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TACO NIGHT

Lawry’s Seasoned Salt. Back in the 60’s it came in a little foil pouch and my mother would stack them in the second extra drawer. We may have called it the spice drawer but really, the only spice in that drawer was Lawry’s. The remainder of the items to be found in the drawer were Betty Crocker coupons, left over to go chopsticks, maybe a soy sauce packet or two and the odd recipe mom clipped from a magazine.

 

Lawry’s was mom’s go to seasoning for . . . almost everything. Certainly spaghetti. I recall a story told by my sister. Continue reading “TACO NIGHT”

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TACOS JALISCO MY FRIENDS

Van de Camp’s Pork and Beans. ‘Nuff said. IKR?!

 

I was raised in a budget minded household by parent who had been raised in budget minded households, whose parents had in turn been raised in budget minded households. While we, as children, were often afforded an animal protein at each of our meals, my mother rarely missed an opportunity to ensure we also had complementary proteins. (“Hi, how are you? OMG who did your hair? It looks amazing!”) A family fan favorite has always been beans. My Aunt Priscilla was the guardian Continue reading “TACOS JALISCO MY FRIENDS”

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TO EAT OR NOT TO EAT

“I’m hungry.”

“Yeah, me too.”

 

This seemingly innocuous phrase is repeated in some form or another in most every household one could think of, including mine. The difference in this case is that we are both food industry professionals who have spent long hours in the kitchen preparing and cooking food for an eight hour shift. So what does that mean? Well, it’s kind of crazy. Let me back up and start with an old saying about chefs and restaurants.

 

Never trust a skinny chef. Continue reading “TO EAT OR NOT TO EAT”

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SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY

“Big Daddy” Don Garlits, Don “The Snake” Prudome, Shirley “Hot Rod” Muldowney. Come on down to the Fremont Raceway. Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.

Listening to my radio at night, as a young man, I would always laugh, then mimic the announcer whenever that announcement would come over the air. Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. Some of you may remember this, others might have enjoyed a slightly different version. It all comes down to the same chant. Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. While I never made it down to the Fremont Raceway to see the “Big Daddy” race, this announcement has become more than just a memory to me, it is a flipping Continue reading “SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY”

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MEXICAN? NOT SO MUCH

My mother was a lovely woman and she worked hard to make sure that we had something nutritious to eat every night. In addition to her tuna casserole, mac and cheese, spaghetti and goulash she would often serve us hungry wee-ones Tamale Pie. The recipe for this she found printed on the side of the Albers Corn meal box. Say it is not so? Well, just to prove my point here is the link Continue reading “MEXICAN? NOT SO MUCH”

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EL DORADO

The lost city of gold. The first time I heard of El Dorado was from the Howard Hawkes movie with John Wayne and James Caan. A classic shoot-em-up with a drunken sheriff, a grumpy sidekick, a young whipper-snapper and, of course, John Wayne. During an early part of the movie John Wayne and James Caan are riding through a saguaro covered part of the desert to the city of El Dorado, where they will subsequently save the day. I am not giving anything away, the movie was made in 1966 for God’s sake. During this ride, James Caan recites a bit of a poem that ends with “ . . . Continue reading “EL DORADO”