Random Cheez-It facts

Random Cheez-It facts

-Ladygoat can eat a whole box of Cheez-Its in one sitting.
-She did not take Osama's Cheez-Its. But she might if she could.
-Is she a Cheez-It? No. Are you?
-You can see the old Sunshine Biscuit Company factory when you ride the BART. It was shut down when the company was acquired by Keebler in 1996, becoming part of the post-industrial wasteland that is West Oakland.
-Now apparantly random people go there to have barbeques.
-Ladygoat had the new Cheesy Sour Cream & Onion Cheez-Its for lunch today. But not the whole box. She also had a granola bar. But she liked the Cheez-Its a lot more. Gotta love those new flavors.

It's cold in Cleveland. Time to bring out one of my cold weather dishes - Hungarian goulash!

Back in college, my roommates were blessed with this dish every Wednesday evening. And we never got sick of it. My version is slightly different from the traditional version. It's more stew-like than soup-like: more potatoes! more meat! more everything! (Except water, of course. That would just mean more soup.)


1. Dice one large onion & 1 Hungarian pepper & saute in olive oil with several pinches of caraway seeds. Cook in medium heat for about 10 minutes, until onions are translucent but not brown.

2. As in any traditional Hungarian dish, add paprika! As much or as sweet or as hot paprika as you wish.


3. Add some water & cook at medium high for 15 minutes.


4. Through a wire mesh strainer pour off onion mixture into a large pressure cooker.
5. You want to get all the juices out of the onion mixture, so add water through the mesh strainer onto the skillet and press the juices out with a wooden spoon, or your hands, several times. Add the juices to the pressure cooker too. The point is you're adding liquid volume and getting all the flavors out of the onion/peppers, because now you're going to discard onion/peppers.

6. Add about 1.5 to 2.5 pounds of beef. I like to use London broil & cut it into small cubes. Or you could buy the pre-cut stew meat.

7. Add salt & pepper to the pressure cooker. Turn on the heat, close the lid, and let the pressure do the work! I cook with pressure for about 45 minutes.

8. The next phase is cooked like a traditional soup. Remove the lid from the pressure cooker and add chopped celery, 4-6 peeled & diced potatoes, and a chopped tomato. Cook at a boil for 30 minutes.

9. And now for the least traditional ingredient (this is ladygoat's influence): add half an ounce of patis (Shhh! Don't tell Mom! Let alone Grandma!).


10. This is a good spot for a taste test: Do you need to add more salt? Pepper?

11. After the 30 minute boil is up, I make egg-drop noodles. One egg into a mug, add flour and mix until gooey. Using a hot spoon, scoop into boiling soup. Cook for 10 more minutes and serve!


I like this dish with bread and sour cream.


I made this dish for my old high school buddy/college roommate/video-game chum/hell-on-wheels friend Igor, who is presently recuperating from tonsillectomy. [Side note: each one of his tonsils was as big as a fist! :( ] Fortunately, he's recovering quite well.

Beer-butt chicken

Know what I feel like having for dinner? A chicken carcass on a half empty can of cheap beer swill!


What is it?
Beer-butt (or beer can) chicken ... a chicken grilled on top of a half empty beer can. The metal can acts like a roaster, while the liquid inside the can provides flavor and moisture.

Where do you get it?
Foodgoat's brother introduced us to this ultimate hillbilly delight last Easter (it took me a while to find the misplaced pictures, okay?). We went out to visit him and his lovely family in the quaint Appalachian village of Cadiz, Ohio (birthplace of Clark Gable!). Cadiz is kind of out in the hinterlands, but it's not hillbilly country. We know because everyone seems to have a satisfactory level of book larnin' as well as most of their teeth.

How do you make it?
Spice a chicken.
Grill it, covered, propped up on a half-full can of something (I think Coke may have been used here).
While it cooks, exercise your influence as beloved Uncle over small, impressionable nephews ...

By getting George to wash your car ...


... and to give Sienna a bath ...


... and by encouraging the enjoyment of wanton destruction (I mean, by teaching hand-eye coordination) through video games.


When the chicken's cooked, remove the chicken from the grill, and the can from the chicken.
Eat!

How was it?
Juicy and delicious and very tender. In a word, tasty (hence the craving for more 7 months later). And it's like recycling! Hillbillies sure are smart.

A ladygoat & her sister discuss Vienna sausages

A ladygoat & her sister discuss Vienna sausages

L: I got to have Vienna sausages for dinner.
Sis: Oh good!
L: Yeah. I like them a little bit fried.
Sis: Oh. I like them better cold.
L: You do?
Sis: But you know the sludge that Vienna sausages come in?
L: You mean the slimey stuff?
Sis: Yeah.
L: What about it?
Sis: You know how sometimes it's harder and has all these chunks in it?
L: Yeah.
Sis: And sometimes it's more liquidy?
L: Uh huh.
Sis: I like it better when it's liquidy. Because then that sludge just slides off.

California Highlight #9

California Highlight #9

A stop at Pismo Beach on the way to Los Angeles is a family tradition. It's the halfway point, and it's got a lot of history for us, dating from the time that my dad worked at Diablo Canyon.

So, after driving for 4 hours in a stuffed-to-the-gills minivan, we do the following:

Walk down the pier.


Watch the surfers. Mock the ones who fall off even though they are right underneath and can probably hear you.


Eat at Mo's Smokehouse BBQ, where we eat pulled pork sandwiches, garlic fries, fried green tomatoes, tri-tips, and ribs. Foodgoat thinks the quality of the sandwiches has markedly declined in recent years, but I think it was still pretty good, and I'd rather have that than clam chowder, which Pismo Beach, host of the annual Clam Festival, is known for.


[Note: Should you go to the beach afterwords, do not take your leftovers with you. This is what will come to pass, if you should fail. They will try to take the leftovers. (You know of whom I speak!) They wait until you leave the boxes behind to dip your toe in the water. They will open the box quietly and they will eat the pulled pork sandwiches for themselves! ... Stupid seagulls.]