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Autumn Salads: Potato-Egg-Spinach salad

There's a local place called Cafe via Roma which serves a splendid version of farmer's salad called the Dolomiti.   It consists of crispy diced potatoes, eggs, red onions and a sweet vinaigrette mixed with field greens. (My current theory this is a delicious, westernized edition of Cretan Potato Salad.) It's one of my favorite things. I was hungry for something along those lines today but wanted to take a crack at it myself.

Being lunchtime, but willing to follow my vision, I decide to take out a little early and dash over to the grocery store. I didn't have time to dice and boil red potatoes, as I would have preferred, but, amazingly, Ore-Ida of all companies has a product called Steam-n-mash potatoes, which consists of nothing but diced cooked potato. remembering this from a former dinner emergency that demanded mashed potatoes in the blink of an eye, I hypothesized that this product would work equally well for pan-fried potatoes. Now, some people call pan-fried diced potatoes "hash browns," including Martha Stewart, from whom I learned the exact method used here, which is why around our house we call it "Martha 'Taters." Personally I consider hash browns the byproduct of browning shredded potatoes on a diner grill, and sometimes in my nonstick skillet. Which one is correct? Who knows. Let's not get bogged down by semantics.

I also picked up some precooked bacon- lately it seems like all the pre-made breakfast product I buy that's made by Jimmy Dean has been golden. They make the best precooked turkey breakfast sausage on the planet. (At least of the kinds that can found in grocery stores in the midwestern US.) I also grabbed a new dozen eggs, as we were in need. And would nearly be again, after this meal.

I put some oil in an iron skillet, brought it to temp, put in some of the frozen spud cubes and covered it, cooking them on medium. Meanwhile, I hard boiled some eggs. We use a method that either comes from Julia Child, or James Beard. Neither Abbey nor I can remember anymore. It's devastatingly simple- and I say "devastatingly" because for a long time I couldn't make a properly boiled egg to save my life. Since Abbey turned me on to this method, I haven't messed up one boiled egg, not one. Suffice to say the first perfect egg was devastating enough, but it always knocks me out how foolproof this is. Simply place the eggs (six, in this case, as Olivia likes hard boiled eggs), cold, in a sauce pan with maybe five inches of water and turn on the heat. Bring it just to a boil, turn off the heat, lid it and take it off the burner. Do something else for a while. If I recall correctly, wait three minutes for soft boiled, five to seven for hard boiled. Is that right? I waited about seven and it was perfect.

As you know, my initial vision of this salad was a mixed green salad with warm potatoes. While describing my project to Abbey, she was forming a vision of a take on German potato salad. That seemed better to me,  and a bit more comforting. October 2009 is about to go in the history books as the soggiest and coldest October in Missouri history. Today, it's raining and a little nippy- no surprise at all.  So something warmer than a green salad was sounding good. We decided to use up our fresh baby spinach for this meal, and I made a sweet apple cider vinegar vinaigrette to help everything meld.

So, for your pleasure, our potato-egg-spinach salad, which is half farmer salad, half warm German potato salad.

Ingredients

One standard grocery store container of baby spinach
Two bacon strips, thinly shredded or minced
half of a red onion, sliced very thin, in half rings
2 cups cooked and cubed potato
2-4 eggs, hard-boiled
1/3 cup canola or other light oil
3-6 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp dijon mustard (not country style)
3 to 5 tablespoons sugar (I used normal granulated, but I bet brown or demerara would be good)
a piece or two of homemade or artisanal whole wheat bread (I used La Brea's Organic Wheat loaf- yummy)
salt to taste

Wash and dry the spinach and place in a salad bowl.

put a tablespoon or two of canola oil in an iron or nonstick skillet on medium heat. When warm, put the potatoes in there, more or less in one layer, and lid it.

Meanwhile, start your eggs- cold from the fridge, in cold water at least 5" deep, on high temp, and thin slice onions.

Doublecheck the potatoes. When the bottoms are browning, daub potatoes with a little butter, put a plate that is wider than the skillet on top of the skillet, and carefully flip it all over, being careful not to burn yourself. Pick up the skillet, put it back on the burner, and slide the potatoes in one gesture into the pan, so they stay browned side up. Takes a little practice but it is totally doable. re-lid, unless you need to cook bacon- here's a great place for it. Chop it finely and toss it in with the half-finished potatoes. Don't re-lid in this case.

take the eggs off the heat when it's just coming to a boil. put the lid on and take off the burner. Make a note of the time- they should sit there three minutes for soft boiled, five to seven for hard.

Meanwhile start the dressing. Add three tablespoons of cider vinegar to the third cup canola oil, add three tablespoons sugar, the mustard and a dash of salt. whisk.  test for sweetness and acidity. I usually use twice the amount of vinegar and another tablespoon of sugar, you may not like it that strong though. Whisk until smooth and thickened.

when the potatoes are almost done, put in the onions and let them cook a little. Also add the precooked bacon, if you are using that. After a couple of minutes of sauteeing, dump it all into the salad bowl.  Follow with the dressing and toss.

Toast the bread. Peel and chop the eggs into quarters. add as many as you like (we used three). toss them in the salad lightly, taking care not to tear them up too much. Cut the toast into cubes and toss on top.

That's it! Hearty, warm, sweet, sour, filling, green-y... Perfect for a gray, wet day. We followed up with a nice cup of black Assam tea. Feeling pretty good right now.

Refrigerator Pickles

It's the time of year that I like to make refrigerator pickles. The temp is cooler in the house, so the pickles can sit on the counter for a few days and marinate before I put them on ice. The shelf life of refrigerator pickes is only a few weeks, but they don't last that long. The local market frequently has smaller cukes available, which struck me as odd until I started making pickles. Now it makes perfect sense.

By the way- we moved our stove back into its traditional location a few days ago. Yay! More than one burner! Cookies! We are pretty psyched right now.  The electric skillet, though it performed like a champ, is already back in storage!

Local Places: Time For Pie, Hermannhof Winery

We woke up this morning to an unbelievably bright and crisp autumn day. I have been itching to return to Hermann after having passed up three years of Oktoberfest, so we decided to drive there today. It's a very picturesque forty-five or fifty minutes from Jefferson City on Highway 94, which hugs the northern shore of the Missouri River all the way to St. Louis. We could have taken 50 East, but the view, while not bad in some places, is just not the same as the 94, which runs through the river valley, into the hills, runs startlingly close to river bluffs, and affords a couple of dramatic glimpses of the river in such small towns as Portland.

Missouri has only one world-class grape, the Norton. Local vintners are capable of making a superb dry red with this grape. A mid-Missouri Norton is almost guaranteed to be a good bottle if it was a good year. Less reliable are the various sweet and sweetish-dry German style whites that were pioneered by German immigrants who

transplanted varietals from the Rhine valley to this area. Some are pretty good, but some are too foxy, others too sweet. But it is definitely worth looking for the best of the latest vintages.

Hermann, settled in 1839 by German immigrants,  is a lovely town, full of stunning mid-to-late nineteenth century buildings, many in excellent condition. The vernacular architecture is interesting as well, reflecting many styles that can be found in river towns throughout the state along the major waterways. We arrived at lunchtime and grabbed bratwurst and kraut from street vendors only forty feet from the parking lot. I've never minded eating on the street, as long as it's good, and these brats were tender and tasty. But in retrospect, I wish we had waited, for a much more interesting place neither Abbey nor I, despite being veterans of several Hermann Oktoberfests, ever remember seeing. Perhaps it's a new place.

We crossed the street and the creek to sample wines at Hermannhof Winery, which has the strategic advantage of being right in the middle of downtown; there are several wineries in the area, in more remote locations, some more worthy than Hermannhof. But Hermannhof has a few decent wines, and there were two grownups and three younguns along for the ride, so we were looking for a streamlined winery experience. Abbey tasted wines while I shepherded kids. The kids and I picked out snacks, and Abbey ultimately picked out a not-too-sweet white, a 2007 Vidal Blanc, which we had later at home with some fresh Manchego (also purchased at Hermannhof) and honeycrisp apples. We resisted the delicious smell of cinnamon sugar almonds from a vendor right there in the weingarten, holding out for unknown treats within walking distance.

After picking up some kettlecorn on the street and scoring some homemade cookies at an animal shelter fundraiser, we felt like he were doing pretty well. But as the afternoon wound down, we found ourselves in need of a bit more sustinance, and an interesting place to enjoy it. We found it quite by accident. Called Time For Pie, a couple of blocks off of the main drag, few words had to be exchanged to convince everyone to go there. Located in yet another antique storefront, the interior sported plain wood floors, a black stamped tin ceiling, and vintage tables and chairs. The menu is an interesting blend. Like all restaurants that wish to take advantage of the Oktoberfest crowds, they offer bratwurst and kraut, but unlike any other place I've been in Hermann, they offer multiple types of sausage from local specialists, the Swiss Meats Company. We had already had our brats for the day, but I know where I'm getting mine next time we go to Hermann. Also on the menu was a hearty, delightful beef and barley soup, quite savory and delicious, not too salty as some beef stews tend to be. In addition, they have a full-service espresso drink bar, and a number of interesting fruit smoothies. But most notable of all is the pie, available by the pie or the slice, in, among many others, cherry, blackberry, mixed berry, apple and apple-cranberry. We ordered a slice of cherry to share, along with other goodies, and swarmed a table covered with puzzle toys to wait.  Soon it arrived warm and ready to devour. The crust was light and tasty, the filling tart with the flavor of cherries with a lovely hint of vanilla. It's the best cherry pie I have had in a long time. We will be returning soon, in fact that place alone will be bringing me back to Hermann a lot sooner than the next 'Fest.

Steak Chili

If you read this blog, you're already aware of my fondness for chili; heck, it was the subject of my very first post. I've been a little freaked out about the e.coli and ground beef problem, and, even though I would certainly always cook beef bound for chili all the way through, I was nevertheless inspired to make a chili from a cut of beef rather than ground, which is the original form you'd find beef in chili in the olden days (though perhaps not as nice a cut or condition than we moderns tend to use).

That was the first criteria of this batch of chili; the other was to make this a slow cooker dish, so would have time to enjoy it on a weeknight. I chose a pound and a half chuck steak, a cut that already needs marination or slow cooking to make it palatable, so it's cheaper than a sirloin and perfectly serviceable for my purposes. First, I seared and browned the steak with a little olive oil. Then, once browned, I submerged it in three cups of beef broth, adding a couple tablespoons each of cumin and chili powder, and a dash of salt and pepper. I let it cook slowly overnight.

In the morning, I smoked a couple tablespoons each of cumin, chili powder, and paprika for a couple of seconds in high heat. I added three tablespoons of olive oil and a finely diced red onion all at once and turned the heat down. In the meantime I blended a large can of whole plum tomatoes. Once the onion was soft, I deglazed with two cups of water and added the tomatoes, stirred it up and put it in the crock pot. I added a cup of dry pinto beans and left the beans to cook most of the day. In the end we added some sugar (I prefer molasses but we're out of it) and salt to taste.

Ultimately, pretty easy, and tasty. Most importantly, each and every kid enjoyed it, no small feat for a homemade weeknight meal. We'll be making this again!

Local Places: Lutz BBQ

One of the best lunch spots in Jefferson City is hidden in plain sight. On highway 50 West, near the Barnes and Noble and Lowe's, in the Wildwood plaza, there's a BP gas station. You can frequently find some sort of food service sharing a  building with a gas station, almost always compact editions of the usual chains. However, this particular BP shares its space with makers of the best BBQ in town. Many of the great BBQ meats are found here: pulled pork, turkey and chicken, Burl's famous baby back ribs (named after restaurant founder Burl Lutz), a delicious burnt end sandwich and my favorite, beef brisket. Abbey, Olivia and I were running errands with my mom and we had the need for a quick lunch. I ordered brisket as a basket, which includes two sides: I chose baked beans and cole slaw in viniagrette. Everything was delicious, though the beans are just pretty good, they could be a little smokier. The cole slaw was perfect, the cabbage chopped finely and the vinegar adding just the right about of tartness. The brisket was excellent as usual. Sandwiches can be ordered in third and half pound sizes,

and you pour on your choice of Lutz' own sauces. The hot sauce is the best, redolent with spice, adding just the right touch. The other distinguishing characteristic of Lutz is their homemade chips. They come either plain or with one or more of a multitude of available seasonings. I can say from experience that half BBQ, half sour cream and onion is very tasty. You can buy the chips as a side or by the box. They are crispy and warm, fresh, utterly delicious. If you are on the West side and in need of a quick lunch, I couldn't recommend this place any more highly.

Local Places: B.K. Bakery

Saturday morning in Autumn. Abbey, Olivia and I decided to celebrate by piling in the car early and checking out the new bakery in town.  Called B.K. Bakery, it's named after head chef Brendan Kelly.  B.K. impressed us the minute we walked in: two glass cases sitting perpendicular to each other provided the side and front of the service area that faces the entrance, and they were already full of amazing looking treats. One case was full of the stuff continental breakfast dreams are made of: cinnamon rolls, artfully painted with icing; sticky rolls heavily coated with glossy pecans; reasonably sized muffins (that is, on the small side compared to the cake mountains that pass for "muffins" nowadays),  chock full of nuts and oats or poppyseed and lemon zest or blueberries or essence of coffee and chocolate chips; perfectly conceived scones, savory and sweet; and what has to be the most capably made croissants in the state.  I chose one stuffed with ham; Abbey chose one of the delectable fruit pastries (available in apricot, Abbey's choice, or pear); Olivia went with a classic, a blueberry muffin. Meanwhile, the second case was being filled with different, but equally appealing, items; we admired them from afar and greatly enjoyed what we had chosen. Abbey and I had ours with capably made cappucinos using beans from my favorite Missouri roastery: Kaldi's.

After the initial shock of enjoying our genuinely delicious breakfast, we perused the other case, which the people behind the counter were busy filling with delightfully decorated cupcakes and sumptuous looking mini cheesecakes. Before we left we couldn't help taking some items to go, including two of the fifty-cent pop-in-your-mouth cream puffs, which are absolutely fabulous, by the way. Oh, I hope and pray they attract the traffic they'll need to stay in business forever.  I'm feeling confident as I ran into an old friend while there and he enthused that the offerings were "like crack." I agreed. I was already deciding in my mind when I would be returning for more croissants.

Jefferson City just gained a pile of excellence points now that we have two functioning bakeries. It's newest addition is nothing short of world class and makes good coffee to boot!
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Taco Salad

After spending a day tiling the kitchen, Abbey and I didn't have much energy for anything elaborate for dinner. We had a pretty successful recent taco night (a kid favorite), so there were Mexican-y leftovers in the fridge. In just a few minutes I whipped together a tasty taco salad. Here's what I did:

-toasted taco shells on the frypan. Just a couple minutes per side with the pan on 325 F.

-meanwhile, I rinsed, drained, and chunked up half a head of iceberg lettuce.

-warmed up some leftover refried beans in the microwave

-sliced up a couple of tomatoes from the garden, plus half a cucumber

-I mixed the veggies with the lettuce and heaped it on top of some taco shells, broken into pieces

-doused that in salsa verde (and in my case, both salsa rojo AND salsa verde)

-topped that with shredded cheddar, a scoop of beans, a spoonful of premade roast red pepper strips, slices of fresh avocado, and dollop of greek yogurt.

voila!

It's not a diet... it's not a diet...

Might as well say it plainly: I am overweight.

I haven't measured my BMI or anything, but I feel physically uncomfortable in various ways every day, and I've gone all pear shaped.

I've been fighting this for years- just about when it was supposed to become a struggle for me, it did. I didn't watch my weight in my thirties, and I slid into my forties too heavy. Subsequent efforts to lose the extra flab have had no effect. Granted, I haven't really stuck to anything, and therein lies the rub: most of us drop our plan to get healthier when there's no sign of improvement after only a short period of time. This is why the experts suggest lifestyle changes, not some sort of behavior that is radically different than standard operating procedure- like adopting a weird diet.

A recent study (granted, there is probably another study that contradicts it) reveals animal protein to be a major indicator in the development of cancer. Not good, even if it's a case of correlation rather than causation. Correlation could just mean some aspect of the meat-eating lifestyle increases the risk- still something to consider. Plus, there is the fact that one in two Americans will have a problem with cancer or heart disease. The connection between saturated fat and heart problems is well documented.

Let's add the following risk factors: I'm mostly sedentary (office drone). I'm 45. and my dad had double bypass surgery in his fifties.

A plant-based diet can reverse weight problems and atherosclerosis. A plant-based diet is easier on the environment. A plant-based diet circumvents the feedlot industry, which is creating an environmental disaster with its toxic runoff and treats its animals horribly.

At bare minimum, we should be seeking humane as possible sources of meat- but that isn't always available. I wrestle with the issue of whether it is right or wrong to eat meat at all, under any circumstances. But every time my inner voice says it's wrong to kill animals for food, another inner voice reminds me this is something humans have been doing since before we moved into caves. It's hard to definitively call it "right" or "wrong" in this context. Some have argued that, since humans have enough ability and intelligence to eat something else exclusively, we have a moral obligation to do so. Again, I'm not sure if I am swayed by this argument.

While I decide what I believe about the ethical implications of eating meat, I've decided the heath benefits are undeniable. So I'm going to try to work as many fruits and vegetables in my diet as possible. I'm not going to give up meat (yet?).  I am already a flexitarian,  just not as strict with myself as I need to be.  If I did move on to vegetarianism, it would be of the lacto-ovo variety- in fact, I was a lacto-ovo vegetarian once for almost ten years.   Cheese and eggs are both good sources of calcium and protein (and fat, yes; all things in moderation). Right now, this is more about deciding to try something that I will most likely stick to. I liked being a vegetarian. I may do it again.

So tonight, my wonderfully supporting wife and I had an old favorite- eggs poached on a bed of wilted baby spinach. Situated some crusty toast under each egg along with the spinach that had melded with the egg. For added veggie fun, we diced and sauteed red peppers in olive oil, tossed with basil and sprinkled it on the eggs. Absolutely delicious!

Better than Bertolli

Here is your dilemma: You have no oven and two adults with adult tastes to feed. All you have is an electric skillet, toaster and microwave at hand. Kids can be satisfied by pretty simple fare. While adults can too, sometimes adults want something different. Something with complexity. When we first disconnected the oven, we were unsure what exactly our capabilities would be. A lack of confidence led me to the frozen entree section of the local supermarket. There are some interesting temptations there nowadays: pasta with mature ingredients such as roasted vegetables and asparagus;  sophisticated twists on old standbys like garlic mashed potatoes and pre-seasoned green beans; throw-in-the-pan-and-simmer entrees with ingredient-intensive codenames:  Bolognese, for instance, and Pomodoro.

Though some of these dishes meet or exceed my expectations (which, for frozen versions of grown-up food, are generally pretty low), the nutrition information is generally dismaying, especially when it comes to sugar and salt. When a food on its own lacks distinctive flavors it its own, makers of processed foods add these two agents to stand in place of what ought to be just good flavor. When we faced our oven-less challenges, it was tempting to just call it a day and give in to the sodium pushers since anything involving more than one pot gets complicated quickly when there is only one. But we persevered; we love natural flavors (who doesn't?) and now have a bounty of tomatoes and fresh herbs to utilize. Now that we have logged many hours pushing our electric skillet to the max, we have a pretty bulletproof method for preparing one pot meals with a minimum of fuss and maximum flavor enjoyment. Take, for instance, last night's dinner, store-bought "fresh" fettuccini (pretty good stuff, really) tossed with shrimp, fresh tomatoes, herbs and cream.

Abbey is fully responsible for this inspiration, and it is fabulous. We boiled the shrimp for a few minutes in the pot, dumped it out and drained it, then got to peeling it while the pasta cooked in the pan. (next time we are going to try both together for the sake of water economy and to increase the shrimpy goodness.) The pasta was drained and put back in a dry pan with a mix of garden-fresh plum and grape tomatoes, halved, and 3/4 cup of heavy cream. as the tomatoes softened, the cream thickened. Then we tossed in some frozen peas. But the real genius of this dish was Abbey's simple mix of tarragon and shredded basil, both from the garden. The mix of the spicy basil and anise-y tarragon was a totally new sensation to me, and I plan to mix those together in something again,very soon. in the end we added a small amount of salt and cracked pepper and some shaved parmagiano. It was much more interesting than any one-pot frozen pasta dish, and much healthier, since we controlled the sodium content. It's a win-win.

What to do with Butternut Squash- take 1

I planted a couple of butternut squash plants in the backyard this year. As the summer has generally been on the wet side, plantlife has been flourishing, the squash plants being no exception. They are marvels of botanical engineering. Long shoots travel what seems like multiple feet in a day. upwind from the plants, on a small hill above them, is a plot of tomatoes. The squash fought their way uphill, and I have been fighting tooth and nail to keep them out of the tomatoes all summer. Prodigious, in foliage as well as fruit, yielding four very satisfying squash with several more near maturity.

Well, what do you do with butternut squash, especially when you are oven-challenged? In terms of flavor, a butternut is both savory and sweet. I've always marveled that, along with the pumpkin, carrot and sweet potato, there are four beta-kerotene rich vegetables that seem equally suited for both ends of the sweet-savory spectrum. This time, we've made soup. Abbey slow-cooked a cubed squash with vegetable broth and a liberal dose of chili-garlic sauce, a condiment found in most asian markets. She didn't go in an Asian direction with it, however. After the mixture was nearly cooked, she finished the job in the ever-wondrous electric skillet, adding fresh garlic, and rosemary and thyme from the herb garden, cooking on medium until the squash was fully tender. At that point she mashed it until smooth, then added a splash of olive oil in the bowl. The resulting mix of fresh herbs and the heat of the chili and garlic was intoxicatingly spicy and deeply satisfying.

I got hurt fingers

Abbey thought the sight of my four bandaged fingers from our camping assault this weekend (the tip of my left index finger, too- which sucks, because it's one of my main hunt-and-peck fingers) was so absurd, I ought to blog about it. So, here it is. Now the world can share in the fun.

Pancakes

Oh magic electric skillet, is there anything you can't do?

Pancakes are a great opportunity to get some healthy grains down your kids' gullets. Most normal pancake recipes call for white flour; I substitute whole grain oat flour 1:1. Of all the whole grain flours I have tried, it's the most palatable substitute for white flour. Granted, one kid did comment "these taste like oatmeal" before devouring his pile. Otherwise, no one has really noticed.

I find oat flour works best with a buttermilk-based batter. I also would like to dispel some myths that are propagated via some recipes, and to draw attention to a flub of my own of which Abbey had to break me, finally. Firstly, when you make a buttermilk pancake batter, it's not good to wait until the last possible minute to combine the wet and dry ingredients until the last minute. The alkaline baking soda combines with the acid buttermilk to form pockets of air, giving it a light, fluffy texture.

But it is possible to overwork, and the worst thing of all is to mix ingredients lightly, then discover pockets of unblended dry ingredients, then try to smooth it out with whisk or fork- that takes all of your hard earned air bubbles right out. Thanks for helping me discover this, Abbey, and I'm not going to make this mistake again!

So, the pancakes were actually pretty easy to make in this plain steel skillet. A little butter helps them brown and keep from sticking. While Abbey made the pancakes, I took the breakfast sausage links to the gas grill. I fired it up, sprayed the top half of a standard broiler pan (one comes with every oven, practically) with olive oil and let it get up to temp, then let the sausages rest in the slits. every minute or so I turned them five-ish degrees. Abbey doesn't like breakfast sausage much, and she said this was the best she's ever eaten. Even with the applicances back in place I may have to make sausage on the grill a weekend ritual.

What do you do with leftover pancakes? This is my current idea- break into similar pieces and layer in a desert dish with warm strawberry jam and whipped cream!

Backyard campout

Live from the campground- in our case, the back yard. just had a fine dinner of roasted Hebrew Nationals, mac and cheese, heirloom watermelon and ice-cold Pilsner-Urquell (Red Bicyclette Rose in Abbey's case). Tiki torches with citronella fuel- de rigeur on campouts here in the deciduous heartland- round out the atmosphere. Dusk approaches; it's time to brush teeth, snuggle up and tell ghost stories.

In Praise of Electric Skillets

Thanks to Lowe's inept flooring department, we are heading into week four of our kitchen reflooring saga. We selected our tile (Armstrong Excelon) and placed our order. Assured it would arrive in the middle of the following week, we spent the better part of three days ripping the existing layers of flooring out of our kitchen- four layers of linoleum. The eldest layer was rather handsome, a mid-century pattern with stars and gold flecks. The three most recent, including what was in evidence when we moved in, were ugly as sin.

The week came and went, and we were informed there would be a delay. Fine. When it did come in, we took the two boxes home and only found when they were opened that they ordered the wrong color. So, I hauled it back in and reordered. That is where things stand, four weeks later.

All of the kitchen appliances were moved into the dining room. As we have an electric oven with a 220 plug, it's out of commission. We're making due with a crock pot, toaster, microwave and a vintage electric skillet. The skillet has performed admirably; we've used it practically every day this month, and for the most amazing things: boiling corn and pasta, poaching eggs, frying falafel, browning roasts, popping popcorn(!), and perhaps its most successful and most appropriate use, serving as a hotpot for Sukiyaki.

This morning, I've fried a rasher of bacon, and near the end, fried eggs sunny side up in the grease. Not exactly health food, but incredibly satisfying! Even if I did break some of the yolks.

Happy Apples

I've been in an autumn mood lately, thanks to freakish spells of refreshing coolness, something which is not a staple of late summer in Missouri. July and August both entered the rolls this year as some of the coolest on record. The AC has been off for over a week now! My thoughts have been turning to crisp mornings, fresh apple cider, church picnics and quilt auctions, pumpkin pie, red maple leaves, dark ale and Oktoberfest. Man. Autumn in Missouri can be wonderful.

Speaking of apple products, you know September is here, or near, when Happy Apples begin appearing in local grocery stores. I'm not sure what the exact origin of the bag is, but it's clearly marked "Missouri Apples" and makes its appearance at about the right time, so I assume it's the real deal. Plus, they are fresh and crisp, and look an awful lot like the snappy little Galas you can get direct from the source around here at such area fixtures as Huffstutter Orchards. And I've got my eye on an orchard in Centertown, only fifteen minutes from my location, called Millard's Apple Farm. Wherever we go, I'll be sure to post some pics.

From the Grill- Bratwurst

Brats on the grill, freshly made the same day at Weber Meat Market- yum!

Chili- let me count the ways

I love diners. I've had the good fortune to live most of my adult life a reasonable distance away from a pretty good one. I've nurtured friendships at diners, looked for jobs at diners, sobered up and nursed hangovers at diners. The best diners reflect the food of the proletariat as it was before it was appropriated by the fast food machine. Black coffee, eggs cooked any way you can imagine and browned toast served with the ubiquitous grape jelly has sustained me in lean times and sent me happy, awake and well fed to untold lectures, exams and staff meetings.  If you're feeling spendy, a small sirloin with those eggs (though I hardly ever have felt that way.) Occasionally biscuits and sausage gravy for a little variety. At lunch, sandwiches for the on the go types, french fries with ketchup and the best grilled cheese available, sure; but also tender roast beef and mashed potatoes, chicken fried steak and chicken fried chicken, with white gravy; green beans with the smoky depth of country ham and the piquance of onion. But the single dish that separates the genuine article from the pretenders is a heavenly bowl of red.

It's easy to put chili that's good enough on a diner table; beans, beef and chiles all can well. Open can, schlurp into pot, heat and serve. Really special places will make their own, served piping hot on the Fahrenheit as well as Scoville scales, tender morsels of some sort of meat (usually at diners it's ground beef, but diners can surprise with succulent chunks of roast or steak). I am a devotee of the genre, but I am not a purist; plump red kidney beans and ripe red tomatoes are more than welcome in my chili.

This is really beside the point; it's what's done with chili that I like about diners. The specialty of a place I frequented during my college years was a mountain of delight built on a sturdy base of crispy hash browns, followed by chili and cheese and snow capped by eggs done in the way of your choice. I can tell you there really was no other way to order them than fried, sunny side up. That way a creamy melange of yolk, chili and potato is formed that represents the pinnacle of savory breakfast flavor. But I have to admit it's when chili meets pasta that I really get excited. Most people with even a half-hearted interest in chili have have probably taken the plunge with a chili and spaghetti marriage, if only once, at chain-type establishment such as Steak 'n' Shake. It's adequate there: the chili comes from a can but it's the chain's own recipe, a sort of Cincinnati style chili with distinctive notes of cumin and allspice, with the heretical addition of kidney beans. Perfectly acceptable in my book.  As the traditional Cincinatti chili has no beans, Steak and Shake's Chili Five Way is named properly, but as far as I know ingredient number five, kidney beans, is there no matter what. A mere technicality. Chili, spaghetti, shredded cheddar and diced raw onion are only improved upon with the addition of the green chile vinegar, the point of which I couldn't fathom until I first doused a five way with it.

Today, we were celebrating my eldest son's twelfth birthday. Pizza and my wife's delicious chocolate Charlotte left us feeling content but a tad over-stuffed. By the time dinner time rolled around, there was no interest in an organized meal, so we fended for ourselves. We had leftovers from recent Mexican and Italian family meal excursions, and an idea popped into my head: Chili Five Way. But there was no "chili" per se. Could I pull it off with leftovers anyway?

This is what I had at my disposal, and went into the chili five way:

Salsa fresca (diced homegrown chiles, tomatoes and onions)

Enchilada sauce (homemade, made from ancho chiles)

Taco beef (ground chuck, slow cooked in vegetable broth, paprika, cumin, garlic powder, salt and pepper)

vermicelli

shredded cheddar

Heinz Chili sauce

On a plate, I piled on some vermicelli, added a generous dollop of enchilada sauce, a half cup of taco beef, and two shakes of the chili sauce. I mixed and topped with the salsa and then the cheddar and off to the microwave it went.

It was good! As fresh salsa and ancho chiles are staples around here, my chili recipe may have just changed forever.