Friday, November 26, 2010

Thanksgiving Leftovers?


Not quite.


No, tonight we have Baked Mahi Mahi with

Omaha Steak's Potatoes au Gratin



So this dinner is Semi-Ho'd.


Get over it.


There are many ways to do it wrong

and a few ways to do it right.






The centerpiece of the meal was the baked mahi mahi.


The recipe I found called for

2 Mahi mahi filets

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup minced onion

1/4 cup minced shrimp*

salt

pepper

2 tablespoons breadcrumbs


*Oops, I changed the recipe already.



The shrimp and onion have been minced.





The mahi mahi were salted and peppered.







Then the mixture of mayo, shrimp and onion

was spread on top.




Finally, the bread crumbs were sprinkled on top.





These baked as suggested for 25 minutes.


Unfortunately, the recipe didn't give times for

frozen mahi mahi.


It seems that some of us don't have access to fresh seafood.


Why not give times for frozen fish?

So we had to microwave the fish for about a minute to finish

cooking it.


I would also suggest adding butter to the bread crumbs

so that the topping browns.




Still, this was pretty good

and I would suggest that you try these

nice products from Omaha Steaks and Schwan's.
As a bonus,
even the ever-picky husband liked this.



Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Something is Not Right Here




We have been hit hard by storms this year.




First, we had to have the roof replaced after


a hail and wind storm.




Then another storm redecorated our deck.






Last night yet another strong storm rolled through.








Once again, some redecorating has occurred.
Maybe the table was bad and was sent to the corner
to rethink its evil ways?










But something just doesn't feel right.





Hm, what is missing?









Something is wrong here.


Yep, that might be a problem.




Oh, so that's what is missing.





Our chimney blew off the roof last night.



I wondered what that loud banging noise was.





Luckily it didn't hit the house on the way down.






And also, luckily for us, our wonderful contractor,


Josh Koontz, from Koontz Construction came


by this afternoon to put a tarp on the gaping hole


left in our roof.





He'd never seen anything like this before.





That's funny, neither had I.





It's a good thing they coverd it as more rain is on the way.





Finally, after several months of drought conditions.





We could do without the winds, though.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Easy as Soup



With a couple of sick Foodies in the house,

soup seemed to be the order of the day.







I opted to make a turkey noodle soup for myself.







My ingredients are



one turkey cutlet
one carrot, sliced
one celery rib, sliced
1/4 cup onion, diced
one garlic clove, grated or minced
1/2 cup frozen corn
2 cups turkey stock
one package Ramen noodles
1/2 teaspoon dried Herbes de Provence
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
kosher salt, to taste



If I had had green beans on hand,


I would have added 1/2 cup of those as well.



For those of you who can eat chicken,


please substitute a chicken breast and chicken broth


for the turkey and turkey stock.



As it happened, I was making both soups this day.


The trick was to avoid cross-contamination.






Now back to the turkey


(and please note that the same techniques are used for chicken).


The turkey cutlet was cut into 3/8-inch cubes


and salted and peppered.







The turkey was sauteed in a bit of olive oil,







before being added to the turkey stock, grated garlic

and Herbes de Provence in a pot.






Then the veggies were lightly sauteed.







These were also added to the pot.


Four cups of water were also added

and the soup was brought to a boil

before the broken Ramen noodles were stirred in.







This?

This was thrown away.









Anything that has salt as its first ingredient and

ingredients that I can't pronounce isn't going in my food.










Soup's on.

This was mine.

The homemade chicken noodle soup

was for the Foodie Daughter and Boyfriend.

See how easy it is to make soup at home?


And what of the husband?




This is what he wanted.


And he was happy.


Go figure.


Sunday, November 14, 2010

The Philadelphia Tour


Miscellaneous Scenes





This is my last post - finally! -


on Philadelphia.




I had some pictures that I liked,


but that didn't seem to fit into the posts


I had designated for the great Philadelphia trip.




Please enjoy.







Do you remember that I mentioned that it can be


difficult to take a picture on a moving bus?




I liked the watercolor effect of this photo.








A covered bridge.









Bark of an American Sycamore.




















This gentleman is Lew White, our tour coordinator.




He did an excellent job of making sure we were


in the right place at the right time and that our hosts


were ready for us.







Can you see what floors are missing from our hotel


in downtown Philadelphia?




Wonder where they went?








That would be the hotel.









And this would be part of the reason


we decided to take the bus tour instead


of driving.


The parking fees were outrageous.










More interesting tree bark.


















The SS United States is docked on the Delaware River.

The United States was the largest ocean liner to be

built entirely in the United States.


She still holds the speed record for an ocean liner

crossing the Atlantic in either direction.


Efforts are underway to save the ship

from the scrapyard.




Art Deco architectural detail on a downtown


Philadelphia building.








These signs just tickled my fancy.




I guess they are more concise than


"Don't block the intersection".








City lights reflected on the bus at night.







Two ships docked at the Independence Seaport Museum

next to the Moshulu.








Across the Delaware River, sits the

Battleship New Jersey.







This WWII submarine is the USS Becuna.

The Becuna was launched in 1944 and patrolled

the Pacific Ocean.


She was credited with sinking

3.5 Japanese merchant ships.


"Becky" also served during the Cold War,

and the Korean and Viet Nam wars.

She was decommissioned in 1969.

The Becuna is a National Historic Landmark

and is on the National Register of Historic Places.





The Cruiser USS Olympia served as Admiral Dewey's
flagship in the Spanish-American War.

She is the world's oldest steel warship and

the sole surviving naval ship of the Spanish-American War.


Sadly, the Olympia will sink within three years

if major repairs are not made and the museum

does not have the necessary funds.


They are looking at options for saving this important

piece of naval history.














One of the four masts of the Moshulu.

















Our home away from home while in Philly.






This is a large hotel.






Interesting tree roots at Gettysburg.






Fence at Gettysburg.









Boulders on Little Roundtop.










Thank you for joining us on our trip.


I hope you enjoyed the tour.