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

I used to enjoy tempura veggies at a Japanese restaurant that probably went out of business decades ago.

Night before last was a "throw in what ya got" mac and cheese casserole. Grated extra old white cheddar, minced onion, bit of garlic, a generous handful of frozen mixed veggies, and a drained tin of tuna. It will be delicious again re-heated for supper today (Saturday).

Sunday, Mrs Rev finds herself without work - and I haven't any in the house to roast. But we do have some really nice cod recently purchased, and she makes a helluva hand-battered fried fish. Some simple frozen fries passed through the oven, maybe a simple garden salad to precede the hot stuff.

No one ever goes hungry here.

supper is all cooking ATM... tunna steaks done in the oven with pointed sweet pepper and onion cut into long 'strips', oragano and black pepper and olive oil, and on the stove top some wild rice pilaf with mushrooms and onion and mustard and cumin seeds... Broccoli will be cooked up a bit later on, to go with it...

Tonight I'm going to make Pork Chop Soup:

Pork Chop Soup

Spice mixture

½ tsp of dried thyme
1 tsp of paprika
Pepper, to taste
1 tsp of dried oregano
1 tsp of garlic powder
1 cube of chicken bouillon
1/2 tsp of chili powder

Liquid broth

1 tbsp of olive oil
2 ½ cups of water
1 tsp of soy sauce

Cans

One 14-ounce can of kidney beans
28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes
One 8-ounce can of corn, preferably low-sodium

Other Ingredients

3 pork chops or 8 ounces of pork
1 onion
1 potato, any size you want, peeled or unpeeled however you want it
One 16-0unce package of Stop & Shop Ranchero Fiesta vegetables
[If Ranchero Fiesta are not available, use 3 large carrots, sliced; 3 stalks of celery, chopped; broccoli; and one 14-ounce can of black beans]

Instructions

Put the olive oil in the bottom of a cooking pot. Add the water and soy sauce. Mix the spices and stir them into the pot. Add the pork and the Ranchero Fiesta vegetables and the cans. Turn on the heat and let everything simmer while you prepare the rest of the vegetables. Add them to the pot. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat and simmer covered for 30 minutes Serves 3 people.

Tonight, I considered a Cobb salad.

Changed my mind and had a guacamole salad instead, with a third of a cup of sour cream, a minced ripe Haas avocado, a minced Roma tomato, half a brown onion, minced, a grated jalapeno chile pepper, a liberal dash of barbeque spice, potato chips on the side.

Cobb salad, skinned and boned chicken breast liberally dusted with black pepper and bbq spice, microwaved 3 1/2 minutes, turned, dusted with pepper and bbq spice on the other side, microwaved 3 1/2 minutes a second time, cut into bite sized bits, on top of a salad of a cup of chopped lettuce, 1/2 cucumber, sliced, a Roma tomato, 1/4 of a brown onion cut into fine slivers, 1/2 a Haas avocado, slivered, soda crackers on the side, Italian dressing.

Youngest has GCSE catering practical today, so supper will be fish pie. Cod, smoked haddock and salmon, white source, under buttery mash; bakewell tart and custard.

I think I might take some time-out from fish pie until about June. We've had a few practice sessions.

Oh my. I really did say white source

You've completely sold that fish pie and bakewell tart to me.

I'll happily take a few measures of the fish-pie too - any of the named swimmers.

I have at least one great fish pie recipe.

Nothing much special here lately, but looking forward to a nice Easter Sunday supper. Plans so far are simple:

- a couple types of cheeses and crackers, perhaps with green seedless grapes
- a tray of about 40 large shrimps with a seafood sauce that is well laced with horse-radish
- Caesar salad
- bone-in picnic ham, baked in a little ginger ale
- scalloped potatoes
- coarse cut carrots and turnip simmered to tender, lightly buttered
- crusty large bread rolls
- dessert on Monday ...

Ham and potatoes are standard fare for Easter. I've always been fond of devilled eggs as well.

Alright, I can "force" myself to make and eat some devilled eggs too .... It really is such a hardship, but for international relations.

I was never good at making them, but I have relatives who are adept.

I've never heard of ham at Easter. At Christmas, more like, as it's a cured meat, preserved for eating the mid-winter. In the UK, a gammon joint often accompanies the turkey, and makes for alternative meals (salads, and sandwiches particularly) for the rest of the holiday period.

Wherever I've always lived, lamb is the traditional food at Easter. The first lambs are ready for slaughter around April, and the lamb with its religious symbolism is a very apt foodstuff, especially if eaten as the first meat after fasting for 40 days, which, presumably, it would have been in the Middle Ages. As it's from a tender young animal, it's probably easier on the alimentary system than, say, a bit of old cow or even the rest of the pig that has been preserved through the winter.

Not to mention that ghastly reading we get at Easter with the blood on the gatepost (or is that a goat?)

As I mentioned earlier, lamb isn't particularly common in any parts of Canada that I have lived and worked. Many do some sort of ham, some chicken or turkey, a rare house does a cut of veal.

As to devilled eggs, I'm lazy and go easy. Boil some eggs - put them in a pot of water for half an hour to come to room temp, bring to a fair boil for maybe 12 minutes or so, then deposit in a bowl of ice water. Stops over cooking and makes peeling much easier - usually. Once peeled and chilled, slice in half, toss the yolks into a bowl and mash with a fork. Add mayonnaise and mash in until you get a texture you want. A pinch or two of dry mustard goes nicely too. Spoon the mash mix into the empty egg-white halves, maybe a lightest dusting of paprika, and voila ...

That sounds great, Nick.

Maybe different families have different holiday traditions. In my family, salmon with garden peas was popular on Memorial Day.

When I searched Google under "Easter ham deviled eggs", I got more than 300,000 hits, so the combination is popular *somewhere,* just maybe not everywhere.

A basic and simple thing in some parts of North America - Hamburger Helper. A box with a certain pasta, a packet of seasonings, that get added with water, sometimes milk and butter, to a pound or so of browned ground/minced beef.

Well, that's too easy. So I have a loaf of thick sliced Italian bread to make into garlic toast, and some really huge white mushrooms that will be hollowed, and re-filled with the stems, some sweet ham, garlic and green onions before they bake a while. (And topped with fine shredded cheeses)

Oh, and as always - a huge glass of icy cold

Very basic this evening. Two blocks of feta cheese and two rolls from the freezer. 10 minutes in the oven. Some spinach from the freezer - whole leaf - Better dash - it's already done!