Friday, July 19, 2019

Sangria-ish and Paella

For my Sangria À la Martin

Needs-
Strawberries
Orange Juice (hand squeezed is better)
Porto
Rose and bit of a stronger red.
Mint


Mix it all together and...



Pour in glasses


enjoy over ice
Sangria À la Martin


The Paella recipe will have to be another post. Here are the pictures.



Tuesday, July 16, 2019

Smoked Turkey, Bean and Collards - A Soup


A bit involved but worth the effort.

Needs -
Smoked Turkey Leg ( 2 if you want a wholelotta meat)
White bean of your liking (Used Corona Bean)
Brown bean of your liking (Used Tongues of Fire Bean)
Collard Greens
Olive Oil
4 quarts of chicken and beef broth mix (try it...mix it up)
Maybe a cup of water if you think you need it.

The Base -
Chop, chop, chop.
2-3 Carrots
2-3 Celery
5 Garlic
1 Onion
3 Bay Leaf
Dulce Pimenton (think...do I want the smoke...YES, I do.)
Thyme (take a guess)
Cumin (whoa...that might be too much)
Nutmeg (I know right...try it!)






Now mix and saute till nice and golden smelly.


If your turkey leg is too big...you might have to remind it... you're the boss.


Here's where the liquids and base make friends...time to provide a nice toasty tub for the turkey leg.
At least 3 hours of a hot soak, don't let it get nervous and all jumpy, think slow dancing.


Once the turkey leg is no longer shy, it's time to remove it from the bath.  Let it cool down, it's been making friends with the base for a while.  When it is ready, you may have to help it shed?


Time for some more chopping...it's collards time to take a soak.


The turkey leg may now be allowed to return to the party and remind it bring a little more pimenton with it...



Allow another hour or hour and a half of socializing, but don't let the heat get too heavy.



.......and

Voila!!!

Sunday, July 14, 2019

🍳 Breakfast


Potato, eggs and milk coffee to get the morning going. 


Thursday, July 11, 2019

STRAWBERRIES!!!

Strawberries and Cream and Roasted Sesame Seed Oil?

Have faith young one.

Needs-
Strawberries
Heavy Cream
Tawny Porto
Crema di Balsamic
Drizzle of Roasted Sesame Seed Oil
Bit of Brown Sugar
Dash of Vanilla Juice

How-
Cut your strawberries into 4ths. Place in bowl and pour some sweetness over it (Port and Balsamic).
Take your heavy cream and with a dash of vanilla juice and a bit of brown sugar begin to whip it good, in a bowl of course. Not too much, just until combined and peaks form.

The Make-
Strawberries in a bowl with a bit of it’s reserved goodness.
Cover with Creamy peaks.
Drizzle wit(balsamic crema and just a few droplets of roasted sesame oil or to your liking)
Serve and Destroy.







Well,Well,Well...

It’s been a bit. Been teaching, been eating and been living. As you may or may not be aware of, I got into cooking while living in Germany 🇩🇪 and well...it’s time to get back to cooking. I’ve started to experiment with food and because we live in a world where people would rather see pictures and live vicariously through others...I decided to start a food 🥘 picture journal. Behold...the beginning phase of my endeavors.












Thursday, May 31, 2012

Pilsen, Czech Republic

Hello everybody,

We’ve just returned from a small getaway.  The house is a mess, the basement is somewhat clean and Jean-Luc is sleeping - everything is moving according to plan. 

Plzen was super cool or as the Germans may say, wunderbar – small and easy to walk everywhere.  We went on a tour of the Pilsner Urquell Brewery, walked around most of the downtown area and had some good food.

Pilsner Urquell Entrance IMG_1114

What is really interesting about this place is that they still brew beer the old fashion way, albeit only for the tours, or so we thought. 

Both L and I were skeptical about the beer, since we’ve had it before and really didn’t care for it. (see the face below)IMG_1116

 

But the unfiltered version of this beer is a completely different animal – really. IMG_1161IMG_1166

It’s got more of the hop and barley taste without the skunk and all the flavors are well balanced and best, above all, satisfying.  Just look at L in the picture below.

IMG_1170

She must have talked about the beer for hours and we were both surprised that they don’t sell the beer in that form to the public.  But we would soon find out different later that evening. As we were leaving, L reluctantly finished her golden malted barley extract and said a small parting farewell to her dream beer - as she slowly let her empty plastic chalice of nectar fall into the waste basket she whispered,  I’ll miss you, Je t'aime, Je t'aime.

Anyway…once the tears were dried, we headed back to the motel to lament and rest.  But later that evening we accidentally stumbled upon a bar which we believe is the Pivomuseum Bar located on the edge of downtown. It was a very non descript place except for all the noise of clanking beer steins and chest thumping – so we walked in and you’ll never believe what the bar was serving…UNFILTERED Pilsner Urquell, L nearly fell backwards from a faint. For next couple of hours,  cupid sent Pilsner tipped arrows in L’s direction.

We had a great time in Plzen. L and I had a discussion about how we visited many of the “baby sister” cities in the countries we visited and how much fun they were. One last beer for the road.

Below is a short video of out visit to Plsen, set to one of the songs from my German band.

 

 

=================================

 

 

Plus we had one of these too. Can anyone see what is wrong with the picture below.

IMG_1204

Well……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

It’s a car boot – as in this boot = car go no where.  Yes, yes, yes we know, too good to be true and yes we even asked about parking and the hotel receptionist said it was free but forgot to mention that before 7pm the area was paid parking.  I guess we arrived during the free part of the day and made it two days before, John-Czech Law caught up with us.  But it all turned out okay- hotel paid for everything and we only waited 10 minutes for them to arrive and remove the glamor boot.

until next time,

Hugs,

M&L

p.s. L just said the beer at the bar was slightly different unfiltered beer, but still good.

p.s.s. the circle is complete…my finished drums, almost 3yrs in the making.

IMG_1216

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

we be where we be at

Hello everybody,

Just in case if you've been wondering what we've been up to the last few days - L and I are taking a quick vacation in the small city of Plzen (Czech Republic). I was going to post pictures, but I forgot my usb3 cord for L's computer so I'll blog and post pictures of our trip when we're back home.  But I did lift this picture off the internets just to give you an idea.

well until next time...
Hugs,
M&L