Citizen Dog by Mark O'Hare for March 18, 2012

(From yesterday)@noicant,The hugs do get you through don’t they? That and the knowledge at the end of the day that you’ve done the best you could for her! You’ve been a good son.

Good morning CD friends!.

Well I don’t know about you two, but when I sea food, I eat it.

Good Morning, cleo, sugar, Fellow Baby & the rest of the CD gang!

Seafood makes up the primary source of my diet.

Well, I just posted and refreshed, then deleted and refreshed and [Cleo got in the way but] the count agreed each time!

noicantspell, it is really tough to be in your situation. I also had no “me” time. I found certain days that I felt like I was going to lose my mind. I had ome day where I simply lost it. Everything that could have gone wrong, did. I blew up (privately) and lamented my lot in life and felt sorry for myself ( which is perfectly fine) then went out and dealt with the stress of the moment. I had every reason to be stressed. I won’t get Into details, bit you realize that if you don’t handle it, who will?

Silence of the clams?

Love the reading specs!!! This is gettin’ a little weird…

Good morning, Lonewolf, cleokaya, puppybreath, Dry, sugie, Citizen GROG!, x_Tech, JP Steve, noicantspell Hallford (happy,happy,happy!!), nighthawks, Shikamoo, Greg Trail and CDers everywhere!

@ Dry My sleep schedule is all “screw-gee” (to borrow an old saying my mom used all the time). I’ve been trying to get it back to normal, after the back “thing” I had. But, by the time 8 pm rolls around, I’m beat, then wake up at 3 or 4 am. Then, I have to catch up on who said what the night before here. LOL

@ puppybreath I left a comment for you yesterday, and your Golumpki recipe is waiting for you Friday 3/16 eveining comments. Hopin’ you feelin’ better and better, Kiddo!!!

a good morning to each and every one of you!happy, happy, happy!!!“with some fave beans and a nice ciante.”

I think you did, Steve I know that the comment count changed when I added and then deleted my comment ending up on the comment count it was before.

one of my biggest helps with stress is this place right here. its why i started to be careful with my posts. i RELLY don’t want to be ban hammered.

StelBel, I agree with you about going by the book on new recipes – unless there is an ingredient I just plain don’t like or I think I can improve on the taste up front. With my Irish stew I went straight to pepper bacon over regular bacon

I wonder how these fish are going to end up out of the fire and into the pan.

“Silence of the clams”? Good one MrPinkle.

Good morning Fellow Baby, cleo and sugie!

I see the Eric the Circle dudes comments are gone, at least where I checked. Yes, Fellow Baby if that crap gets picked up and Steve Skelton is still out there dangling, that would be a travesty!

yes, but does seafood go well with fava beans and a nice chianti?

I really miss Steve’s Sunday strips! They were superb, as is his whole strip.

Howdy StelBel, x_Tech, JP Steve, noicant and puppybreath! I hope you are feeling better puppybreath!

JP Steve I do know one poster who removes her comments after they have been up a day, and she only ever posts once in awhile, and only 1 to 3 posts anyway.

StelBel, that recipe is actually from a Freugal Gourmet cookbook. I don’t know if you remember him, but he was on PBS a number of years ago. When I have the time I’ll type the recipe up in word and then paste it in the comment section.

I’ve been buying pepper bacon for a number of years now. It’s been readily available in the Texas supermarkets, but perhaps not where you are. It usually comes in a thick cut and is generously sprinkled with fresh ground pepper. Quite yummy on its own and adds a little extra umph to the lamb stew. Or should I say BAM?

Fellow Baby, if she removes her comments then the comment count will also go down with the deletion. I tested that theory last night.

What’s so strange? Fish eat fish. Don;t see them raising cattle or growing vegies :-/

Good morning Grog, Dry, Cleo, Lonewolf, StelBel, puppybreath, noicant & all the new CDers here.

Irish Lamb Stew (from The Frugal Gourmet on Our Immigrant Ancestors)

½ lb thickly sliced bacon diced6 lbs boneless lamb shoulder cut into 2-inch pieces1 teaspoon salt½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (I do it to my taste)½ cup all-purpose flour2 cloves garlic, peeled & finely chopped1 large yellow onion, peeled & finely chopped½ cup water4 cups beef stock2 teaspoons sugar (I prefer brown sugar)-——————-4 cups carrots cut into 1 inch pieces2 large yellow onions peeled & sliced3 lbs potatoes, peeled, quartered & cut into ½ inch pieces1 teaspoon dried thyme, whole1 bay leaf½ cup dry white wine (I use vodka but double up on the brown sugar.GarnishChopped parsley

Using a large frying pan, sauté the bacon. Reserve the fat and the bacon. In a large mixing bowl, place the lamb, salt, pepper, and flour. (I prefer to skip the flour, but it’s your call.) Toss to coat the meat evenly. Reheat the frying pan. In batches, toss the meat in the flour to coat evenly, then brown in the reserved bacon fat. If you run out of fat, use a little oil. Transfer the browned meat to a 10-quart stove-top casserole, leaving about 1/4 cup of fat in the frying pan. Add the garlic and diced yellow onion to the pan and sauté until the onion begins to color a bit. Deglaze the frying pan with ½ cup water and add the onion/garlic mixture to the casserole, along with the reserved bacon pieces, beef stock and sugar. Cover and simmer for 1 ½ hours, or until tender. Add the remaining ingredients to the pot and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Check for salt and pepper before serving. Top with the parsley garnish before serving.

Note: This keeps well in the refrigerator. This dish tastes even better reheated.

I tell you I got to stop reading this strip. Gain weight everytime:-D

Pepper Bacon? Oven Baked Pepper BaconOr perhaps Maple and Black-Pepper Bacon

StelBel, I can’t exactly work up an appetite for lo-cal dishes. Sure, I eat my share, but there’s really no joy in cooking them or eating them. I do enjoy cooking the foods I truly love. As Emeril would say, it’s a food of love thing. If there’s any joy in cooking, it’s from knowing that I’m going to love the finished product.

Let’s just say my heart’s not into cooking lo-cal nearly as much as the good stuff I eat every once in a while.

Exactly!

Well, that’s it for me. Will say good night all! and see you all back here tomorrow. I’m crashing early again, Dry!

Shucks!!!! I missed StelBel! Dag nab it!

StelBel, sugie and Fellow Baby (Oh and CLEO the gourmet cook and consummate host!)

Yes unfortunately, the Frugal Gourmet turned out to be an unsavory character! I have his “The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Italian” and the first cookbook I bought when I was in a cooking book club was Julia Child. I spent so much money on cookbooks, kept away in my jelly cupboard now, and I rarely use them anymore! :-( Lazy I guess. Perhaps when I retire. Some of my favorites of course, are my mom’s and I have one from an aunt that she used, and 2 of my grandma’s. My grandma’s is REALLY old. From the 1920’s and she kept them in great shape. I also have old ones I have bought at used book sales, etc.from companies like Jello, Frigidaire, Sealtest, etc. that are from the 30’s through the 50’s. I loved that time period.

Wow. I don’t have anything quite that old, but my mom had an old Betty Crocker cookbook.

I love to cook and I also like to eat healthily. Low fat eating can be tasty, especially when you have many options food wise. That is why I love living on the coast. I used to enjoy watching the Frugal Gourmet and even met him walking down the street at the Pike Place Market. He had a ministry near there. We exchanged greetings. Who knew that he was more than he seemed.

cleo, many are more than they seem. Look at Jerry Sandusky!

Fellow Baby, those old cookbooks are really interesting, even just for the history behind them. The old pictures, the old products, I may not be expressing myself correctly, but I was always interested in that time period as I said before. I have one that was written for WW2 with good basic simple recipes that people could make without the ration tickets, etc. Quite a few I found at Library and College Book Sales, and in peoples yard sales. I mean, some of them I only paid a quarter or fifty cents for. I have some good Amish (PA Dutch) cookbooks too.

Fellow Baby, as you know I love movies from the 30’s & 40’s. I’d probably love to have a cookbook or two from the period. I’m sure that many of the recipes would be great comfort food.

cleo, I’ve always liked fish, particularly salmon, but I’ve been eating so much of it (for the healthy aspects), that no matter how I eat it, I’m a little tired of it. I can no longer look at oatmeal. I just ate way too much of it for breakfast.

My turn to head to bed.

Geez, I missed Fellow Baby now too! You know, there are a lot of GOOD HEALTHY, TASTY cereals out there now besides just plain old oatmeal! And I do mean Good!

I’m still up because my CSI Miami started late tonight. I don’t watch much regular TV but I HAVE to see my CSI’s and my soap “Days of Our Lives.” I haven’t watched Law & Order SVU since Christopher Meloni left. (You know, I wonder if he is related to me somehow. Some of my Italian relatives are Meloni’s. LOL!)

Man, this CSI Miami was DEFINATELY based on the Penn State/Jerry Sandusky scandal.