Last week I cooked up a batch of Tandoori Chicken for some folks at work. You can find a multitude of recipes at Epicurious.com and Food Network. I use thighs because they're cheap, flavorful and hard to over cook. I would highly suggest cooking this on the grill, first sear it for the grill marks then cook on indirect heat 30-45 min. or until internal temperature reaches 180 degrees. I seared mine on a stove top cast iron grill/ griddle then finished in the oven at 350 degrees for 40 min. The Turmeric went through the vent system and stained the exhaust grill of the microwave vent. I also prepared saffron rice with peas and a Gujarati style green bean. The chicken has a very savory spicy flavor with out being hot. Both the grand children, ages 2 1/2 and 1, loved the chicken. I want to congratulate my grandson Jace on turning 1 last week. We had a number of cousins and other family members over for BBQ, chicken wings, hot dogs, tater salad, coleslaw and beans. I believe everyone had a good time. My wife has been looking for outfits for all the grandchildren because Easter is coming early this year. The roof on the house will start being replaced tomorrow and should be done by Fri. After that depending on the weather the vinyl siding and gutters should be done by mid -March depending on start date. We are still trying to pick a color for the master bedroom that my wife and I can agree on. I'm supposed to receive my 6 burner 36" Peerless Premier gas range Sunday from Best Buy. I will be giving you a review on it in a few weeks as I use it. I've also got to mount my new 36" Kenmore Pro range hood Sat. I will let you know how that goes in the days to come. Well we'll talk at you later.

Cuban Style Roasted Pork Shoulder / Picnic

Welcome back to my blog. I apologize that I haven't posted in a while. I have been fighting migraines for the last 3-4 years and have been trying new courses of treatment since Sept. I've been seeing Dr. Chad Jenkins of Planet Chiropractic, 1409 Kempsville Rd. Chesapeake, VA. (Phone 757.410.2793 or email: planetchiropractic@yahoo.com) and a licensed massage therapist named Kelly Foster (fostermassage@yahoo.com) and my meds have been changed to include an anti -depressant for stress called lexapro. Knock on wood I haven't felt this good for this long in quite some time. I have had good results with other medication for a week or two only to have my symptoms return so I'm kinda waiting for the other shoe to drop. Dr. Chad and Kelly are fixing old shoulder and neck injuries from 11 years ago, that I acquired in a fall when I was an iron worker. These injuries have steadily gotten worse over the years which I'm sure in no small way contribute to my headaches. Last week Food Lion had fresh picnics on sale. For those of you who don't live in the south it is the equivalent of a shank portion of ham but from the front leg. The top cut is a Boston Butt. Well I made a version of Cuban-Style Oven-Roasted Pork from Cooks Illustrated.com. If you Google Cuban style grill-roasted pork you can find a link to epicurious.com that has the same recipe. You start out with brine and marinade your picnic for 24 hours. if the weather is not cooperating you can roast the picnic in the oven at 325 degrees skin side down on a rack placed in a roasting pan for 3 hours , flip over for 3 more hours, remove and let rest for at least 1 hour before carving. I highly recommend the Mojo sauce. I served the pork with a roasted corn salsa and a three bean salad with oranges, cumin and cilantro. The sides worked perfectly, can be served room temperature or cold and work great all year around. Since fresh corn is scarce as hens teeth I just pan roasted a good quality frozen corn in a little olive oil with salt and pepper. This brought out a very deep corn taste that hit the spot. I used Serrano peppers without ribs or seeds for a little heat and good background flavor. The recipe calls for red sweet peppers but bell pepper will work just as well. On the three bean salad it is hard to find frozen wax beans but I did find a green bean, yellow wax bean and carrot mix from Pictsweet.. I just removed the carrots and added the kidney beans and followed the recipe. On Sunday I sliced the leftovers real thin and made Cuban sandwiches on the griddle. Excellent use of leftovers just need a baguette or other crusty bread, dill pickles, mayo and Swiss. What's leftover I'm going to chunk cut and add to my version of Emeril's New-Style Caldo Verde since winter is supposed to be back tomorrow. On a personal note I would like to welcome the latest member and grandchild to the family Elijah Thomas Akers. A fine looking young lad that favors my side of the family.

28 Sept 07

28 Sept 07, Well summer has passed and fall is upon us. This, I believe, is my favorite time of year. Don't get me wrong I love spring and all the promise of new life, flowers and vegetable gardens, ECT... However, by this time every year I'm tired of cutting grass, cleaning the pool, weeding the flower beds, blah, blah, blah... I'm also not a big fan of HOT.. I don't mind warm but I hate HOT. The evenings are cooler, the bugs aren't as active and Saturdays are a good day to sit outside with a glass of wine and enjoy the day if you have all your chores done...I’ve got a tip for you that I believe came from this last issue of COOKS' ILLUSTRATED. If you are going to put a tomato based food into one of the disposable plastic containers, put a little vegetable or olive oil on a paper towel and coat the inside. When you go to wash the container all the red residue comes out slick as a whistle. Today I grilled up a batch of Peruvian Grilled chicken from this months Gourmet at Epicurious.com, http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/239923. The recipe says to marinade for 24 hrs, I had mine in for over 48 and it was fantastic. I did “Cuban” black beans and brown rice from All Recipes.com, leaving out the ham and substituting the canned jalapeno for a half a chipotle pepper (a smoked Jalapeno). I believe the two worked well together. Next time I’ll probably oven roast some frozen corn for a side dish.

St. Therese's Food and Fun Fest

18 September 07, well this weekend was a great success. First I would like to thank my wife Peggy and niece Tessa for representing me at the St. Therese’s Food and Fun Fest on the evening of the 14th while I was at work. I was at the fest on Sat. from 1 pm until 7 pm. We had a very good response to our product and met a lot of nice folks.Tessa won a cake at the cake walk. We had a table between Paramount Builders and Planet Chiropractic. While I was there I had a screening done by Dr. Chad Jenkins who owns and runs Planet Chiropractic. I will be seeing the Dr. to see if he can help with my migraines and shoulder pain that I feel is a result of a fall from 11 years ago when I broke my hip. You can reach them at 757.410.2793 or email planetchiropractic@yahoo.com. I will keep you posted on how they perform. I’ve seen other chiropractors and I’m currently and have been under the care of a neurologist for about 2 ½ yrs now with out much improvement. The weather has turned cool and is feeling like fall earlier than normal. I’ve noticed the spiders have started taking up residents in the garage and trying to get in the house. I wonder if this is a sign for a colder than normal winter? I’m glad the fest didn’t get rained out but I was sure hoping for rain from a tropical depression that brushed NC. It’s dry and has been for a while. Well not much more going on. Waiting to hear from the folks at Driver Days, Oct 27-28, to see if we get a slot to participate. Don’t forget the Peanut Fest is coming soon out at the Suffolk Executive Airport, 1200 Gene Bolton Drive, Suffolk, VA Oct 11-14.

Congratulations David and Ashley

4 September, Labor Day has come and gone and I hope everyone is safe. I would like to start by thanking Denny my son-in-law and Tessa my niece for filling in for me. Even though we catered the event, I was not able to be present at my nephew David’s wedding rehearsal dinner and I was told they did a very professional job. David and Ashley were married at Ft. Monroe Saturday 1 September 07. The wedding was held on the beach as a last minute change. The ceremony was to be held at the gazebo but had to be moved due to construction. The day was sunny with a nice breeze coming off the bay, next to a dune of sea oats, very picturesque. The rehearsal dinner was pulled pork BBQ, apple wood smoked chicken, baked beans, potato salad, cucumber salad, blue cheese coleslaw and home made lemon-pineapple sorbet. The wedding dinner was nice serving hors d’ouvers, then dinner with a green salad with croutons and dressing, garlic mashed potatoes, corn, a vegetable medley, rare roast beef , pork medallions, fish and rolls. Of course there was cake and coffee. It was a grand affair and best wishes to the bride and groom. Their honeymoon was postponed by the hurricane in the Gulf.

22 August 07, I know it has been a while since we last talked but it is summer. Cutting grass, cleaning the pool ECT… seem to take up quite a bit of time. On the 12th the in-laws came over and I had made a very good chicken etouffee. Made enough of it I had to give some away and froze part. The recipe was from Emeril Lagasse that I got off Food TV. It is one of the few recipes that I won’t make any changes to. Has a very good balance of flavors. Put the hot sauce on the table. This last Sunday my sister and her friend JimmyWayne (I spell it like that because that is how it is said) came over for fried catfish. I used a recipe from Paula Dean where you salt and pepper the Catfish then sprinkle a heavy dose of Old Bay all over. Lightly bread in flour and corn meal and fry. Did potato salad and slaw on the side. It wasn’t bad. Poor Richards will be serving samples to patrons of All Things Educational August 28th from 11 am-1 pm located in the Churchland Shopping Center next to Food Lion. If you’re a teacher or Mom who home schools come by and get last minute supplies for school and try some great BBQ. We will also be present at St. Therese’s’ Food and Fun Fest Sept 14 &15th. If you like food and crafts come on out and show your support. Poor Richards will be catering the wedding rehearsal dinner outside at Ft. Monroe on the 31st of this month. I suggested an Italian theme with fruit and cheese, prosciutto wrapped pork loin, ECT... Since they are doing an upscale wedding dinner a more down home approach was asked for. We will be doing BBQ pork and apple wood smoked chicken, three bean salad, cucumber and onion salad, raspberry iced tea and homemade lemon sorbet for dessert. If the weather cools down we may add more sides but on a hot muggy Virginia August day light and cool is the order of the day. Labor Day will soon be upon us enjoy the holiday, reflect on those who can’t be with us for one reason or the other. School (YEAH) will be starting here on Sept 4th, earlier in the more rural areas keep an eye out for kids at the bus stops and give school buses a wide berth. Next week is a full schedule. I have to drag my niece to a number of appointments we squeezed in before school including the orthodontist to start braces. Something she has been looking forward to for a while and which she will probably regret once they’re on. A farewell pot luck for my supervisor Lynda at work, bbq orders for friends at my real job and finishing up on Dave’s rehearsal dinner preparations. Well we’ll talk at ya’ll later.

Wednesday 18 July 2007

Hello and my apologies on not posting last week. Between trying to suck up as much overtime as was available and scouting real estate and again discussing staying put versus remodeling I was stretched kinda thin. I got some Cooking Light magazines from my Father-in-law. I normally try to avoid anything with the word light in it but I figured I'd take a look. I've seen a number or recipes I'd like to try. There are a number of physical fitness tips ECT… for the very health conscious, lifestyle tips as well as recipes. There are short articles on various issues like how a chef gets their picky 14 year old teen to eat. Here is an example of a Cajun Blackening Dry Rub that is supposed to work with seafood, chicken breasts, turkey or beef. I think a few teaspoons in some hamburger would work well. Cajun Blackening Dry Rub: from May 07 Cooking Light,2 1/2 Tbs paprika ( I'll try smoked Paprika just to see how it works)1 Tbs kosher salt1 1/2 tsp ground cumin1 1/2 tsp dried thyme1 tsp freshly ground black pepper1/2 tsp garlic powder1/2 tsp ground red pepperCombine all ingredients. Store in an air tight container for up to 2 weeks. Yield about 1/3 cup (serving size: 1 tsp).Well my beefsteak tomato got a case of the thrips. My buddy Mike came by and we were discussing them but I thought I had leaf curl but the brown leaf blotch showed up over the weekend. The plant was pulled up and discarded. I was sad as it looked like it was going to produce some fine beefsteaks for BLT's. The romas still look good and with any luck I'll get a couple gallons of sauce out of them. The June bugs are chewing up the roses so every day I go out and pull them off and step on them. I know there’re traps but this is more fun. I've tried unsuccessfully to start some St. Augustine grass from some clipping I got from my Mom's yard. Both times they have died... I will try again when it cools down a little or when it rains on a regular basis. And talking about rain we had a series of thunderstorms roll through the area bringing a lot of needed rain. It would have been better to get the rain slowly all day but I’ll take what we can get. Hope everybody's garden is producing the county fair winners we all want and we'll talk at you latter.