What I Can Relate To In “Breaking Bad”

This is “the end” my friend and it was a pretty good end I thought. This was very much a work of fiction, but it was a well written and highly entertaining work of  fiction, I never was routing for Walt as I very early on found him to be a very objectionable character but I still found the story to be very riveting.  Many of the series I have really liked never got an end (i.e. Deadwood, Carnivale) and others had what I consider a fair end (i.e. Sopranos, Lost) and some got it right (i.e Mash, Breaking Bad). It is a good ending to me because it tied up all the questions in the plot with somewhat plausible answers (I do have a problem with how Walt got Ricin in a sealed Stevia packet, but oh well in the grand scheme of things).

The one tragedy that I can relate to in “Breaking Bad” was at the very end, when Walt walks around the “meth lab” that the Nazi ex-cons had set up, and he lovingly touches the equipment and thinks about how that was the one thing he did better than anyone else. Even though this is a highly fictionalized story of someone trying to find themselves I feel like that is the only “true” message this series has. But it is one true message; we all are trying to find that one thing we are good at. We all need to be good at something and hope someone will remember that when we are gone, I think.

Sweet & Sour Slaw

Just a little bit different, easy and tasty. The sesame oil tastes really good with cabbage.

1 ½ teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
4 cups finely grated cabbage
1/4 cup onions, minced
1/2 cup finely grated carrot 

¼ cup minced radish
2 tablespoons mayonnaise

In a bowl stir together the sugar, salt, sesame oil, vinegar until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Add vegetables and mayonnaise, and toss the salad well.

Pasta with Mushrooms & Artichokes

2 cups hot cooked pasta

2 tablespoons butter

8 ounces sliced mushrooms

2 cloves minced garlic

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

6 ounces minced marinated artichoke hearts, with liquid

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ cup Parmesan cheese

¼ cup minced parsley

Melt butter in a saucepan and add mushrooms, garlic, salt and pepper. When mushrooms start losing their liquid stir in artichoke hearts and their liquid and heat until excess liquid evaporates slightly. Mix in olive oil and pour over hot cooked pasta and mix with Parmesan and parsley. 

Prosciutto Stuffed Sirloin Steak

1 pound sirloin steak, 1 inch thick cut in 4 pieces

8 slices Prosciutto

8 ounces Manchego cheese, chopped

4 sun-dried tomatoes, minced

1 tablespoon capers, minced

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 tablespoons softened butter mixed with 1 tablespoon minced parsley, 1 clove minced garlic and ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper.

Mix cheese with tomatoes and capers and place ¼ of the mixture on a slice of prosciutto and wrap a second piece around it to keep the filling in. Make a slit it the middle of the steak to make a pocket to hold the prosciutto wrapped filling. Use toothpicks to secure the filling if necessary. Rub the meat with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook meat under the broiler for 10 minutes, turn over and cook for about 5 minutes longer or until cooked to your liking. I like medium rare. Remove from oven and place a tablespoon of seasoned butter on top and serve.

Chicken, Shrimp and Mushrooms with Rice

½ pound boneless chicken, cut in pieces

¼ cup butter

2 cloves minced garlic

½ cup finely chopped onion

½ cup finely chopped red bell peppers

1 cup long grained rice

½ mushrooms, sliced

2 small tomatoes, finely chopped

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon thyme

½ teaspoon pepper

2 cups chicken stock

½ pound medium shrimp, shelled

¼ cup minced parsley

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Heat butter in pot and add chicken and lightly brown it on both sides. Add garlic, onion, peppers and cook for about 5 minutes and stir in rice, mushrooms, tomatoes, salt, thyme and pepper and when mushrooms and tomatoes start losing their liquid stir in the chicken stock. Bring to a simmer and cover and cook for about 30 minutes, until rice is almost tender. Stir in shrimp and continue cooking until rice is tender and shrimp are cooked. Just before serving stir in parsley and cheese. 

Shrimp, Green Chilies, & Cheese Casserole

8 corn tortillas, softened in oil

½ pound medium shrimp, shelled

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves minced garlic

½ cup chopped onion

½ cup chopped red bell pepper

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons chili powder

½ cup cream

3 ounces cream cheese

½ teaspoon salt & pepper

1 can diced green chilies, 4 ounces

2 eggs

1 cup grated Monterrey Jack Cheese

¼ cup minced green onions

Green chili salsa

Soften tortillas in oil, cut each tortilla into 8 wedges and layer half of them on the bottom of a baking dish. Heat olive oil in skillet and sprinkle half teaspoon salt on the shrimp and sauté them with the garlic, ½ cup onions and red peppers. Cook shrimp for a few minutes on each side and remove everything from pan. Mix sour cream with salt, chili powder, cream, cream cheese, ½ teaspoon salt & pepper, green chilies and eggs. In the baking dish layer half of the sour cream and egg mixture on top of tortillas, then layer the rest of the tortillas and the rest of the sour cream and egg, then add the shrimp and vegetables. Bake uncovered at 375 for about 30 minutes, or until the sour cream and egg mixture sets up. Top with grated cheese and green onions. Bake another 10 minutes or so until the cheese is melted and browned. Serve with salsa on the side.

Noodles and Peppered Beef with Horseradish Sauce

8 ounces oriental noodles

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

1 cup cooked green beans, cut into ½” pieces

8 ounce sirloin steak

2 tablespoons ground black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

Make horseradish sauce an hour before dinner. Cook noodles according to package directions and toss mix with sesame oil, sesame seeds and green beans and keep warm. Rub olive oil on steak and coat it with the pepper and salt. Broil the steak on each side for about 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how thick the steak is and how done you want it. Remove and thinly slice the meat and arrange on top of the noodles and green beans. Drizzle with some of the horseradish sauce and serve toe rest on the side.

Horseradish Sauce

1/4 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup minced green onions

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon fresh grated horseradish

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate. 

Asparagus, Ham & Cheese Hot Potato Casserole

1/2 pound asparagus, trimmed to 2” pieces and steamed lightly

½ cup red peppers, minced

2 tablespoon butter

2 potatoes, cooked and cut into chunks

8 ounce smoked ham slice, cut into pieces

¼ cup green onions

¼ cup cream

3 ounce package cream cheese, softened

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

¼ pound prosciutto, chopped

1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles

 Heat butter and quickly sauté the red peppers in it. Place the potatoes in a glass dish and place the asparagus on top of them and drizzle the butter and peppers over them. Next sprinkle the ham pieces on top of the vegetables.  Mix the green onions with the cream, cream cheese, salt and pepper and drizzle this over the top of the ham and vegetables. Spread the prosciutto and blue cheese on top and place in the oven at 350 for about 15 minutes until heated through. Make sure you dish up all the flavor layers when you serve this. 

Quesadilla Rancheros

Re fried Beans

Guacamole

Salsa

Sour Cream

Flour Tortillas

Olive oil

Eggs

Butter

Grated pepper jack cheese

Spread a layer of re-fried beans on a flour tortilla and cover it with grated cheese. Top with another tortilla and brown in frying pan in olive oil until the stuffed tortillas are lightly browned and crispy. Add butter to pan and cook eggs and place them on top of the bean and cheese tortillas. Top with sour cream, guacamole and salsa. 

Red Chili Shrimp

When I went to Spain 13 years ago I was amazed at all of the roadside cafes that had wonderful appetizers, called Tapas, in the most unexpected places. One of my favorite dishes was shrimp broiled in a clay pot with garlic, red hot chilies and olive oil served with crusty French bread to dip in the flavorful oil. Simple but very tasty. My boyfriend’s mother purchased a couple of the clay cooking dishes to take home with her, I didn’t but a cast iron skillet works very well.

1 pound medium shrimp, shells removed

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

8 cloves minced garlic

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Baguette

Heat olive oil on medium high heat and add garlic, red pepper and salt. Cook shrimp for several minutes and turn over and squeeze lemon juice over them and cook for a few more minutes and pour the shrimp and garlic oil into a dish and serve with bread to soak up the flavorful oil.

Chorizo & Bacon Burgers with Onions, Peppers & Manchego Cheese

½ pound ground pork

½ pound ground beef

2 cloves minced garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon oregano

1 tablespoon Smoked Hot Spanish Paprika

1 tablespoon vinegar

4 slices pepper bacon, chopped very fine

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 Red Bell Pepper

1 Spanish onion

Sliced Manchego cheese

French Bread Rolls or Hamburger Buns

Mix all ingredients together except oil, red pepper, onion and cheese, and let meat marinate in the refrigerator for several hours. Before cooking burgers make olive relish and chili mayonnaise. Thinly slice red pepper and onion and sauté in olive oil for about 5 minutes. Form the meat into patties and cook to desired temperature. Top with Manchego cheese while still hot. Serve with grilled onions and peppers and chili mayonnaise.

Chili and Garlic Mayonnaise

3 fresh garlic cloves
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 tablespoon chili sauce

1/2 cup olive oil

Put all the ingredients except the olive oil in a blender and pulse to mix, if you don’t like garlic you can leave it out. With the blender running add the olive oil in a slow and steady stream until the mayonnaise becomes thick and creamy. 

What Happened to Rachel Ray, She Doesn’t Cook Anymore?

I remember that Rachel Ray used to cook food, really good food. Now when I watch her show she is a variety show host. That’s alright if we really needed a new one of those. We don’t though. I don’t find her health and beauty and whatever the hell else she brings on the show to be very interesting, or needed. She needs to get back to her roots or get out of the kitchen!

Chili Chicken Tacos with Pickled Vegies & Salsa

1 pound chicken, boneless skinless any parts

2 teaspoons chili powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

Corn tortillas softened in oil, or crispy tortilla shells

Sprinkle chicken with chili powder and salt and cook in the olive oil. Tear the meat off of bone and serve as a filling for the tacos.

Relish

¼ cup carrots, cut into strips

¼ cup daikon radish, cut the same as carrots

1 cup water (slightly warm enough to dissolve the salt and sugar)

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons rice vinegar 

Mix together and let marinate for several hours.

Tomato Salsa

1 cup chopped tomatoes

¼ cup chopped onions

1 clove minced garlic

1 minced jalapeno chili

2 tablespoons vinegar

¼ cup minced cilantro

½ teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon salt                    

Mix all ingredients together and let sit for 2 to 4 hours.

Serve chicken with tortillas and pickled vegetables and tomato salsa.                                      

Joe's Special Meatballs

I had some chanterelles on hand from the recent harvest from the woods so those are the mushrooms I used but use whatever ones you have access to.

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion chopped

2 cloves garlic minced

1 pound ground beef

½ cup fresh bread crumbs

1 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon butter

3 eggs

1/4 pound chanterelle mushrooms sliced

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon oregano

1 package fresh Spinach leaves, chopped

½ cup grated Parmesan Cheese

8 ounce package spaghetti noodles

Heat olive oil and add onions and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes, until they turn translucent. Remove from pan and put half of them in a bowl with the ground beef and set half aside. Mix ground beef with the onions and garlic and add bread crumbs, salt, pepper, 1 egg and ¼ cup Parmesan cheese. Form into meatballs and brown in pan in tablespoon of butter. Add mushrooms, nutmeg, oregano and spinach. Cook over medium heat until liquid from the spinach has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Remove meatballs from pan and place on top of cooked spaghetti noodles on a platter. Add the 2 eggs, lightly beaten, to the spinach mixture and stir until eggs are cooked. Pour spinach mix on top of pasta and meatballs and sprinkle with remaining Parmesan.

Spanish Pork Loin

Pork in a sherry wine sauce, with onions, roasted red peppers and brie

1 pound boneless pork loin

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons flour

¼ cup olive oil

2 cloves minced garlic

¼ cup minced onions

¼ cup minced roasted red peppers, or pimiento

½ cup sherry

½ cup cream

6 ounces brie cheese

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon Spanish Paprika

Cut pork loin into thin slices and lightly pound with a mallet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and dust with flour. Heat olive oil in a skillet and cook pork until lightly browned on both sides and remove from pan and keep warm. Add garlic and onions and cook until wilted and add red peppers and sherry and heat over medium high heat for a few minutes. Mix in cream, brie, salt and paprika and stir until cheese is melted and blended into the sauce. Add the pork back to the pan and reheat. Serve with pasta or rice.

A "TRUE DETECTIVE" Magazine Story

In 1966 I was 11 years old and my best friend was 12, we were in 5^th grade and 6^th grade respectively, and our parents took us to a friend’s cabin at the coast for our “spring” break from school. It was just both of our mom’s, no dad’s, and each of our younger sisters who were also best friends like Mary Lou and I were, and as our mothers also were. The weather wasn’t that great, as is the norm on the Oregon coast at the end of March. We were “forced” to spend more time indoors because of the weather but it was a very nice cabin and had a great fireplace and a huge supply of magazines to read. Mary Lou and I almost immediately discovered the large stack of usually forbidden magazines to read, the pot boiler called “True Detective” complete with grisly crimes and gruesome descriptions of them. I am not sure if our moms actually realized what it was we were reading, and we sure weren’t about to tip our hands on this horrible treasure trove of reading material we had found. We managed to scare ourselves silly, something young teenagers seem to really like to do, by reading all these tales of horrible real life crimes. Much to our delight we discovered the story of my stepfather’s youngest brother’s crime, the name of the 16 year old who murdered a 16 year old retarded girl was the same name as his and I did know that he was in jail for something but I don’t recall that I had been told what for up to this time. We were fascinated by the prospect that we had stumbled on the real crime story of my stepfather’s brother, and a little bit afraid to ask if it was indeed the same person, mostly because we didn’t want to tell our mothers that we were reading the magazines that we knew they wouldn’t be happy to find out we were reading. This was not because we would get in trouble, because we wouldn’t, but because we figured we would be stopped from reading what we knew our moms found to be objectionable matter. We were having way too much “scary” fun reading these real life horror stories, although I do think we were also figuring out why our mothers might not have wanted us to read these stories. Yes they were based on fact but they were definitely “glorified”, we could even figure this out. We also kind of figured that they wouldn’t want us reading about all the explicit sex crimes that were in the magazines either, besides the horrible murders. Our curiosity about whether or not this was truly my stepfather’s brother got the best of us and we took the magazine to our mothers to find out if it was true. To our amazement and delight we were told that it was indeed a story about my stepfather’s brother but some of it was true and the rest of it was conjecture, or “made up” as our mother’s put it. Also, much to our surprise, after a lecture about not believing everything we read they didn’t stop us from reading the magazines. So that is how I found out about my stepfather’s youngest brother’s crime. This is story I am writing based on the discovery that trip to the coast, it is based on my real life discoveries of the facts of this case. I am tentatively calling it “CRIME SCENES”.

 Crime Scenes, The Short Story

A 16 year old mentally retarded boy is charged with murdering a retarded girl that he had been seen with. He had been teased about her being pregnant, so getting rid of her was the only way he knew to get rid of the problem. What if it wasn't his problem to get rid of?

 CRIME SCENES

Once in a while something happens in someone’s life that after it has occurred things will never be the same ever again. If a person is really lucky that something will be a good thing and the things that happen subsequently are amazingly good, but unfortunately the other possibility is that something truly evil occurs and the things that follow that will never be the same again as a result of the initial action are incredibly terrible. The following is a story about one of those latter types of occurrences that couldn’t ever be undone and the chain of events that unfolded as a consequence of it and the truth of it might take a lifetime for the truth of it to never be fully discovered.

FADE IN

Scene I  A copper colored Pontiac Firebird car is traveling down a heavily forested back road, it is the 40 mile scenic side trip from Glendale to Riddle that is right off of I-5 freeway south from Cottage Grove, and north of where they had started the morning drive from Ashland, Oregon. About halfway from the start of this side trip the car slows down at a wide spot just off the road, it doesn’t pull over but speeds back up and goes another few miles farther and pulls over at the next wide spot right off of the main road and comes to a stop.  An older man gets out of the car first and he looks around and then looks back to the car and motions for the rest of the occupants of the car to come and join him. An older woman and a younger woman get out of the car. They start walking over to where the man is standing.

Man:                           I am pretty sure that this is the place.

Young woman:          What do you mean you think that this is the place?

Man:                           I think this is where I lived when I was a kid.

Young Woman:         What do you mean that this is where you lived as kid? There isn’t anything here.

Man:                           Over there is where the box car was and over there is where we had our garden.

Young Woman:         How do you know that?

Man:                           Because the box car was right under these power lines, we had a line hooked up to the pole so we had electricity.

Young Woman:         Are you serious?

Older Woman:           Dave grew up in a boxcar along the side of the railroad tracks, it isn’t here anymore. You didn’t really think that there was anything here did you?

Young Woman:         Yeah, just call me stupid but of course I did, why else would we be coming here. Dad said he lived in a box car next to the railroad tracks, I don’t see any box car here.

Man:                           They hauled the old boxcar off twenty years ago.

Young Woman:         I am confused. I thought we were coming here to see where you lived. You never told me that there wasn’t anything here anymore. What exactly are we supposed to be looking at?

The man walks over to where the railroad tracks are just beyond the wide spot in the road they had pulled the car onto.

Man:                           Right here is where the boxcar was and over here was our garden. Right here are the rocks around where we had the fence around the garden to keep the deer out of it.

The young woman walks over to where the man is standing and looks at where he is pointing.

Young Woman:         Do you mean to tell me that these scattered rocks are supposed to be the border around the invisible garden?

Man:                           It was right here and over there on the other side of the tracks was where the boxcar was.

Older Woman:           Right here is where Dave lived for the first 5 or 6 years of his life, I have been here before and it looks just the same as it did before. (She is laughing)

Younger Woman:      I am sure it does since there is nothing here. Why did we come here this time if you already knew there was nothing here? I sort of understand why we spent an hour in the cemetery in Glendale looking at the family graves, at least we were really looking at something, but this… this makes no sense to me.

Older Woman:           This place has great sentimental value for Dave, he has been really wanting to visit here again since his father died last year, we went to the cemetery in Glendale last year like we did today when his father died, but we came with his brother Cliff and Dave didn’t get to come and visit this place and he really wanted to.

The old man walks away from where the two women are standing and continues looking around the site.

Man:                           Back here is where we had the little shack we hung the venison in and stored the vegetable out of the garden.

The younger woman walks over there with an incredulous look on her face.

Younger Woman:      How can you tell, I don’t even see even a small amount of evidence like “ten little rocks” that supposedly formed the garden here?

Man:                           I know where it was located from where the garden was.

The young woman is having a little trouble containing her frustration at having gone on what seems like a wild goose chase to her. She couldn’t believe that he was looking for something that was only there in his imagination.

Young Woman:         I really assumed that we were at least looking for a real live rotting boxcar, you didn’t tell me that there was absolutely nothing here anymore! Unbelievable!

The old man seemed to be very happy while wandering around the area next to the railroad tracks that no one else was following him around to look at anymore.

Young Woman:         I have always had the impression that he thought his father was a real asshole, so why was it so important that he came here?

Older Woman:           I don’t really think it has anything to do with how he feels about his father, it is just sentimental feelings about growing up, sometimes you don’t remember how bad things were and you just want to see the things you remember from your childhood. It is kind of like when Dave and I went to Wapato to visit where I lived from when my mother died when I was six until I got married at 19 and moved back to Oregon where I was born. I just wanted to see the places I had memories from when I was a kid, whether they were good memories or bad ones. That is the same thing that Dave is doing.

Young Woman:         Well it is too late to change having come here but I am never going to let him forget he took me to the middle of nowhere to see nothing!

Fade Out

Scene II

     The young man walked down the path that had formed along next to the river through the trees and as he walked along he kicked the little rocks that had rolled onto the trail back towards the steep rock wall that lined the side of the trail on the opposite side from the river. The river meandered its way through a fairly dense forest on its eventual way out to the ocean but it had a long way to go before it would arrive there.

     All of a sudden he stopped and looked around, he heard sounds coming from farther on up the trail, it was the sound of someone walking on it and he quietly slipped behind a tree growing on the bank of the river and he waited to see who was approaching. The sound of the other person’s feet walking on the dirt trail was very faint as if whoever was on the trail was not very heavy. As he peered through the brush from where he was standing the young girl he had been looking for appeared where the trail ahead rounded the corner and he quietly stayed hidden behind the tree and waited for her to walk by where he was hiding. It was a fairly large tree with a cluster of bushes growing at the base of it so that he was completely hidden from the girl that was approaching.

     After the girl walked by where the young man was hiding he picked up a large rock from the ground by the river and slipped up behind her and hit her over the head with the rock. She immediately fell face forward on the trail and he didn’t stay to check and see what the condition of the girl was he just took off frantically running away from the scene of the crime and crossed the shallow river up ahead a little ways and one of his shoes got caught in between some rocks in the river and when his foot slipped out of the shoe he just kept on running as fast as he could to get away from the scene of the crime.

     Just as the young man disappears from view we see the shadow of a man across the path where the girl is lying on the ground and then the scene fades out.

The following is “the rest of the story”!

     Unbeknownst to the young man there was someone else observing what had occurred from another hiding place behind another tree. The significance of this would not be known to anyone for many years or the fact that it even happened as would be thirty years before anyone knew there had been an eye witness to this crime or what part the eye witness played but it is only one of the many extenuating circumstances of this particularly heinous crime.

     The young man ran home as fast as he could and never stopped to look back. When he got home he realized he had lost one of his shoes so he took the other one off and took it out to the trash pile outside the old house that he lived in with his mother, father and four of his five brothers and tried to bury it under the trash that was waiting there to be burned. His oldest brother, David, had joined the navy when he had turned 18 five years before so as to escape the depressing family that they lived with and after he spent. Their father was a loveless cruel man who had never given his sons any help mentally or physically for all of their lives and their mother had been brain damaged at birth and had the mental capacity of a 13 year old child and if they hadn’t lived in a very small town with no real parental guidance their mother would never have been allowed to get married and have children given her extreme metal disabilities. Their father was only average intelligence and he had only married Lillian for two reasons, one was to have sex and the other one was to have someone who would willing wait on him and do everything he asked her to do like she would. He wasn’t looking for any kind of intellectual relationship so the fact that his wife had such limited mental capabilities wasn’t a problem for him, it only was for the children who needed at least one parent who would be there for them since it wasn’t a role their father aspired to, his only need for his sons is that they do all of the physical labor that needed to be done around the house and yard.  It was the beginning of another dysfunctional family just like the one both Harley and Lillian had come from.

     Besides Harley being a selfish, loveless man he was also cruel to his sons and even though they were dirt poor and lived in a box car ­alongside the railroad they lived off of the venison their dad would bring home from work that got hit by the train that he worked on. Since the train ran right past the boxcar that they were allowed to live in for free since it was one that the railroad no longer had any use for and Harley worked for them and the train would stop and pick him up for work every day and drop him off on its way back to the town it operated out of that was about twenty miles before the side of the tracks that the boxcar was located on. David was the oldest child and there was one daughter born during the six years of living in a boxcar and she died when she was three. The rest of the kids weren’t born until Harley had managed to make enough money to move into a small house located in the town that the train operated out of. David would later tell his wife and kids many years later that a dog had shown up at the boxcar and after he had been feeding it some of the venison and playing with it for several months it had become his best friend since he wasn’t in school yet and he had no friends to play with because the boxcar they lived in was twenty miles away from the nearest house and they had no car to go anywhere in. Just before Harley moved Lillian and David into the house he bought in town he took David’s dog out to the woods and shot it telling David they couldn’t afford to feed it. David never forgot that and after he turned 18 and joined the Navy he had very little contact with his cruel father, he would go visit his mother and bring her to stay with his wife and kids for a night when he wanted to see her, even though she wasn’t a very good mother he recognized it wasn’t her fault that she had been born brain damaged. She had extremely irrational phobias, she was convinced that cats were plotting against her and anytime she went and visited her children after they moved away she would freak out when the cats that were pets would come in the room, she insisted they were plotting against her.

    They were very poor and after they moved to the small town of Glendale they had five more children, four boys and one more girl that died at birth. Elmer was born when David was seven and he was bordering on being mentally retarded, not the extreme mental deficiency his mother had but not able to deal very well with school and other children who would make fun of him. Two years after Elmer a third son, Clayton was born, a year later Cliff was born. After Cliff was born the family moved to a little larger town about thirty miles north called Gold Hill, it was where the last son, Kenneth, was born three years later. Kenneth would turn out to be the most popular, and the least affected by his dysfunctional parents of the five boys and he did the best in school. David went to high school in Gold Hill and then left to join the Navy when his baby brother was only five years old. Right after David had joined the navy Harley moved the family to a town that was quite a bit bigger than any town they had lived in before though it would still be considered a small town but in comparison to the previous towns it was very large. Since David left home at 18 and joined the Navy to make a better life for himself than he saw himself ever being able to have if he stayed in the small towns where he grew up and didn’t see any opportunity for him to make a living as he sure didn’t want to work for the railroad like his father.

     Elmer had trouble keeping up with the class in school, they didn’t have any kind of special education in the small town for a child with special needs and he had just turned 16 and was made fun of much of the time. He did find a friend in school though, the friend was a girl that also was mentally handicapped like Elmer was and they became friends. She was talked into having sex with the local boys and doing what the boys wanted made her get more attention so she was eager to please them. Elmer also started to explore having sex with her. Then the girl turned up pregnant and the kids in the class took advantage of his lesser intelligence and started to incessantly tease him about getting the girl pregnant and he didn’t understand that she could have been pregnant by any one of the other boys she was having sex with so he got really scared and freaked about his being accused of getting the girl pregnant.  The only way he knew how to solve the problem was the way he attempted to do with a rock.

     All of the kids knew she was pregnant and when she was found dead the police went to visit Elmer and they had the one shoe that was found near her body to tie him to the murder and they found the other shoe where Elmer had failed to hide it very well. He was arrested and was put on trial and sentenced to ten years in jail. There were rumors that Harley had also had sex with the girl as well as the girls own uncle, but the police had a good suspect who couldn’t defend himself and they never questioned anyone else in the crime. The girl also had an uncle that had been suspected of sex crimes but that was never brought up, whether it was never explored or explored and dropped no one will ever know. There are those in his family that still wonder to this day if maybe Harley followed Elmer and finished killing her after Elmer had hit her with a rock, as he only remembered hitting her once and she was hit many more times than that but with Elmer being unable to defend himself and the police not bothering to follow any other leads the case will never be changed. Elmer led a very low key and uneventful life after being released from prison, he found a woman that he married and they had a daughter and never got in trouble and he died at the age of 76. Harley and Lillian separated not long after that and she became a live in housekeeper for an older handicapped man. Elmer stayed close to his mother and none of the boys saw their father very often and he died at the age of 84 and if there was another truth in this story it died with those who were there. David is my stepfather.

Savory Flavored Butters for Steak, Burger, Chicken, Fish, Vegetables and Pasta

I am single and therefore try to buy meat in a form that is either frozen in easy to use Ziploc bags like boneless chicken breasts or fish filets, or buy a pound of hamburger or steak and portion them out in Ziploc baggies in single servings. Then I just take one out and let it thaw in the fridge and cook it and serve it with a side of noodles (which I also cook a batch of something like parmesan noodles up and freeze individual portions in Ziploc baggies as well) or another starch and a salad. I am not a big fan of plain meat so I make flavored butters and cut them into pieces and wrap the pieces in saran wrap and put them in a baggie in the freezer and take one of the pieces out when I take out the meat that they go on. The three flavored butters I like are Blue Cheese and Anchovy, the blue cheese is good on burgers, steaks and chicken, the anchovy is great with steaks and fish and the Kiev is good with all of them. They can also be used to flavor pasta, potatoes, rice or vegetables.

Blue Cheese Butter

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 cup blue cheese

2 cloves minced garlic

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

Anchovy Butter

1/2 cup butter

4 cloves minced garlic

8 anchovies, minced

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

Kiev Butter

1/2 cup butter

2 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoon minced parsley

Mix butter together well with spices and chill, each recipe can be halved. Cut each ½ cup recipe into 8 pieces, wrap each piece in saran wrap, place in a baggie & freeze.

Mexican Red & Green Rice and Kahlua Mousse

The rest of my Cinco de Mayo menu: The side dish and dessert

RED & GREEN RICE

Place 1 cup rice, 1 cup green chili salsa or canned green chilies and tomatoes, 2 cups chicken broth, 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon cumin and 1 teaspoon salt (Add salt if you use unsalted chicken broth).  in saucepan and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 20 minutes until rice is tender.

KAHLUA MOUSSE

1 pound dark chocolate

3 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

3 eggs, separated

1/4 cup Kahlua

1 teaspoon instant coffee

2 cups heavy cream

2 tablespoons sugar-for whipped cream topping

1 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon Kahlua

Melt chocolate in a microwave able bowl. Add butter and mix well. In a small bowl beat the egg yolks and gradually beat in about a quarter cup of the hot chocolate mixture. Then mix the chocolate and egg mixture into the bowl of melted chocolate and butter. In another bowl combine the powdered sugar, Kahlua and instant coffee. Stir the chocolate mixture into the sugar mixture. In another bowl beat the cream until it forms stiff peaks. Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate sugar mixture. In another small bowl beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into the chocolate mixture. Spoon into serving bowls and chill for four or more hours.

Make Whipped Cream: With an electric mixer beat the cream, sugar and Kahlua at medium high speed until medium thick peaks form. Spoon on top of mousse and dust with cocoa powder or cinnamon.

Scallop Ceviche, Greens with Sweet Vinaigrette & Sangria

The Brochetas de Carne with Cilantro Aioli were from a menu I made for Cinco de Mayo last year. Here are the drinks and the apetizer and salad course I served:

MEXICAN BEER served with SCALLOP CEVICHE & SALAD COURSE

(1 lb. bay scallops, juice of 2 limes, 1/3 cup olive oil, 1 diced Bermuda onion, 4 ounce can diced green chilies, 1 chopped tomato, 2 chopped Jalapeno peppers, 1 teaspoon ea. salt and pepper) Let stand overnight and serve individual ramekins set to the side of the salad plate and serve first.

MIXED GREENS WITH Sweet Red Vinaigrette and marinated beans & crunchy chips

Salad: Mixed greens with slices of red onion, marinated red beans and crunched tortilla chips.

(1 can condensed tomato soup, 1/2 cup honey, 3/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1 cup olive oil, 3 tablespoons dry red wine, 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon cumin,

1 teaspoon dry mustard, 2 cloves minced garlic) Place all ingredients in a blender and mix until well blended. Make day ahead.

SANGRIA served with dinner

(3/4 cup brandy, 4 cups red wine, 2 cups white wine, 2 cups sparkling water, ½ cup  orange juice, ¼ cup lemon juice, 1 sliced orange, 1 sliced lemon, ¼ cup sugar-or to taste) Mix together, add ice and float the lemon and orange slices on top.

Brochetas de Carne with Cilantro Aioli

BROCHETAS  DE CARNE

2 pounds beef sirloin, cut into chunks

Juice of 2 fresh limes

1 teaspoon cumin

4 cloves minced garlic

2 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons cilantro

2 onions cut into chunks

3 red peppers cut into chunks

Place the lime juice through the cilantro in a blender and blend well. Pour over the meat and marinate for 4 hours or overnight, depending on how marinated you like your meat.

Remove from marinade and place meat on skewers alternating with onions and peppers. Broil or barbecue until meat is desired doneness and serve with cilantro aioli.

CILANTRO AIOLI

1 bunch cilantro

4 cloves garlic

2 minced green chilies (Anaheim, Jalapenos, or)

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 egg yolks

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 cup olive oil

Coarsely chop parsley, crush and chop garlic, and place them in the blender along with the lemon juice, egg yolk, salt and pepper. Mix these ingredients together and with the blender running slowly add the olive oil until the mixture becomes thick and creamy. Serve with the brochettes.

Bacon, Shrimp & Vegetable Fried Rice

3 pieces bacon

1 pound shrimp

1 egg

2 tablespoon sesame oil

1/2 pound sliced mushrooms

½ cup cauliflower, cut in pieces

½ cup sliced zucchini

3 cups cooked rice

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon grated ginger, or ½ teaspoon dry

1/3 cup minced green onions

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Cook bacon in a wok or frying pan and reserve bacon for later. Lightly beat egg and mix a little water with it and pour it into the bacon drippings and cook until it is done. Remove egg and thinly slice it and reserve it along with the bacon. Add the sesame oil and soy sauce to the pan and sauté the mushrooms, cauliflower and zucchini and cook for about 5 to 10 minutes. Then add the rice, and ginger and thoroughly stir the rice to heat it through. When rice is hot turn off the heat and mix in green onions and shredded egg and top with sesame seeds.

Blue Chicken & Potato Salad on Greens

1 pound red potatoes cut into chunks and cooked

½ pound boneless chicken breasts marinated in hot vinegar sauce, cooked, cut in pieces

6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

6 ounces crumbled blue cheese

2 tablespoons horseradish

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 cup sour cream

½ cup thinly sliced celery

¼ cup minced green onions

2 tablespoons minced parsley

Lettuce or Spinach leaves

Marinate boneless chicken in 2 tablespoons any hot pepper vinegar sauce, Fred Meyer hot sauce is a good and inexpensive choice. Bake for 15 or 20 minutes and cool and cut into bite size pieces. Or buy buffalo chicken breast strips and cut up.

Cover potatoes with water, add ½ teaspoon salt and bring to a boil and then simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes until just barely done.

While potatoes are cooking fry the bacon and cut up the celery, green onions and parsley.

Drain the potatoes and mix them with the blue cheese, horseradish, salt, pepper, mustard, sour cream, celery and green onions and chicken.

Place lettuce on a platter and place the chicken and potato salad on top and garnish with the parsley and crumbled bacon.

Swiss Sauerbraten Casserole

1 ½ pound round steak, cut into 6 pieces

1 ½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

3 tablespoons oil

1½ cup sliced carrots

1½ cup diced onions

3 cloves minced garlic

1 ½ teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 tablespoons flour

¼ cup vinegar

½ cup wine

1 cup beef broth

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 cup crushed gingersnaps

½ cup cream

3 cups noodles

Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper and brown in a skillet in the oil until browned lightly on both sides. Remove and put in a casserole dish. Add the carrots, onions and garlic and sauté for about 10 minutes. Add mustard seeds and nutmeg and mix in the flour. Add the vinegar, red wine and beef broth and heat until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and stir in brown sugar, gingersnaps and cream. Cook the noodles and mix them in with the vegetables and gravy and pour the whole thing over the top of the meat in the casserole dish. Cover with a lid, or foil, and bake for about 30 to 45 minutes, or until the meat is tender. Makes 6 servings

Parmesan Crab Spaghetti

Simply wonderful!

½ pound Spaghetti

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 cloves minced garlic

1 pound crab meat

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper

3 tablespoons minced parsley

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Bring 3 quarts water to boil in large pan. Add spaghetti and cook until tender, 8 to 10 minutes.

Heat butter and olive oil over medium heat in large skillet and add garlic and cook until garlic softens. Add crab, salt, pepper and heat for a few minutes and place in a bowl with the spaghetti and toss with the Parmesan cheese and top with parsley. 

Parsley Potato Pancakes

One of my all time favorite go-to side dish, easy and delicious!

4 potatoes, peeled and grated

1 medium onion, grated

1 egg

3 tablespoons minced parsley

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

¼ cup oil

Rinse the grated potatoes in a colander, Mix potatoes and onions together and add all the rest of the ingredients except the oil. Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Drop about 2 tablespoons of the potato mixture into the hot oil for each pancake. Flatten with the spatula and fry over moderate heat for about 10 minutes per side until golden brown and crisp. 

Salmon Loaf with Lemon Dill Sauce

1 pound salmon, fresh or 2 cans (8 oz. each)

3 slices soft bread crumbs

1 chopped green bell pepper

1 chopped onion

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup melted butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Beat eggs lightly and mix with all the ingredients in a mixing bowl place in a loaf pan. You can either bake the salmon in the oven for about 40 minutes at 350; or place in glass loaf pan and cover with waxed paper and cook on 70 % power for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove and let stand 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

The sauce is optional but very good. Here it is:

Lemon Dill Sauce: Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium heat, and sauté ¼ cup onions and 2 cloves minced garlic until tender. Mix in 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1/4 cup white wine and ½ teaspoon oregano. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Stir in ¼ cup cream and ¼ cup plain yogurt and add 1 tablespoon of fresh minced dill and 1 tablespoon fresh parsley. Cook until heated through and add salt and pepper.

Garlic Lamb Steak with Ginger Peanut Sauce

The meat comes out perfectly evenly done, medium rare for me but you can cook it any way you want it, all the way through when it is cooked this way.

1 pound boneless leg of lamb roast, about 6 inches long and 2 to 3 inches thick

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

Marinate lamb in garlic, olive oil, cilantro, coriander, salt and pepper for 4 hours to overnight. Let the lamb sit out for about an hour before cooking. Heat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat and when the pan is hot remove lamb from marinade and sear for about 5 to 10 minutes on each side, turn it over when it has a perfect brown color, and then turn the heat down to medium and cook about ten minutes on first side again with a lid over the meat, then turn it over and check it with a meat thermometer and cover it again and cook until it is almost the desired temperature and then take it off because it will get a little more done after it is off the heat. Serve with ginger peanut sauce.

Ginger Peanut Sauce

½ cup creamy or crunchy peanut butter

2 tablespoons lime juice

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon cider vinegar

1 clove minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced candied ginger

1 teaspoon ginger syrup

1 teaspoon cayenne or red pepper flakes

1/2 cup orange juice

Combine all the ingredients together in a saucepan, or a microwaveable bowl. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, or heat in a microwave, whisking frequently. Can be served immediately or can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Curried Lambballs with Chili Cream Sauce & Pasta

Lambballs

1 pound ground lamb

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon chopped fresh green chilies

1 clove minced garlic

¼ cup minced onions

¼ cup dried bread crumbs

1 slice fresh bread crumbs

1 egg

¼ to ½ cup cream

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon curry powder

½ teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon pepper

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a frying pan and add chilies, garlic and onions and cook for about 5 minutes. Remove vegetables from pan and mix them in with all the rest of the ingredients. Shape the ground meat mixture into meatballs. Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and cook the meatballs for about 15 minutes until nicely browned. While meatballs are browning cook the pasta. Remove meatballs from pan and place on top of pasta and keep warm.

Chili Cream Sauce

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons minced red chili pepper

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon chili powder

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup broth

½ cup cream

Add butter to frying pan and sauté chili pepper for 5 minutes and add spices and flour and mix well and then stir in broth and cream and continue stirring until sauce thickens. Pour sauce over meatballs and pasta. 

BBQ Salmon with White Butter Sauce

Marinating the salmon in salt and sugar for 2 hours allows the seasonings to permeate the meat and gives the salmon a tender but firm texture that is killer!

4 salmon steaks

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup salt

Water to cover steaks

Olive oil

Marinate the salmon in the brown sugar, salt and water for 2 hours. Remove from marinade and pat the salmon dry. Brush the steaks with olive oil and place them on a sheet of aluminum foil on the grill of the barbecue. Put the lid on the barbecue and cook about 10 minutes and use a spatula and turn the salmon over and cook about 5 more minutes. Take the salmon off the foil and place directly on the grill and cook until just done, about 5 to 10 minutes more.

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons white wine

1 tablespoon finely minced green onions

1 clove minced garlic

¼ teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

½ cup butter, cut in pieces

In a saucepan combine lemon juice, vinegar, wine, onions, garlic, salt and pepper and bring to simmering. Simmer liquid until it reduces in half and whisk in pieces of butter until it is all blended in. When all of the butter has been added remove from heat. Sauce should be thick and creamy. Taste and add salt if needed. Serve immediately over the fresh cooked salmon.

Swiss Onion Quiche

Pie Crust

1/2 cup diced Spanish onion

1 cup Swiss cheese grated

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese grated

4 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup cream

1/2 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

2 tablespoons minced green onions

Prepare pie crust and place in a pie pan. Sprinkle cheeses and onions in the pie crust. Combine the eggs with cream and milk, or you can just use 1 1/2 cups half and half, and stir in the nutmeg, salt and pepper. Pour the cream mixture over the cheese and onions and sprinkle with paprika and green onions.

2. Bake at 375 for about 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and the top of the quiche is a light golden brown,

Servings: 8