I am going too Wes's house too Masaki..Mexican food is my favorite.. some of your recipes Wes, sound yum "OOOOOO".. tell me more on the recipes..
the rice recipe and the
pappas chorizo ( know what chorizo is, but tell us the fixins')..
cervaza on the way to your house!

I just got back from Costco - went hungry and you know what happens - so tonight a beauty of a standing rib roast 6 lbs will cook to medium rare with horseradish on the side -corn on the cob - simple salad of tomatoes splashed with olive oil and balsamic and sprinkled with crumbled feta -

6 lbs? I can scrap my plans to go to the BBQ and be at your house in about 2 1/2 hours!!

I suppose, Karen, you have noticed I am never on that diet thread -

I bought some Greta's Garlic Herb Marinate at Costco yesterday that is incredible. Tonight we will have it on Prawns I am am soaking in it with more of the BBQ Corn and a cold Heirloom Tomato Soup with Fennel. The soup recipe was in today's paper in the Bristol Farms ad. Got Frank to run to the store to buy the ingredients. Onion, Tomatoes, French bread cubed, garlic, fennel, ice water, a few spices and throw in the food processor. Will let you know If it's good, I'll put the whole recipe here. I will make it while I am taking my Italian language lesson later. We just sent in the final payment for our Italy Tour. This might get us in the mood for some ITALIAN recipes!

Kathy,
Waiting for the outcome on the soup ..
Next time you gals do a Costco run..try the
" Bubala's Bubala's ( or could be Bubalos Bubalos) Buffalo mozzerella it is in the section where they have all the cold stuff in plastic tubs.. absolutely delicious fresh , sliced with tomatos , fresh basil and a bit of Girards' Champagne or Italian dressing..bellizimo!

Wes, your menu sounded great!!! :D

Dave has been out of town for the last four days and won't be home until tomorrow night. Tuesday is our anniversary. Looking forward to a lobster dinner with clarified butter!

Trish

Soup is Delicious

Heirloom Tomato Soup

2 cups cubed French/Sourdough bread without crust - soaked in water 20 minutes and then squeeze excess water
2lbs chopped heirloom tomatoes include skin and seeds - I used varying kinds - red-green-purple and orange ones.
1/2 cup chopped fennel (Anise)
1 garlic clove - chopped in food processer
3 tablespoons chopped purple/sweet onion

1 cup ice water
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar (I used red wine vinegar)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Fleur de sel (Coarse salt) to taste ( I used 1 tsp)
1/4 tsp cumin ( I left it out - Frank doesnt like so I used oregano instead)

Puree the Tomatoes, Onion, Fennel, Garlic and Bread (I needed to do it in two batches). While processor is still running add every thing else and blend away for a few minutes. I did this part with a Braun hand blender instead of the food processor since there was too much for my Cusinart

Chill for a while to let the flavors meld. Finish with salt. Serve with addtional chopped fennel stalk as garnish.

Yikes!! How have I missed this tasty thread? Clearly, I am spending too much time dealing with the "stuff" (I use that word to avoid the 4-letter one which would be verbotten on LCT) at work in preparation for my retirement next week. We will be poor; but we will be free!! In any event, last night we had guests and made a real meal, as opposed to the one-dish meals we normally have. It was a late summer indulgence in Mediterranean flavors (everything had loads of garlic) and fresh herbs:

Spicy baked garlic shrimp (with a crisp baguette to soak up the wonderful olive oil base)

Grilled Greek Lamb with Fresh Rosemary
Basil Pesto Smashed Potato Salad
Provencal Beans Vinaigrette with Thyme & Oregano

Tahitian Vanilla Creme Brulee (using the vanilla beans just brought back from our PG cruise) with fresh raspberries

And, as a bonus, all the dishes, except for the creme brulee, are great as leftovers!!

Cheers, Fred

Here I am, doing the Brulee dance again!

The shrimp sounds yummy!
Nice dance Karen.

Freddie: Sounds delicious - Kathy I think you secretly write for Gourmet magazine!!!

Claudia - This shrimp dish is so easy and so delicious that it is the neighborhood favorite. The best thing is that you can make it hours ahead and then just bake it for 15 minutes before the guests arrive:

4 Servings

½ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons Cajun or Creole seasoning
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1-2 tablespoons chopped garlic
1 pound large shrimp (cooked or uncooked), shelled & deveined

Combine first 8 ingredients.

Add shrimp and toss to coat.

Refrigerate (zip lock bag works well) for 1-4 hours.

Preheat oven to 450° F.

Spread shrimp mixture in a baking dish or flat casserole.

Bake until shrimp are cooked through, stirring occasionally, about 10-15 minutes.

Serve with sliced French bread.

Enjoy!! Fred

PS - In addition to making a great appetizer in a casserole dish for people to share and dunk French bread, a half dozen of these baked shrimp spread on a bed of baby greens makes a very good salad course.

...If you guys ever come to visit us, we'd better eat out!! You guys all sound like GREAT cooks! (Maybe that's why we fair so well on cruise ships!)

Fred - I saved your shrimp recipe - sounds great and simple too

Marcie - the tomato soup is a cold soup - nothing to cook - just chop stuff up and it's basically throw everything in the food processor, chill and enjoy.

I really hate to cook - I view it as a chore - for some crazy reason I love to read cookbooks and copy recipes - never use them -

If Tom were to post he would say I have many talents but cooking ain't one of them!

But Marcie we have selected some great restaurants on our travels -

I have been known to screw up boiling eggs.

Stick with canned ravioli Lawrence -

Yep, Joanne, if he can screw up boiling eggs, he really just needs a microwave for frozen stuff, and a can opener.

Lawrence, try 3 for soft boiled. 6 for hard. Good luck.

Hey Lawrence, don't feel bad. There isn't a cook around that hasn't had to scoop egg goo out of boiling water. Or is that just me?

A few years ago, I put eggs on for egg salad, forgot about them and left the house to go shopping. I came home and they had boiled dry and exploded on the ceiling :)

Another goo lady. I am not alone.

Many years ago (Maybe in 1955) Frank's mother put on some eggs to boil, forgot about them and left the house. When Frank came home from school the Denver Fire Department arrived. The mailman was making his rounds and Frank asked what happened. The mailman said some idiot left the stove on and the house caught fire. Frank went upstairs (high rise building) and then returned to tell the mailman "That Idiot was my Mother"

That Egg Goo is hazardous. Frank's mom has many cooking stories similar to that one so he grew up eating out - a lot. Which bodes well for me when I don't feel like cooking.

Congratulations on your upcoming retirement, Fred! Are you dreading it at all or totally excited?
Does this also mean that you will be turning 30 or so at that time?

Trish

Sounds like we're having Cajun Shrimp tonight for dinner. Thanks, Fred! We'll let you know how it goes. Cheers, Anne

Fred, nice to see you posting! I will definitely make your shrimp recipe soon. I bet you are glad that this final phase of your work is almost over. Enjoy some well-deserved R&R.

Shrimp dish is on tomorrows menu.
Thanks Freddie..can not wait to try that one..sounds so delicious!

We went out for early for Mexican tonight, I had a shrimp and chiorzo (sp) fajita with double guac :)

Then we went hiking through the woods down to the dam of our lake. They only had one gate open and the water was thundering out of the channel. The sun was shining and it's not humid for once, a really pretty day!

In this picture below, we hiked to the gravel bank next to the dam:

Shenango lake dam

Delicious, Fred. Spicy & sweet. Ate it with toasted focaccia bread & fresh Jersey tomatoes. Yum! Cheers, Anne

Trish - I am extremely excited about retiring, although it will take some major mental adjustment after 17 and a half years at this company. It will be so wonderful to not have to fit all projects and all socializing into the week-end. Now we can actually entertain and be entertained on "school nights"!!! So, lots more experimenting with new recipes, hauling out the big old Kitchen Aid mixer with the bread hook, and, best of all, leaving the radio alarm permanently Off.

Anne - I'm glad you liked the shrimp recipe. It has become a staple of the neighborhood. You can adjust it at will to make it more or less spicy, more or less garlicy (although who would ever make it less garlicy??), or a bit more Asian with more soy sauce. Perfect recipe - easy, make ahead, and universally popular. When we have a big party and don't serve it (thinking that everyone we know has had it a dozen times), people ask us where it is. Enjoy.

Cheers, Fred (soon to be, like Pat, an ROF)

Fred: There is definitely an "adjustment" period - I am still working at mine after 27 yrs at same job - I was more than ready to pack it in - but I do enjoy going back as a volunteer - but, of course, if someone annoys me, I can leave!!!

Sit down for this .......Tom just told me that he thinks I'm a very good cook! (God, he must be desperate!) If I get any better, I'll be writing cook books (NOT!) I liked it better when he bar-b-qued!

Tom just told me that he thinks I'm a very good cook!

Right Marcie - he is looking for favors -

Marcie, best way to get a person to do even better is to tell them they're doing a nice job! They crave positive reinforcement, and get even better. OTOH, best way to get out of more cooking is to get worse at it, and they finally take over the duty or starve~

So Joanna what is your special dish that you make? LOL! Olivia, Tom is very self-sufficient, thank goodness, or he might starve around here!

Karen that picture is gorgeous!

Karen, one of the most beautiful pictures ever!! Lucky you!

Marcie, I didn't take that picture, I found it on the internet!