featured recipes of my not yet published book, ‘The Gathering Place’ (Holidays & Special Occasions Entertaining). Please do NOT share them with others without my permission. They are copyrighted and unless I have given you specific permission to use them and share them, would make anyone in violation of Copyright infringement.
Once ‘The Gathering Place’ is published, it is my heart’s desire that anyone will be able to prepare, cook, present and serve 5 star restaurant quality food and ambience, for all holidays and special occasions entertaining at home, for their family and guests!

Again, please honor my request and not share these recipes with anyone, without my permission. You do have my permission to use these for yourself! For additional permission, email me: dahni1@gmail.com

Here is a PDF file of these recipes you may freely download.

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Dahni

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By Dahni & I-Magine

©️ 2018, all rights reserved

From my Work in Progress: ‘The Gathering Place Cook Book’, under the category of:
Holidays & Special Occasions Entertaining, by Dahni © 2013-2015, all rights reserved

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Latte Nogee

Press Play and enjoy the snow and the music while you read below! 🙂

Sorry, if you are viewing this on a smartphone as an Apple iPhone. They do not support the snow or the music, but here is the link to the music – Bing Crosby sining “White Christmas” – https://soundcloud.com/dahni-4/sets/holidays-1

by Dahni

© 2014, all rights reserved

Tis’ the season and eggnog a reason. How about starting your day with some Latte Nogee (eggnog + espresso coffee)! It is pronounced [nah+gee]

What you will need:

1. Good quality espresso beans and a grinder

LatteNogee3

LatteNogee2You may use ground espresso if you prefer, but I like them as fresh as is possible. Some people believe beans should never be frozen as it changes the flavor as the beans go back and forth from the freezer. It’s about moisture. But I take out from the freezer, exactly what I need from the bag and return the rest to the freezer. I have never had a problem. The espresso beans I used just this morning have been in the freezer for 2 years and NO PROBLEMO! 🙂

2. Some way to brew your espresso coffee. We rarely use our machine, but it is great to have around for special occasions and holidays. Our was a gift several years ago and it still works perfectly. Ours is a Melitta brand. The simple two-four cup espresso machines are not all that expensive (around $100) and well worth itI

3. The best eggnog you can find or make

4. The best nutmeg you can find. Grind your own from a fresh nutmeg. You’ll be glad you did.

LatteNogee4

5. Milk to foam or froth

6. (2) big tall holiday mugs

Let’s DO IT!

1. Measure enough espresso coffee (finely ground) to make (2) 3 ounces of coffee. see. the picute of the machine above. It shows the pot having about 3 ounces of coffee that has been brewed. For single serve, this is all you need. But to share with another (and this is all the fun), double the bre pot.

2. Heat enough of your cold eggnog on the stove to fill each mug to about two- 2 1/2 inches from the top of each mug.

3. Brew your coffee and pour half into each mug

4. Pour about 1/2 cub of milk (or skim milk) into a stainless steel frothing pot and foam the milk from the leftover water/steam from your espresso machine.

4. Pour half of the heated eggnog into each mug.

5. Pour half of the frothy (foamed) milk into each mug.

6. Garnish with as much fresh ground nutmeg as you like or as an option –

7. Put a dollop of whipped cream on top of each cup then garnish with fresh nutmeg. Then –

“Look out tastebuds, teeth and gums
Latte Nogee, here it comes!”  🙂

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On: Thrill of the First Grill

by Donnie Hayden

© 2014, all rights reserved

 

Well, today at The Gathering Place, we’re cooking. Yes, this post is abut the ‘thrill of the first grill,’ of the season.

Fresh from sleep ( I think the jet lag is over) and fresh with inspiration from our recent travels to Japan and Australia, we’re cooking up a storm!

Let me first explain the word ‘”storm.” It has been literally “storming” here recently. We have had quite a bit of rain and the temperature dropped dramatically. I’m not complaining, just explaining, for up here on the hill, we have fared better than some that have gone through a lot of flooding and damage. “Storm,” “Stormy” and “bad weather,” can be used and are used here, figuratively.

About a week before we left Australia (OZ-tralia), my wife Susan, was suffering from pain in her right leg. We thought it was just muscular or something like that from the much walking we have done these last couple of months. The day after we got home, I drove her to the doctor. A ultrasound revealed that she has a blood clot in her leg. Rather than go into details, let me just say that she is doing better, but has to take it easy. Now “easy” to you might be easy to you, but not to Susan. She has plenty to do that she both wants to do and needs to do. So, it’s not “easy,” it is scary, different, frustrating and kind of stormy here, at the Gathering Place.

There were things, important things we missed while gone. For one, our only granddaughter has a mouthful of teeth, is walking and is keeping up with and will be soon the boss of her two older, fraternal twin brothers. There’s graduations, birthdays and even a wedding coming up. I’ve painting to do, grass to grow, a yard sale to plan and implement so, we can get rid of this huge pod in our driveway and have a full driveway again. And there has been the loss of a dear family member and the daughter of two of our other dear friends.

We’ve gone through all the mail and junk mail. We’ve a lot of catch-up to catch-up on, about many things. You leave for a couple of months and when you get back, everything you left is still here and more and less. Susan is retired. Me? I only know that we were tired while traveling; tired from traveling and when we got home as we still are, we’re re-tired! 🙂

Sometimes, we just don’t realize how good people are at what they do until, we have to step in and try to do, what they do. Susan is the shopper, the meal planner, daily cook and specialty cook too. I could go on and on about what she does, but the point is, for the present and for an indeterminate period of time, I have to step in and step up. Not complaining just explaining.

Me? Oh, I am a trained gourmet chef. I know how to shop for the best and how to prepare the best. Blah, blah, blah, you want to know what I really am, I ‘m just a show-off chef. I’m the guy you want to have prepare feasts, special occasions, holiday meals and fancy dinners for 100’s of guests! I’m not boasting, that’s a fact Jack (or Jill or whatever pray tell, your name is. 🙂

But there is a whole bunch of differences between what I do and what a daily good cook, like my wife Susan, has done for years. Like what, like feeding a family on a budget, coupon collecting, best-deal detective-ing, and with grace under pressure, adding variety and all, with delicious and nutritious food, day in and day out, 450 days a year (extra days for extra people that often show up extra-ordinarily).

Oh sure, I used to know grams and milliliters. I’ve had a lot of experience with healthy food and shopping on a budget. But that was then and this is now. Like the saying goes, “use it or lose it.”

Well, if I am such an experienced chef with all this training, why have you never heard of me? Why am I not a successful chef and restaurateur with a whole bunch of the famed culinary and prestigious, Michelin Stars, associated with my work? The short answer is, I can’t handle the pressure! But also, I cannot stand to cook the same stuff over and over again, day in and day out! Food is either just something I HAVE to eat, when I’m doing something else that I deem more important, but my stomach won’t shut up until I cram something down my throat. Thank God I married Susan because, at least her food is delicious, balanced, and nutritious! If I just had to feed me, I’d either sort-of-starve, which really means, I gain weight or just eat junk which means, I gain weight. PROVE THIS TO YOURSELVES FOLKS! If you, would just eat three balanced meals a day at the same times and you do NOTHING else, I guarantee you will lose weight! You can even eat my food, BUT NOT A LOT OF IT, ALL THE TIME; EVERY DAY!

I love to cook. I love to cook for others. But in the kitchen, I AM INTENSE! I would NOT want to work for me or with me in the kitchen! I don’t know many chefs that I would want to be like. Many of them are just jerks, bossy-expletive-flinging dictators. And this is another reason I do not cook professionally. Not cooking professionally just means, I am not paid. I am a professional in all other senses of the word. I clean as I go. I cannot stand a messy kitchen!!! Besides, in a restaurant, the person that cleans the dishes is called a dishwasher, not the kitchen-washer or the kitchen cleaner. That’s my job and especially here recently. We have a mechanical/digital dishwasher and we have me, the hand dishwasher, while Susan rests, takes it easy and keeps her feet elevated.

My new roles are: nurse, caregiver, cooking, cleaning, shopping and many other things of which Susan, used to do a lot of these and much, much more.

Me shopping? By myself? Even with a list? Whew, what else do I bring home? How much more do I spend? To be fair to me, from my recent shopping trip, I did think in terms of extra stuff to prepare ahead of time, meals were planned and I purchased extra stuff to have on hand (in the refrigerator and freezer, on the shelves and in the pantry), just for you, when you stop by say on a moment’s notice or just to have extra if you stop by unannounced and we were just sitting down to eat. You are always welcome here though, by the way!

But OMG (Oh my God), we are going to eat well, I’m just not sure how well we will be eating or how well we’ll stay. 🙂  Here’s some clues – French, Italian, cream, butter, sugar, and salt and etc.. Am I communicating? Well, have you ever noticed that many of the people from France and Italy are not overweight, seem fit, firm, frisky, and fabulously, full of fun from food? They eat this way and probably, most of the time. Their secrets are balance, variety, the contrasts, lots of food, but smaller portions. As the saying goes, “a little bit goes a long way.” And there are three other secrets. A little wine with your meal is good for the digestion. I do apologize to those that do not partake of alcohol, but this is a proven fact. Wine aide in digestion, has antioxidants and some stuff in it (red wine has more) that has been shown to prolong life at healthier levels.

Many of the French and Italians take their time to prepare and to enjoy their food. This also aides in digestions and if you are really and truly satisfied, you will actually eat less. The last secret is the quality of the food, the fresher the better. In Japan and in Australia, many people shop, every day. In the USA, we often just buy stuff on sale and cram it all in our huge refrigerators, freezers and if we have them, the extra fridges and freezers. In the USA, we have a lot of OVER-processed, over-sugared, fat-stuff that has a lot of empty calories, chemicals and stuff our bodies can’t use much of, get rid of and promote cravings and get stored as fat.  If you think about it, it is very simple to understand. Every calorie gets used, it’s burnt up through exercise or it gets stored as fat. And this is still true, no matter how old I’m getting or how slow my metabolism is becoming. Eat what you love and love what you eat, just so long as what you love to eat does NOT, end up eating up, your life!

I do not like sleeping and I don’t like eating. But when I have to sleep and it’s needed and restful, I sometimes love it and I love eating exciting food! I love to cook. It’s fun! I love to cook for people. But I’m not real good at hosting, or keeping good conversation going, if I’m cooking. Oh, I’m OK if there is just one, two or a few people present. But more than a few, I can be really shy. I’d rather be behind the scenes watching you have a good time, watching and listening to what you have to say. I keep busy in the kitchen and even though I really do want you here, this is the only way I can handle crowds. It’s OK, go see Susan, she’ll talk to you and make you always feel, right at home!

Hey, wait a minute. I thought this post was supposed to be about the, ‘Thrill of the First Grill?’ It is, I’m getting to it!  I have written all of this in the hope that you can relate and or find it helpful, if not now, perhaps sometime in the future. And it is all in keeping with the vision of, The Gathering Place, our home, this post, and this blog, YOUR HOME AWAY FROM HOME! We gather together to share. I’m about to share some more and it’s about food; about the ‘Thrill of the First Grill,’ of the season.

Food is like art to me and well, I am a food artist. Food has to smell incredible, taste fantastic and be presented beautifully. Besides the joy this gives to our palette and how it excites our taste buds, all of this actually, aides in digestion. Why settle for something ordinary when just a little extra, can make it extra-ordinary!

Today, I made some heart shaped ginger sugar cubes, for what I call, Gingepagne (Ginger + Champagne). About three little mini heart sugar cubes into each glass of champagne. Made these to have on hand. Tasted delicious, but no champagne on hand to try, but I’ve had something similar (a taste) while we were in Australia (OZ-tralia) and it is wonderful. While making this, I also made fresh ginger syrup or ginger beer. Stored it in the refrigerator to have on hand for my ginger drinks. I have been working on my recipes for ‘Dark & Stormy’ (with rum), Moscow Mule (with vodka), Gin Gin Mule (with gin), Kentucky Mule (with Bourbon) and Scotch Mule (with Scotch). These all use pretty much the same ingredients (ginger syrup, ginger beer, and lime. The only thing different is pretty much the type of alcohol (spirits), the type of glass they are served in and the way they are garnished. Today, I made Gin Gin Mules for the Mrs. and me. They were incredible, especially since I used the fresh ginger syrup. Tomorrow, I’ll try the Scotch Mule.

Got everything together to make fresh, raw beets and horseradish mix. This is great on kielbasa, sandwiches and salads. You can’t get this any better or fresher than making it yourself. Just remember to peel the root and beets, use a food processor, but especially don’t forget to wear rubber gloves (no purple fingers from the beet juice) and a face mask so you don’t fall over and cry like a baby from the horseradish fumes! Hmm, could I possibly know what I’m talking about?! 🙂

Got everything to make my smoked fish dip. Will finish this tomorrow.

Well, you certainly can’t live off of sugar cubes, ginger juice and drinks! No you can’t, but you can LIVE with them when they are a part of your whole Gathering Together! I’m getting to the meal. Actually, I’ll be closing this out with four pictures. As we’ve heard many times, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Surely I must be over halfway of that in words? So maybe my pictures are only worth around 500 words. Sorry, but I won’t try harder, just to try your patience more. 🙂

With the pictures, I will give you some idea how to make what they show. But for more information, details, ingredients and recipes, you will just have to wait until I finish the cookbook I have been working on for some time. It’s title is:

t

The Gathering Place

Holidays & Special Occasions Entertaining

 

When finished, this will be loaded with pictures, recipes cards for handy reference and everything necessary to plan, prepare and present incredible and exciting food for all your special occasions. This will include breakfast, lunch, dinner, deserts, beverages, entrees, soups, sauces, salads, bread, rolls and a fool-proof flaky-tasty every time, yummy pie crust.

it also will include plating, garnish and decorating and anything else I may not have thought of yet. All of the food and everything in it has been tried and trued, tested and proved by many, to be all and more I say it is. Why settle for or take your family, friends and guests to a five star restaurant, when they can experience the intimacy and the personal touch of a ten star restaurant at your home, where the food is all made by you! You know, “there’s no place like home!” Well why not add to this, the best feast that can be had anywhere!!

OK, along with everything else done today, we had to eat. Today it was fish. The name of the fish is simply, Cobia. It was farm raised in Panama. Around $12 dollar for two fresh and more than ample size fillets.

Cobia is also called – black kingfish, black salmon, ling, lemonfish, crabeater, prodigal son and aruan tasek. I like the ‘prodigal son.’ The bible story, from where this comes from in part is, about a man that leaves home with all his inheritance and blows it all. He has no choice, but to come home and even beg to be a servant, just so he can survive. But his father sees him approaching from a distance and prepare a huge feast because, he is so happy that his son has come home. The corbia fish I prepared was so delicious, I have decided to call this meal, ‘The Prodigal Son.’ Why you might ask, because, if you prepare this for those that love fish, they will “return.”

“Cobia is a relatively high priced fish and is sought after,  for its firm texture and excellent flavor. The flesh is usually sold fresh. It is typically served in the form of grilled or poached fillets. Chefs Jamie Oliver and Mario Batali each cooked several dishes made with cobia in the “Battle Cobia” episode of the Food Network program Iron Chef America, which first aired in January, 2008. Thomas Keller’s restaurant, The French Laundry, has offered cobia on its tasting menu.”

 excerpts from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobia

 

‘Thrill of the First Grill,’ of the season.

 

‘The Prodigal Son’

Grilled Cobia

 

I cleaned our propane gas grill and set the temperature to around medium to low. Garlic and herb basting oil was brushed on top, bottom and all sides of both fillets. Lay fish horizontally on the grill. Cook around 2 minutes, then flip over with a spatula, for another 2 minutes. Recoat fish with the basting oil, each time you turn it over. After both sides have cooked each for two minutes, flip again only this time, turn the fillets vertically so grill marks will show up as a square or diamond pattern when finished. It looks nice! Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste, the last two times you grill the fillets. Remember to keep basting. Total cook time is around 8 minutes. We were having rice and if you have a rice cooker, it takes about 15 minutes to cook, so plan accordingly so everything is done at the same time. And while you are waiting…

Thrill of the First Grill
Thrill of the First Grill

…hey, what’s in that glass to the left of the grill by the spatula? By the way, the plate to the right with a fork and the yellow basting brush, started with around 3-4 tablespoons of garlic & herb basting oil. Get from any store or make your own! Anyway, what’s in that glass?

Gin Gin Mule
Gin Gin Mule

Gin, fresh made ginger syrup, ginger beer, lime, and crushed ice in a pretty glass with a lime garnish. It was supposed to have a little muddled fresh mint, garnish of a sprig of fresh mint and a chip of crystallized ginger. OK, I like ginger, alright? Well. I forgot to get the mint at the store and I almost forgot the piece of crystallized ginger for garnish, but it got in there! 🙂

Close up of grill marked fish fillets turned once. Repeat second time, turning fillets, the opposite direction.
Close up of grill marked fish fillets turned once. Repeat second time, turning fillets, the opposite direction.

Prepared a fresh salad with veggies and fresh ripe avocado. Sprinkled with feta cheese. I used light sesame seed and ginger salad dressing because, OK I like ginger. I’m not sure what Susan used?

Rice was just plain white rice. Just Plain white rice can be quite boring. I sprinkled ours with a little Japanese rice seasoning, to really make it pop or as chef Emeril Lagasse says, to make it, “BAM!” Find some seasoning you really like and with even just plain O’ white rice, it will NEVER be, “plain O,” again!

Arrange a couple of fresh raspberries for tartness and color, along with a nice piece of honeydew melon. I cut off about 1/4 of a ripe banana and removed it’s peel. I stuck a chopstick up into the center of the banana (side that was cut from the rest of the banana). I used the chopstick to hold the banana piece in one hand. With my other hand and with a butane, long fire starter, I torched (lightly blackened) the banana to add smokiness and a nice color. By the way, you can grill a whole banana in its peel and these are wonderful. I Removed the chopstick and cut the banana piece lengthwise and put one per plate by the honeydew melon. I sprinkled a little bit of cinnamon on all of the fruit. Next, I squeezed some fresh lime over the fruit. By the way, just honeydew melon with lime juice alone, is like a marriage made in heaven! If you have not tried this, do your ‘buds’ (taste buds) a favor and try it! Last, I squeezed lime over the fish and twisted the peel and laid it over each fillet. Dinner was DELICIOUS!!!

We had some leftover rice so for desert, I made some fresh rice pudding. I added a little bit of coconut milk to the rice, a little cinnamon and maple syrup to taste. I whisked about 3 table spoons of heavy cream with a pinch of Xanthan gum to thicken. Using two small ceramic custard dishes, I spooned the pudding into them and placed two red raspberries for contrast, tartness and color. Last, I added a little dollop of  whipped cream, and we added our lips and gums and then delicious, here it comes! 🙂

Leftover pudding was placed into a covered plastic container in the refrigerator to have again and again until we run out or I make more. Try this meal.You and all that like fish will say, WOW!

CobiaDinner2_med
Completed Meal – The Prodigal Son (or Daughter) 🙂

Tomorrow (Today), we’re doing: grass seed, taxes, steak au poivre, spaghetti carbonara, grilling ‘white hots’ and corn on the BBQ, making more sugar cubes, making fresh beets and horseradish mix, Scotch Mules, smoked fish dip or whatever my boss Susan, tells me! 🙂

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On: Aussie Beverages

by Donnie Hayden

© 2014, all rights reserved

Guhday Mates, from Donnie your Aussie beverage guide

In a previous post, we tasted some wonderful Australian food and their butter. See Butter from this blog here.

While out and about on our Saturday here, we came upon a store called the Epicure which means, “one that enjoys fine food and drink” or simply, “the good life.” This is the same store where we enjoyed that marvelous butter from two posts back. After going on and on and drooling from the memory of this, the lady asked if we would like to taste the milk that is used to make this butter? Would I, would we? There was no hesitation, of course we would and did.

When I was a young boy, we had an Aunt Gladys & an Uncle Al. We loved to visit them! Right across the road from them was a dairy farm. One dog would round up all the cows and bring them to the barn for milking. They had mechanical milking machines even 50 years ago or so. But the milk went into this stainless steel tank that was somehow cooled instantly it seemed to just above freezing or 32° F. (Fahrenheit). I don’t to this day know how they did it, but when I say “ice cold,” it was ICE COLD!

A side note: 100’s of cats all seemed to show up out of nowhere at milking time! 🙂

Anyway, since those times, I could never drink milk unless it had ice in it, but I drank this milk from Australia that was the same milk used to make the awesome butter we had and it WAS DELICIOUS!!! 🙂

Well, this post really is about beverages from Australia or that I have tried here. You have already seen the following picture in another post, but here it is again. After the milk, it’s GINger time. In a bit you will understand why, I capitalized GIN in GINger. 🙂

Ginger Beer, Ginger Ade, Dark & Stormy (Giner beer, lime and rum) and Ginger Wine
Ginger Beer, Ginger Ade, Dark & Stormy (Ginger beer, lime and rum) and Ginger Wine

Then there was this ginger suprize that you have also seen before.

Champagne with a ginger sugar cube
Champagne with a ginger sugar cube

Next, what was the capitals of GIN in the GINger for?

On the last night of the Camden Show, Jonathan and I popped in to a local pub, for a night cap or two. 🙂

I ordered an Australian beer with Jonathan’s recommendation and he ordered a GIN and tonic. I have never liked gin because it smells if not like a pine tree which I do like the smell, but it reminds me of mineral spirits which I used to use for many years, in cleaning out my paint brushes used for, oil-based or alkyd paint. I’ve sometimes wondered why so many older painters drank a lot? Was it to cut the taste of the mineral spirits out of their nostrils? Well anyway, something came over me and I asked Jonathan if I could try his drink? I think I was thinking that I used to not like tonic water until it was put together with rum, fresh lime and fresh ground nutmeg that our friend and former neighbors (still friends) made for many-a-happy-hour. We affectionately refer to this as, ‘Lou’s Pirate Punch!’ So I perhaps thought, maybe GIN, with fresh lime and tonic water might be OK? Jonathan said, “Sure you can taste it!” I did. I loved it and ordered myself one. This experience set the stage for what was to come later, when we stopped in to ‘The Custom’s House’  reaturant and bar in Sydney for a drink after our return from the Toranga Zoo. The Zoo post is coming, hang on! 🙂

The Customs House is or was indeed that, for Customs. But on one of the upper floors was the Customs House Bar & Restaurant. It was a fancy beautiful place with a great view of Darling Harbor and the Harbor Bridge.

From the rear of The Customs House
From the rear of The Customs House

 

Lighted table for our drinks. Very Cool! :)
Lighted table for our drinks. Very Cool! 🙂

Anyway, on their drink menu was a ‘Gin Gin Mule.’ I was curious. It sounded like a Moscow Mule which is ginger beer, fresh lime and vodka that I already like, so I tried this and? I loved it! 🙂

A Gin Gin Mule is served in a tall glass with ginger beer, a spicy ginger syrup, fresh lime, GIN and a sprig of mint and ice.

A Moscow Mule is basically the same, but with vodka, and traditionally served in a copper mug (lined of course, with stainless steel).

A Dark & Stormy is also, basically the same only it uses, a dark (more molasses flavored) rum and served in whatever kind of glass you desire.

All of these drinks made with ginger beer are fantastic. Thank you Australia for introducing me to Gin, Gin & Tonic, and the Gin Gin Mule!

Now for something regular, only from Australia, beer (actually it’s pale ale)! How does the name Fat Yak grab you? Well this is its name and it is made in Matilda Bay in Australia. Sure it will give your Matilda something to waltz about! 🙂

Fat Yak starts with hops and they finish it with hops. Normally, I don’t care for hoppy beer and ales etc., but this has a wonderful blend, a bit of fruit in its flavor and it just has a nice and lovely taste!

Fat Yak pale ale
Fat Yak pale ale

 

Are you ready for something really unusual? Here it comes. While we were in the Blue Mountains, the girls popped in to a little liquor store to pick up a nice bottle of Riesling wine for our night’s meal. Just outside the shop was a little sandwich board with the following message:

“Try Our Hot Chilly Wine”

This is exactly what the sign said and it is spelled exactly as I saw it. But I wondered what that meant, So I went into the store and asked. Now I don’t know if whoever wrote the sign cannot spell or it was intentional. If it was the latter, well it worked because, I wanted to know what it meant! 🙂

But I suppose the wine was chilly and it was hot and it was wine and it was made out of chili! So welcome one and all to world of Hot Chilly Chili Wine!

Hot Chili Wine (front)
Hot Chili Wine (front)
Hot Chili Wine (rear)
Hot Chili Wine (rear)
Hot Chili Wine cloese up of rear label)
Hot Chili Wine (close up of rear label)

Disaster Bay Chillies produce this sweet hot wine without grapes whatsoever! It is made from 100% chili peppers.

The proprietor gave me a sample and there are just no words to describe what was beyond anything I could imagine!

Disaster Bay Chillies is a partnership between Stuart Meagher and John Wentworth. John has been an organic market gardener for more than a decade and Stuart has been a chilli fanatic for at least as long.

Stuart and John combined their passions in 1999 to grow chillies on the Far South Coast of NSW to produce what they believe is the world’s first commercially available wine made from chillies. They used a recipe from a mate of Stuarts, known as Old Didler, as a starting point. Then, after much experimentation – and a little luck – they struck upon a workable method to produce the wine.

Disaster Bay Chillies is from Eden, a coastal town in the South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. The town is 478 kilometres (or about 297 miles) south of the state capital Sydney and is the most southerly town in New South Wales.

This sweet and hot (spicy hot) wine was absolutely incredible and unlike anything we four had ever tried. It is great with cheese and crackers which is what we had it with. I think it would be awesome with fresh oysters too! What ever you serve it with, do yourself , your guests, friends and families a favor and TRY IT!!!

We intended to bring this home, but we opened it up and drank most of it that night! We finished it off the next night when we returned home to Camden. Oh NO, what to do???? “No worries mates, you can order it online!”

http://disasterbaychillies.com/

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On: Katoomba, NSW, Australia

by Donnie Hayden

© 2014, all rights reserved

Guhday Mates, from Dahni your Aussie Katoomba travel guide
Guhday Mates, from Donnie your Aussie Katoomba travel guide

On April 11 through the morning of April 14th, 2014, we went to The Blue Mountains and rented a cottage (see last post) in Katoomba, New South Wales, Australia.

Today, I want to share with you some of the flavor of Katoomba. It was a quaint, charming and eclectic community – MY KIND OF PLACE! Besides the fact that it is located in The Blue Mountains and is quite hilly to walk the streets, it reminded me of Telluride, Colorado in the United States. Telluride is a community in the Rocky Mountains where people come to ski in the winter and it is also a hub to get to Aspen or Vale when those areas are closed to airports or other transportation, due to the weather. Although Telluride and Katoomba do not share the same type of weather conditions, it’s their common flavor that is similar to me. Telluride basically started as a ‘hippie communue’ back in the sixities. I suppose as many of them grew up and decided to get jobs and start a ski resort? 🙂

In Katoomba, there are many young people, arts and crafts, just like in Telluride. Our pictorial journey below, begins with an example of some local artwork, a mural painted on a brick wall of an abandoned garage across the road from our cottage. We saw this as we were heading into town.

Mural on wall of abandoned garage
Mural on wall of abandoned garage

In Katoomba, we noted many wonderful and fashionable hats on the heads of many people, young and old, male and female. ‘The Hattery,’ where I found and purchased my Akubra hat you see me wearing in the picture above, is from Katoomba. For more information about my hat in a previous post on this blog see: Hats

But Kotoomba is more than just a young/artistic/eclectic community, it is a travel destination! Katoomba is the city host or gateway to The Blue Mountains and both attract many people from around the world, every year. We noted many differnet people, accents and languages being spoken while we were here. There are several popular and international establishments and connections here. A friend from the United States informed me that soon after we returned from our trip to this area, Prince William & Kate of England were planning on visiting the following week. The English and Australian connection is just one example of many international connections.

Our first night here as we were walking to downtown for some food, some one-hundred (at least) sulfur crested cockatoos flew over our heads. Caitlin stayed at the cottage with baby Felix and she saw them fly right over our deck and into the eucalyptus trees of the Blue Mountains, right around sunset. Even though I did not get a picture of this amazing sight, in a future post, I will share pictures of four of these beautiful birds and sppecifically one that certainly seemed to want to pose for me, from the huge evergreen near the deck of our cottage.

But this night, on recommendation of a local librarian, we went to dinner at an authentic Korean restaurant. Susan and Jonathan ordered each a different entree and I chose one that is supposed to be one of the most popular among street people in Korea. Dduk Bok-ki was so incredible, both Susan and Jonathan wished they had ordered it! It was a sweet rice, shaped like tube pasta, but not hollow. It was made from rice flour and steamed. It was included in this huge plate of steamed vegetables. You could have it mild, medium or hot. I chose medium. It was inexpensive, delicious and so filling and yet, I can’t believe I ate the whole thing, even sharing a lot with Susan and Jonathan, I was stuffed with delight!

Other foods include the best coffee I have either ever had or it’s been so long, I cannot recall any better. This we purchased from a little, almost a hole in the wall, cafe from the Elephant Bean Coffee. Then there was the most incredible fresh-baked croissant from a cute little bakery, I’ve ever eaten and shared the crumbs with a local pigeon. 🙂

In another post in the future, I will share about some Australian beverages, including the chili wine we tasted and bought in Katoomba. Yes, you read that correctly, Chili wine made entirely out of 100% chili. It was sweet and hot. We intended to bring it home, but we opened it as soon as we got back to the cottage and finished it off the next day when we got back home to Camden. It was fantastic with cheese and now that I’ve come to appreciate oysters (at least Australian and Apalachicola, Florida oysters in the US), DEFINITELY WITH OYSTERS!!! I’m almost sorry we drank it with out purchasing another bottle to bring home, but “no worries,” this Australian exclusive product, has a website and this wine can be ordered online and shipped to your door!!!! 🙂

We had dinner and some chocolate at the Paragon restaurant. This place could have a post and then some, all its own. It was a mixture of Greek/Romanesque architecture and art-deco and hand carved reliefs on the walls. It does make me wonder if the garden area behind our cottage might actually be owned by the owners of this restaurant or some related family members?  The food was fabulous and but of course, WE HAD TO TRY THEIR CHOCOLATE! According to their interior signage, it’s the chocolate that made Katoomba famous. I have no way to prove or disprove that statement, but this place has been here since 1921 I believe, has a US connection (the wife of the owner was from the United States), and there are many pictures throughout the place of famous people that have signed their names and have eaten here. So what does that say to you?! Some of the pictures I recognized and some I did not. Art Acord (silent film western star), Clark Gable and Peter O’Toole. So, that’s pretty telling. You can search for the Paragon Cafe online and find many interesting things. They also have a page on Facebook.

There were many unusual and wonderful things to experience in Katoomba, but time and words fail me. The best that I can offer you are some humble pictures. I hope you enjoy them! 🙂

As stated previously, Katoomba is quite hilly and it exercises your heart, lungs and legs to walk here, but well worth the effort! The air was crisp, cool and clear at this time of the year during Australia’s late fall or early winter. Days were nicely pleasant with a couple of layers of long sleeve shirts and the nights build-a-fire cool. The downtown district is home to many cafes, shops and stores from the unusual, the bizarre and the, just lovely. There are examples of fine architecture in beautifully restored or well-maintained hotels and other buildings.

There were many unusual and wonderful things to experience in Katoomba, but time and words fail me. As I said, the best that I can offer you are some humble pictures, my personal recommendation to COME HERE if you ever have the opportunity and a link to some Irish music I recorded live, on my way back to the cottage one day. I hope you enjoy all that follows here! 🙂

Mural on Wall
Mural on wall of the Three  Sisters and etc., of The Blue Mountains at Echo Point
Downtown Katoomba
Downtown Katoomba – sure why not espresso and waffles! 🙂
The Elephant Bean Cafe
The Elephant Bean Cafe (notice anyone familiar?)
The Elephant Bean Cafe (Awesome coffee)
The Elephant Bean Cafe
(awesome coffee)
Bakery with fresh baked almond croissants. YAY! :)
Bakery with fresh baked almond croissants. YAY! 🙂
If you must eat croissants, why not artistically!
If you must eat croissants, why not artistically!
Closeup of our table
Closeup of our table
And the pigeons enjoyed your crumbs :)
And the pigeons enjoyed your crumbs 🙂
My first ever female street performer. She was actually very good.
My first ever female street performer. She was actually very good.
Little Aussie squirrels picture, for my sister Carol Lee
Little Aussie squirrels picture, for my sister Carol Lee
Ducks or Kiwi birds in boots? I dunno, but they were cute, so I had to take this! :)
Ducks or Kiwi birds in boots? I dunno, but they were cute, so I had to take this! 🙂
Clock bridge over street
Clock bridge over street
Old-time informative bill
Old-time informative bill
Mural of Katoomba Falls I
Mural of Katoomba Falls I
Mural II
Mural of Katoomba Falls II
Hotel Carrington Entrance
Carrington Place (hotel) Entrance
Hand carved wall, Carrington Place Entrance
Hand carved wall, Carrington Place Entrance
Irish connection
Irish connection
Irish connection II
Irish connection II
Want to Wassail me for some mulled wine? :)
Want to Wassail me for some Mulled Wine? 🙂
The circus in town? :)
The circus in town? 🙂
Paragon I
Paragon I
Paragon II
Paragon II
Paragon III
Paragon III
Paragon Chocolate "The chocolate that made Katoomba famous"
Paragon Chocolate
“The chocolate that made Katoomba famous”
Chocolates I
Chocolates I
Chocolates II
Chocolates II
Chocolates III
Chocolates III
Lost Bear Gallery
Lost Bear Gallery (art gallery)
Whale out of wooden sticks
Whale out of wooden sticks in window of Lost Bear Gallery
Oh, there the lost bear is! :)
Oh, there the lost bear is! 🙂
Closeup of found lost bear art
Closeup of found lost bear art
Nice wall
Nice wall
Interesting walk I
Interesting walk I
Interesting Walk II (same walk, different view)
Interesting Walk II
(same walk, different view)
Can you see the heart shape?
Can you see the heart shape?
Last stop before back to cottage and look what I saw and heard! :
Last stop before  heading back to our cottage and look what you saw and heard! :

Locals, quite possibly of Irish roots, gathered in this pub for grub, beers and cheers and playing some really nice Irish jigs. There were children present and other watchers/listeners like me. Flutes, violins, guitar, banjo, a concertina (similar to an accordion) and one gent (laddie) played the Uilleann pipes. The bar was open and run by another international connection. She was anice lady from Vietnam. It was a gorgeous day and the windows were open in the pub.

Several falutists
Several flutists and violinists and concertina far left
Flute player closest to me
Flute player closest to me
Uilleann Pipe Player
Uilleann Pipe Player

The uilleann pipes are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. Earlier known in English as “union pipes”, their current name is a partial translation of the Irish-language term píobaí uilleann (literally, “pipes of the elbow”), from their method of inflation.There is no historical record of the name or use of the term ‘uilleann pipes’ before the twentieth century. It was an invention of Grattan Flood and the name stuck. People mistook the term ‘union’ to refer to the 1800 Act of Union; this is incorrect as Breandán Breathnach points out that a poem published in 1796 uses the term ‘union.’

The bag of the uilleann pipes is inflated by means of a small set of bellows strapped around the waist and the right arm (in the case of a right-handed player; in the case of a left-handed player the location and orientation of all components are reversed). The bellows not only relieve the player from the effort needed to blow into a bag to maintain pressure, they also allow relatively dry air to power the reeds, reducing the adverse effects of moisture on tuning and longevity. Some pipers can converse or sing while playing.

Source: Wikipedia

And a good time was had be all! :)
And a good time was had by all! 🙂

Please click on the following link to a recording I made of these musicians. It’s only about a minute clip, but I think you will enjoy it.

https://soundcloud.com/dahni-4/irish-music

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On: Cottage in the Mountains

by Donnie Hayden

© 2014, all rights reserved

Guhday Mates, from Dahni your Aussie Blue Miuntain Cottage Guide
Guhday Mates, from Donnie your Aussie Blue Mountains, cottage guide

On April twelfth through the morning of the 14, 2014 we rented a cottage in The Blue Mountains, in the city of Kat0omba, New South Wales, Australia.

It was a wonderful place full of antiques, plush thick big towels and all the necessary things for comfort as you could imagine. They even had the refrigerator stocked with food which we gladly added to with what we brought and enjoyed some cooking at our home away from home.

The cottage was called: Sidney’s Retreat (Not Sydney, but I think they live there) and is named after the owner’s wife, I believe.

Hot water was supplied by a Rinnai tank-less water heater, so we always had hot water. There was a microwave, coffee/espresso/cappuccino machine, four slice toaster, plates, and other cookware and utensils, silverware, spices, an assortment of coffees and teas.

We had a wood burning fireplace with plenty of wood, but no kindling to start one. Jonathan and I manged to burn a roll of toilet paper and some paper towels for a short-lived fire, due to the wood still being damp and no kindling, but we had a great time trying.

There were gas or electric heaters in every room – each of the two bedrooms, the bathroom and the kitchen/dining/living room = Great room with a vaulted ceiling. There were electric blankets in every bedroom. There were toys for children, a high chair for Baby Felix, DVD movies, a falt screen TV, books even playing cards which we four used a couple of nights.

The deck outside was massive and even supplied a grill if we were inclined to use it. There was an outside table and chairs for 6-8 people. The deck overlooked an interesting classic, ancient Greek/Romanesque courtyard, of stone and statues in process. All of us concurred that we would love to live in this place! 🙂

This was agreat place to explore and visit the town of Katoomba (more about this in another post). But after all is said and done, it’s all about the view from the Great Room or from the deck! The Blue Mountains were right in our back yard!!

Jonathan & Susan at the gate to our cottage
Jonathan & Susan at the gate to your cottage
No. 36 Laurline St
No. 36 Lurline St., your temp. address in Katoomba, NSW, Australia
Path to home away from home
Pathway to your home away from home
Your Front Door
Your Front Door
What's this Samsung thing? Touch your palm to the face?
What’s this Samsung thing? Touch your palm to the face?
Press the two numbers that show (different each time)
Press the two numbers that show (different each time)
A full panel display, insert the four digit password followed by the pound sign and the door opens! AWESOME! i want one of these!!! :)
A full panel display, insert the four digit password followed by the pound sign and the door opens! AWESOME! I want one of these!!! 🙂
Cottage5
Your Bedroom
Our Bed. Rm. with chairs and stuffed toys for kids
Your bed rm. with chairs and stuffed toys and stuff for kids
Big room bath with shower and claw legged tub and the room had a skylight
Big room bath with shower and claw legged tub and the room had a skylight
Living area of Great Rm.
Living area of Great Rm.
I loved the old telephone! wing, wing, wing, Hehwo! :)
I loved the old telephone! wing, wing, wing, Hehwo! 🙂
Part of the spacious kitchen
Part of the spacious kitchen
Outside looking in
Outside looking in

Jonathan, Caitlin, baby Felix and Fritz the dog even had an old pump organ in their room that Jonathan played. This video is for you, Janet Beaman! 🙂

It's All about the View
It’s All about the View from our deck!
It's All about the View II
It’s All about the View II
It's All about the View III
It’s All about the View III
It's All about the View IV
It’s All about the View IV
It's All about the View V
It’s All about the View V
It's All about the View VI
It’s All about the View VI
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On: From Australia With Love

by Donnie Hayden

© 2014, all rights reserved

Guhday Mates, from Dahni your Aussie gift guide
Guhday Mates, from Donnie your Aussie Easter gift guide

Easter is, the first Sunday; after the first full moon; after the beginning of Fall down under here in Australia, so that you in the United States, can celebrate Easter on the first Sunday; after the first full moon; after the beginning of Spring, up there. 🙂

The stores here were all mostly closed on Friday, supermarkets opened on Saturday and closed again on Sunday and Monday. In fact, most stores here in Camden, New South Wales, Australia will not open until Tuesday.

We went to the supermarket here on Saturday which is your Friday and they were nearly all sold out of Cadbury Chocolate products for Easter.  So, we didn’t get any, can’t send some home or bring some home to you. And sorry Janet, but we cannot bring home any butter. 😦

Besides all of that, down under’ here, there is a concerted effort to replace the Easter Rabbit with the Easter Bilby.

The Easter Bilby
The Easter Bilby
Carmello Koala
Carmello Koala

But for now (your tomorrow, but when you get this it will be your today there and yesterday here ), most stores, well they used to until they were sold out, had Carmello Koala.

Anyway, We down under here, having already lived through your today, yesterday, are already living in your tomorrow, tuhday mates. But what can be done for you is, to capture the past, for your today. So I did. I have captured the moon, for you yesterday, so you can have it tuhday!  HAPPY EASTER, which is now your first Sunday, after the first full moon, after the beginning of Spring up there! 🙂

HAPPY EASTER up there yesterday, from down under here, now tomorrow for your tuhday! :)
HAPPY EASTER up there yesterday, from down under here, now tomorrow for your tuhday! 🙂

Seriously, I did find some Cadbury Creme Eggs for you! 🙂

Cadbury Creme Egg
Cadbury Creme Egg

Rent or watch the movie ‘Hop,’ with your family!

Rent or Watch w/ the Fam' :)
Rent or Watch w/ the Fam’ 🙂
Hmmm...:)
Hmmm…:)

HAPPY PAGAN UNHOLY DAY! 🙂

 

 

Note: Easter is an ancient Babylonia celebration of the goddess Ishtar of love, war, fertility and sexuality or Ostara a Germanic pagan goddess. Rabbits and eggs are mere symbols of fertility as is the Spring equinox for procreation.  including rabbits and eggs as symbols.

“An important historical result of the difference in reckoning the date of Easter was that the Christian churches in the East, which were closer to the birthplace of the new religion and in which old traditions were strong, observed [the Resurrection] according to the date of the Passover festival. The churches of the West, descendants of Greco-Roman civilization, celebrated Easter on a Sunday. 
“Constantine the Great, Roman emperor, convoked the Council of Nicaea in 325. The council unanimously ruled that the Easter festival should be celebrated throughout the Christian world on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox; and that if the full moon should occur on a Sunday and thereby coincide with the Passover festival, Easter should be commemorated on the Sunday following. Coincidence of the feasts of Easter and Passover was thus avoided.” 
“The name [Easter] probably comes from Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon name of a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility, to whom was dedicated a month corresponding to April. Her festival was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox; traditions associated with the festival survive in the Easter rabbit, a symbol of fertility, and in colored easter eggs, originally painted with bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring, and used in Easter-egg rolling contests or given as gifts…” –

Source: Encarta Encyclopedia, article: Easter.

The word holiday is a transliteration of the word holy day and has nothing to do with Easter.

Easter has nothing whatsoever to do with Christianity or the resurrection of Jesus Christ, except its close proximity to the calculation of time of the spring equinox. Jesus Christ was crucified on a Wednesday (the 14th of Nisan), before sunset (sunset began the 15th or the Passover feast) so in the year of his death, he would have been the Passover Lamb. Death requirements were for 72 hours for one to be declared legally dead. So 72 hours from the 14th of Nisan, would make his resurrection occurring on Saturday the Jewish (Judaic) Sabbath. When the two  Mary(s) went “early in the morning” and found the stone rolled away and an empty tomb, “the first day of the week,” it was sometime after sunset of Saturday making this day, Sunday, but as the angel at the tomb said,  “He has already risen.”

The Bible, The gospel of Matthew 28: 1-8

King James Version

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On: Aussie Dairy Products, Bread & Stuff

by Donnie Hayden

© 2014, all rights reserved

Guhday Mates, from Dahni your Aussie explorer
Guhday Mates, from Donnie your Aussie explorer

First off, Happy Friday! I realize some memorialize today as Good Friday, but I have never understood why anyone would want to celebrate the death of someone? As to Jesus Christ, according to the Bible, history and even Jewish traditions, he did NOT eat the last supper (passover) with his 12 diciples/apostles then was crucified on Friday. He was the passover the year he died on a Wednesday. There is no power to anyone that he died. The power is attributed to that he was raised 72 hours before sunset of the Jewish Sabbath, which was and is, Saturday. This irks me to the enth-degree! If you do not believe or if you do, FINE, just stop talking about and celebrating stuff in which you do not understand what you are talking about! And believers and non or un-believers are equally responsible for misinformation.

Sorry to go on and on about this, but it has opened my eyes to something I will most likely write about somewhere and sometime. But it seems all people have at least two natures in common – curiosity and judgement. We often make judgments and usually about things and even people that we are just plain and simply, ignorant about. But curiosity influences us to open our minds, our hearts, to think, to search, to examine, to explore, to listen and especially to ask questions. It seems as if our curiosity is under attack or we are so weary that curiosity is waning, unused and underdeveloped. Other than all of this, I hope and I hope that your Friday has been good and will end this way! Have a good Friday! 🙂

To begin this post, it begins with “Aussie…stuff.”

A few nights ago, we had just returned from The Blue Mountains and that night there was a Total Lunar eclipse April 15th, 2014. Sorry to say we missed this, but others did not and took great pictures of what many call a “blood moon.” There are those that ‘freak out’ about this, but come on, it’s a beautiful, naturally occurring phenomenon and I’ve seen blood and this moon (picture) in no way looks like blood! 🙂 But I have enjoyed the night and early morning skies while here in Australia. Stars seem closer and there are those in positions that I have not seen in the way they are arranged here, ‘down under’

Blood Moon April, 15, 2014 Unknown photographer
Beauty Moon April, 15, 2014 Unknown photographer

The following night around dusk, we took a family walk around the neighborhood with baby Felix and Fritz the dog. While out, we saw several huge bats flying overhead. The next night about the same time, I was out for a walk and a really, really big O’ huge bat flew over my head, about 4 feet from my head and nearly scared the crap out of me! 🙂 Sorry, no pictures, but this is my story and I’m sticking to it! 🙂

I love to walk here most anytime, but especially early in the morning and in the evening. When the sky is clear of clouds, the moon and stars have been spectacular. And I love the many sounds of birds including the cackle of the beautiful cockatoos, the caw of the magpies, squeals of the lorikeets (or lories as they say here, ‘down under’), and even the freaky weird song that sounds like a laughing hyena, made by the kookaburra. But I will say this, we four ( + Felix the baby and Fritz the dog) were walking in a park yesterday and Susan got to hear not her first one, but her first three or four. The Kookaburra Quartet all singing at the same time acapella, sounded pretty good! 🙂

There are many others that are beautiful songbirds whose names I cannot name. There are a couple that I have taken upon myself to call them by the name which makes sense to me. There is one that sounds like while you are walking and you have something wrong with your shoe. I call this, the squeaky bird. Another birds starts off with a high-pitched twirling sound then falls off. It sounds alien to me so, I just call it the spaceship landing bird. 🙂

It’s difficult to get use to the weather here. Early this morning it was 47 degrees F. (Fahrenheit) and I could actually see my breath. This was the coldest we have experienced in Australia so far, even while we in The Blue Mountains! I was wearing two shirts, long pants and socks. Well, that was around 7 am and today’s estimate is 80° F. which will be the warmest day so far that we have had while here. So, it’s, cover up at night and in the morning, but change to shorts, short sleeves, sandals (or flip flops), sun glasses and plenty of sunscreen with a HIGH SPF (Sun Protector Factor) by day! The sun here can be brutal along with the high humidity. Truly though, right now (March – May) is the best time to come to Australia, as far as I am concerned.

OK, on to Dairy Products. Let me just say that I come from the Midwest area of the United States. I was born and raised there in the heartlands of agriculture products. The State of Kansas, with its many acres of wheat is often called, “the breadbasket of the world.” The state of Iowa is known for its beef and corn. The Midwest has many large farms and ranches, both privately or family owned and corporate owned. The state of Wisconsin is called, “America’s Dairy” and produces some of the finest milk, cheese and dairy products in our country.

Our grandfather was a farmer. My mother was born and raised with country-fresh until at least after high school when she married our Dad. But our grandfather, was an executive, a foreman and a farmer among many types of work he did throughout his lifetime. I can fondly recall that he always had gardens of fresh produce. He worked on dairy farms and I suppose, he had his own cow at some point, before I was born. This possibility can be seen in the picture below that he posed for, just for fun. 🙂  But our “Papa” (pronounced paw paw), should know something about farming and food! Raised with good country fresh food, I suppose I know something about it as well, at least what it used to look like and taste like.

Our Papa (Paw Paw) on a cow
Our Papa (Paw Paw) on a cow. Unknown photographer and from a family album. The date is likely the 1930’s or 40’s

But whatever happened to America’s dairy products or when it happened I cannot say, but Australia’s dairy products are the best I have ever had, since I was a small boy. Take for example, butter. I remember butter being a beautiful yellow color. Well, for the most part, butter is almost white now in the United States, unless you purchase some specialty butter at a higher price and probably imported. Imported dairy products in the USA? Yep.

Hand Churned Butter from Australia
Hand Churned Butter from Australia

 

Back label of butter from Australia
Back label of butter from Australia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OMG - it's YELLOW!
OMG – it’s YELLOW!
OMG, Australian Butter is, DELICIOUS!
OMG, Australian Butter is, DELICIOUS!

And with all due respect to Wisconsin, you have nothing on Australian cheese or any dairy product! Yogurt, even Greek style yogurt and OMG, ICE CREAM from Australia will absolutely BLOW YOUR MIND! It is, sooooooooooooooo good!

In the USA, we have 1%, 2%, ?%, cream, whipping cream, sour cream and 1/2 & 1/2 milk and who knows what other milk (products). Perhaps there is so much cream stripped out that when it gets to whole milk, there’s not much left? Where ever the answer lies, in Australia, whole milk is whole milk and it’s delicious. I use Aussie whole milk in my coffee instead of, 1/2 & 1/2 like at home and it is wonderful!

Dear United States, what has happened to you? Is it added crap, fillers, preservatives, messed-around-with seed for the animals = poor quality grain/grass feed for the animals that has been so screwed up or have WE the People all been sold a bill of crap-messed-around-with goods, just for more profit to business? I really don’t know the answer, but don’t give us cake to appease us poor-pitiful-peons, give us Butter or give us death. Yes, I know that last sentence was intended to be humorous and was a reference to Patrick Henry’s “Give us liberty or give us death,” quote from 1776 and the attribution of Marie Antoinette supposedly saying: “Let them eat cake,” in response to the plight of the people having no bread. The translation of the French phrase “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche. is certainly curious, since brioche was made from dough enriched with butter and eggs, making it more expensive than bread! The quote then supposedly, would reflect the princess’s obliviousness as to the condition of the people not to mention the ignorance of expense between bread and cake. And it is hotly contested that Marie Antoinette or any “great princess,” as some believe, ever said this. My attempt at humor’s point is that we should have liberty to have and free to choose the best dairy products available. Right now, in my experience, the best dairy products I have tasted in a very long time, are in Australia!

Since I mentioned cake above, lets move now onto or into bread. Many people love chocolate cake so, let’s start with this. In the United States, we have several chocolate companies or those that operate there and are in the public consciousness. Hershey’s and Nestlé are two of these firms. But Nestlé is from Switzerland. There are other companies in the U.S.A., but at closer look, it’s difficult to know who owns what any more. Take for example, Cadbury Chocolate. It was started in England, but made by Hershey Chocolate in the U.S.A. and then Kraft Foods (USA) bought Cadbury Chocolate in 2009. Pretty confusing isn’t it! When you think about it, the ingredients for chocolate (milk chocolate) are pretty basic: cocoa, sugar, MILK, some flavorings and blending agents then perhaps other add-ins like nuts etc. So how can the taste of chocolate be so different from company to company, country to country and from the same company, but in different countries? We have the Cadbury Eggs sold in the USA about this time. We have Cadbury Chocolate products in the USA and have had them for as long as I can remember. Why don’t they taste the same in the United States as they do in Australia? Is the answer, the MILK??? A lady told me she constantly has to send Cadbury Chocolate from Australia to a relative living in the Bahamas on a regular basis. Why is this, because it’s just so much better than what can be purchased (probably imported from the USA) in the Bahamas? Hmm, I wonder if it is the milk! 🙂

Milk is also used in bread. One would think that Australian bread, because of its superior milk would be fantastic. But in my opinion, except for their ‘Damper‘ and a few rolls here and there, Australia has no idea how to make bread. What we call cookies, the Aussies call biscuits. Maybe the McDonalds here can make biscuits, but other than this possibility, the flaky-tasty we love and expect in the United States, do not exist here. Bread here is hard and it is more than just “hard.” I grew up with soft white bread. Honestly, it took me a long time to acquire a taste for hard or real bread. But the bread and rolls (what we in the USA call a hot dog, sub or hoagie roll are so tough, they are hard to eat and hard to chew through just to get to to the stuff we desire in the center. I will give the Aussie rolls this, at least they do not fall apart or spill their contents because, they are so soft like ours in the US. Perhaps the answer to their bread is two-fold: It is all they know and with the humidity here being so constantly high, maybe it is the best that they can do?

And one last thing about Aussie food. Their corn is great, but they have no idea how to make corn tortilla chips or Mexican food whatsoever. Their bean burritos and flour tortillas are good, especially with their sour cream.

We everywhere, need to learn from one another! We all should have the best dairy products, bread and stuff available that can be made, without sacrificing our unique cultures or QUALITY!!! 🙂

 

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