 You know how one thing leads to another? That was today's thing. For starters, I have been cold, all day. It irritates me to live in Hawaii and be cold. That sort of thing shouldn't happen. But cold I was, and I found myself browsing a British website with all sorts of gorgeous-looking soups. However, I long ago brain-dumped any knowledge I had about converting metric ingredients, and I was too lazy to Google how, so I went digging in the pantry. I came up with a can of "Pea Soup Andersen's Split Pea," WITH BACON, natch, so I was happy. That led to another problem, though, which is that Mr. L is not a soup person. He'll eat it, but he complains that he's hungry again an hour later. So then I thought well, maybe I'll make popovers. So I did. My popover recipe comes from my vintage 1950 edition of Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, a treasured gift from Miss Scarlett. There are only four ingredients, making this recipe completely idiot-proof. Trust me on that one. The main thing I'll stress is to really grease those muffin pans. No holding back on Crisco. More prep photos are below. I'm trying out some new recipes, this week. A friend gave me some back issues of the Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine. Here we go! Sunday: Spanish Beef Stew with Yellow Rice Monday: Spaghetti Squash Carbonara; Garlic Bread Tuesday: African Peanut Stew (not a Rachael Ray recipe, just one I have been wanting to try out) Wednesday: Mu Shu Pizza Thursday: New Year's Eve (pupus and wine with friends) Friday: Game Hens (split) over Salad with Tomatoes, Avocados, and Basil; French Bread Saturday: Leftover Game Hen Salad with Tarragon Mayonnaise over ToastedTorta Rolls Happy 2016, everyone! - C. Ironing
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 Happy Holidays! For those of you fortunate enough to be in Kailua-Kona this week, check out the Kona Canoe Club. Pictured above: Mini-Tacos, with Kalua Pork. Delicious. I dithered hard between the pupu tacos and the regular tacos, finally deciding to behave and order the minis. They were plenty, with my beer. I am a big fan of the Kona Canoe Club. The location is stellar (see pictures, below) and the food is great. Way back when we were tourists, it was a regular stop. Once we moved, we got out of the habit, I guess. Well, those days are over. Service is fast so even if we're in a bit of a hurry, we're going to make a point of getting in there more. Also pictured below will be the "Paddler's Fish Sandwich," (which Mr. L enjoyed with spearfish, his favorite) and a Kalua Pig sandwich, which our friends split. Also pictured, below, is last week's experimental "Biff a la Lindstrom," which was delicious. I made it into a sort of inside-out deal, putting several of the ingredients on top. Aside from way too many Christmas cookies, here is what we'll be eating, this week. Sunday: Bacon-Onion Quiche and Salad Monday: Sausages and Peppers over Rice Tuesday: Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad Wednesday: Game Hens with Couscous and Zucchini Thursday: Take-Out! Friday: Christmas Dinner: Pork Loin with Port Wine Cherry Sauce; Red Potatoes; Green Beans Saturday: Leftovers For years, I made my mother's Clam Chowder for Christmas Eve. The first year we lived here, I went to make it, and it was just too dang hot. I also needed to finish wrapping, clean the house, get Christmas breakfast ready . . . and a new tradition was born: Take-out Christmas Eve. I find it really de-stresses me. As promised, the pictures mentioned above.  I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Best -  Attention KTA shoppers! Open your new Super Saver booklets and turn to page 52. That is where you will find this recipe (Crispy Pork Chops with Mushroom-Stout Gravy). Yum! Mr. L likes anything with a sauce, but I hadn't cooked with stout in a sauce before, so I wasn't sure how this would turn out. It's delicious. You can still taste the stout, but it's not overpowering. This is not a difficult recipe, but make sure you get organized (mise en place) before you start cooking. This also would have been nice with mashed potatoes. We had coleslaw on the side. For those of you who are not fortunate enough to receive KTA booklets in your mailbox, check their website. The recipe is not up as of this writing, but will be, soon. My pal Rosemary is of Swedish descent and has been giving me some of her favorite recipes. Tonight I'm going to try Biff a la Lindstrom. I'll put the recipe below. I think I'll change it up a little, putting the beets and capers on top (along with some pickles, maybe) and serving the potatoes on the side, crisped. Let's play around with it. Apologies to the Lindstroms, who might be offended. We had a lovely promenade around Liliuokalani Park this morning; I'll include a photo. We chatted with some "snowbirds" from Canada, who live here four months of the year. They aren't missing the snow. What a nice way to spend your retirement. So let's see, what's on the menu list this week? Sunday: The aforementioned Biff. Monday: Pulled Pork Enchiladas with Chiles; Salad with Avocado and Tomatoes Tuesday: Chicken Breasts with Pesto; Noodles; Fried Zucchini Wednesday: Sloppy Joes with Kidney Beans over Rolls; Home Fries Thursday: Bacon Quiche; Salad Friday: Baked Spaghetti with Sausages and Peppers Saturday: Leftovers! All right: Back to making toffee, which is my big weekend project. Have a great week! - C. Ironing    What a busy week! Unfortunately, the coming one looks to be even crazier-- probably for everyone. I think time speeds up during the holidays. When you live in the islands, there is also the pressure of needing to get things into the mail. Flat things. Nobody can stuff a Priority Mail box or envelope like a resident of Hawaii. Bet they were sorry they came up with that "If it fits, it ships" slogan. Pictured above: Killer Tacos, 74-5483 Kaiwi St., Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, 96740. Phone is 329-3335. Y'know, I took some pictures, but they don't look like much, so I am not going to post them. That is NOT, however, a commentary on the food, because it's great. And fast. We both had fish tacos - crispy for me; soft tacos for Mr. L, and a basket of chips and salsa. It came to less than $18, and it was faster than blue blazes. We were running a bazillion errands and "fast" was good. They also have Arnie Palmers to drink and I was sorry I hadn't seen that before I ordered my root beer (but I still enjoyed that). The tacos were outstanding. We will definitely go back. You can also get salads, burritos, nachos and quesadillas. Check it out. Next topic. We got our HELCO bill this week, and I always look forward to trying out their recipes. Those recipes make me look forward to opening the HELCO bill. LOL! Just kidding. I have no beef with HELCO, though. Service is better here than it was in California with PG&E. You wouldn't expect that on an island, but that's the truth. Anyway, this month it was a Cauliflower Mascarpone Gratin, and it was just great. I did use half broccoli, instead of all cauliflower, because I went into sticker shock at the price of cauliflower. I will put the photo below, as well as the recipe, for those of you who don't have HELCO. Because it is going to be a really busy week ahead, I've tried to keep the menus on the easy side. We also bought a small freezer (I may blog about that over at WiseBread), which I already love dearly. Finally, I can buy a frozen pizza that will fit in a freezer! Sunday: Grilled Chicken Breasts with Red Pepper Sauce; Parmesan-Baked Zucchini, and Couscous Monday: Pizza and Salad Tuesday: Chicken Pot Pie (recipe here) Wednesday: Baked Pork Chops with Potatoes; Braised Red Cabbage Thursday: Bacon-Parmesan Spaghetti Squash; Peas; Rolls Friday: Meatballs with Mushroom Gravy over Mashed Potatoes; Carrots Saturday: Mahi-Mahi with Lemon Caper Sauce, Rice, Spinach Salad Have a wonderful week! -C. Ironing   |
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