I'm back........checking in to say hello

Whew. I’m back to say hello. I’ve been missing in action for a couple of weeks. These lovely black-eyed Susans are currently blooming in our garden in North Carolina and their smiling faces are from me to you to say how I’ve missed visiting with each of you and dropping by your blogs to see what’s happening in your world.

I am finally feeling a bit better and some of the constant nausea that has plagued me for the last six weeks has subsided. I don’t normally talk about my health. In fact when anyone asks how I feel, I always answer with a cheery, “I’m fine” and smile no matter what. The Bahamians have a saying, “Don’t put mouth on it,” meaning if you say it, it might come true. Perhaps that’s why I always say I’m fine, even when I’m not. But in truth I suffer from chronic back pain and my doctor is constantly searching for new medications that give me some relief. The latest one apparently collided with something else I take, causing my sodium levels to plummet and I ended up spending the weekend in the hospital.

Meakin bought a bottle of Chateau St. Jean, one of our favorite Sonoma Chardonnays, and we planned a little celebration of my being home and not spending this weekend in the hospital. Just as I was beginning to feel like my old feisty self again the call came from the doctor’s office. “Follow a diet of “clear liquids only” over the weekend. Your blood test indicated you have an irritated pancreas. If you begin to feel worse (worse? I just started to feel better!), go to the emergency room and tell them Dr. Larson said to put you in the hospital.” Great- what a way to spend the weekend, drinking dinner (what a shame wine doesn’t count) and worrying and wondering if or when I’ll start to feel worse.

I miss each of you and hope to be back in the swing of things really, really soon. In the meantime, enjoy this lovely photo of a market in France. Believe me, I wish I was in the south of France strolling the streets of Saint Remy with my husband, holding hands, and shopping in this lovely market this very minute instead of at home in North Carolina on a clear liquid diet. Jell-O anyone?

Sam

Wordless Wednesday

Firecracker Coleslaw

Sunday is the 4th of July here in the United States and all across the land people will be celebrating with picnics and firecrackers. I’ve made a rather non-traditional coleslaw that I call Firecracker Coleslaw in honor of the holiday. It contains red bell peppers and toasted almonds that bring an element of surprise to your taste buds, much like firecrackers bring surprises to your eyes. It is a light slaw and contains no heavy mayonnaise, so it travels well. By using two colors of cabbage and the red peppers, the slaw takes on a red, white and blue patriotic theme and is very eye catching.

For a great summer picnic serve the slaw with the traditional meal of hot dogs, grilled hamburgers, BBQ chicken or ribs and chips to your family and friends. Don’t forget the chilled watermelon for dessert. They won’t be disappointed and neither will you. Have a happy and safe 4th of July everyone.

Firecracker Coleslaw
Adapted from Simply Shellfish by Leslie Grover Pendleton
Printable Recipe

½ cup natural rice vinegar (unseasoned)
½ cup canola oil
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons sugar
4 cups finely shredded red cabbage
4 cups finely shredded white cabbage
2 red bell peppers, cut into thin slivers
½ cup toasted sliced almonds

In a large bowl, whisk the vinegar together with the oil, mustard and sugar. Just before serving, add the two cabbages, bell pepper and almonds and toss well. Season with fleur de sel and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Serves six to eight. Easily doubled.

Gazpacho with a tropical twist

I am honored that Lazaro has asked me to be the guest blogger for Lazaro Cooks! today. Since Lazaro and Nancy share the hosting, I thought it might be fun to make a soup that would suit both of their tastes. I chose gazpacho, but decided to garnished it with a tropical twist – mango. After all, Lazaro does live in south Florida.

Printable recipe

Please click over to Lazaro Cooks! to read more. 

BLT salad with buttermilk dressing and crumbled gorgonzola cheese for an easy, comforting meal

We’ve been traveling a little lately, both on the roads and byways, but also the virtual highway. As you know we recently visited Larry and Bev at “Almost Heaven South” on beautiful Lake Tellico and attended a wonderful blogger get-together.

We then headed south on the interstate and stopped at Roswell Air Force Base near Macon, Georgia and toured their Aviation Museum on our way to Florida. There are four hangers each with a theme. Hanger One was the favorite. It is devoted to WW II with each area featuring a specific plane on the ground with workers nearby doing the service work in preparation for the next mission.

My husband Meakin is a licensed pilot and has been for some 40 odd years. We don’t fly much anymore, but I can count on the fact that if an airplane flies over head he’s going to look up.

We’ve also been traveling on the virtual highway, searching for our ancestors. My heart skipped a beat when I first saw the words Plymouth, Massachusetts associated with both of our relatives. Amazingly, it turns out, we are both descendants of The Mayflower.

I am a descendent of John Alden, who is said to be the first person from the Mayflower to set foot on Plymouth Rock in 1620. He was one of the founders of Plymouth Colony and the seventh signer of the Mayflower Compact.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, also one of Alden’s descendants, wrote the famous verse, The Courtship of Miles Standish. According to the legend, John Alden started out to win the hand of Priscilla for his friend Miles Standish, but instead won her hand for himself. Priscilla’s famous quote being, “Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?” They married in 1623.

Meakin is a descendant of John Howland, also one of the founders of Plymouth Colony. You may have read about the man who was accidently thrown overboard the Mayflower in your history books. It was John Howland. One night he grew restless below and stepped onto the decks above for some air. Howland was from the English inland and quickly discovered that in a gale the decks of a ship were no place for a landsman.  Suddenly when the Mayflower lurched forward, Howland tumbled into the sea. Fortunately he managed to grab a topsail halyard from the ship that was floating in the water and was hauled back aboard safely.

Both the Alden Home and the Howland Home are museums, so now we’re planning a trip to New England in the fall to tour Plymouth and then on to Maine to stuff ourselves with lobster until it starts to come out of our ears.

Whether we’re traveling the car or on the virtual highway, often we’re tired when dinner time rolls around. That’s when I pull out a simple and easy comfort food recipe, such as this BLT salad. Fortunately I’ve been able to find “Ugly” heirloom tomatoes in our market for several months now so that’s what I used. The “Ugly” heirlooms are full of flavor and with one taste you’ll swear it’s already the middle of summer. If you can find apple wood smoked bacon, such as Nueskie’s from Wisconsin, so much the better.

BLT salad with buttermilk dressing and gorgonzola cheese
Adapted from The Beach House Cookbook by Barbara Scott-Goodman

¼ pound thick, apple wood smoked bacon, cut in large dice
2 cups mixed salad greens
2 cups torn romaine lettuce leaves
2 large ripe tomatoes, preferably heirloom, diced
3-4 tablespoons crumbled gorgonzola cheese

Dressing:
½ cup good mayonnaise, such as Hellman’s
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
¼ cup low-fat buttermilk
2 tablespoons chopped red onion
2 tablespoons each of chopped fresh basil and Italian flat-leaf parsley
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Sauté bacon until crisp and drain well on a paper towel to cool. While the bacon is cooking, whisk the mayonnaise, vinegar, lemon juice together in a small bowl. Add the buttermilk, onion, basil and parsley. Whisk again and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Toss the greens together with the dressing in a large salad bowl. Taste again for seasonings. Arrange greens on a platter and top with tomatoes, bacon and crumbled gorgonzola. Serves 4 – 6.