It's not fancy food, it's home cookin'

Dry-rubbed pork loin roast on the grill. The other package is Balducci's lasagna...how many of you have had grilled lasagna? Please feel free to comment on technique and contents at your whim. Thanks! Comment on anything! I've done 10 posts and have 5 comments, 4 of which are from the same person. Don't be afraid! I'll answer your questions and maybe give you some insight aout cooking and/or eating out that you didn't have before. All this at no charge!

'05 Bordeaux Lussac St. Emilion.

Previously Frozen u20's with loads of horse radish...courtesy of Mike Palmer.

Me in my usual repose for blogging, laptop and Corona. Tech Questions? Feel free to ask.


For my friends and family, it's all about the grill, wine, and things the kids can do that don't require stitches. Last night we had a little fridge-clearing party as we're leaving for Mexico next week. My photog, Mike, lives down the street and has kids roughly the same age as mine. He happens to be a crazy I'll-try-anything-once food freak too.....this makes my dinner adventures all the better. http://mpalmerphotography.blogspot.com/ is his blog. He's the guy who said "Dude, start a blog. You rock in the kitchen and no one knows about it!".
Below is one of his pix...BTW, he does family portraits and food/restaurant pix too.

This is Olivia (Liver). I call her Liver because I want to eat her up! She's adorable.

At home it's not about foams and baths, it's about "what can we get the kids to eat before they melt down?". At home it's about taking something from Trader Joe's and making it better. Last night we had Kielbasa, Pork Loin w/rub, Lasagna, Shrimp Cocktail, Broccoli w/Water Chestnuts, Pasta w/Sesame and Sate, Potato Salad, and French Red. It's not fancy, it's what we had to share. Get to know your neighbors. Really. Mike and Julia live two houses down and have two kids near the age of my one. They play, swim, eat, flirt, fight, fart together. I wouldn't change a thing.

This type of relationship is something that is missing, all too often, in the suburbs. Seriously. Buy a bouquet at Balducci's and leave it on your neighbor's front step w/a card that says "Hi, I'm you neighbor and I hope you have a fantastic day. Let me know if you'd like to get together later over some wine and a grill. We're both from the same planet so I suppose we eat roughly the same things. Let's break bread and call it a plan. Do it now.

Tomorrow's Post: Alison and Andrew have a new kitchen: Cry Havoc! And let slip the dogs of war!

Alison & Andrew are on the right side of the table here...

What damage you do when you invite the devil into your house. I told them I'm happy to come and scorch, scratch, and defile their new kitchen, and cook them a chicken using Tony Bourdain's recipe for simple roasted chicken w/pan jus. Andrew is a principal of ASAA http://www.asaa.net/page.asp?pageid=4 and Alison is an Attorney with AP. We've known them for years and have used them as Guinea Pigs for many culinary adventures. They will generally try anything I've made once. They dined with us at the Chef's Table at Citronelle in '06, My Chef's Table for New Year's '08, and most recently The Inn At Little Washington. Yum. Stay tuned. There will be blood.