He who fails to plan, plans to fail.

I've been cooking from Woman's Day magazine's Month of Menus! for most of my adult life. I can't even remember exactly when I started, but I can remember hanging them on the fridge in my first apartment on Cedar Lane.

It is such second nature at this point that I really doubt I could plan a menu for longer than a few days with much creativity. Most of the food I post to this blog is deviant food. There are a few recipes that are so tempting I find a place to stick them into the menu. I only have a few cookbooks at home. I use The Joy of Cooking if I have a technique issue to solve. I also have a few "picnic & potluck" books for family reunions and work parties.

There are also days that the menu just doesn't do it for us, like April 5th. "Planned leftovers Roast leg of lamb (save 2 cups, cubed, for Tues) orzo with peas. Saute 1⁄2 cup chopped onion and 1 tsp minced garlic in a little butter. Add 2 cups frozen peas; cook 3 minutes. Toss with cooked orzo." Blech. None of us like lamb and we sure don't want two meals worth of it.

We have dinner at home almost every night. Going out to eat is a big deal for my family. Dennis and I alternate cooking. I did it last night, so he's got to do it tonight. We grocery shop every Sunday. I can't imagine what it would be like to not have a menu plan. We'd probably eat cereal three nights a week.

NINJA

A funny graph on Graph Jam? No way!


I giggled. A little.


Looks like I have a shot at "The NIN/JA tour" in Noblesville, IN on 5/30. I already saw the Lights in the Sky show, but I've never seen Jane's Addiction, and it's been fourteen years since I've seen NIN outdoors.

Happy Càisg!

Everybody try to look happy about dipping hard boiled eggs in food coloring. Geez, you'd think I was jamming ice picks under their eyelids!



I am sad to know that my time-honored method of fourteen minute eggs failed this year. The yokes are not cooked until crumbly. They're solid, but sorta more gel-like than they should be. Fourteen minute eggs have never failed me before. Then again, I've never hard boiled eggs on this stove.

Monte Cubano

The cover of Gourmet Magazine sucked me in. We just made their Monte Cubano sandwich.



Because I think pressing is important to a Cuban, we made it on the George Forman grill.

Neither of us are sure that it is an improvement on the originals. Cubans and Monte Cristos are both near perfection on their own, so there was not a lot to be gained by the smashup. The tang of the pickles was deadened by the sweetness of the bread. Maybe all we were missing was strawberry jam.

Still a stellar sandwich that shows the potential of ham & cheese. Pickles, Swiss cheese, mustard, garlic mayo, powered sugar, currant jelly - bring it on!

Dickey's BBQ Pit

Dennis only had to work half of the day today. That means he got off work at 10:00 AM. He drove back to take me out for lunch.

We had Dickey's BBQ Pit. I saw no evidence of said pit.

He got brisket, beans & okra. You'd think a chain out of Texas would have a handle on brisket. The bite I had tasted much more like pot roast. The okra was clearly the frozen variety, but it was clean tasting and good. The beans were more Texas style than we're used to, with thin sauce and jalapenos instead of brown sugar. He was really into them, while I prefer mine the other way.

I got pulled pork & slaw, 'natch. The slaw was obviously not made in house. It was the creamy kind though! Pulled pork was better than the brisket. When you put it together with the "sweet" sauce (which seemed to be the "regular" with more sugar & vinegar) it made a passable BBQ sandwich. See what I do with "Texas style"??? Their "hot" sauce was the best. It had enough red pepper flakes to actually pack some heat.

We both finished with an ice cream cone. The mix hadn't been in quite long enough, so it was very soft serve. Dennis put on quite a show getting ice cream into his beard and mustache.

Our tab was just under $17. With Miss Piggies so close to work, it is hard to justify going back if I have an intense BBQ craving, but I won't put it on the list of places to avoid at all costs either. I'd go back if invited, but probably won't choose it if left to my own devices.

Strawberry pie

Strawberry pie is one of my favorite foods. I remember how much of a treat it was as a kid when Grandma & Grandpa Marfell got me a slice at the mall cafeteria. They always arranged the berries crown down on the crust and they looked like delicious jewels.



Single pie crust, baked and allowed to cool completely
1 cup sugar
3 T strawberry Jello
3 heaping T cornstarch
1 cup water
2 cups strawberries, cleaned and hulled (ours were cut into 4ths)

Thoroughly combine sugar, Jello and cornstarch in a medium saucepan. Add water and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened and rubylike. Allow to cool. Arrange strawberries on cooled pie crust, top with cooled filling and chill until ready to serve.

Yes, my pie crust shrank and puffed despite being docked really well. Guess my docking fork wasn't sharp enough to go all the way through...

Spring Concert

Chris's spring concert was last night. This is the best video my digital camera will take. It is part of "Simple Gifts".



I think they sound pretty good for Middle Schoolers!