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The Revenant

January 23, 2016

Tonight was date night. Paula and I went to see “The Revenant” with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Handy. We saw it at the AMC on Crenshaw. We didn’t spring for the iMax version. Senior price was $10 something per ticket. That was a little pricey for our taste.

Okay, here’s the deal. Leo plays a mountain man who is out trapping for furs with a bunch of his buddies. I guess it is in Colorado or thereabouts. So the trappers get attacked by indians. Lots of bullets and arrows flying through the air.

Somehow our mountain man gets separated from the main group and gets himself attacked by one huge grizzly bear. And in the process, he gets himself mauled up pretty good. His pals leave him for dead. So any normal human being without antibiotics would have died from the wounds. No, not Leo, he survives. And now recovered somewhat he seeks revenge.

So he slowly makes his way back to the fort/outpost with the help of some friendly Indians along the way. He goes for a 2-3 minute swim in an ice cold rushing stream. By this time any normal person would have died from hypothermia.

Cinematography was excellent as well as the makeup. I read where Leo did five hours in the makeup artist’s chair to get ready for filming. Dialog was a bit difficult to understand. I kind of knew what was going down. Of course, the Indians’ dialogue was subtitled. So we knew what they were saying.

Good picture, but a bit on the long side. Picture ran 2.5 hours. Add in the 15 minutes of trailers and you get one (or two) sore butt. We were also annoyed by the young people that were sitting next to us. Person sitting next to Paula was texting through half the picture plus they were getting up crawling over us to head to the popcorn stand. Eventually the texter got up and left. Apparently, the movie was not her cup of tea. PITA

I’d give the movie 3.5 stars (out of 5). Theater ambiance was – 2 stars for allowing idiots to be texting.

Chicken Kabobs

We went to dinner at Fanoos Persian Restaurant in the same shopping center as the movie theater. Just a small cozy bistro. Not too pricey. I had a chicken/lamb kabob combo. Paula ordered an appetizer plate with all kinds of tasty stuff. Good service. Reasonable prices.

Got home at about 10:30. Mary soundly sleeping.

Good night all.

Joe

Categories: Films, Food, Movies, Reviews
Tags: AMC, Fanoos, Revenant

Comments: 1 Comment

Steak and Asparagus Stir Fry

February 27, 2015

Last night, Paula and I were talking about what to do for dinner. We had some thin cut steaks in the refrigerator. They were a bit thin for cooking on the Foreman Grill and we don’t have a gas BBQ grill (forbidden by our condo rules). So I suggested doing a stir fry. In our house, he (or she) who proposes, disposes.

So here’s what I did. I cut the steaks into half inch strips and put them in a bowl. I added about 3Tbs of Worcestershire sauce, 3Tbs of Terriyaki sauce and 3 Tbs of Balsamic vinegar (to tenderize). I let the meat marinate in the bowl for about 45 minutes.

Then I sliced a medium onion and added it to the frying pan. Add 3 Tbs of Olive oil and the onions. Saute until the onions are translucent. Add the meat mixture and cook for about 10 minutes. I then added a package of frozen asoaragus (just happened to have the frozen asparagus on hand). If we had fresh, I would have used it. Cook another 10 minutes,

Finally I added a Tbsp of flour to thicken the sauce in the frying pan.

Meanwhile, just before all this started I put on a box of Near East Rice Pilaf to cook which takes about 25 minutes. Serve the steak and asparagus over the rice.

Categories: Food, Recipes
Tags: Steak, Stir-fry

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Sausage Lasagna

February 17, 2015

Tuesday evening is we have Mike and his family over for dinner. That means that on Monday morning Paula and I are scratching our heads figuring out what to serve. Yesterday, we decided to do Lasagna. We hadn’t done that in a while. Sometimes we do a baked zitti sort of dish. Same ingredients except using zitti instead of lasagna noodles. Sometimes, I do the cooking, sometime Paula. Lasagna is my dish, so I do the cooking this time.

So without further ado, here is my recipe for baked lasagna.

Ingredients

2 jars of pasta sauce. We tend to like the various “Paul Newman” sauces. Today we used a jar of his “Sockaroonie” and jar of tomato basil. Choose what you like. I guess I’m too lazy to bother doing my own sauce from scratch. So sue me.

1 medium onion, diced

2-3 cloves garlic, diced

3 Tbsp Olive oil

1 12 oz package of ground sausage meat. There are usually several variations available at the market. One of these days I will try making with the hot spicy sausage variant.

1 15 oz container of ricotta cheese (we usually get the “light” variety made with skim milk)

1 egg

1 package of grated mozzarella cheese. I think it is the 2 c size. (ditto on the “Light” variety)

1 package of lasagna noodles. Here’s the thing that annoys me. The one pound package gives you more pasta than you can use to fill a 9″x13″ pan. 1/2 the package is not enough. So I count out about 15-16 pieces of lasagna pasta and save the rest for later.

Directions

Cook the noodles according to the package instructions. Occasionally, I’ve seen suggestions on how to do no-boil lasagna. Don’t do it. It sucks. Boil the pasta. No shortcuts. Drain in a colander.
Saute’ the onions and garlic in a large skillet. When the onions and garlic are translucent, add the sausage meat. Cook until the sausage is cooked through.
Add one of the jars of sauce and stir.
In a medium size bowl, mix the egg and the ricotta. The egg makes for a texture that is easier to spread onto the noodles.
Now for the putting all together part. Spray a 9″x 13″ baking dish with cooking spray.
Put a layer of sauce (from the other jar that didn’t go into the meat). then add a layer of noodles.
Add a layer of the meat sauce and then add a layer of about 1/2 the ricotta mixture.
Put down the second layer of noodles and repeat with the second half of the meat sauce. Add the rest of the ricotta.
Another layer of noodles. Now add a layer of the sauce without the meat. Add a layer of the mozzarella.
Now put down the final layer of noodles. Add the rest of the sauce. Add the rest of the mozzarella.

One of the nice things about this dish is that one can do all of the prep work early and then just put in the oven when your guests are due to arrive. Indeed, tonight I won’t even be there since I will be at a Shrine club meeting. Lasagna tastes better as leftovers anyway. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes. Serves 6-8.

Categories: Food, Recipes
Tags: food, Lasagna, recipes

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Zucchini

February 16, 2015

Time to tell a story. Today we were at the supermarket. This particular market starts you off at the produce section (after you’ve stopped at the Starbuck’s). These days there are lots of fruits and vegetables to choose from. But there is one vegetable that I will absolutely not eat. Zucchini.

Paula knows that I do not like zucchini. To paraphrase the imitable Dr Seuss, I will not eat zucchini at home, I will not eat it at a restaurant. I will not eat it at lodge. I will not eat zucchini boiled, fried, sauteed, etc.

There are other green vegetables that have been famously disliked. George HW Bush was famous for his dislike of Broccoli. He once famously said:

I do not like broccoli. And I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m President of the United States and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli.

That didn’t make the Broccoli Growers’ Association very happy. But I digress, back to the subject at hand, zucchini.

This is my story on how I came to dislike zucchini. Back in the day, before I had met Paula, love of my life. mother of my children (we’re talking early 1970’s here folks) I came to be living with a women who shall remain nameless. So this young woman had a fondness for having a home garden.

I am an engineer by trade and never particularly cared much for bothering with growing things. So one fine summer, My POSSLQ (an acronym coined by the US Census bureau to mean “Person Of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters”) started a home garden. One of her crops was zucchini.

And while we are talking about POSSLQ’s, here is a poem by Charles Osgood:

Come live with me and be my love,
And we will some new pleasures prove
Of golden sands and crystal brooks
With silken lines, and silver hooks.
There’s nothing that I wouldn’t do
If you would be my POSSLQ.

You live with me, and I with you,
And you will be my POSSLQ.
I’ll be your friend and so much more;
That’s what a POSSLQ is for.

And everything we will confess;
Yes, even to the IRS.
Some day on what we both may earn,
Perhaps we’ll file a joint return.
You’ll share my pad, my taxes, joint;
You’ll share my life – up to a point!
And that you’ll be so glad to do,
Because you’ll be my POSSLQ.

We had a prolific crop of zucchini. By August, we had way too much zucchini. We couldn’t give the stuff away. If you don’t harvest zucchini in time, it will continue to grow and grow and grow. It will soon grow to be the size of a watermelon. There are only so many ways that one can cook zucchini, but it is still zucchini. Overripe zucchini gets very big and very tough. Think consistency of a two by four.

So as our relationship began to sour as it did that summer, I began to link my dislike for overripe zucchini with my former POSSLQ. So for me there will be no Zucchini, EVER.

Categories: Cooking, Food
Tags: Vegetables, Zucchini

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Rosy Beef Stew

July 10, 2014

Here is the recipe for beef stew mentioned in my previous post. Note: click here to down load the document.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Categories: Food, Recipes
Tags: beef stew, recipes

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Shepherd’s Pie

March 19, 2014

Last night was our weekly family dinner night. In honor of St Patrick we had Shepherd’s Pie, not corned beef. I despise corned beef. And seeing as it was my turn to cook, we decided to do Shepherd’s pie.

So hear is my recipe. It’s mostly in my head. It is not one of those meals that I need to work from a written recipe. There are many variations of shepherd’s pie to be found on the internet. This is just my variation on the theme.

Ingredients

1.5lb ground beef
2 c Fresh mushrooms
1 med onion, chopped
1/2 of a 16oz. bag of frozen peas and carrots. Generic store brand is fine.
2 bags instant mashed potatoes (I use the “just add water” variation for about 4-6 servings)
1 c shredded cheddar cheese
1 jar brown gravy (12 oz. Heinz or equivalent) Some recipes suggest using cream of mushroom or cream of celery soup. My preference is the gravy.
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp salt

Directions

Sauté the onions and mushrooms in a couple teaspoons of olive oil. Then set aside. [Last night we skipped the onions because Theresa is sensitive to onions.]

Brown the ground beef. After the ground beef is cooked, drain the fat. Add the mushrooms, onion, peas and carrots and the gravy. Add the salt and pepper. Simmer for a few minutes. You might not need the whole jar of gravy. Judge for yourself how “soupy” you want it to be.

Pour the ground beef mixture into 7×13 casserole dish.

Prepare the mashed potatoes as directed on the package. Spread the mash potatoes on top of the ground beef.

Sprinkle the cheddar on top.

Bake in 350 oven for about 20 minutes (cheese should be melted and gravy bubbling on the edges.)

Variations: Some folks use either green beans or corn. Not my preference though.

Also, best served with Guinness beer and Irish Whiskey.

Jonathan seemed to like the concoction. Though, I think he mostly liked the mashed potato part, less so for the hamburger.

Joe

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Categories: Food, Ireland, Recipes
Tags: food, Guiness, Ireland, recipes

Comments: 1 Comment

Snacks for Jonathan

January 26, 2014

So I was sitting next to my grandson Jonathan this morning after church. We were having a lunch for a family that is moving to Colorado. By the way, Jonathan is two. Jonathan usually can depend on Grandpa giving some good snacks to eat. First, I gave him some potato chips. So far so good. Then, I offered some Cheetos. Big problem. He pushed them away. Maybe they looked too much like carrots or something. Next time I’ll go back to the old standby, Goldfish. Anyways, eventually we got to dessert. Chocolate cake, now you’re talking. By the way, Mary K went to church today. Pastor Jacques gave her a shout-out. Mary K was beaming from ear to ear.

TTFN,

Joe

Categories: Family, Food, Kids
Tags: kids

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Las Vegas

November 27, 2013

We just got back from a quick trip to Las Vegas. Our son and his wife had invited us a few weeks ago to join them for a quick trip to Las Vegas. Hotel rooms are a commodity that obeys laws of supply and demand. When the supply goes up the price goes down. So we found a relative bargain for Sunday to Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

So we booked a room for about $125 per night at a hotel that normally runs for $250 per night. We were in a large room at the Hotel Vdara with a king size bed, kitchenette, a view of the Las Vegas strip.

Here’s the view from our room on the 26th floor. One of the things that is unusual about the Hotel Vdara is that it doesn’t have a casino. Casinos are not far away though. Short walk to the Belagio or a little bit longer to Caesar’s Palace.

On Monday, we decided to take a ride out to see the Hoover Dam. Unfortunately, a lot of people had the same idea. Weather was sunny and clear. Visibility greater than 100 miles. We couldn’t find a place to park. We got a few pictures though from a couple of scenic pullouts.

We are not much into gambling but there is lots to do. There are so many good places to eat. We ate at the Wicked Spoon at the Cosmopolitan Casino on Sunday night. just about anything you might want to try. Asian, Italian, American, seafood, you name it, they have it.

Monday we dined at Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill at Caesar’s Palace. We had reservations for 8:30 PM for the four of us plus Jonathan our 2 year old grandson. Not cheap, but everything was outstanding. I had a Sea Scallop dish and Paula had Rabbit. (I know, the poor bunny rabbit) Good service and excellent food. Jonathan was oh so well behaved. He had some apple juice, but what he really wanted was the ice to chew on. Here are some pictures.

After dinner, we all walked back to the Vdara by way of the Belagio. Half of the fun is watching the people and the art that is on display. The Belagio still has their fall displays up. I am sure that will change quickly starting next week. First here is the entrance to Caesar’s then the displays at the Belagio.

And finally for you chocolate lovers out there, here is the chocolate fountain at the Belagio Patisserie.

And one more thing, we have discovered there is now a Dunkin Donuts in Barstow (for our East Coast friends, Barstow is out in the middle of the Mojave desert, about 125 miles east of LA. For a while, the only Dunkie’s was at Camp Pendleton on the way down to San Diego. Slowly but surely, Dunking Donuts will come to the west coast. There is help.

BTW, all pictures were taken with my trusty iPhone 5S.

I wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. Stay safe. Don’t overeat or over drink. We will be joining our daughter-in-laws extended family in Rancho Palos Verdes. Lots of family, lots of kids. Paula will be baking pies tomorrow. We have some good wines to taste. After Thanksgiving, I have to continue work on the 15th edition of my Christmas letter. We will not be doing black Friday. You couldn’t get me to the mall on black Friday, let alone any Friday.

Be good,

Joe

Categories: Food, Reviews, Travel
Tags: Belagio, Caesars Palace, Hoover Dam, Lake Meade, Las Vegas, Mesa Grill, travel, Vdara

Comments: 1 Comment

Octoberfest – Los Angeles Style

October 14, 2013

We meant to do this last year but never got around to it. So yesterday afternoon we went to the Octoberfest at Alpine Village in Torrance. This has been an annual affair for the last forty some years in Torrance. During the months of September and October, Alpine Village puts on Octoberfest on Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons.

The Sunday afternoon affair is a little bit more family friendly. People bring their entire family from infants to grand parents. The rest of the year Alpine Village runs a restaurant and gift shop. But on the weekends they move to the huge tent. My guess would be that it is the size of a couple football fields.

Get your tickets on line. This will save you waiting in the long line to get in. They encourage appointing someone the designated driver. I was selected for the job yesterday. They put a green wrist strap on you. This gets you all the soda and spring water you can drink for free. People are encouraged to come wearing lederhosen or Bavarian Dirndl dresses.

So we loaded Mary K and Paula into the Jeep and picked up Mike up in RPV. And off we went. We had some sausage and bratwurst for lunch along with the usual sides like sauerkraut and potato salad. Tables are rugged picnic tables capable of supporting a tuba player in addition to the food and beer. So Mike lines up for the beer while Paula, Mary K and I line up for food. Lots of fun;

Here are some pictures:

Categories: California, Food, Los Angeles
Tags: Beer, food, Octoberfest

Comments: 1 Comment

Salt Cod Fish Cakes

September 17, 2013

Back in the day when I was a child, on Friday’s we would eat cod fish cakes for breakfast. My Mom and Dad would prepare them the night before so we would have a hot breakfast in the morning before school.

So I decided it was time to find the recipe for salt cod cakes and try making them myself. Finding a recipe wasn’t a problem. Finding salt cod on the west coast was a problem.

We finally found some in an Albertson’s Supermarket in San Pedro. And the meat guy knew what I was talking about. Salt Cod comes in a small box with about a pound of cod preserved in salt from Nova Scotia. It was the same box that I remember from when I was a kid living in Brighton. So without further adieu, here is the recipe.

Ingredients

1 box of salt cod. (If stores have it, it usually can be found in frozen meat section). Ask. I suppose you could substitute 1 lb fresh white fish of some sort. Doesn’t seem right though.

2 Large potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 tsp seafood seasoning

Ground black pepper to taste

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 large onion diced

2 eggs

1/2 c white flour

Directions

Place the salt cod into a bowl and cover with cold water. Refrigerate for 8 hours. Pour off the water and replace with fresh water every 2 hours. After the fish has soaked for 8 hours, rinse in cold water, and cut into 3-inch sections.
Place the cod and potatoes into a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the potatoes are tender and the cod flakes easily with a fork, about 20 minutes. Drain and allow to cool for 20 minutes.
Place the potatoes and cod into a mixing bowl. Season with the seafood seasoning, pepper, and parsley; roughly mash with a potato masher. Stir in the eggs and onion until evenly combined. There should still be pieces of cod and potato in the mixture. Form into golf ball-sized pieces, and roll in the flour. Press between your palms to flatten slightly.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the cod cakes in batches until golden and crispy on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate.

I generally put ketchup on my fish cakes. Paula laughed. She though tartar sauce was right. She tried the ketchup. She agreed it was right. This recipe makes enough for 4-5 servings.

Categories: Fish, Food, Recipes
Tags: Fish, recipes

Comments: 1 Comment

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