Sushi and Juicy Lucy

We had a houseful of friends this weekend. Chris and Abby were here (who you met in a couple of older posts) along with Chris's brother, Graham (Big Sal) and their friend Chad (Green Bay.) Chris likes to nickname everyone. The Nelson brothers love to eat as much as I do and the weekend revolved around fishing and eating.We had planned to make sushi on Sunday but Big Sal was very adamant that sushi was never going to fill him up and thought we should have more food. As we were standing around a campfire on Saturday night, we started talking about good places to eat and the boys had eaten at a bar called Matt's that had hamburgers called Juicy Lucys. They are basically stuffed hamburgers. Green Bay said he could make them at home so we decided we would also have stuffed hamburgers. We didn't want Big Sal to go home with his tummy rumbling . I put Green Bay in charge of the hamburgers the next day and he did an excellent job. He built them with one thin hamburger patty, a slice of velvetta cheese, creole seasoning and another thin patty. Then he mashed the patties together to form a seal and put them on the grill. By the time people started rolling into the driveway that afternoon, the smell of those burgers were almost enough to get a vegatarian to switch. We actually did have a couple of vegatarians there who said if they were going to switch, those burgers were where they would start.We cooked some onions and mushrooms in aluminum foil on the grill as toppings for the burgers. At one point I saw some flames shooting out of the grill and started to worry but Green Bay was calm, cool and collected and rescued the burgers by putting them on the top grill. He gets high cooking points for the weekend.

The burgers were delicious, with lots of hot, gooey cheese dripping down the sides of the bum when you took your first bite. I will probably never make burgers the same way again.

While Green Bay was busily grilling, Chris and I cooked rice, cut up fish and veggies and got ready to roll sushi. We had three bamboo mats so three people could roll.

We let the rice cool down and it was time to roll. Hannah really got into it.



Big Sal had to admit that he would have gotten filled up on sushi because we kept cranking out the rolls.

May your house be too small for your friends!

Cold-smoked Lox

Kevin loves lox (he's such a Finn) and I found an easy way to cold-smoke it on the internet with wood pellets, a tin can, a solder iron and your own grill. It's going to sound silly but bear with me because it works awesome. You start with a nice piece of salmon. Spend some money, don't go cheap. This piece was twenty dollars at Morey's.Plan ahead because the salmon will have to brine for awhile. I lay the salmon in a glass baking dish, cover it with salt and dill, pour enough water in to cover the fish, put plastic wrap over the top and put it in the fridge for a couple of days. Be generous with the salt, I have never measured it but I bet I use about an eighth of a cup of salt. Brine for at least two days, three is better.Now for your trip to the hardware store. You will need a solder iron. Buy a new one because you don't want lead in your food. Look what it did to Mozart, he was crazy. At some hardware stores they will probably carry these little wood pellets for smoking. I get them at Mill's Fleet Farm in the camping aisle. When the salmon is done brining and you are ready to smoke, find a large can and only open it at the top halfway. Peel the paper off the can, wash it out and pour the pellets into the can. Bend the lid so you can get the solder iron to sit nicely. Put the can on its side in your grill. Plug your soldering iron into an extension cord and place it in your can in the pellets. Put the salmon over it and close the lid of the grill. Pretty soon you should see little tufts of smoke coming out of your grill. There won't be a ton of smoke but that's not what you want anyway. You just want enough to flavor the salmon. If you don't see any smoke, readjust your solder iron deeper into the pellets.The smoking is basically for flavor. You won't be doing any cooking with this kind of smoke. The brining process has "cooked" it and killed any bacteria in the salmon. Let this smoke for about six hours. I usually have to use two of the little cans of pellets. Once the smoking process is done, bring the salmon in and slice it thinly with a large knife. You can get right down to the skin of the fish.I liked to serve this with little slices of pumpernickel or rye bread. You can smear them with some cream cheese and that's even better. Look at that! You made your own lox! It's a lot more work than just buying it but I get a whole lot more satisfaction out of doing it myself.

Garbage Tray

My brother, Lem, was coming over and he eats like a horse. I had a few snack things but as I looked at the table I thought I should probably have more food. But what? Even though Kevin and I are doing fine in today's horrible economics, you get into that mode where you know times are tough everywhere and you need to save. So let me introduce you to: the garbage tray! Now there isn't really garbage on here, I call it the garbage tray because I pull everything I can out of my fridge and figure out a way to use it.

Out came all the cheese and lunch meat I had and I sliced it up nicely and arranged it. I took the year-old olives out and put them in a bowl. I even found about two slices of olive loaf that I cut up in little pieces. I had bought a coffee cake the day before and sliced little, tiny slices of that. I garnished it with some cilantro that was starting to go bad, I just used the best pieces. And viola! I kept telling Kevin he couldn't touch it, after all most of the stuff had already been sitting in the fridge for weeks but it's all about the presentation. He just didn't know he wanted to eat it until he saw how pretty it looked! So if you are going to make a tray like this, just start digging in your fridge and pull out anything you can. If it can be eaten with your fingers, slice it up and arrange it, even if there is only a little bit.

I pulled some grapefruits out of the fridge and thought I should use them, too. To make this drink, I cut a grapefruit in half and squeezed the juice out of both halves. Then I mixed it in a cocktail shaker with amaretto and a little bit of diet 7-up. My brother's wife, Marie, loved it.

Lem and Marie left that week for Oklahoma. I probably won't see him for over a year. He just graduated college and now the Air Force owns him for many years. I hope all his big dreams come true!

Hot dogs and Apple Dip

It was cleanup weekend at the cabin this weekend. Summoning all our military tactics, Kevin, his sister Karla, his mom and I managed to rope Miss Chocoholic and Kevin's niece and nephew into helping pick up sticks along the shoreline. Meanwhile, I had a makeout session with Joe, the tree.
This physical activity worked up an appetite with the kids who had to ask when it was lunchtime every five minutes. Finally we gave in, built a fire and let them roast hot dogs. I have to say that was one of the best hot dogs I ever had, probably due to the crisp, autumn air and the smell of falling leaves.
Karla had an amazing apple dip she made and it was perfect for the mood of the afternoon. The recipe is a block of softened cream cheese, a half cup of brown sugar, a fourth cup of white sugar, butter brickle chips, and a teaspoon of vanilla. The dip almost tasted like it had some cinnamon in it, it was perfect to dip apples into.This was also my birthday weekend. (Those that know me know I love to drag my birthday on and on and milk it for all its worth.) Kevin's mom gave me this really cool wine stand. Yes, it is a piece of wood and the wine bottle balances it! Kevin was playing photographer in the afternoon and every picture he took he called "Wine bottle on a fall day," "Boat on a fall day," "Leaves on a fall day," etc.What a beautiful weekend!

High Tea at the Ritz Carlton

I got two great birthday presents this year so far, probably because my family feels sorry for me because I am turning 35. Kevin gave me an amazing, beautiful set of pearls that I want to wear every day and my mom made a reservation in Chicago to have high tea at the Ritz Carlton.

So off my mom and I went to Chicago to pretend we are rich and fit into the Michigan Avenue crowd. The second night we were there, I met a girl at the hotel bar who was a boutique manager and explained the illusion of Michigan Avenue. I asked her if people really shop in five inch heels and if they can really afford to wear Chanel every day to work. "Oh, no, let me tell you a story!" she says with an accent that reminded me of Boston. The girls who work in the high-end stores get a clothing allowance and they are able to buy about three outfits that they wear day in and day out. When it is quiet, the managers send them to walk up the avenue in their stilettos and their $1500 designer outfit. It's all about marketing. After she told me that, the illusion was over and when I pointed out to my mom a blond girl in heels that were thinner than a pencil and about the same height carrying a baby blue $10,000 Birkin, it was satisfying to realize that she probably didn't own that bag because it should actually be mine. Maybe in another lifetime.But it's always fun to pretend that we are classy and ritzy and high tea was a unique experience. I had English breakfast tea and my mom had Earl Gray. The tea came with a three-tiered tray of goodies.Little finger sandwiches, clotted cream, scones, cookies. My favorite thing on the tray was the little chicken rosemary sandwiches. The cookies were buttery, the strawberry jam was right up there with my own jam and the bread was soft and flavorful.The best thing about the tea was my mom paying the bill at the end. Just kidding, Mom! Thanks for a fun birthday present!

Giordano's Deep Dish Pizza

My mom and I went to Chicago last weekend for a girly shopping weekend and I always have to try the local food. What is more local in Chicago than Chicago deep dish pizza? We were headed over to Uno's, the home of the deep dish pizza and I stopped and asked a guy selling brochures how to get there. He suggested instead of waiting an hour for a table at Uno's to just go up a block and go to Giordanos instead. Just as good, he said and less of a wait. Apprehensively, I decided to take my chances, knowing that I would kick myself if the pizza wasn't delicious. We got a table right away. The atmosphere was laid back and casual with red and white checkered tableclothes. We ordered a small pizza with cheese, olives, pepperoni, sausage and garlic. The waitress brought us our drinks and warned us that it would be about 45 minutes. It was the longest, hungriest 45 minutes of my life. My mom wasn't feeling good and we hadn't eaten since early morning so we were both slightly cranky and starving. I thought several times about tripping the waitresses and grabbing the pizzas they were carrying but since the closest I have come to playing football is staring mindlessly at the TV screen when the Vikings play, I decide I probably wouldn't be able to pull that one off. I can honestly say that was probably the best pizza I have ever had in my life and you know me, the ultimate food critic. The crust had the consistency of a biscuit and you could taste the warm yeast in the crust. I had read on the back of the menu how the guy that owned the place thought he had the perfect amount of garlic on the pizza but he realized that his customers thought it was too garlicy and he reduced the garlic. I thought, why mess with perfection if he thought it was perfect and since my mom and I both love garlic and because Kevin was in Minnesota and I wouldn't be kissing him that night, I ordered it with the extra garlic. And I think that made all the difference on that pizza.We were only able to eat two pieces apiece. Wonderful experiece and worth every calorie!

Halibut Tacos

Meet Allison Laffen. She is a friend, a blog reader and a hot lawyer. She is here in Minnesota on an extended vacation from Alaska where she works saving the children of Alaska from lives of crime and abuse. She likes to downplay what she does but personally, I think it is pretty noble and amazing. She also likes to cook. No, this is not a personal ad. Her boyfriend is a cool as she is. Both of them love good food and good adult beverages.

I met Allison through Kevin's friend, Brett Cote, who is her boyfriend and we hang out, cook, eat, drink, discuss politics and party with them whenever they are in Minnesota. One of these times we are going to visit them in Alaska. Allison has been practicing these Alaskan halibut tacos since she had them at a friend's house. You know what they say...practice makes perfect and these tacos were as good or better than the ones we had in Mexico.

She started by putting a huge halibut steak that had been seasoned on a skillet and cooking it until it started to flake.

She already had a bean and tomato mixture done. It was cherry tomatos, onions, beans and lots of cilantro. (I love cilantro.)She had made guacamole that had a kick to it.As I watched her cook, I couldn't get enough of this smoky salmon dip that Brett had made. Not only did he catch and clean these Alaskan salmon, he also smoked them and make this dip that no one can stop eating.
After the fish was done, Allison broke it up and put some in a flour tortilla with the guacamole and tomato mixture and sprinkled parmesan cheese on top.Brett is always a happy guy but he looks even happier with a halibut taco in his hand! Definitely a blog-worthy dinner!

Guest Blog! Guest Blog! Guest Blog!

Ok, now I have your attention. Yes, my wife does most of the cooking at home but I thought it was time to show everyone a real man's camping trip menu. Recently I was invited on a fishing trip to Lake of the Woods with Maury Halverson and his son Taylor. We had a fabulous time talking about boy things and beating up on the local walleyes! (gotta love the smell of that '67 Forester Camper.) Downrigging crank baits was the meal ticket and what a time we had!

It's a simple menu,,,,,

Breakfast,

Lunch,

and Dinner :) (Taylor had Orange Crush of course)

Thank you Maury and Taylor for a great trip!