h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My parents always enjoyed their beef, even when the anti-cholesterol police were at their shrillest. Mom lived to be 92, and Dad is still alive at 96.

Sunday supper was a large slab of cured ham - bone joint in - slow done in a bit of brown sugar and ginger ale in a cast iron Dutch oven. That was a mistake - the ham was great, but something in the ginger ale cut away the 'cure' or seasoning of the pot, and rust already began with a vengeance.

Oh well, lots of scour and scrub, a good oiling, and on the gas grill for a good while.

I didn't know Dutch ovens could be eaten away like that.

Black iron, less than a year old. It needs a long time and a lot of use to get fully and properly seasoned ... The smallest thing that defeat that in the first 8 or 10 years

I'm so sorry.

I'm about to eat seafood curry.

No worries, all scoured and cleaned and prepared for another day.

The problem with the cast iron dutch oven, probably the phosphate in the ginger ale.

Nearly all carbonated soft drinks contain phosphate, the phosphate can be extremely destructive of any surface glaze on the cast iron.

I know what you mean about properly seasoning the surface of a new cast iron cooking appliance, properly seasoned, almost nothing sticks.

I usually begin the process by heating up the pan dry, then adding just barely sufficient corn oil or linseed oil to completely coat the surface, heating again till the oil begins to smoke slightly, draining, then wiping it thouroughly with a clean cloth or paper towel to remove excess oil, then allowing the pan to sit covered over night before using it again, pre-heating again as is as a preliminary to any cooking process that may follow.




Supper last night, a five quart noodle casserole with 5 cups elbow noodles, 1/2 cup naked pumpkin seeds, pre-soaked, 1 qt chopped cabbage, 1 cup minced celery heart, 1/2 onion, minced, 1 12 oz can green beans, one 11 oz can of tuna; with a sauce of 1/8 lb butter, 2 tbsn orange cheddar cheese powder, 1 cup of sour cream.

Naked (or shelled) pumkin seeds need to be presoaked at least 24 hrs prior to boiling and should be added to boiling water prior to the noodles, the other ingedients added to the simmering casserole in the order given when the noodles are tender enough to eat, brought back to a boil after every addition is stirred in, brought back to a boil one last time, covered and taken off the heat to cool and gel.

Other item, last night's supper, a green salad with lettuce, sliced cucumber, tomato and avocado, with a dressing of half and half french dressing and balsamic vinaigrette, soda crackets on the side.

Cherry pie for dessert.

Tonight's supper, haven't decided yet.

Little appetite.

Perhaps just a bowl of bean dip and corn chips with a green salad on the side.

That's a very interesting recipe, ITIWBS.

Dinner today (Friday) will be some choice from the menu of restaurant ensconced within a Hilton convention centre. Catered meals through-out the week-end, including usually a 5 to 7 course banquet.

And the last day is mine - and will include a 1st for me - - - dinner at a Red Lobster place. Making this meal quite special is that it will be with a sweet little blonde girly that I haven't hugged since 1980 or so. (She was about 7 or so then ...)

Tonight I'll be having this for supper:

http://h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A87812256

Day before yesterday, breaded and baked fish fish fillets with tartar sauce nested on chopped lettuce and tomato with balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing, small baked potato with butter and sour cream, peeled, sliced and baked zucchini squash with butter, two slices whole wheat bread.

Yesterday, had to make a late evening run 20 miles into town to pick up a couple of small hardware items, got a takeout at a fast food place on the way back.

Today, a bowl of tamales with half a globe onion, minced, a 4" x 4" x 1/4" slice of Monterey Jack cheese, minced, 3 tbsp whole and pitted sour olives, 3 pickled hot peppers, 2 rolled 14" wheat flour tortilla on the side.

Monthly senior dinner tomorrow.

Scrambled egg, fried mushroom, cheese and shredded lettuce tacos on soft corn tortillas for breakfast today.

Half a pizza with mushrooms, olives, pepperoni, sausage and kiwi fruit slices at the senior dinner last night, with a mountain of greens salad with bleu cheese dressing on the side.

Haven't decided yet about tonight's supper, usually last thing before bed around midnight after finishing the day's tasks.

Tonight's supper will be cassoulet.

Back from much of 3 days of a conference, heavy provided meals as well as costly hotel restaurant (Hilton) offerings, and then a seafood place yesterday ...

A tin of baked beans in molasses, on a burger bun ...

The idea of half a pizza is intriguing. The bottom half would be mostly crust. The top half would be topping. Or, you could take your half with all the crust, or with none of the crust. There's more than one way to divide it up.

It was a very thin crust pizza and the dough, rather than a proper sourdough, was an alum and sodium bicarbonate baking powder dough.

If baking powder is to be used, I prefer Rumfoord's, a much more wholesome formulation.

If its a proper sourdough, actually I prefer a thick crust.

For supper, I will probably make American chop suey, which is actually more like spaghetti with kidney beans added.

A country n' western stir fry, with chopped cabbage leaves, a little potato, a little onion and sliced hickory smoked franks, whole wheat bread on the side.