A Cool Spring Evening Supper

A simple supper on the patio by myself because my daughter is at a friend's house overnight.

Grilled Muenster cheese on New England Brown Bread done with olive oil, instead of butter, along with tomato soup seasoned w/ red pepper, basil, and garlic. Excellent. Dunk, for sure.

Microwave steamed broccoli seasoned with garlic, olive oil, butter, black pepper and lemon juice on the side. Perfect.

East wind still still blowing. No fishing. Dang. All out of frozen after last night's final frozen cache of walleye.

French Open tennis on tv. Klister( sp) beat by a lanky lefty from the Netherlands. Good tennis.

I am 8 by 12 in the garden and ready to plant, but it is still too cold - frost possible tonight. Also turned over a couple of herb and flower gardens off the patio.

I am ready and waiting.

Stop it east wind so I can fish.

Bass from the freezer tonight sauteed and finished off w/ chardonnay, butter, garlic, red pepper and dill. Exquisite. Served along side onions, cabbage and carrots.

Everything's great so far except the weather.Too cold. Wrong wind.

Loons are plaintive. Me, too.

A Bob Dylan Day

Outdoor food is garden food. It's just about that time in the Brainerd Lakes area. There has been no rush because of the cool spring.

I've planted early in the past and the plants just sit there and don't grow.

Finally began turning it over w/ a shovel today. More tomorrow and thursday - expanding my small plot from 6 by 12 to 18 by 12. I want more than what I can eat in season because of the price of fresh produce in the stores these days as well as because of my increasing realization that most of what you get in supermarkets is probably poisoned by pesticides and herbicides. Deeply. I can manage my small plot w/o those poisons.

I have been impatient over the years - a little less now at almost 63. Daily progress over a week will yield as much or more than a long hard driven get it in day. I take the time now and then to scan the sky for eagles ( they're often working the shoreline for fish), or to throw the tennis ball for my brown lab pup. He fetches it right up. I'm counting on him for pheasants in the fall in some local ditches and fields - just he and me, a two man team.

A break for lemonade at 10 AM on the patio is requisite . A morning cigar - not inhaled anymore - and a few pages of reading - AS ALWAYS. JULIA, currently, and Sydney Sheldon's autobiography. If the east wind would stop blowing I would discontinue yard and garden work and cast the shoreline for bluegills using a flyrod with a black gnat. Don't tell anyone.

It's the 24th of May and there is a program on Mn Public Radio entitled " Boy From The North Country" about Bob Dylan's early days and his Mn roots which includes anecdotes and music from back in the day, so I take an early lunch and a beer to savor that. I sit on the patio and crank up the radio. It is great.

A friend calls and intones "rainy days on the great lakes, walking the hills of old Duluth" and does a riff on his harmonica. He has been listening to the same program. What an interlude on what a day.

Thank God for Spring.

Fishing Alone

If you are fishing alone, you are probably not. There is likely to be a loon working the dropoff beyond you, a great blue heron working the shoreline, and a bald eagle above you working both , plus your in between depth.. There was. It was beautiful.

I used a fly rod. they didn't. It was bluegills I caught. Nice ones.

From what I could see, I caught more than they did. A great day for Homo Sapiens.

They eat them raw. I don't. This time I cooked them with a cracker crumb breading in canola oil in a black cast iron pan. I seasoned the breading with black pepper, crushed red pepper, granulated garlic, parsley and dillweed.

We enjoyed them equally.

Fishing Opener: What You Should Do

I promised on Facebook that I would detail the classic French beurre blanc( white butter") recipe for fish caught on fishing openers.

Dredge fish filets in flour, fry in half butter and olive oil ( or canola or soybean, usually identified on the label as vegetable oil) for 2 to 3 minutes on med to med high heat until golden , turn, saute a minute or two and remove from pan. The general rule of thumb in cooking fish is 7 minutes per inch of thickness of fish. Do the math. You want it on fairly high heat to get it brown, and turn the heat down after you flip the filets.

After you remove the filets from the pan, pour off excess oil, add a cup of any white wine and cook on med high heat until reduced by half, add chopped parsley and garlic, or tarragon, or garlic and sage, remove pan from heat, add 3 or 4 pats of cold butter and swirl pan in a circular motion until butter pats are melted and pour over filets. It is a luscious sauce, redolent of herbs, pan debris, and butter.

Accompany with starch( potatoes, rice, couscous, etc)..., and fresh cooked vegetables - broccoli or asparagus, or green beens) or in more traditional shore lunch style w/ baked beans w/onions, bacon, and jalapenos and fried potatoes. Add onions and peppers and garlic to the potatoes.

Accompany with your favorite beer or wine - a pinot noir or chardonnay - and enjoy.

Coffee, cognac and cards before bed. In moderation, of course. You are about 60 or more and you don't want to crawl into the wrong bed.

When it is fishing opener on Mille Lacs and it is 40 degrees with a Ne wind at 20 plus and you are on the west shore, you don't fish. You stay in the cabin and burn wood in the stove or fireplace and do picture puzzles and play scrabble. If you're up with the family.

Otherwise it's you and the boys at your favorite local bar for beer, bloody marys and breakfast. Oh - it's raining, too. The favorite kind of opener if you own a bar and restaurant on Mille Lacs. Nice on friday, sh***y on Saturday, nice on Sunday. Maximum money.

Slow opener this yr? Yes, probably, for people and fish. Late spring, high gas prices - would you come up and spend a hundred five on gas for the truck and the boat if you'd heard the forcast?

Some of us can't resist. It's with guys you've done it with for years. It's not a fair weather deal. You've known these guys for a lifetime. It's not a gamble even though it's poker, which you also will be doing tonight. You won't lose much, but you can win a lot.

There might be a guy in your group that can cook. Lucky you.

It Keeps On Getting Better

So after you have had pork fried rice for dinner, the next day you scramble more eggs in with the fried rice and you have it for breakfast along with toast. It is way better and more interesting than just having scrambled eggs. Add garlic and red pepper and cilantro.

Try it with leftover hot dogs, onions and potatoes, too.

Manslaughter or Assisted Suicide?

If you are fat and you order food at the restaurant that I work at I will cook you an extra large order of hashbrowns, for example, because I know that is what you want. Is that bad?

Your Final Birthday

The butt was a 6 lber. Eat it as a roast with the vegetables as described.

Next day as pork fried rice.

3rd day cut up and cooked with cabbage and potatoes, carrots and onions.

It's a butt that keeps on working it.

4th day in a many bean soup.

Checked out a flat of Sam's Club cupcakes yesterday at work - someone brought it in to the restaurant for a birthday party. - 138 ingredients listed on the label. If you ate one it would be your last birthday.

You Bet Your Butt

If you are going to roast pork, do Boston Butt. Five hours at 350 degrees, covered.Add water about a third of the way up in your roasting pan. I use a black cast iron skillet. If you don't have a glass cover( mine broke), use a brown bag. It works. Be sure to check water level through out the cooking cycle, and add as necessary.

Season the roast simply w/ salt,pepper and garlic to start. Add crushed red pepper and herbs de provence for the last hour of cooking - along with onions, carrots, celery, and potatoes.

It is a hearty, substantial and healthy meal in a pan. So simple, rich and delicious. A little more than mom's pork or pot roast. You get the umami of the fatty meat, plus the bouquet of the herbs. Exquisite! Plenty of vegies plus the meat and fat you crave when it is 29 degrees on the 1st of may in Minnesota.

I've always felt that if you eat the good stuff( vegetables), you can eat the really good stuff( meat) too.