The Saucy Side of Life

Barbecue Sauce

A good barbecue sauce should be a little tangy, sweet, and spicy with hints of savory overtones.  With that being said, most barbecue sauces lean heavily towards one of the four.  If you are cooking for a large crowd, it is usually a good idea to make at least two sauces each favoring one of the four flavors.

Sauces can be made;

·         Tangy by adding or increasing mustard, vinegar, or lemon juice.

·         Sweet by increasing a sweetener.  I suggest honey, maple syrup, brown sugar or molasses.

·         Spicy with any number of hot peppers or sauces, but I prefer cayenne.

·         Savory by adding garlic, onion, cumin and cardamom.  I particularly like cardamom, but go lite.

 My basic recipe for barbecue sauce:

·         2 cup Ketchup

·         ½ cup balsamic vinegar or apple cider vinegar (I usually use balsamic)

·         2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

·         2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

·         1 tablespoon of honey

·         1 tablespoon garlic power

·         1 tablespoon onion power

·         ½ tablespoon ground cumin

·         ½ teaspoon ground cardamom

·         Cayenne pepper to taste (I use a lot J)

·         1 bay leave

·         Pinch of Basil

·         Pinch of Parsley

·         Salt and pepper to taste

·         Wine, beer, broth, juice (optional)

I basically start with this recipe and vary it depending on the taste I am trying to capture.

Guest Who's Coming to Dinner!

Last night we went to visit Liz and Nancy.  They have a very inviting house in the woods with a modern almost Cali architectural style with great colors throughout and an enviable art studio.  Of course you expect that when visiting an artist's home.  Nancy is as delightful as Liz and we spent a long and enjoyable evening dining on local seafood Paella and Pan Con Tomate.   

The shimmering light.

Passion Overcomes the Cold

The shimmering light was just too hard for my beautiful wife to resist.  Nether the chilly water nor the jagged shells beneath her feet could sway her. The slight ripples in the water made the sunlight dance almost as fast as her shutter finger moved.  Nothing and no one escaped the lens of her camera.

Like cooking, if you are going to get good, you have to practice.  She is a good photographer now.

By the end of this trip she is going to be great!

As for me, I'm practicing patience.

From Nice De Ville to Coop De Ville

Finding a funky dockside bar and restaurant isn't hard to do on an island, but finding one with good food, great service and pocketbook friendly prices is rare.  Coop De Ville on the harbor in Oak Bluff on Martha's Vineyard fills all the squares.

Their fish and chips sailed us back to London, the hot wings flew us to Buffalo and the $14.99 whole lobster special was the Maine event.

Food for Thought

Oak Bluffs

We left the heat of the south to enjoy the cool breezes of Nantucket Sound.  As most first time tourist to an area, we spent our first morning on the island of Martha's Vineyard reading the numerous visitor brochures and magazines. One such magazine, "Experience Martha's Vineyard" had an unbelievable passage that I felt
the need to share. On page 27, reads a sentence, "For many years, a significant number of African-Americans have vacationed or made their year-round home on the island, especially in and around Oak Bluffs."  My wife and I weren't sure if this was a warning or a suggested photo opportunity.

Even today, people who are different than the majority still often feel the weight of prejudice.  A case in point, while riding the ferry, my wife and I met a delightful artist from Martha's Vineyard.  The conversation went from art to food and as a result she invited us to her house to cook Seafood Paella but before we could answer she felt the need to tell us that she was gay and her spouse was a woman.  You could see the relief in her face with our reaction.

I am glad I don't have to warn people about my life style or find that tourist are being warned about me.

Can't Decide??? Go With Both!

Surf & Turf with a with a hint of German flair

My favorite times cooking are when the menu is blank and the ingredients are scarce and I really don't know what I am going to create until I start.  Last night was one of those nights.

Most days, I don't know what will be on the menu until I head home from work.  But, yesterday I woke up with a craving for shrimp pasta.  That is until I saw a restaurant ad featuring a delicious fillet mignon.

It just so happens that the seafood market in my neighbor carries great steaks.  So when I eyed a lobster tail beside the fresh shrimp, my mind flashed back to the photo of the fillet.

While I had the ingredients to cook the shrimp pasta, I had to be creative with what was on my market shelves in the kitchen.  The result; surf & turf with spätzle and cabbage.

Teaching your Children to Eat New Food.

I read a well written blog today at My Colombian Recipes titled "Healthy Foods for Finicky Little Eaters" www.mycolombianrecipes.com/reviews/heathy-foods-for-finicky-little-eaters
It contained good advice and a chance to win a $100 Visa card.

My wife and I discovered many years ago that you can get finicky little eaters to try new and unusual foods by making the experience fun. We enjoy eating food from around the world and wanted our children to enjoy the same, so when ever we created a meal from another country we created the atmosphere to go with it. For example, when serving Ethiopian food, we all dressed as Ethiopians, gave each other Ethiopian names, played Ethiopian music, and served the food and ate like Ethiopians. The experience was so fun that the children couldn't help but approach the food with an open mind. We did and still do the same with Mexican, Jamaican, Spanish, India and many other foods from other cultures.

Not only is this approach fun for the kids, the grownups will enjoy it as well.