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

For supper tonight I'll be finishing up some Florentine soup with turkey meatballs, potato, broccoli, tomato sauce, and carrots.

Sunday was 3 sections of fresh Atlantic salmon - seasoned and baked simple. Common mashed potatoes, and some fresh corn. Sadly, the corn available now is kind of flat for flavour - imported. Our own local and fresh should be appearing in a matter of weeks.

Monday will be simple as well, following travels an hour and 20 minutes each way to a hospital for a consult. There is a 22-oz sirloin steak awaiting some light seasoning and a little time on a gas grill (aka BBQ). I lean towards medium rare, where-as she prefers medium. This to be accompanied by 3 good sized baked potatoes, (slit and buttered before foil wrapping), and a pan containing a large Spanish onion (cut to strings) with about 12 to 14 Cremini mushrooms sliced and seasoned. All done on that same grill.

Mashed potatoes are anything but common when served with sour cream and chives.

If you happen to like sour cream or chives. They go nice in a stroganoff, but nothing else that I have met. Personal taste.

For a comparatively low calorie breakfast cereal, cereal plus canned fruit with the canning syrup, plus a tablespoon of sour cream in place of milk.

Supper, tonight, roast beef, a layer of 3"/10cm globe onions cut lengthwise into eighths, sprinkled with 1 serrano chile pepper, coarsely minced, place a 3.83lb/1.74kg x 2in/5cm thick chuck steak on top of onions and chile, surround with carrots and potato quarters, bring to boil, simmer covered till potato chunks are tender, glaze beef with Lee and Perrins steak sauce, top with minced celery heart, steam on low till celery is tender, makes six servings.

I made Paella for supper tonight.

Really lazy today. Ordered Chinese for delivery. A nice little place that I had to abandon after ownership change in '98 for swamping food with MSG. I can take a little, but too much was even then extremely hard on me. So? The 3rd or 4th change of hands, they are again good.

2 egg rolls, sweet'n'sour battered large shrimp (with extra sauce), honey/garlic pork ribs (with extra sauce), shrimp chop suey, and a simple mushroom fried rice. Enough volume in dishes to feed the 2 of us for several fair meals.

( Sunday, Canada's 151st birthday, is still a plan in the building stage . . . )

Good Chinese restaurants are to be treasured. My favorite one gets my business fairly often.

A home made Mexican plate, 2 fish buritos with hot tartar sauce, Spanish rice with refried beans topped with cheese to put out the fire, a medium green salad on the side.

I plan to have minestrone

Late yesterday, I took a nice sized fresh fillet of cod, cut it into maybe 12 sections, and gave it the flour/egg-wash/panko-coating. The deep fryer did a wonderful job of producing golden 'sticks' (pretty generous ones) and also hand cut french fries. And there is plenty of fish left for this evening's repast.

As promised, I had the minestrone.

Today is Canada's 151st birthday. With the temperature expected to hit 35C or more ( 44C or more when humidity is factored in ) we will not join the festivities in our largest park. Instead, we will enjoy the air conditioning of our Legion, and the music of our favourite local band, for the afternoon. (Barley sandwiches mandatory.) If the air thins enough, we might return there for the late evening, as the patio has a perfect view of the usual fireworks display.

To keep things simple for supper, we have prepared potato salad and also a pasta salad with baby peas and tinned tuna. And I will make some generous hamburgers to meet the propane grill/BBQ.

Tuna, peas, and pasta go great together in salads

The burgers didn't meat the gas grill - with air temperature of 39C, feeling like 48C with humidity - the indoor cook-top did a fine job. Tastiest burgers I have made in ages.

I was never much of a fan of cookouts anyway...

All meats - and many veggies - simply taste much better if cooked outdoors, over hot coal or an open flame.

Fish and chips, cole slaw and three margaritas.

"All meats - and many veggies - simply taste much better if cooked outdoors, over hot coal or an open flame"

I can't argue with that, Nick. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

It's just that some times are better for cookouts than others. if the outdoor temps are around 75 degrees, no problem. At 95 degrees, your appetite might be less strong. Cold sandwiches with lemonade or iced tea or might go over better. Of course, cooking chicken or beef or salmon over hot coals another time and then chilling them would be a way to be sure of supply for a get-together.