Finding inspiration...

It's easy to make excuses. I can say it's because I'm working full-time. I can say it's because our hours are so jacked up that we only have a few hours each evening for Debbie and Harry time. But I know in my heart those are just excuses. I have plenty of computer time every single day. I've been up for a little over two hours. I've just kind of fallen into a (bad) habit of just surfing each morning until its time to go to work. On the weekends, we'll sit beside each other and surf, pointing out cool things we find.

And then this happened:

I have been wanting to do a weekend runaway to Cleveland (yes, Cleveland, Ohio) for ages. I finally pouted long enough that Harry agreed. On the agenda: The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, lunch at Bahama Breeze (don't judge me), a winery or two, the casino and B Spot, and Nirvana.

So we planned a weekend in October, found a hotel within walking distance of the rail station and headed north. Friday night, we took the train to the Horseshoe Casino and had burgers and fries at B Spot. Google it. It hurts my heart that we were not impressed. I'll still try a stand-alone B Spot and give it one more shot.

Saturday morning was the day I was waiting for: Cleveland's West Side Market! Our primary mission was all about the sausage. But, which stand to choose? We made a circuit of the entire market looking at the options. Our first stop garnered butter, cheese, gnocchi, and pierogi. We picked the shop we would buy our walleye. And then, and then...we bought NINE different types of sausages. Smoked, double-smoked, hot, mild, fresh.

We visited Great Lakes Brewing Company, Bier Markt and Market Garden Brewery. I posted pictures to Facebook via my smarter-than-me-phone of our travels and finds.

It was fun. I wanted to do more.

We did this:

And we did this:

Then we did this:

Which was part of this:

And I even had a burst of creativity with the labels:

A few other things happened that kept reminding us of what we used to love to do: play in the kitchen and create food. In the real world we live in right now, it's impossible to jump back into the farmers market thing. It just won't support us anymore. But, over the last couple of months we've had many discussions about how to take it to a level that we can sustain while still working full time.

I'll go into more detail in the coming weeks. I'll also do full posts explaining the pictures. Debbie & Harry's Kitchen needs a makeover and some love for the old posts. It feels very good to be writing this. Oh, how I've missed it all.

C is for Chowder...

It's raining and that makes me think of Chowder - well, that and the fact that today is "C" day in the A to Z Blogging Challenge. When it's cool and icky outside, I love a warming chowder.

We don't draw the line at clam chowder. A chowder is thick and creamy and filled with chunks of good stuff like protein, veggies and sometimes potatoes. OK, in our kitchen, our chowders always have potatoes. I will admit to cheating when I do make clam chowder. I buy the canned things because I've never actually cooked a real clam. Remember - I live in central Ohio. Truly "fresh" seafood is a luxury item. Oh, except for that guy in Jelloway that goes to Maine every couple of weeks to catch live lobsters and brings them back here to sell very cheap!

If I'm making a chowder involving seafood or fish such as mussels, clams, cod or any firm white-flesh fish, I start sauteing the veggies. And no - I'm doing this off the top of my head so I don't have any pretty pictures. Celery, carrots and onion - and the diced potatoes. We tried this with some kind of stew late last fall and I was amazed at the new depth of flavor that was added by lightly sauteing the potatoes before adding the liquid.

Chowder liquid. I've not had any success making fish stock because all my fishing expeditions end in hamburgers. Homemade vegetable stock is a good option and plain ol' water works well. I always take care to just cover the veggies because I know I'm going to be adding cream or half and half.

The protein in a chowder doesn't have to be from the sea. I love to make chowders featuring ground Italian sausage and I've eaten some heavenly corn chowders. I add the clams or other fish just as the liquid has come to a simmer - don't want to cook them until they're too tough!

My cousin Freddie makes the most beautiful fish chowder I've ever had. Filled with whatever catch his son brought in off the boat that morning and a light, barely-creamy broth. I haven't eaten it since the fall of 2001 because he lives in New Brunswick but I can still taste it.

No recipes, no pix, no links...just warm and fuzzy thoughts.

Holiday cocktails...

I was a bartender in a former life and I loved making "pretty drinks" when the holidays rolled around. At home, I'm kind of partial to the punchbowl rather than setting up a full bar.

The Whiskey Slushies absolute ROCK! I make it twice a year - at Christmas and once in the summer for a long holiday trip to the river to visit with Mom & Dad. In years past, I have been able to find 7-up or Ginger ale in "red" flavors like pomegranate and cherry. Mom still wants "regular" 7-up with it but the red mixers do make the drink very pretty!

CHEERS!

10 Holiday Cocktails for Office Parties

If you do decide to create a full bar for your holiday party, you must have the right tools! Your bartender needs a jigger more than anything. This kit includes the jigger, wine service and a shaker and these will last forever!

Vietnamese Egg Rolls...Harry's Way!

Without too many details, let me just say that Harry knows Vietnamese food! Last winter, we finally decided to really test our kitchen chops several times with Asian cuisine and the results were great. As usual, when we get into our "experimental research" phase, we will spend hours making dinner.

The difference is visible on the nights when we are making Vietnamese food - I chop a few veggies and sit back with a glass of wine while Harry takes control! This recipe for Vietnamese Egg Rolls doesn't really take long, we take a long time. We always make a full batch so we can have some in the freezer - even with great effort, we can't come anywhere near eating 30 large Vietnamese Egg Rolls in one night.

Vietnamese Egg Rolls differ a bit from the more common Chinese Egg Roll is the meat - our version contains salad-size shrimp and pork with some veggies and noodles thrown in for depth.

Still didn't have my new kitchen light - in the back are our two dipping sauces. I made a sweet lemongrass sauce and Harry's Nuac Cham is the light-colored sauce.

I chopped all the veggies - some shallot, garlic, sweet pepper, Napa Cabbage and Bean Sprouts.

Ready for the freezer. We freeze them on a pan to keep the Vietnamese Egg Rolls from sticking together. Then, we can just pull out a few at a time to fry when we get a craving.

The expert! Harry puts about two tablespoon of the egg roll filling on the diagonal wrapper...

Then, fold the bottom up, close in the sides and finish rolling. He dips in fingers in the little bowl of water to seal the edges of the finished egg roll.

 You can find the complete recipe for our Vietnamese Egg Rolls right here!

A Simple Supper, An Early Night

Saturdays wear us out!

For the first time since March, Harry had a Saturday night off work. YAY! No coming home exhausted from the market-short porch break-nap-choking down dinner-another nap-he goes to work kind of day. We had such grand plans for this rare event.

A relaxing, enjoy-being-in-the-kitchen-just-for-us EARLY dinner, watch the sun set behind the extremely tall corn, maybe a snack, some TV and then a good night's sleep.

Somehow, it didn't quite work out that way. Harry had a breast collar to repair and deliver. While he was gone, I chopped the veggies for the salad. Tomatoes, cukes, OUR green onions, someone else's candy onion, half of a medium-hot banana pepper, a green bell and a really awesome tasting chocolate pepper that the organic vendor just threw in with my other peppers.

Usually, I won't even dress this salad but I made the super-easy honey-lemon dressing with honey from the Delaware market that was harvested Thursday - so light and clear! I only buy honey from local producers but I keep my eyes open for special tasting honey for dressings and sauces.

I cleaned the corn, got the green beans ready to fry (yes, FRY) in bacon grease (yes, BACON GREASE) with onions and peppers so the man would eat them with me, par-boiled the country ribs we found on markdown and made a great barbecue sauce!

I sat on the porch while he grilled the ribs, running in to start the corn and beans right before the ribs were ready. We filled our plates, ate dinner...

and went right to bed. It might have been 7:30 or so.

I slept until 4:00 AM - like a rock, missing the storm that I think rolled through here last night. I've read dozens of articles, tweeted, FB and caught up on some of my blog reading.

I think I'll take a nap today.